Games, Design, Culture, Politics...

We’ve entered into the realm, with video games, where Gameplay is no longer king. I think many people are yet to realize this, but what drives the most expensive, AAA games of the current generation is experience.

The games sell the experience of being an assassin, or a space ranger, or an up-and coming crime lord. And in the context of experience, gameplay takes a step backward, and narrative takes a step forward until the two are almost equal. In some games, they are equal.

So among the first things I knew I wanted to write about when I started this site, was how to make a good story for your game. That’s been my job for the past 5 years, and my hobby for…well considerably longer. The audience is anyone making the kind of video game where experience is the goal, or the GM of a traditional, tabletop, RPG. Both face the same challenges.

In no manner are these five pillars of storytelling definitive, or exhaustive, they simply represent my approach and the things I’ve learned. Sometimes you learn tricks and shortcuts, sometimes you learn there are no shortcuts, there’s nothing to do, but to work your ass off.

Here, therefore, are my five pillars of game storytelling.

The Plan – If you’re an action game, you need a bad guy, and rather than write about what makes a good bad guy, I decided to write about an important tool for storytelling. The bad guy’s plan, considered in the absence of the heroes. What would have happened if the Heroes never came along?

The Central Conflict – Forget about “will the hero make it across the crumbling bridge in time” or “will the hero escape the clutches of the whatever” those are all good and well, but when you’ve got dozens factions and hundreds of NPCs who need motivations and personalities and points of view, the best way to gift them with these thing is the Central Conflict of your setting. The Empire vs the Rebellion, The Guilds vs the Nobility, North vs South. The big picture. Gives everyone something to have an opinion about, come down on one side or the other on.

Up A Tree - The best action heroes are reactive. Don’t expect your hero to act just because it’s the right thing to do, that’s nebulous and hard to identify with. Instead, chase him up a tree. Force him to act.

Verisimilitude – Your players must believe the setting they experience is real, not merely something you made up. This means you have to do a lot of work. You can make it up as you go, but never pull back the curtain and reveal the little man pulling all the levers. Video Games have teams with dozens, sometimes hundreds of people to achieve this. It’s something they’re good at. A GM for an RPG has only his wits.

Meaningful Choice – A good story can be an end to itself, but one thing a story in a game can do that no story in a film or novel can do, is provide the player with meaningful choice. Choice that puts the path and result of the narrative in the players’ hands.

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