Ten commandments of interactive storytelling, Rules and cool stuff do not a story make |
Ten commandments of interactive storytelling, Rules and cool stuff do not a story make |
Mar 30 2004, 08:01 PM
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#1
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Shooting Target Group: Members Posts: 1,677 Joined: 5-June 03 Member No.: 4,689 |
Say, for the sake of argument, two major types of Shadowrun games: those which are a series of non-connected runs or action wrt character personality and non self-improvement character goals; and those which shape runs or other Shadowrun action directly around the personalities and goals of the player characters. This attempt has more application to the second.
10. Thou shalt develop each of the three major parts of every story: plot, character, and atmosphere. Plot is what happens, character is who it happens to, and atmosphere is the environment within which it all happens. 9. Thou shalt create a flowing, logical plot with a hook for each of the characters involved, a reasonable way to follow the plot within the characters' own drives and goals, a gradual escalation of threat, and an ultimate encounter. (Ideally, a hook for the next story will be planted somewhere within the previous one, keeping the campaign flowing.) 8. Thou shalt develop the plot from the pov of the players as well as from the pov of the GM, keeping in mind their drives and goals. Thou shalt distinguish between the characters' short-term goals and long-term goals, and then thou shalt determine a way in which the characters might be able to accomplish some part of their goals after appropriate degree of effort. (This helps prevent railroading.) 7. In thinking about what is important to the character in order to determine plot hooks, thou shalt always consider that character's backstory. Thou wilt have developed any major characters in that backstory that are reasonably likely to have an effect on the current campaign. 6. Thou shalt never just give the characters what they want. What is not worked for is not valued. 5. Thou shalt avoid "action"/"fight" scenes that do not drive the plot or character development. (And yet there will occasionally be some "random" action: say about a 90%-10% split.) 4. Thou shalt always bear in mind that by themselves, cool toys do not a good story make. (Although they do have their place.) 3. Thou shalt never introduce new house rules or tables or plot convolutions just because they seem "neat" without first checking to see if they meet the other commandments of a good story. 2. Thou shalt structure the story within the rules. 1. Thou shalt never sacrifice the story to the rules. |
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Mar 30 2004, 08:13 PM
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#2
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Shooting Target Group: Members Posts: 1,512 Joined: 16-August 03 From: Northampton Member No.: 5,499 |
And giving want they in said fashion makes more likely they ask again
But the reverse is true however
Glad these two are the last ones and thus (IMO) the most important. |
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Mar 30 2004, 08:29 PM
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#3
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 280 Joined: 22-October 03 Member No.: 5,757 |
Talia Invierno is my hero.
I think I'll extract her genetic information and create hybrid clones with her cells as root stock. Then send my runners up against her... and then they die. |
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Mar 30 2004, 09:23 PM
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#4
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Technomancer Group: Retired Admins Posts: 4,638 Joined: 2-October 02 From: Champaign, IL Member No.: 3,374 |
:notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy:
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Mar 30 2004, 11:10 PM
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#5
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Target Group: Members Posts: 27 Joined: 19-March 04 From: Seattle, WA Member No.: 6,176 |
The way I see it, rules have two purposes:
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Mar 31 2004, 03:06 AM
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#6
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Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,598 Joined: 15-March 03 From: Hong Kong Member No.: 4,253 |
I'll add:
Thou shalt remember the suspension of disbelief and keep it wholly. Thou shalt find out what the players want from the game, it is the players, not the characters. that the game is for. Thou shalt ensure that thine utterances are understood by all. |
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Mar 31 2004, 03:52 AM
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#7
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Technomancer Group: Retired Admins Posts: 4,638 Joined: 2-October 02 From: Champaign, IL Member No.: 3,374 |
A corollary to this: However, you must remember to allow for misunderstandings when such a thing assist the plot. |
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Mar 31 2004, 04:22 AM
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#8
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Shooting Target Group: Members Posts: 1,677 Joined: 5-June 03 Member No.: 4,689 |
:oops: Consistency should definitely have made it onto that list somewhere. At least in gaming, the universe has to make sense.
I like, I plead guilty, I can be very bad for this sometimes, as player or as GM. Dark and gritty tones, no problem, but if I'm enjoying something and ooc it's just too funny, it's really hard for me to stop laughing. The second I'd tried to cover, but obviously didn't adequately. The third - oh, we've had so much debate over the years when a described situation wasn't completely understood! That's how I'll take that, rather than misunderstanding an NPC's dialogue or not really understanding what the situation meant (a different thing altogether). Sorry, Shockwave_IIc: but I really don't understand what you mean by "the reverse is true however"? (It might be my semantic difficulty. I just can't make it out.) |
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Mar 31 2004, 05:09 AM
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#9
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Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,598 Joined: 15-March 03 From: Hong Kong Member No.: 4,253 |
There are two parts to the 'utterances' command
One is basically a 'descriptive' one, since you (as GM) describe the world, you must try to make sure that everyone 'sees' the same thing. not even perfect language use will save you every time since we can sometimes mis-hear or mis-read words. Usually this amounts to asking the player who seems to be taking a very 'reality contray' course of action whether they have the same mental representation of what is going on that you do. The other involves the usually unsopken communication that occurs at the gaming table about things like what effects certain actions will have. (Sample: 'action move' vs realistic actions.) |
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Mar 31 2004, 08:53 AM
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#10
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 313 Joined: 5-March 04 From: UK Member No.: 6,125 |
Now there is a big one. The number of D&D GMs I have had to explain this one to... As I always explained to my group, "Death is only a punishment for stupidity, first will come the warning. Heed the warnings and you may just lose a limb, ignore the warnings and you had better pray the dice love you tonight." In D&D, my 'warnings' are simple; the first is when I take out my 'permanent injury' table. The second is when I use it... |
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Mar 31 2004, 10:41 AM
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#11
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 402 Joined: 23-April 03 From: London, UK Member No.: 4,491 |
as for that, Firewall... :vegm: !
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Apr 1 2004, 01:54 PM
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#12
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Technomancer Group: Retired Admins Posts: 4,638 Joined: 2-October 02 From: Champaign, IL Member No.: 3,374 |
I think showkwave means that that big toys don't a good story make, but sometimes a good story makes big toys. |
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Apr 2 2004, 02:56 AM
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#13
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Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,751 Joined: 8-August 03 From: Neighbor of the Beast Member No.: 5,375 |
I thought that was all GREAT stuff. I'd print out and hang it in my office but I already had to explain the 50 Rules of Combat and The Wit of Shadowrun to my officemates...One girl asked me what it "...takes to do Shadowrun..."
I didn't have the heart to tell her I didn't think she could handle it. Sooooo, Talia, when do we get to see you in the Welcome the Shadows Forum?? After being a lurker (and sometime poster ;) ) on your "Infiltration Challenge" AKA "Breaking and Entering for Dummies", I'd send you a character background if you so much as hinted at doing a PbP run... :love: |
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Apr 2 2004, 03:08 AM
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#14
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Decker on the Threshold Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 2,922 Joined: 14-March 04 Member No.: 6,156 |
heh, amen to that. :) I'd submit my combat medic character if appripriate (gratuitous link). If not, I've got a good half-dozen characters I'm cooking up at the moment. I've got all kinds of character concepts built from or stolen out of my freeform RP experiences that I'm just dying to convert to SR. I also love working with systems, particularly stocastic or mathematic systems, and SR is just so much more fun for my inner math nerd than freeform ever was. :D
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Apr 2 2004, 04:07 AM
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#15
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 511 Joined: 30-May 03 From: Tulsa, OK Member No.: 4,652 |
Want to post this for those of us that haven't seen it? |
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Apr 2 2004, 04:10 AM
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#16
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Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,751 Joined: 8-August 03 From: Neighbor of the Beast Member No.: 5,375 |
Will do. First thing tommorow. Unless someone beats me to it.
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Apr 2 2004, 09:09 AM
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#17
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 313 Joined: 5-March 04 From: UK Member No.: 6,125 |
That reminds me of something that happened to my wife. She was talking to a woman and said that we run a roleplay shop, to which the woman replied "My daughter does roleplay, I think she gets her stuff from Anne Summers" It is amazing sometimes, it really is... |
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Apr 2 2004, 03:31 PM
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#18
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Shooting Target Group: Members Posts: 1,677 Joined: 5-June 03 Member No.: 4,689 |
Thanks, Dashifen. I was so not getting that! Btw who or what is Anne Summers? (amazing in reverse) I'm thinking a good deal more to "utterances" than the two you mention, Crusher Bob - especially concerning NPC dialogue - but those two would be the most important ones for mutual understanding by way of evoking a world which is consistent among the group's understanding. After all, it only really exists in the group's joint imagination. The Infiltration Challenge was a how-to which grew - and grew - and grew. It was not something I had been expecting, and even with my best efforts I have sometimes had to skip a week and more before I was able to update. Never mind learning the quirks of yet another roleplaying medium, I simply can't commit to a PbP group thread with the current available time I have.
*eyebrows raised* |
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Apr 2 2004, 04:16 PM
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 313 Joined: 5-March 04 From: UK Member No.: 6,125 |
Anne Summers is an 'adult' shop, selling underwear and 'bed-time' clothes. They also sell this thing called a 'rampant rabbit' apparently...
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Apr 3 2004, 06:14 AM
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#20
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Shooting Target Group: Members Posts: 1,512 Joined: 16-August 03 From: Northampton Member No.: 5,499 |
Adult?? High street more like. |
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Apr 3 2004, 08:12 AM
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 313 Joined: 5-March 04 From: UK Member No.: 6,125 |
Yeah, it is not the dark-windows-and-18-sign kind of shop but I mean it is not M&S either. I mean, you would not go buying kid's clothes in there. (well, except one man I knew but he went to prison for a while over it...)
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Apr 7 2004, 02:02 PM
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#22
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Shooting Target Group: Members Posts: 1,677 Joined: 5-June 03 Member No.: 4,689 |
[11?] Thou shalt not bring together a group to play in thy game until thou art willing and able to commit to regularly running a game.
(Yes, I'm still letting off steam.) + whatever rewordings of additions others wish to bring in? Apparently I'm going for the top twenty at this point. |
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Apr 10 2004, 01:58 PM
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#23
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 515 Joined: 10-April 04 From: Chicago, IL...Ich vermisse Deutschland. Member No.: 6,230 |
That's true. Thou shalt find people who want a variety of stories rather than a comfortable rut. Don |
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Apr 10 2004, 03:13 PM
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#24
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 973 Joined: 3-October 03 Member No.: 5,677 |
...Well...Drek...Talia, you've asserted my position on an issue (or 12) with my GM. I thank and salute you. :notworthy:
I AM A CHANGED METAHUMAN! |
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Apr 10 2004, 03:19 PM
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#25
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 973 Joined: 3-October 03 Member No.: 5,677 |
[12] You shall not include story elements which personally offend the players. The PCs? Oh, easily. That's what RPing is about. But not the players.
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