Quote:Original post by Wavinator
What makes you a hero, and what makes the approach hero-centric versus character simulation?
I think I know what you're getting at, so I'll see if I can explain what I was talking about. Unfortunately, I'm not thinking very clearly right now. [sick] (gee, that smiley is a bit too graphic).
If I remember my beginners guide to writing, there are at least two different approaches to writing stories. One is the plot-based approach, where the story is structured into a series of acts hinging around major plot landmarks. A lot of films seem to be structured this way. The actions of the characters are there mainly to facilitate the set-up and execution of these plot landmarks, although their personalities will shape exactly what those landmarks are and how they are executed.
The other approach is the character-based approach, where the author creates a series of interesting characters, puts them in a setting, and then writes about how they react to each other. Another analogy would be the reality show, where the people chosen for 'Survivor' and 'Big Brother' are carefully chosen, and the resulting footage edited, to get an interesting clash of personalities.
RPGs can be designed in either way, although the plot-based approach is the dominant one today, as that seems to be the structure of the ancient saga style that is the distant root of the story type.
Your approach seems to be the character-based approach, which I also agree will work if done well. With the right bunch of character types thrown in the mix a series of interesting situations will develop. The downside (which can be seen on Australian version of 'Big Brother' [grin]), is that if you don't have the right character types to generate the friction required for the interesting situations, you might end up with a flat non-story. Have you got any good ideas for how to avoid this (as I think this would be fantastic if you could implement it)?
By the way, my theoretical approach to this, which I plan to implement eventually, is more along the plot-based approach. In this case, the NPCs aren't really autonomous, but are more like improvisational actors. The NPCs goals are thus to facilitate the generation and execution of the plot landmarks that are used to structure the overall story arc.
This probably doesn't make that much sense, does it? Sorry!
By the way, why were people freaking out by the Sims?
