What Makes a Great Story Line for a RPG Game?
Moving to Writing For Games.
I'd suggest that you might want to ask a more detailed question or give some ideas of your own if you want to attract some good quality responses.
I'd suggest that you might want to ask a more detailed question or give some ideas of your own if you want to attract some good quality responses.
You truly should be more clear on what you're asking.
It depends completely on what type of rpg you're planning on writing.
Guessing that you're thinking of some fantasy with elves and gnome I would have to go with:
Major war or treachery going on in the background is always cool(WoW)
It depends completely on what type of rpg you're planning on writing.
Guessing that you're thinking of some fantasy with elves and gnome I would have to go with:
Major war or treachery going on in the background is always cool(WoW)
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A great storyline for an RPG has not yet been written. I'm not sure if a great storyline "for an RPG" can be written at all... it should emerge from the players actions in the world or else it's not very suitable to "role-playing".
It depends on the type of RPG you want to create. For the most part, there's the story RPG, and the sandbox RPG. The story RPG is one where you generally have less freedom, but a stronger story. On the other hand, the sandbox RPG doesn't usually have as much story, but provides the player with more opportunities to create their own stories.
Of all the RPGs I have played, I feel that Planescape:Torment has had the best story line so far. However, it did have a lot of text, which may have put of some players. But, it may serve as a jumping off point.
You could always look at some piece of literature you enjoy, and modify it to suit your needs. A lot of television shows have done this at one time or another, and I don't see why it couldn't work for a game.
Here are a couple links that may prove useful, as possible places for ideas, and for some things to avoid:
http://www.gamedev.net/reference/articles/article255.asp
http://project-apollo.net/text/rpg.html
http://www.io.com/~sjohn/plots.htm
http://www.igda.org/writing/InteractiveStorytelling.htm
Of all the RPGs I have played, I feel that Planescape:Torment has had the best story line so far. However, it did have a lot of text, which may have put of some players. But, it may serve as a jumping off point.
You could always look at some piece of literature you enjoy, and modify it to suit your needs. A lot of television shows have done this at one time or another, and I don't see why it couldn't work for a game.
Here are a couple links that may prove useful, as possible places for ideas, and for some things to avoid:
http://www.gamedev.net/reference/articles/article255.asp
http://project-apollo.net/text/rpg.html
http://www.io.com/~sjohn/plots.htm
http://www.igda.org/writing/InteractiveStorytelling.htm
And then the story ones are split into linear stories (often called Japanese RPGs) and interactive stories (these are more like dating sims or choose your own adventures).
Quote:Every good game with a story contains at least one plot and one traitor in each side.
Uh, I think this is false. Not only can you have a great plot without a traitor, it tends to be kinda hackneyed. What I think you may be referring to is the reversal and realization elements, which are more general. These coupled together are used to great effect in greek drama, and the whole traitor/plot thing is simply a specific, overused instance of it. All you really need to jerk the player is some type of extreme reversal coupled with a realization. IE Happy married man finds his wife gone and a note saying she isn't coming back. Not only does this completely reverse his life, the abruptness of the realization magnifies its affect on him/the player. Shock and effect can be achieved without falling into the rut. ;)
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