Storytelling
Posted: Thu May 22, 2008 9:41 pm
This is a topic that gets talked about a lot here at Palladium. Ideas are fine, but putting them together in an interesting way is storytelling. Yes, even RPG books filled with stat blocks need a story and a back story, on which to hang all the characters, weapons and equipment on. Some people call it fluff, but it's like a framework for a house or skyscraper.
Now anyone can tell a story. You have any time you saw or heard something you thought was cool or interesting. Think back to coming home or calling a buddy and saying: "You won't believe what I just saw or heard or..." You've done it and it made sense and people reacted to it, and were likely inspired to tell it to others.
That's what a good story does - excites, informs and inspires. That's what gets you to role-play. (Or at least buy more books by the same author.)
Now take a few minutes to forget whatever you've heard about writing and storytelling. Just read on, and absorb.
I believe anyone who is really interested can write. That's right, I'm talking about a lot of you. Just ignore the little voice that says "I can't do it," and try the following:
Comic book story:
Opens with bad guy (you create) who does something bad.
Confronts good guy (you create) and hurts him or not, and escapes.
Good guy tries to find bad guy before he/she/it does more harm. Another confrontation where serious injury results to one or both. The fighting ends and both regroup.
Final encounter. Through some interesting twists and turns of your own devising, the good guy and bad guy meet for a final encounter. Your options: death, escape with serious injury, taken to jail or mysteriously disappears to fight another day.
That's it. Not quite 'paint by numbers' but it is one formula where you can plug in elements and scenes, just like in a movie, and come up with some clever dialogue.
Try it. Seriously, don't do it in one sitting but try it.
But what does this have to do with role-playing? Well, it would surely help G.M.s with their own storytelling, it can help players try more interesting and clever things and it will help you, as a potential writer, to come up with scenes and dialogue. You can use the same basic formula a hundred times and always come up with different and interesting stories.
One final thing: props. If you take a little time (you are on the internet), you can dig up all kinds of articles about, say, the latest scientific advances. A robotic exoskeleton has just been unveiled, for example. Or what about nanotechnology? Or mind-machine interfaces? With a little research, you can take what's real or what's on the horizon and drop it into a story situation. A common theme of hardware science fiction is to take such current or near future technology and tell a story with it. Take Will Smith in "I, Robot."
For those who are into fantasy settings, do a search of mythology other than Greek or Roman. There's a lot out there. This is the background that inspires writers, along with your own inventions. If you want to create a fantasy or science fiction world, it's best to populate it with characters and creatures that are built on myths and themes that everybody can relate to.
Sure, with some hard work and time, you can come up with vehicles and creatures and unusual weapons, but what drives all of it is the story. Take the original 3 Star Wars movies. Yeah, the gadgets, droids and settings were cool but what gave them life were the people and their struggle. The Empire and the Rebellion. The good guys and the bad put together in a way that was new enough and fresh enough that people oohed and aahed.
So. You've got an idea, words, a place, some characters, some creatures... etc. Build a setting and set up a story for them. It needs to have a beginning, a middle and an end. Sometimes, you'll get alternate ideas popping into your head as you write. That's OK. Just pick one of them and go with it. You can always go back and plug in your other idea(s) if you think they make for a better story. But job one is to put something on paper, make a decision about whether you like it, and If not, ask yourself why. Then come up with some ways to make it work. Pick one, Plug it in. Don't worry about spelling and punctuation too much - write.
That's it for now.
Alex Marciniszyn
Now anyone can tell a story. You have any time you saw or heard something you thought was cool or interesting. Think back to coming home or calling a buddy and saying: "You won't believe what I just saw or heard or..." You've done it and it made sense and people reacted to it, and were likely inspired to tell it to others.
That's what a good story does - excites, informs and inspires. That's what gets you to role-play. (Or at least buy more books by the same author.)
Now take a few minutes to forget whatever you've heard about writing and storytelling. Just read on, and absorb.
I believe anyone who is really interested can write. That's right, I'm talking about a lot of you. Just ignore the little voice that says "I can't do it," and try the following:
Comic book story:
Opens with bad guy (you create) who does something bad.
Confronts good guy (you create) and hurts him or not, and escapes.
Good guy tries to find bad guy before he/she/it does more harm. Another confrontation where serious injury results to one or both. The fighting ends and both regroup.
Final encounter. Through some interesting twists and turns of your own devising, the good guy and bad guy meet for a final encounter. Your options: death, escape with serious injury, taken to jail or mysteriously disappears to fight another day.
That's it. Not quite 'paint by numbers' but it is one formula where you can plug in elements and scenes, just like in a movie, and come up with some clever dialogue.
Try it. Seriously, don't do it in one sitting but try it.
But what does this have to do with role-playing? Well, it would surely help G.M.s with their own storytelling, it can help players try more interesting and clever things and it will help you, as a potential writer, to come up with scenes and dialogue. You can use the same basic formula a hundred times and always come up with different and interesting stories.
One final thing: props. If you take a little time (you are on the internet), you can dig up all kinds of articles about, say, the latest scientific advances. A robotic exoskeleton has just been unveiled, for example. Or what about nanotechnology? Or mind-machine interfaces? With a little research, you can take what's real or what's on the horizon and drop it into a story situation. A common theme of hardware science fiction is to take such current or near future technology and tell a story with it. Take Will Smith in "I, Robot."
For those who are into fantasy settings, do a search of mythology other than Greek or Roman. There's a lot out there. This is the background that inspires writers, along with your own inventions. If you want to create a fantasy or science fiction world, it's best to populate it with characters and creatures that are built on myths and themes that everybody can relate to.
Sure, with some hard work and time, you can come up with vehicles and creatures and unusual weapons, but what drives all of it is the story. Take the original 3 Star Wars movies. Yeah, the gadgets, droids and settings were cool but what gave them life were the people and their struggle. The Empire and the Rebellion. The good guys and the bad put together in a way that was new enough and fresh enough that people oohed and aahed.
So. You've got an idea, words, a place, some characters, some creatures... etc. Build a setting and set up a story for them. It needs to have a beginning, a middle and an end. Sometimes, you'll get alternate ideas popping into your head as you write. That's OK. Just pick one of them and go with it. You can always go back and plug in your other idea(s) if you think they make for a better story. But job one is to put something on paper, make a decision about whether you like it, and If not, ask yourself why. Then come up with some ways to make it work. Pick one, Plug it in. Don't worry about spelling and punctuation too much - write.
That's it for now.
Alex Marciniszyn