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<H1>Re: [MUD-Dev] Reusable plots for quests</H1>
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<LI><em>To</em>: <<A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#null,net">mud-dev#null,net</A>></LI>
<LI><em>Subject</em>: Re: [MUD-Dev] Reusable plots for quests</LI>
<LI><em>From</em>: "Travis Casey" <<A HREF="mailto:efindel#polaris,net">efindel#polaris,net</A>></LI>
<LI><em>Date</em>: Sun, 19 Oct 1997 15:56:14 -0400</LI>
<LI><em>Reply-To</em>: "Travis Casey" <<A HREF="mailto:efindel#io,com">efindel#io,com</A>></LI>
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<PRE>
Brian Price <blprice#bedford,net> wrote:
>> From: "Travis Casey" <efindel#polaris,net>
>> Brian Price <blprice#bedford,net> wrote:
>> - First, a general "plot" is randomly selected. These plots are
>> *very* general -- along the lines of "find and retrieve something,"
>> "help someone achieve a goal," etc.
>
>Man learns a lesson :)
A side note here. "Man learns a lesson" is a common element of drama, but
it's rarely used as a plot. Rather, it's the *outcome* of the plot -- the
fact that the main character has changed in some way is what makes the
story *significant*, but it doesn't affect the storyline/plot itself.
IMHO, trying to choose such outcomes won't work for an automatic plot-
generation system. The writer of a story can choose to make the main
character learn a lesson, because he/she controls what the main character
is like. On a mud, we don't have the freedom to determine what the PCs
are like.
To give an example, a common theme in literature is a hero who must learn
humility. This is a classic plot outcome, but it won't work for an
automatic quest on a standard mud, because it implicitly assumes that the
hero isn't humble already. What if the player of a humble character
decides to try the quest? If that happens, there's no need for the
character to learn humility, and the "lesson" becomes irrelevant.
Of course, there are some ways that this can be saved:
- Aim plots at particular PCs. Going back to the "princess and the orcs",
the king could choose a PC or group of PCs to rescue the princess instead
of throwing it open to all comers. This, however, requires several
things:
1. The players have to be willing to go along with it. If the chosen
player(s) won't take the quest, the lesson(s) that have been
crafted for them will most likely have to be redone for someone
else. Also, there's a chance that the player(s) will think that
the outcome chosen is stupid or doesn't fit with how they want
their character to be -- a player who's chosen to play an arrogant
knight might not *want* him/her to learn humility.
2. The quest designer has to know enough about the characters to be
able to design quests around their character traits. In the case
of an automated system, this might involve a character trait
rating system like some paper RPGs (e.g., Pendragon) use.
3. The quest designers have to be careful not to allow any favoritism.
This is much easier for an automatic system, of course. Human
designers, however, need to be sure to try to give all PCs equal
"spotlight time."
- Build stories so that the primary character in the story is not a PC.
For example, in my earlier post, I mentioned that the "rescue the
princess" plot could be broad enough to include "rescue the princess
from herself." In such a case, the person learning the lesson might be
the princess rather than one of the PCs. Since the quest designer can
control NPCs and can make them to suit, this avoids the first two
pitfalls above. The only danger in it is that the players may feel
themselves to be *too* peripheral if it's used too often.
>In a pnel type multi-plot story, your stories and sub-stories
>developed as above would be mapped into the story's possibility sea
>as potential plots/sub-plots. The story would not actually be
>built until run-time in an interactive manner with the PC/PC group.
This is a good idea -- waiting until a particular PC or group has
chosen to "try" the plot allows customizing it to the PCs. This may
or may not be an interactive process... for those more interested in
hiding the "behind-the-scenes" details from the players, it might
make more sense for the software or the human designer to tweak things
on the fly for the player(s).
--
|\ _,,,---,,_ Travis S. Casey <efindel#io,com>
ZZzz /,`.-'`' -. ;-;;,_ No one agrees with me. Not even me.
|,4- ) )-,_..;\ ( `'-' rec.games.design FAQ:
'---''(_/--' `-'\_) <A HREF="http://www.io.com/~efindel/design.html">http://www.io.com/~efindel/design.html</A>
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<ul><li>Thread context:
<BLOCKQUOTE><UL>
<LI><STRONG>Re: [MUD-Dev] Reusable plots for quests</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM>
<ul compact>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00033" HREF="msg00033.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Reusable plots for quests</A></strong>,
Brian Price <a href="mailto:blprice#bedford,net">blprice#bedford,net</a>, Sat 04 Oct 1997, 07:01 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00095" HREF="msg00095.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Reusable plots for quests</A></strong>,
Travis Casey <a href="mailto:efindel#polaris,net">efindel#polaris,net</a>, Sun 12 Oct 1997, 02:09 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00096" HREF="msg00096.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Reusable plots for quests</A></strong>,
Brian Price <a href="mailto:blprice#bedford,net">blprice#bedford,net</a>, Sun 12 Oct 1997, 13:08 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00098" HREF="msg00098.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Reusable plots for quests</A></strong>,
Brandon J. Rickman <a href="mailto:ashes#pc4,zennet.com">ashes#pc4,zennet.com</a>, Mon 13 Oct 1997, 00:09 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00126" HREF="msg00126.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Reusable plots for quests</A></strong>,
Travis Casey <a href="mailto:efindel#polaris,net">efindel#polaris,net</a>, Sun 19 Oct 1997, 19:57 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00127" HREF="msg00127.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Reusable plots for quests</A></strong>,
Travis Casey <a href="mailto:efindel#polaris,net">efindel#polaris,net</a>, Sun 19 Oct 1997, 20:40 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00135" HREF="msg00135.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Reusable plots for quests</A></strong>,
Adam Wiggins <a href="mailto:nightfall#user2,inficad.com">nightfall#user2,inficad.com</a>, Tue 21 Oct 1997, 08:51 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00143" HREF="msg00143.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Reusable plots for quests</A></strong>,
coder <a href="mailto:coder#ibm,net">coder#ibm,net</a>, Thu 23 Oct 1997, 17:05 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00150" HREF="msg00150.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Reusable plots for quests</A></strong>,
Travis S. Casey <a href="mailto:efindel#io,com">efindel#io,com</a>, Fri 24 Oct 1997, 18:30 GMT
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