There are two items in the manifesto that I think are driving at the same thing from slightly different angles, so I’m going to cover them off together.
2. There shall be no “main plot”.
As anyone who has played in my games will attest, this is one I’m disposed to pretty much reject outright – not because it’s always a bad idea, but because it does not suit the style of games I like to run at all. The games I like to run can be summed up as “serial, about two years long, ending when the plot resolves”.
I cut my LARPing teeth on various large scale Vampire LARPs where there was no main plot, merely a series of events stretching on and on forever. (The ref team might well have been writing “main plot” on a “right this one is done what shall we do now?” basis, but it’s not the same as one single coherent narrative – the games kept going after each plot resolved) Nothing ended. No complete stories were told. Well, no, that’s not true. Individual characters’ more-or-less-complete stories were told, ending when they died or stepped off the stage. But they weren’t unified by anything, and the games were (much) weaker for it.
I think I may have swallowed Alan Moore’s introduction to The Dark Knight Returns whole, at an impressionable age, because I very passionately believe that what gives stories power is their ending. If you don’t bring the curtain down, in a clear and tidy manner that wraps everything up that needs to be wrapped up (although bear in mind that not everything does) and then stops, then you are Doing It Wrong.
This doesn’t mean I’m blind to the flaws of Big Plot. I have been toying with trying a different structure for the Next Thing, one that unifies the game around a series of smaller plots across an express theme, rather than having one big plot, but honestly, I don’t think it will solve the problem that this is designed to prevent – which is the idea that some events in the game are more “important” than others, and that some characters get more to do that others because they are more influential within those events (and then they get more to do because they were influential in those events, creating a vicious cycle).
But I think I’m willing to live with that. “Main plot” unifies the game, gives a sense of forward motion and a sense of completeness when it ends, in a way that simply running half a dozen thematically connected (but narratively disconnected) stories just won’t do as well. Doing that does mean, though, that I need to find ways to make sure no characters feel more important than others.
3. No character shall only be a supporting part.
This is pretty connected to the number 2, above, and one I don’t disagree with at all. Every character should be the star of their own story, which should feed the greater story. I don’t like PCs that are created as double acts, unless it’s very clearly a double act of equals. I try and make sure that everyone that wants to get something to do, gets something to do, and that it’s all equally important. I’m not always successful, I know that, but that’s certainly the aim.
Key ideas to consider for the next game:
- How to avoid the idea/appearance that some characters are more important by virtue of their interaction with External Plot (or any other reason).
- A multi plot-arc structure?
Rebecca
27th May 2014 — 12:20 pm
One alternate way of approaching the Big Plot problems is to make sure that your ‘side plots’ don’t look too ‘side plotty’. To put that into a more manifesto-like style: no plot should be underdeveloped. Every plot should look as important as the Big Plot even if it is not the Big Plot.
I should add that this is something I think you’ve always done very well (not without exception I’m sure but primarily at least). Often I have found myself hooked on bits of side plot much more – Raglock Manor is an excellent example of this. Additionally it may not be something that works throughout the whole game – as you’re winding up you may well want the Big Plot to be more important, otherwise you’ll never finish.
Another thing worth considering is that some (not all) plots should finish at varying points throughout the game. A lot of things tend to get wrapped up as part of/at the end of the Big Plot. I’d like to see things ending earlier on. This is especially nice for people who like ‘win/completion satisfaction’ from things (I personally am more excited by the idea of the completion of plots adding to the shaping and development of my characters).
alasdair
27th May 2014 — 7:37 pm
It’s interesting to me that you picked Raglock as a “side plot” – I didn’t see it that way at all. Mind you, I’d have a hard time calling anything in Restitution a “side plot” – in my head it was all one huge plot – I might just about be able to break it into Acts, but it was all one story, to me. But then, I had the perspective on the whole narrative the whole time, so of course that’s how it looked to me…
Which is not to say I think you’re wrong to call it that, but it neatly illustrates the way that some things can feel more important than others, despite intent. I’m going to have to think about how to overcome that – obviously, if there is a “Big Picture” in the next game I’m not going to be able to operate without knowledge of it, so it’s always going to be hard for me to understand how it feels to only be seeing part of the details at any given time.
Rebecca
27th May 2014 — 7:48 pm
There were very obviously parts of Raglock which were not side plot! I was thinking more of the history of the Manor itself, which was the bit I got hooked on (but died before I could solve).
But you make a good point that the importantness of plots is entirely open to interpretation – I think that such interpretation is informed by how fleshed out your side plots are, though.