BW PDF - Midnight Campaign

Story & ConceptWhile there are some unique challenges in telling a story in a role-playing game setting, there are also manywriting techniques that can be borrowed from other forms of fiction, such as books, short stories, television andmovies, that can greatly enrich the experience of the players and deepen the storytelling experience for everyone.This section will help walk a storyteller through some key elements of building a plot, and will include a list ofprominent story arcs that can help build ideas for a successful game. While role-playing games almost neverfollow such a clean story path, these concepts will give the storyteller somewhere to start, and give the gamesome consistency.TELLING A STORYWhile there are some unique challenges in storytellinga role-playing game, including the variability of dice andthe often unpredictable actions of players, there are alsomany techniques that can be borrowed from other formsof fiction that can greatly enrich the experience of theplayers and deepen the experience for everyone.The storytelling experience in and of itself is one-partpreparation, one-part social interaction, and two partsshowmanship. The specific presentation of scenarios,encounters and non-player characters will make a hugedifference in how engaging and fun a game can be.This section goes through some basic story structure,which can be a great help in plotting the way that yourgame will play out.PREP-WORKBefore diving into storytelling techniques, it is generallybest to have all of the preparations done before-hand.While many storytellers and players can ad-hoc a gameor a character together on the fly, it is almost alwaysbetter to have preparation done beforehand. This couldinclude prior information that the players will needto have about the setting, or could just be as simple asmaking sure that all the characters are ready and thatcharacter sheets are filled out.THE HOOK, ENGAGING THE PLAYERS: The first step in building arole-playing story is to engage the players. People cometo a role-playing game table with a very wide variety ofexpectations, but it is the Storyteller’s prerogative tocatch the group’s attention within the first few minutesof the game.185