What Makes a Great RPG - The Story
When most people talk about computer role-playing games (CRPGs), one of the first points brought up is the story. Many of the most successful CRPGs have game mechanics that aren't really all that complicated. If divorced from the context and story, you end up with... well, something like RRRRPG. Or ProgressQuest, which lampooned massively multiplayer games by eliminating almost all interactivity to make it purely a "grinding simulator."

But it's the context and story that really matter to players. After all, the desire that spawned the old pen-and-paper RPGs was to become a participant in beloved stories, and not just a passive audience. And there's a huge body of work out there explaining in great detail how to tell better stories in other media.

Is Interactivity the Enemy of Story?
But a funny thing happens when you start mucking around inside a story. The story changes. And not always for the better. One way of looking at it is that participation in the story destroys the story. As players, our ideal is to have the story re-written on-the-fly around our actions. So we manage to kill Darth Vader with a lucky shot during the trench run on the Death Star in A New Hope... or, uh, kill Gollum before the end of the Fellowship of the Ring. Can't the game just roll with it?

That's tough for a human game-master to pull off well. And for a computer? Yeah, well, computers are known for their creativity, aren't they? Shamus Young authored a great webcomic series, "DM of the Rings," dealing (in part) with the conflict between linear story and player choice in pen-and-paper RPGs (not to mention making lots of fun of the movies and RPG players), and posted an article just yesterday entitled "Freedom vs. Story," dealing with the same issue in computer RPGs.

So is story the natural enemy of interactivity? I don't think so. In fact, I think it's provably false.

In my mind, interactivity is a major complication on an already difficult art of good storytelling. In theory, at least, interactivity is an exponential increase to the difficulty of telling a story. In a finite computer, a player is going to have a finite number of interactions. There are only so many input values a computer can accept and recognize. So it is possible to write a wonderful story for every single combination of inputs the player may provide. There's just a small problem... you'll be creating alternate stories until the heat death of the universe just to cover the first twenty minutes of game-play.

It's what we computer science geeks call an "order C to the power of n" problem in "big O" notation. However, we at least know that its possible. Once we know that, then we can worry about optimizing that until it we get it under control. And we've been arguing about how to do that for decades, now.

The usual approach adopted by commercial sector (meaning they must actually, you know, SHIP a game...) is to limit the impact of interactivity on the story. You can do all this stuff, but the story will proceed linearly no matter what you do --- or at most, provide a handful of variations. They might provide an illusion of story interactivity which provides some variation in the story. Or they might make it "non-linear," which means that certain segments of the story are designed to take place in different order. Or maybe the story might be broken down into much smaller story segments which take better advantage of interaction on the small scale, but most of those variations are ignored by the larger story, which may only track (for example) whether you succeeded or failed.

Regardless, story is something that usually happens in short, expositional segments that you have to earn through gameplay. It's hardly the most satisfying of possibilities. But you know what? It works. They provide enough context to get the player emotionally invested in the characters, the world, and what's going on. Its enough that a good ending can be a strong emotional payoff. Storytelling and interactivity may be a match brewed in the lowest level of Hell, but even a very limited combination of the two - done well - can be extremely powerful.

And as Mike Rubin pointed out in a thread yesterday, "What Does Narrative Gain from Interactivity?", there may be other approaches as well. Developers continue to experiment with different ways to make a story respond and change itself according to player actions. All we know for sure is that the "brute force" approach seems doomed to failure.

What Players Want

• Interesting characters outside of the player-character. As with all stories, it is the characters within the story that make the audience care, not the plot or "history" or intriguing setting (though those all help).
• Surprises and twists. Even though we players often go to great lengths to avoid them.
• Unique and fresh stories. Unless we're brand-new to RPGs, we've killed Foozle and recovered the Orb of Mumbo-Jumbo so many times before that these really don't constitute
• A story that responds to player choices. Not just multiple endings.
• To be the main protagonist in the plot, but not to feel like the world (or story) revolves around them.
• Epic plots. And non-epic plots.
  
• And everything that audiences want in linear books, movies, and other storytelling media
  

Examples
I don't know if I could really point at any RPG and say, "That had a great story!" Many had stong beginnings and / or endings, with some key and emotionally involving middle segments. But if you consider the story to include all the random battles, wandering around trying to find what to do next, getting NPCs to restate the same dialog over and over, and spending time in shops and inventory screens trying to beef up my characters, all of the stories kinda dragged in the middle...

But in spite of this, some manage to "click" with players. They sucked us in, got us emotionally invested in the game, and caused us to keep clicking away through fights to find out what happens next.

In Ultima VII: The Black Gate, the game's title sequence brought you face-to-face with your nemesis, the Guardian. The conflict was set up from the get-go. Then you get dropped into a murder mystery. It was one of the strongest openings that I recall in a western RPG. And the mystery continued to develop as you discovered a new religion sweeping across the land that seemed beneficial on the outside, but corrupt from within. It put a new face on the old "kill the Foozle" plot, and it felt fresh and interesting.

In Baldur's Gate I and Baldur's Gate II, the overall story arc put you in the unusual position of being the offspring - and potential new incarnation of - a god. And not a nice, sweet god of hugs and puppies, either. To make matters more interesting, you aren't the only one of the "potentials." Its a battle royale between you, the other god-spawn, and those that would use you for their own ends. While the story itself got a little meandering and lost in its own subplots, it was at least an interesting premise.

Final Fantasy VII - Wow. Well, you play an angsty spikey-haired guy with a sword of Freudian proportions. You begin the game as total tough-guy mercenary ex-special forces guy, and get involved in a love triangle while trying to stop a company from employing its eco-unfriendly practices. All this changes when it becomes apparent that a giant meteor is hurtling towards the planet and will wipe out everything long before the company bleeds it dry for energy. The only person who can save the planet is one member of the love-triangle, a pretty flower-seller who is actually descended from a line of ancient, powerful aliens. But then she gets skewered by a pretty-boy villain halfway through the game. That was shocking enough that the whole rest of the story - about saving the planet, ecological responsibility, strange translations of philosophical mumbo-jumbo, and the fact that the angry young protagonist is actually a total failure with mental problems - becomes mostly forgotten. It all becomes about wiping the smile off the pretty-boy villain's face once and for all.

And hey, that worked really well.

Chrono Trigger's storyline dared to tackle time travel, paradox, and heroes turned into frogs. It was also willing to vaporize the main character halfway through the game, though unlike Aeris in FF7, he gets better.

I've stated more than once that Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines had perhaps the best ending of any game I've ever played, though it was only one of several (many of which do not end well for the player character at all). The main storyline revolves around the Vampire Prince's bid to consolidate his weakening power in the wake of the arrival of a mysterious ancient casket that may house an unspeakable ancient evil - and tremendous power - within. It's a smart story, and the "Anarch" ending has a particularly amusing and satisfying twist.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun recently did a retrospective on the storyline of Planescape: Torment, sometimes called, "The Best RPG You'll Ever Read." As Kieron Gillen summarizes, "While we’re a long way from the videogame equivalent of a Tolstoy or a Dostoevsky, for what it’s worth, Planescape is as close as we’ve come, and worthy of real literary consideration... It’s a philosophical buddy-hatey road movie based around the search for the self and the endlessly reiterated question 'What can change the nature of a man?'. And you find yourself lingering on that. Not just what can change the nature of your character – but what made you and what manner of man are you anyway."

What The Players Say
"I think the core of an RPG is its story and its backstory, being able to understand where the world has been and where its going as well as your character’s story within the entire story. I agree that freedom is extremely important, being able to make your own decisions rather than being pushed by the programming to go in one direction, freedom can also be your class/race options as well, the ability to do almost whatever you want." - Rebby, at Twenty-Sided

"There needs to be a moment that will make you just HAVE to tell someone about it. Preferably more then one, but you really need the 'I can't believe that just happened. That is so cool/disturbing/amazing/unbelievable/surprising/awful" - I don't think it matters what adjective it spawns, as long as the player remembers it and tells others about it, even if it screwed his character. (It can't screw the player - it can't put the player in a place that continuing on from isn't fun. The CHARACTER can be hosed, the PLAYER needs fun)" - Random Gamer, Rampant Games Forums

"There are three basic human desires/needs that games can fulfill: Beating/winning something, Developing/constructing something, and unfolding a story. Various games have different balances of each of these things, but I think one reason RPG’s do so well, are such a powerful genre, is that they do all three." - Chilango2, at Twenty-Sided

"The things that make RPGs great is exactly what does not allow them to work on the computer. While I enjoy games that are called “RPG” on a computer, I don’t consider them RPGs. RPGs, at least for me, are great because of the almost infinite possibilities for storytelling and character development that can only occur because of the interplay between players and a GM." - Strangeite, at Twenty-Sided.

"A while ago when I discussed about games with a friend, I was asked why I value a certain game so highly. I was baffled for a moment, thinking about if I should point at the great story, the amazing graphics, the ease of control. I decided that all of those need too many words to explain and said "Because it made me laugh and cry" ... and I think this was the most truthful answer. A game makes the step to great if it catches me, makes me feel involved." - Hajo, Rampant Games Forums

"Good storylines come from good characters.If characters aren’t good, and you don’t buy their motivations for the presented actions, then the story falls apart." - Phlux, at Twenty-Sided.

"THE important aspect of RPGs - a well written story. This seperates RPGs from other games, and while a good story won’t do much good if the game is otherwise crappy, even the best RPG will always be mediocre without a captivating plot, while a mediocre RPG can be greatly improved by a thrilling story. Even more important to me, however, are the characters that the story revolves about: This is what make a game truly memorable in my opinion, fighting for and alongside a group of original, well written people you grow attached to, care for and identify with. This is what makes BioWare games so great for me. " - Froody, at Twenty-Sided

"Everybody keeps bringing up the story or the character development. This isn’t entirely necessary either. The Paper Mario series was great fun, but I wouldn’t call the storylines revolutionary by any stretch of the definition. Same with the freedom vs. rails aspect. Final Fantasy games are fun (rails), but Oblivion was pretty fun, too (freedom)." - Hal, at Twenty-Sided

"To be important to the story arc, but not always the center of it. It feels more immersive to me. I want to feel immersed. Like my decisions matter, not only in the tactical sense (this dungeon, this fight), but also at the operational sense (this quest) and the strategic sense (this character in this world). " - Clouviere, Rampant Games Forums

"The story is ridiculously important. It CAN’T be contrived, full of itself or a messy cliche of an excuse for the action. It needs to be well thought out, and if dramatic, with a dose of comedy, violent, with a dose of humanity and so forth. The NPCs should kind of be like the ones in a Shakespear play. Sure, in Hamlet, everyone is depressed and talking about death, but they still have lovers, bystanders, and comedians." - Craig, at Twenty-Sided

"When I’m in the mood for a good story I tend to look for a good Adventure Game. When I play an RPG I’m looking for and focused more on a good backstory and setting. But more importantly, I want the freedom to attack the quest however I see fit and NPCs that are at least mildly engaging." - Lost Chauncy, at Twenty-Sided

"People don’t just want choices, they want choices that have a real and lasting effect." - Joshua, at Twenty-Sided

"Computer RPGs have just never worked out for me. I get completely frustrated because I want nothing to do with the game’s “official” plot, and I want to go off in my own direction." - Richard Crawford, at Twenty-Sided

Links:
* What Makes a Great RPG?
* What Makes a Great RPG - The Answer?
* What Makes a Great RPG - The World
* What Makes a Great RPG - Playing a Role
* What Makes a Great RPG - Mechanics
* What Makes a Great RPG - Everything Else
* What Makes a Great RPG (Twenty-Sided)
* What Makes a Great RPG, Part II (Twenty-Sided)
* What Makes a Great RPG, Part III (Twenty-Sided)

And The Discussion Keeps Going On the Forum!

Labels: Game Design, Roleplaying Games

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