TECH: Principles of RPG Design for Writing?

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original Posting May 10, 2015

This may seem a bit odd, but I was looking at the design principles that Howard Tayler says they used to develop their role-playing game (not rocket-propelled grenade, that's only appropriate when the story is really bad!). Over here

http://www.schlockmercenary.com/blog/pmrpg-ks-0506-design

It seems to me that these are a pretty good framework for writing, with a little tweaking. Let's take a look...

1. Story comes first. In particular, things that characters want to do should have obvious real consequences, and the consequences should turn up quickly, too.

2. Abstract Everything Up. Don't get buried in the details, lost in the atmospheric scenery, and all that. Make it easy for people to understand. Don't tell us the names of every person in a group -- just call it the Nerds and let it go!

3. Failure is Fun. Characters need to fail, and get hurt.

4. Role Play (aka reading a story) is Learning! You want characters and their interactions to change over time.

5. No Backsies. Don't repeat. Yes, watching the same character go through the same sequence of actions several times is a bad thing. Show us something new!

There you go. A really concentrated set of guidelines. Story, abstraction, failure, learning, and no repeating.

Now, write!
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