In writing fiction, it is often beneficial to get your character's from point A to point B as fast as possible, utilizing any means necessary. This keeps the reader flowing along with your narrative, hopefully with no will to jump off. Some storytellers utilize a similar technique when writing roleplaying games. Your party meets at a tavern, they form some kind of obsequious bond over drinks, you find out which players are there for the barmaids, a wise old man approaches and gives them a quest. The quest has incentive: Money (or goodness...which is really disguised as money). The quest has direction: That way! The quest has danger: monsters along the way, a few mini bosses, some traps, a moment or two for roleplay...one big bad that doesn't stand up too well followed by.... money. There are pros and cons for running a game this way.PRO:
1. Flavor text- You are able to craft some beautiful moments- You can describe the water pouring from the lichen encrusted statue, every droplet at a time. You can describe the beautiful vampire lurking in the shadows. You can tell them how many slimy mutant creatures just erupted from the sewers. You can describe the pustules, the fangs, the darkness lingering in their eyes. You can describe everything.
2. Staging and control- Its really easy to plan a narrative around linear storytelling. You can plan every red herring, every side quest, every love interest, every town, every city, every bullet in every clip of every gun, every rabbit humping on the road. Literally everything. You can escalate conflict accordingly as your players gain strength, skills, and gear. You have an immense amount of control.
3. Unity- Your players will stick together. They will rarely diverge from the narrative (most of the time). By the end, they will be heroes, bound together by conflict, friendship, gallons of spilled beer. The players will become friends in game and out of game.
CONS:
1. Its stale- linear storytelling in a roleplaying game doesn't let players bring as much life to the narrative. If the players want to head off the beaten trail, and you're not ready for them, game can grind to a dull halt as you rapidly brain vomit up some random shit for them to do.
2. It doesn't let the game breathe- A truly good game is a living world where things shift unexpectedly. The characters are forced to make horrible choices and face the consequences. If players are stuck on a rail, you'll be forced to do cinematic sequences that take away their free will, which sucks most of the time.
3. Character development- Player Characters won't develop to the level you may want them to. A truly great storyteller will get them there, but it will usually be by guiding them there, not through their own choices. The space bandit with the heart of gold will just be a little wealthier and will probably have saved some dozen space taverns by the time he hangs up his space diapers.
Non- Linear storytelling. Sandboxes. Remember them? They were fun when you were a kid, you could build anything. Remember the deathstar made of sand? Remember the dragon you built to fight army men? Remember the sand you brought into your room for your pirate legos? I do. Listen, if you can do it, if you have the mental flexibility, non-linear storytelling is better than sex. Or...on par with it....or....ok, its not as good as sex...but its a close second. It is tough though, you have to have the mind of a Machiavellian ratbag, and the eye of the tiger with a shotgun full of knowledge and a solid plan....Which you will be ripping up and retyping every week for a while.
PRO:
1- Its expansive- the world is there for players to explore, not jump into a line and walk through. Players can go anywhere do anything (within reason). You can go off the beaten path as often as you want, and should encourage it as often as possible.
2- Its unexpected. Players will be forced to do the unexpected, which will force you to adapt your narrative to their influence. This makes it far more fun for the players, and a hell of a lot more fun for you the storyteller.
3- Its usually more character driven. Players end up having more of a horse in the race, believe me. When they can accomplish their goals away from your controlling meddling hands (you know your hands are meddling), they become better players, and better future game masters themselves. When they accomplish things in game, it tastes sweeter to them, and sweeter to you.
4- It can be anything you want it to be. You can explore character, theme, combat, all the things that speak to you as a storyteller. I will talk more what that might entail in future entries, but just realize, everything is better when you jumble it up and see what comes out.
5- You get to learn your players- In order to build an interesting and compelling narrative, you should learn how your players tick, and through them, how their characters tick. Doing this will allow you to predict how they will react. This will help you keep some tabs on the narrative structure of the game, but not too much, just enough.
6- It becomes more about story than loot, stats, and money. Trust me, the game will hold an emphasis on story if you just let go of the control.
CON:
Work- It is a ton of work- You have to plan contingencies for everything, and you have to be willing to let your PC's do things to your game, unladylike things, you have to let them rip it apart and see what is left to work with. Trust me, the work is worth it. You will eventually get to a place where the game writes itself.
In later entries I'll help you to think non-linear thoughts. Brain candy awaits.
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