PDA

View Full Version : Great Narratives?



FreakyCheeseMan
2013-02-23, 11:37 AM
Anyone ever participate in a tabletop RPG that really came together, not just as an interesting game or fun social gathering, but as a truly great in-game story?

This means interesting plots, compelling settings, character development, inter-character interactions, meaningful deaths, unexpected twists, deeper meanings, thought-provoking decisions, all of that?

Matticussama
2013-02-23, 11:56 AM
My current DM is a Professor of English at one of the local universities in my area, and as such is masterful when it comes to progressing a compelling narrative. He has an exceptionally strong grasp over tone, pacing, and character personality, and uses this to weave the story that leaves us constantly on edge with anticipation.

We've been playing the same D&D game now for 3 years, so the characters and the world itself are quite complex and wonderful. Characters have made a meaningful impact on the world, grown, changed, and have experienced numerous personal joys and tragedies. It is without a doubt the best D&D game I've ever been in due to the fully immersive story.

FreakyCheeseMan
2013-02-23, 12:11 PM
My current DM is a Professor of English at one of the local universities in my area, and as such is masterful when it comes to progressing a compelling narrative. He has an exceptionally strong grasp over tone, pacing, and character personality, and uses this to weave the story that leaves us constantly on edge with anticipation.

We've been playing the same D&D game now for 3 years, so the characters and the world itself are quite complex and wonderful. Characters have made a meaningful impact on the world, grown, changed, and have experienced numerous personal joys and tragedies. It is without a doubt the best D&D game I've ever been in due to the fully immersive story.

That sounds awesome. Specifics/examples?

Matticussama
2013-02-23, 01:21 PM
There are so many examples that it is hard to choose... let's take one of my character development aspects. I'm not an expert writer, but I'll do my best to depict the suspense and drama as it unfolded.

Here is a quick summary of the character, necessary for the retelling of the game scene itself:
My character in this game is Clovis, a human Wizard from the Cormyrian city of Arabel (Forgotten Realms). He is the 3rd son of a mid-ranking Purple Dragon Knight, Wilhelm, and his mother Gwendalyn is a foppish aristocratic. His eldest brother, Bismark, is an up and coming Knight in his father's foot steps. His second brother, Luciano, is a Cleric of Lathander. Clovis began adventuring in order to prove himself; he was always overshadowed by his older brothers who, with their more martial inclinations, were more similar to their father. Wilhelm was never mean to Clovis, but he simply never understood him; Clovis' academic-intellectual bent simply wasn't something he could relate to. Gwendalyn was more interested in climbing the social ladder than forming a true connection to any of her children.

The story itself:

After finishing an adventure destroying a Drow mercenary group who had taken over an abandoned watchtower in the mountains to the west of Arabel, the party returned to the city in order to cash in their new-found wealth and acquire new gear. When they arrived at the city gates, however, Clovis was recognized by one of the city watch who knew Clovis' father. He was informed that a family emergency had occurred, and that he should return home. Clovis did so, and upon reaching his family home learned that his eldest brother Bismark had died in a duel several days prior.

Naturally suspicious, Clovis and the party begin investigating the matter. The man who challenged Bismark to the duel wasn't from Arabel, and witnesses reported that he had intentionally provoked Bismark by making several rude comments regarding the family and their honor. No one knew why the man did so, as no one in the crowd believed that Bismark knew the man. The duel itself was quite difficult, but Bismark was eventually cut down. However, when Luciano attempted to cast Raise Dead upon Bismark it did not work; upon further investigation, the man who instigated the duel had used some sort of rare poison that prevented Resurrection.

Luciano himself had secluded himself away from everyone else shortly after the incident. Clovis came to discover that Luciano had been drinking himself into a drunken stupor, and that the clergy of Lathander in the city were quite worried about him. As the investigation continued, the party discovered that Luciano had also conducted an investigation after the duel; after 2 days he suddenly stopped, and began his heavy drinking. Following the trail that Luciano had left, they retrace his steps and ended up discovering that the family butler had been seen with the unknown Duelist days prior to the death of Bismark.

Quite perplexed, Clovis forces Luciano to discuss the matter with him and asks why he hadn't brought the matter to light. They eventually coax the details out of him; Luciano's discovered paperwork authorized by their mother Gwendalyn to transfer a large monetary payment out of their family accounts the same day that the butler met with the man. Luciano's scrying revealed that his mother was not possessed or mind controlled in any way; suddenly faced with the apparent truth that his mother had killed her son, Luciano broke down and started drinking heavily rather than facing up to the situation. Any act that Luciano could take to reveal the facts about his brother's death would only further shame the family, and would only hurt their father Wilhelm even more. Clovis and Luciano get into a rather heated argument, but Clovis eventually convinces him that they have to take some kind of action; justice must be met somehow.

Clovis suspects that the butler must have influenced their mother by some means other than magic, so he begins pursing that line of investigation. Through observation, scrying, and a little telepathy the party eventually pieces together that Gwendalyn was embarrassed by her eldest son; Bismark was an active reformist within the community, and his championing the rights of the peasants against abuses by some of the nobles was hurting her social standing with the ranking nobility. The butler told her that he could help take care of the problem in a way that would bring no loss of respect to the family, should she give him the wealth to do so. She agreed, stating that any means of handling the situation that would save face for the family was preferable to Bismark's embarrassments. She didn't know exactly what she was authorizing, but in her selfish pride she didn't bother to ask further.

At this point the party splits up; half go to get the mother from a lavish event occurring in the city to bring her home to fess up, while the other half go to deal with the butler. When the party confronts the butler, they discover that the man was actually possessed by a corrupting spirit; the spirit never used magic to force people into corrupt actions, but tempted them with their own vices (in Gwendalyn's case using her pride and short-sightedness against her) He avoided detection by Luciano by a Ring of Mind Shielding, and only revealed himself to the party because he believed that he could kill them and make his escape. It was an extremely tough battle, but the party manages to drive out the spirit. Unfortunately, in doing so they kill the possessed butler, leading to a bit of a cover-up to hide the evidence.

Meanwhile, the party attempting to bring Gwendalyn back to be confronted for her actions gets quite the surprise. Luciano, having been convinced by Clovis that some action had to be taken in the name of justice, decides that he must kill his mother in order to avenge his murdered brother. Not knowing that the butler was possessed and manipulated Gwendalyn, he has come to assume the worst and thinks that she intentionally had Bismark killed. He is still, of course, quite drunk and depressed as he makes all of these decisions. Thus, during this large public event Luciano makes his move. Thankfully, the party Paladin was in the middle of conversing with Gwendalyn when he made his move. With some fast thinking and fast acting (good spot, sense motive, and won initiative) the Paladin shields Gwendalyn with his own body; the party then manages to subdue Luciano, placing him in shackles and turning him over to the town guard. It isn't much longer after this that the group that dealt with the butler makes it to the scene. They bring the evidence about Gwendalyn's involvement to the attention of the town guard, and she is placed on house arrest.

The family is thus left rather dysfunctional, but justice is served. The father is deeply hurt, but he and Clovis finally come to terms with each other and develop a (mostly) healthy father-son relationship. The mother is left a total outcast when all of the details are revealed, has a mental breakdown and spends the rest of her life on house arrest; Wilhem tends to her out of a sense of honor, since she can no longer take care of herself. Luciano faces a long struggle to redeem himself, which in and of itself is plot relevant; he renounces Lathander, joins the Church of Hoar (god of vengeance), eventually gets into a fight with a Pharimm, and has their eggs planted inside his body. In his near death experience he has a genuine atonement for his actions, and Lathander embraces his return to good sense by restoring his Clerical abilities (and thus he can remove the Pharimm eggs).

The possessing spirit, the group later learns, was the agent of a Devil which the group had previously made enemies with. It had intentionally targeted Clovis' family for revenge, because the party had killed a Conjurer whom the Devil had corrupted and planned to use as a pawn.

Lord Torath
2013-02-23, 07:14 PM
Start with The Big One (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=247997) and move to the other Campaign Recaps in Kaveman26's signature.

Then look up the Silverclaw campaign compilations.

You will be awed and amazed.

ArcturusV
2013-02-23, 07:20 PM
I had a few that might have been. I notice that the best stories tend to be cooperative in nature. When you have a DM handing out all the plot/story tidbits you just don't get enough mileage. Might be fun, but never a great story. When players are dishing out all the plot/story as in a high Sandbox Campaign skill, you also end up kind of lacking.

The problem is I almost always have just one guy in my groups who isn't interested in story and I get things from him like "I roll diplomacy".

FreakyCheeseMan
2013-02-23, 08:08 PM
There are so many examples that it is hard to choose... let's take one of my character development aspects. I'm not an expert writer, but I'll do my best to depict the suspense and drama as it unfolded.

Here is a quick summary of the character, necessary for the retelling of the game scene itself:
My character in this game is Clovis, a human Wizard from the Cormyrian city of Arabel (Forgotten Realms). He is the 3rd son of a mid-ranking Purple Dragon Knight, Wilhelm, and his mother Gwendalyn is a foppish aristocratic. His eldest brother, Bismark, is an up and coming Knight in his father's foot steps. His second brother, Luciano, is a Cleric of Lathander. Clovis began adventuring in order to prove himself; he was always overshadowed by his older brothers who, with their more martial inclinations, were more similar to their father. Wilhelm was never mean to Clovis, but he simply never understood him; Clovis' academic-intellectual bent simply wasn't something he could relate to. Gwendalyn was more interested in climbing the social ladder than forming a true connection to any of her children.

The story itself:

After finishing an adventure destroying a Drow mercenary group who had taken over an abandoned watchtower in the mountains to the west of Arabel, the party returned to the city in order to cash in their new-found wealth and acquire new gear. When they arrived at the city gates, however, Clovis was recognized by one of the city watch who knew Clovis' father. He was informed that a family emergency had occurred, and that he should return home. Clovis did so, and upon reaching his family home learned that his eldest brother Bismark had died in a duel several days prior.

Naturally suspicious, Clovis and the party begin investigating the matter. The man who challenged Bismark to the duel wasn't from Arabel, and witnesses reported that he had intentionally provoked Bismark by making several rude comments regarding the family and their honor. No one knew why the man did so, as no one in the crowd believed that Bismark knew the man. The duel itself was quite difficult, but Bismark was eventually cut down. However, when Luciano attempted to cast Raise Dead upon Bismark it did not work; upon further investigation, the man who instigated the duel had used some sort of rare poison that prevented Resurrection.

Luciano himself had secluded himself away from everyone else shortly after the incident. Clovis came to discover that Luciano had been drinking himself into a drunken stupor, and that the clergy of Lathander in the city were quite worried about him. As the investigation continued, the party discovered that Luciano had also conducted an investigation after the duel; after 2 days he suddenly stopped, and began his heavy drinking. Following the trail that Luciano had left, they retrace his steps and ended up discovering that the family butler had been seen with the unknown Duelist days prior to the death of Bismark.

Quite perplexed, Clovis forces Luciano to discuss the matter with him and asks why he hadn't brought the matter to light. They eventually coax the details out of him; Luciano's discovered paperwork authorized by their mother Gwendalyn to transfer a large monetary payment out of their family accounts the same day that the butler met with the man. Luciano's scrying revealed that his mother was not possessed or mind controlled in any way; suddenly faced with the apparent truth that his mother had killed her son, Luciano broke down and started drinking heavily rather than facing up to the situation. Any act that Luciano could take to reveal the facts about his brother's death would only further shame the family, and would only hurt their father Wilhelm even more. Clovis and Luciano get into a rather heated argument, but Clovis eventually convinces him that they have to take some kind of action; justice must be met somehow.

Clovis suspects that the butler must have influenced their mother by some means other than magic, so he begins pursing that line of investigation. Through observation, scrying, and a little telepathy the party eventually pieces together that Gwendalyn was embarrassed by her eldest son; Bismark was an active reformist within the community, and his championing the rights of the peasants against abuses by some of the nobles was hurting her social standing with the ranking nobility. The butler told her that he could help take care of the problem in a way that would bring no loss of respect to the family, should she give him the wealth to do so. She agreed, stating that any means of handling the situation that would save face for the family was preferable to Bismark's embarrassments. She didn't know exactly what she was authorizing, but in her selfish pride she didn't bother to ask further.

At this point the party splits up; half go to get the mother from a lavish event occurring in the city to bring her home to fess up, while the other half go to deal with the butler. When the party confronts the butler, they discover that the man was actually possessed by a corrupting spirit; the spirit never used magic to force people into corrupt actions, but tempted them with their own vices (in Gwendalyn's case using her pride and short-sightedness against her) He avoided detection by Luciano by a Ring of Mind Shielding, and only revealed himself to the party because he believed that he could kill them and make his escape. It was an extremely tough battle, but the party manages to drive out the spirit. Unfortunately, in doing so they kill the possessed butler, leading to a bit of a cover-up to hide the evidence.

Meanwhile, the party attempting to bring Gwendalyn back to be confronted for her actions gets quite the surprise. Luciano, having been convinced by Clovis that some action had to be taken in the name of justice, decides that he must kill his mother in order to avenge his murdered brother. Not knowing that the butler was possessed and manipulated Gwendalyn, he has come to assume the worst and thinks that she intentionally had Bismark killed. He is still, of course, quite drunk and depressed as he makes all of these decisions. Thus, during this large public event Luciano makes his move. Thankfully, the party Paladin was in the middle of conversing with Gwendalyn when he made his move. With some fast thinking and fast acting (good spot, sense motive, and won initiative) the Paladin shields Gwendalyn with his own body; the party then manages to subdue Luciano, placing him in shackles and turning him over to the town guard. It isn't much longer after this that the group that dealt with the butler makes it to the scene. They bring the evidence about Gwendalyn's involvement to the attention of the town guard, and she is placed on house arrest.

The family is thus left rather dysfunctional, but justice is served. The father is deeply hurt, but he and Clovis finally come to terms with each other and develop a (mostly) healthy father-son relationship. The mother is left a total outcast when all of the details are revealed, has a mental breakdown and spends the rest of her life on house arrest; Wilhem tends to her out of a sense of honor, since she can no longer take care of herself. Luciano faces a long struggle to redeem himself, which in and of itself is plot relevant; he renounces Lathander, joins the Church of Hoar (god of vengeance), eventually gets into a fight with a Pharimm, and has their eggs planted inside his body. In his near death experience he has a genuine atonement for his actions, and Lathander embraces his return to good sense by restoring his Clerical abilities (and thus he can remove the Pharimm eggs).

The possessing spirit, the group later learns, was the agent of a Devil which the group had previously made enemies with. It had intentionally targeted Clovis' family for revenge, because the party had killed a Conjurer whom the Devil had corrupted and planned to use as a pawn.

Huh. That is a good one.

I'm curious... do you have any that tied together multiple party members?

Xeratos
2013-02-23, 11:06 PM
I DMed a campaign that started out very light in the back story department but over the year or so it ran, grew into what I consider a rather intricate story. I don't want to spill all the details here, as I actually started writing the story out as a serialized regularly updating novel a few weeks ago, but...

The party consisted of two humans (sorcerer and rogue) and a gnome (bard).

Initially as a joke, every npc who met the gnome kept asking, "What are you?" and then saying, "Gnomes aren't real. They're a myth." This grew into an actual plot device as the gnome attempted to discover what had happened to her entire race, why she was alive when everyone thought gnomes were a myth and only learned scholars believed them to have ever existed, and what happened to her memories of her early life.

At the same time, the sorcerer in the party has his own set of issues to deal with that includes the party being plagued by demonic assassins and his own loss of ability to control his magic.

The rogue, meanwhile, is finding himself with a touch of the prophetic gift and starts developing only a loose association with following the rules of time.

All of their personal problems aside, they still have their original job to finish, which was investigating why primitive humanoid tribes (goblins, orcs, and ogres) have been descending out of the mountains in droves to plague the civilized lands. The root cause of this traces back to the sorcerer and his unfortunate demonic connections. In fact, almost everything links back to that in the end.

And, at this point, I've said more than I planned, but if you're interested in reading the story, there's a link to it in my sig.