Being unoriginal, to a degree. Confessions.

[gc25774]

I've been thinking. I made a long running campaign plot that borrows heavily on many other sources of media, it's been running for 6 months. Is this okay? The games I used are.....

-Armored Core
-Nier
-Drakengard 1 + 3
-Etrian Odyssey
-Persona 4
-Transistor
-Elona

Should I be completely original? Or does it even matter? What are your thoughts?

[kardar233]

As far as plots go, I've never had trouble coming up with massive, awesome world-spanning plots for my players to lose themselves in.

However, I am awful at creating adventures and quests and so the only adventures that have actually gone well in my games have been mostly or wholly stolen from KotOR II, Dragon Age or others.

[Amphetryon]

I've been thinking. I made a long running campaign plot that borrows heavily on many other sources of media, it's been running for 6 months. Is this okay? The games I used are.....

-Armored Core
-Nier
-Drakengard 1 + 3
-Etrian Odyssey
-Persona 4
-Transistor
-Elona

Should I be completely original? Or does it even matter? What are your thoughts?

There's ultimately no such thing as a completely original plot, as all motivations for action within a plot boil down to a few known tropes. See also the "tropeless trope" on TVTropes (I'm not linking, because I have things to do this week).

[Jack_Simth]

I've been thinking. I made a long running campaign plot that borrows heavily on many other sources of media, it's been running for 6 months. Is this okay? The games I used are.....

-Armored Core
-Nier
-Drakengard 1 + 3
-Etrian Odyssey
-Persona 4
-Transistor
-Elona

Should I be completely original? Or does it even matter? What are your thoughts?
It's been said that there are only seven basic plots. While this may or may not be true, borrowing from other stuff for what amounts to private entertainment is fine, as long as it's done well. If your players are unfamiliar with the source material? Great. If they are? Not a big deal, just change enough that it's not too predictable for them. If you put too much emphasis on doing things that haven't been done before, you'll end up making stuff that's rather insane (and not in a good way).

[gc25774]

It's been said that there are only seven basic plots. While this may or may not be true, borrowing from other stuff for what amounts to private entertainment is fine, as long as it's done well. If your players are unfamiliar with the source material? Great. If they are? Not a big deal, just change enough that it's not too predictable for them. If you put too much emphasis on doing things that haven't been done before, you'll end up making stuff that's rather insane (and not in a good way).

Oh,thanks for the warning.

[Amphetryon]

It's been said that there are only seven basic plots. While this may or may not be true, borrowing from other stuff for what amounts to private entertainment is fine, as long as it's done well. If your players are unfamiliar with the source material? Great. If they are? Not a big deal, just change enough that it's not too predictable for them. If you put too much emphasis on doing things that haven't been done before, you'll end up making stuff that's rather insane (and not in a good way).

I've had players who objected whenever any plot resembled a storyline with which they were already familiar through reading, TV, or other media. Ultimately, I asked them to describe an original plot, and explained why they weren't being original by boiling it down to the root myths being explored.

[ngilop]

One time I had this HUGE campaing drawn up and was working on the finishing touches about a possessed king and his 3rd eldest son and a huge demon prison under a keep of some sort


half way through re-going over the whole thing the 3rd time I realized
"holy crap this is almost the same dang storyline diablo has.. and I have not even touched that game in over a decade.."

[ArqArturo]

As far as plots go, I've never had trouble coming up with massive, awesome world-spanning plots for my players to lose themselves in.

I also do this too, but the players always find a way to monkey-wrench everything :smallamused:.

Not that I'm complaining... Much XD.

[NotScaryBats]

I even think its okay to use Proper Nouns from your favorite works. Just make sure you realize that the PCs need to have agency -- if they wanted to play a video game, they'd probably just play a video game.

But introducing the PCs to an orcish chief named Garrosh will evoke some immediate imagery and assumptions that you can then subvert or play to, which I think is interesting.

[Snowbluff]

-Armored Core


Charden de Chevalier, Orleans, is one of the NPCs in the PbP I run. Of course, it's in name only. :smalltongue: