Since we're talking about GNS, another fun design tool for RPGs that has gotten recent discussion in some quarters is Core Story (to use one term for it).
Tired Disclaimer: You can't get into any rpg game theory discussion without a certain amount of head-butting (as this thread can attest), but I'm going to base my post around the recent discussion kicked up by a Mike Mearls
essay from this past spring. Mike is well known in d20 circles as a popular designer and is a recent hire at WotC. His essay is therefore mainly from a D&D perspective. He is also sometimes outspoken and opinionated on the internet and other forums. Therefore, if for any reason you hate/dislike/distain his design, writing, or opinions; more power to ya. The essay remains a nice introduction to the core story concept (which he
doesn't take any credit for inventing). The upshot was a lot of spawned discussion threads in various boards and blogs (I know you saw
this thread on RPG.net, Mal
![Big grin :D :D](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
).
Anyway, the idea as I saw it, was to describe the fundamental gameplay narrative from the
player's point of view (as opposed to GNS's character narrative). A good core story will tell a prospective player for your game the answers to the questions of who, what, and why, in regards to character play. Having a defined, focused core story can be a powerful tool to the rpg designer (or Referee/GM). The value of this concept remains a matter of opinion -- when Mike talks about most successful games having some kind of core story, he's speaking from a designer/publisher/sales point of view -- you're mileage may vary.
As an example from the
essay comments, here is D&D's core story:
Originally posted on LiveJournal by Ryan Dancey:
A party of adventurers assemble to seek fame and fortune. They leave civilization for a location of extreme danger. They fight monsters and overcome obstacles and acquire new abilities and items of power. Afterwards they return to civilization and sell the phat loot. Next week, they do it all over again.
(Note: This can be reduced to: "The party of adventurers kicks down the door, kills the monster, takes its stuff, and powers up.")
(Note the 2nd: This is the basic forumula of virtually every popular (A)D&D scenario ever written....)
For Star Wars RPG:
Originally posted on LiveJournal by Ryan Dancey:
"A team of heroes goes to a space-based location, infiltrates it, and accomplishes a goal before fleeing to safety."
(Note: This is a central component of Star Wars Episodes I, III, IV, and VI!)
(Note the 2nd: I don't think that there are any published D20 SW adventures that exploit this core story...)
Takes on specific D&D settings and other games:
Originally posted by various:
"The heroes are the oppressed people of Athas who rise against the forces that would enslave them, battle against the minions of the wizard kings, and push back the yoke of tyranny."
"The heroes are independent operatives who accept comissions from powerful merchant families to infiltrate exotic locations, accomplish a goal to defeat a rival or evil organization, and flee to safety as the location either blows up, collapses, or falls into a volcanic rift."
"A party of investigators is thrown together by the shared experience of a supernatural or inhuman terror. They pursue clues and question witnesses, travelling the world in an attempt to foil a plot by cultists or other servants of the Mythos before it is complete. Next week, if they aren't all dead or insane, they do it all over again."
"A bunch of middle-aged freelance thugs arrive at a new star system, maybe do some trading, get a job from a patron, get in trouble, resolve trouble, and leave for the next star system. Repeat next week."
Okay, so that last one was someone's humorous attempt at defining Traveller's core story, but that does beg the question. The initial CT release clearly had no core story whatsoever. The proverbial, "okay, I created a character, now what?" flavor of game.
One of the things I observed in the discussion of this idea is that there is a direct relationship between supported game mechanics and the kinds of core stories a game can support. In
an ENWorld thread on this topic, Mike states that in the past, the core story of many games evolved organically from the way players adapted the available rules, and that current designers now try to turn that around by creating support specifically for the intended adventure narrative. CT mechanics supported ex-military characters, combat, and interstellar trade. So is it any surprise that two of the first core stories to emerge in CT were Free Traders and Merc Tickets?
For comparison, Mike observes in his essay that "GURPS lacks a core story, but it's designed to allow the end user to replicate the core stories taken from other games" and later opines that "a game that lacks a core story invariably acquires D&D's core story". I'm not entirely convinced of the latter, but we've all heard of (or experienced) Traveller games run as D&D style dungeon crawls.
Obviously, individual GMs can mold their campaigns around any core story they wish, but does that mean designers can safely ignore the idea altogether? I can also see the utility of using this idea at the individual IMTU level. Should the designer/publisher simply assume the GMs will always provide this level of abstraction? It's pretty clear to me that games using the "narrow but deep" design are easier to run and find/keep players. The alternative is to be a niche game or take the GURPS kitchen sink (with strong supplemental settings) approach. In hindsight, CT started without any core story (or "theme"), and later the OTU setting evolved to provide some support for a number of vaguely defined game narratives. Subsequent versions of the game increasingly tightened the core stories and the rules that supported them (until T4 -- all of Aramis's comments on this point are excellent).
I don't think you have to have a highly detailed setting (for those that prefer to roll their own) in order to implement a durable core story. You can make the gameplay
about something without having to provide maps or specifics. The rules you provide (or omit) are going to create a core gameplay pattern in any case, so why not plan for that up front? Those that wish can take the game beyond the base narrative (I can run a D&D campaign that turns the D&D Core Story on its ear), and those that don't can easily get a quick grip on the expected nature of the characters and their adventures.
I do not mean this as a dig against past versions of the game. I personally can handle the soft narrative focus found in the various versions of Traveller, but I admit there are advantges to a strong core story I wouldn't mind having. However, I do have to wonder if it's possible to capture the essense of Traveller in a core story abstract and deep enough to be useful, better than "a bunch of middle-aged freelance thugs...", anyway. The tremendous history and resources this game has can also be its worst baggage.
Does T5 have to trod the old path, or would a different design approach benefit more gamers? I'm not convinced the 'throw them in pool' approach would be very successful today.