Unstructued ideas...

[Lord_Mofop]

After seeing what RPG Maker 3 is capable of, I think i'm ready to start writing my story, the only problem is, I cant think of anything. I get all these random character ideas but they're all so cliche. Like for instance, a swordfighter that lives in a small village that wants to go out and explore the world and sharpen his skills. It just sounds so generic and dull. I can think of cool characters, but I cant give them motives or something to fight against. I like RPG's where you start off fighting on thing, only to find out your enemy is something way different, kind of like FFT. But I dont know. I get all of these random ideas in my head. Example, I think of a random rebel group. I think of the group leader, I can think of a name, but I cant even think about what they are even rebelling against. I need structure, anybody have any suggestions?

[WilliamKirk]

Re: Unstructued ideas...

http://www.pavilionboards.com/forum/...read.php?t=581

What I posted there may help. Good luck. I'm actually finding myself in the same situation right now. I want to make a story, but I don't want it to boil down to trying to save something/someone/etc.

[Lord_Mofop]

Re: Unstructued ideas...

I admire your posts WilliamKirk for I saw another one of yours where you gave links to sites about Norse Mythology and other sites where you can generate ideas.

Your post gave me guidance, but I am stuck in another rut. I cannot think of a solid villian. Whenever I think of an RPG idea, I always come up with some generic, "dark stone" that leads people into temptation, kind of like Lord of the Rings. I can't think up a sinister villian. Everyone loves a cool main character, and a cool villian.

Ex.- Cloud and Sephiroth/ Link and Ganondorf/ Mario and Bowser

[WilliamKirk]

Re: Unstructued ideas...

Yeah, what I find hardest is avoiding this cliche:

"Origanly a villian in the game who launch an attack on the hero's kingdom with an army all because when he was a boy the king's wagon ran over his pet dog. Which in his mind justified the countless people who died in the war."

Drives me nuts.

Anyways, thank you very much for the compliments. I must've posted links to that topic 5 or 6 times. ...

[Rodak]

Re: Unstructued ideas...

I take a sort of Zen attitude to making these things.

I create a few characters, and a few situations I find funny and build from there just nailing things together along the way and only when memory starts to run low do I bother trying to see how all the pieces fit together.

Here is a link to the story for my first game (it was built exactly in that manner):

http://www.pavilionboards.com/forum/...ead.php?t=1785

It got surprisingly positive responses from people here and elsewhere considering the creation process.

This may not work for you, but I felt you may not have considered it (it is absurd).

Good luck with it.

Peace.

[NikisKnight]

Re: Unstructued ideas...

I was in the same situation the other night--realized RPG Maker 3 was coming out, then couldn't think of a good story to go along with. What I came up with is actually probably a knock off of a (somewhat) old and underexposed TV series, Roar , but with enough twists to make it different and to make it fit on RPG Maker 3. But I went through idea all night trying to come up with something I'd enjoy making. Sleep on it abit, and you'll probably think of something.

My other eventual project will be a game with very little combat, where your goal is to gather all the ingredients neccesary to win the kingdoms cooking contest. Basically this came about because for my wife (the most common player of my RPGM1 games) the element that she enjoyed the most was walking around the fields, picking 'strawberries' a healing item that used the flower graphic and were found lying around everywhere. SO I though up a story that made finding things paramount and fighting things secondary.

[Manji]

Re: Unstructued ideas...

keep a light head about it.

for myself, i come up with things as i'm building it. i hardly ever develop a backstory, until i construct something and get to actually see it in front of me. that's when i start to imagine what, who, why, when, where & how. i have basic fundamental ideas, but i'm more of a spontaneous story-teller & make things up as i go along.

[Gulshog]

Re: Unstructued ideas...

Cliche? What is cliche? What is more cliche than a fantasy game, or story to begin with? Honestly, I don't really care what is cliche, and what isn't. Fascinating tales about heroes, monsters, and wild adventures are as old as time itself. Every story has already been told by the best, and the worst, storytellers.

To me, it's the characters. I know I've said that before, but it's true. You have to have characters that are interesting, or that have a twist to them. You have to identify with them. You have to want to make them do whatever it is the story is making them do.

And, that's the hard part, because characters can become cliche. I'll give you an example. Gandalf. Everyone and their mother has written a fantasy story with an old mage, wearing robes, a pointed hat, carrying a staff, and being an overall loveable character.

Enter Fizban. Fizban is an homage to Gandalf, in the Dragonlance series of novels by Weis, and Hickman. It is obvious from the start that Fizban is a nod to Tolkien in the most honorable way. But, in the end, Fizban becomes a character himself. He is a powerful being, but he miscasts spells, acts goofy, and is the clumsiest fellow on Krynn(all on purpose to hide his true power).

So, yeah, you can copy Gandalf. And, that is a rip-off, or a cliche'd character. But, look at what you can do as an homage. Take that same idea, give it your own twist, and it can come close, not completely, but close to the legendary status of a character that you are paying tribute to in your story.

[Dungeon Warden]

Re: Unstructued ideas...

Another idea is to take a story idea and switch the characters around. Make the hero the villian, have the princess save the knight, or have the king defend his kingdom from a party of adventures.

Using the quote above:

"Origanly a villian in the game who launch an attack on the hero's kingdom with an army all because when he was a boy the king's wagon ran over his pet dog. Which in his mind justified the countless people who died in the war."

Change the story to:

"Originally, a princess in the game launchs an attack on an evil kingdom with an army because when she was a girl the king caused countless people to die in a war. In her mind, this justified the kidnaping the king's pet dog."

A little silly perhaps, but you can keep mixing things around until you come up with something you like.

[Pandacon]

Re: Unstructued ideas...

Considering ever idea has been done before, I wouldn't worry about being cliche.

When I try to get my stories together for RPGM I dont worry much about being cliche, I just try to think of an interesting story, even if it is a little cliche I dont think it matters, its still your own.

[Lord_Mofop]

Re: Unstructued ideas...

Thanks all of you, I have been writing some stuff down. But what I want to know is what is your main villian? Is it an object, like a dark stone or a ring, or is it a guy who was once good? I am quite interested to see the villians of your games. Don't worry, I dont plan on stealing them for my game, I just want to see what your villian/villians are like.

[MRevelle83]

Re: Unstructued ideas...

The main villains in MR are not evil at all, but the main character feels threatened by them. Although there are demons and such, they are not the main opposition. A difference of ideas and opinions are the basis for most conflicts in reality, not one just being evil.

Try to keep that in mind. Try this: the villain is not evil, but does the things because he thinks he should (or she). Try a more sympathetic character, but one that does evil things because that is all they know. That is similar to the villain in MR, but not exactly.

[Rodak]

Re: Unstructued ideas...

In The Clean Underwear Quest I have an Underwerewolf steal the entire supply of underwear from Disgustinshmere.

It turns out he is working for the Evil Doctor Denton and part of a world wide underwear related conspiracy.

George Bush is the final boss in Videogamedrome.

A good villian is a joy to encounter, so just be sure know the stereotypes and either use something "between the lines" for subtlety, or just take them over the top for fun.

Guess which I prefer.

Peace.

[KingSpoom]

Re: Unstructued ideas...

Considering every idea has been done before, I wouldn't worry about being cliche.

I have to disagree. What's cliche is only the generalization of your story. A knight going to save a princess from a dungeon is cliche. When you start to add details to it, or when it amounts to more than the above sentence, it is no longer cliche. You could say Lord of the rings was about saving the world and it's cliche, but Terminator 2 was also about saving the world. Those two films are nothing alike.

So, instead of focusing on making a villain, focus on what the villain will do to be the opposing force.

[ErikaFuzzbottom]

Re: Unstructued ideas...

My villains? *thinks* Well, without revealing too much...

1, Some guy bent on the destruction of any world he can get his hands on. Motivation? Who cares? The reason he wants to cause distruction isn't important in this game, it's how he goes about it that's important.

2, A demon that causes panic around the world, and sends a few random "chosen ones" out to stop it, even if they're too old to fight. It's a sick game for the demon; he enjoys seeing the suffering of mankind.

3, In this game with something happens to the world, I just have this group that is enjoying the changes (though they're not the ones responsible for the changes), with one powerful leader who is trying to make sure things don't get changed back to normal.

4, A thief who found this powerful meteorite that he used to make himself king, and is slowly putting the country into poverty because of his high taxes. Though he kinda takes a back seat to one of the generals of the thief/king's army.

5, In another game, there's actually several villains focused on, each with their own personality and motivations. One might want to rise higher in the ranks, another might be striving for power, another one still might have a personal grudge against one of the heroes.

6, A clown wanting revenge on a knight, because of the steep bill the knight gave the clown for being hired to go on some stupid quest previously.

There's a couple more I can think of, but I can't really go into detail with them. Hope that gives you a few ideas. *looks at list* I have a lot of work to do.