Is anyone aware of any diagrams for effective story building?
The standard model is the Exposition-Climax-Resolution chart shown here:
but, I'm looking more for narrative "braids" that can help structure the flow of a campaign, like this:
The goal being to have a form-fill timeline that helps to ensure the climactic moments of a story are properly interconnected and foreshadow upcoming events.
The one I threw together is fairly basic, so if there are other models out there, it would be great to compile them into a single resource.
As the name implies its meant for a hero's journey. The Hero's Journey can be applied to various popular adventures and journeys but overall they all follow the same plot line.
There's more that goes into it but for the most part its just fill in the blanks with whatever you have and determine the length you want your campaign to be.
Maybe my technical background but I tend to use an Ishikawa (fishbone) cause and effect model for planning my rough plot lines - you can split off into sub-diagrams for smaller plot points or where you head off in a totally different direction
I also tend to create mind maps for initial brainstorming too
Plenty of freeware out there depending on your platform
Suggest you take a look at Robin D Laws ”Beating the Story” and the associated tool at storybeats.io - sounds very much like the sort of toolbox you’re wanting to poke around with.
The book is available on DriveThru or a hard copy from the usual sources and I’d also recommend taking a look at Robin’s earlier work Hamlet’s Hitpoints as Beating the Story is sort of a continuation of ideas explored in that.
As others have said there are plenty of options for mind mapping tools to try and lay out visually some kind of plan, from pen and paper through spreadsheets, Gantt charts, network and flowchart software, and so on - I’ve used a variety of these and others over the years. The best tool is going to be the one that works for the way you think, and that’s down to way you visualise the problem. Mostly I do plotting with a sheet of paper and the main plot line being drawn as a straight line from one corner to the opposite - one axis being time. The main plot of the campaign (or session) progresses with or without player interference (which then obviously causes reactions and maybe deviations), but if the group choose to dive off tangentially so be it, and what becomes important to them is really what the game becomes focused on, even if it doesn’t mesh with what the original plot or intent was. Actions usually have consequences, so if the main plot is ignored in favour of something else, it will resolve in one way; if the players actively interact with it, it plays out a different way. But the plan is always a straight direct line between two points, even if the journey looks more like the scrawling of a toddler given access to a tub of crayons...
However, the reality is that no amount of planning is going to help you when it interacts with what the party actually choose to do... :)
As DM, you aren’t in control of the story as an author would be. I often reverse engineer or dynamically apply the thinking you are describing/looking for. As opposed to preplanning too much, I ask myself where the story elements I am presenting or imminently planning fit into a model of story telling. Is there a story emerging and where are we in it? Am I creating tension, action, or a climax at the right time? Am I foreshadowing or can I retcon something to have been foreshadowing? Considering this even as you adlib makes for a better narrative experience.
I do plan an overarching story, but these are events that are happening independent of, and only potentially influenced by the party. I have to roll with the party’s interests. If the cult is going to release Tiamat and the party just never takes my hooks, maybe they get to live in a post apocalyptic world or other heroes emerge or maybe the cult just fails due to their own ineptitude. In any case, the world moves on.
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Is anyone aware of any diagrams for effective story building?
The standard model is the Exposition-Climax-Resolution chart shown here:
but, I'm looking more for narrative "braids" that can help structure the flow of a campaign, like this:
The goal being to have a form-fill timeline that helps to ensure the climactic moments of a story are properly interconnected and foreshadow upcoming events.
The one I threw together is fairly basic, so if there are other models out there, it would be great to compile them into a single resource.
Look into The Hero's Journey
As the name implies its meant for a hero's journey. The Hero's Journey can be applied to various popular adventures and journeys but overall they all follow the same plot line.
There's more that goes into it but for the most part its just fill in the blanks with whatever you have and determine the length you want your campaign to be.
I generally just keep it all in my head, but the diagram you threw together looks pretty cool.
Maybe my technical background but I tend to use an Ishikawa (fishbone) cause and effect model for planning my rough plot lines - you can split off into sub-diagrams for smaller plot points or where you head off in a totally different direction
I also tend to create mind maps for initial brainstorming too
Plenty of freeware out there depending on your platform
---
Jay
Suggest you take a look at Robin D Laws ”Beating the Story” and the associated tool at storybeats.io - sounds very much like the sort of toolbox you’re wanting to poke around with.
Links:
Robin’s original blog post: http://robin-d-laws.blogspot.com/2018/02/beating-story-narrative-mapping-in.html?m=1
Publisher’s page: https://gameplaywright.net/books/beating-the-story/
The book is available on DriveThru or a hard copy from the usual sources and I’d also recommend taking a look at Robin’s earlier work Hamlet’s Hitpoints as Beating the Story is sort of a continuation of ideas explored in that.
As others have said there are plenty of options for mind mapping tools to try and lay out visually some kind of plan, from pen and paper through spreadsheets, Gantt charts, network and flowchart software, and so on - I’ve used a variety of these and others over the years. The best tool is going to be the one that works for the way you think, and that’s down to way you visualise the problem. Mostly I do plotting with a sheet of paper and the main plot line being drawn as a straight line from one corner to the opposite - one axis being time. The main plot of the campaign (or session) progresses with or without player interference (which then obviously causes reactions and maybe deviations), but if the group choose to dive off tangentially so be it, and what becomes important to them is really what the game becomes focused on, even if it doesn’t mesh with what the original plot or intent was. Actions usually have consequences, so if the main plot is ignored in favour of something else, it will resolve in one way; if the players actively interact with it, it plays out a different way. But the plan is always a straight direct line between two points, even if the journey looks more like the scrawling of a toddler given access to a tub of crayons...
However, the reality is that no amount of planning is going to help you when it interacts with what the party actually choose to do... :)
As DM, you aren’t in control of the story as an author would be. I often reverse engineer or dynamically apply the thinking you are describing/looking for. As opposed to preplanning too much, I ask myself where the story elements I am presenting or imminently planning fit into a model of story telling. Is there a story emerging and where are we in it? Am I creating tension, action, or a climax at the right time? Am I foreshadowing or can I retcon something to have been foreshadowing? Considering this even as you adlib makes for a better narrative experience.
I do plan an overarching story, but these are events that are happening independent of, and only potentially influenced by the party. I have to roll with the party’s interests. If the cult is going to release Tiamat and the party just never takes my hooks, maybe they get to live in a post apocalyptic world or other heroes emerge or maybe the cult just fails due to their own ineptitude. In any case, the world moves on.