Cleaning my office this morning, I came across some design notes that struck me as too interesting to throw directly into the recycling bin. I don't quite remember the context, but I must have been thinking about Apocalypse World style "moves" (in-game action types) and generative storytelling. It's probably from when I first learned about Viv, which I still have yet to play with. The paper itself contains a list of the moves that will be included in the third edition of Apocalypse World, a few notes about what it would mean to randomize locations and their denizens, and then an exploration of the different ways one could get a McGuffin from a Goblin King. These are what I came up with as possible stories:
- Find him, kill him, take it
- Find him, convince him to give it to you
- Find him, steal it, escape
- Find someone else, convince them to steal it
- Find him, threaten him, he attacks (jump to another case)
- Find him, threaten him, he gives it
- Find him, beat him up, demand he gives it, get it
- Find him, offer something else in trade, trade for it
- Find him, observe him for leverage, deploy leverage as part of demand, receive it
There are certainly more, and clearly, some of these weave into each other. For example, convincing someone else to do it for you still requires that that character end up having to go through some other matrix of options.
Reading these simple statements starts stories forming in my mind. Each is a seed that could grow into something compelling, but they could also turn into something rather dull. Paying someone else to go questing is economically efficient but narratively unfulfilling.
It stands in contrast to my current project, which involves writing a lot of interactive fiction. This current work requires me to be very careful about branching since each alternative increases production costs. I am playing with the idea that you are a particular character, and so I do not feel like I have to expose all possible options to the player--only those that are reasonable to the character's situation and demeanor.
I do hope to get back to exploring the kinds of narrative systems analysis that the McGuffin Acquisition represents, but in the mean time, I am finding more traditional gamebook-style interactive fiction to be a rewarding creative experience.
Now I can recycle this paper and get back to cleaning.
