Re: open conflicts

[Kenneth Lu <kenlu@MIT.EDU>]

At 17:08 -0500 2/4/01, WFreitag@aol.com wrote:
>For example, a conflict could be a character not believing he can live up to
>the name of his famous heroic father. One resolution would occur if at any
>time the character's heroic-ness equals or exceeds his idea of his father's.
>This resolution condition could be brought about as a result of any events
>that raise the former (e.g. as a result of heroic successes) and/or lower the
>latter (e.g. learning that the father wasn't so perfect himself). A different
>resolution would occur if the character learns that he doesn't need to judge
>himself against his father at all; this is triggered if the character's
>self-reliance score (raised, perhaps, when the character solves problems or
>forgives others) hits a certain threshold. A third possible resolution occurs
>if the character dies.

At 17:08 -0500 2/4/01, WFreitag@aol.com wrote:
>I agree that current games are a bridge, although I think my example above
>would qualify as descriptive of the "more dynamic" version you're speaking
>of.


Actually, I think you're right.  In fact, this sort of open plots 
thing is precisely what I think I'll work on once I get the free time 
(i.e. after I graduate :P).  I think the key is, as you say, to make 
the miniscripts as dynamic as possible, while retaining the essense 
of the meaning of the script.  In your example, it'd be good to have 
many outcomes for the character, as long as it all still portrays his 
living-up-to-father motivations.  Once that's there, it may be just 
enough for the dynamic elements to play off of in a way that becomes 
a dramatic core for the story..

Actually, this is very similar, now that I think about it, to the 
"film noir" idea I have.. where the characters would all follow basic 
behavoirs of backstabbing and money-grubbing and seduction and so 
forth that make classic detective stories interesting...  I'll put 
that in another email.

Anyway, very interesting thought.  Thanks, Walt. :)

See.. NOW the issue is to figure out.. If we have this miniplot 
written, what's the point of making it more dynamic?  I think one 
reason is so we can see unique paths toward the resolution of his 
motivations.. I mean, it's true that watching an average person on 
the street go about their daily routine would probably often be 
boring, but if we filter out the extraneous details, and make sure we 
pick an interesting person to begin with, then I think their life can 
be interesting no matter what happens..

After all, isn't that, to some extent, what spectator sports are 
about?  They're unscripted and dynamic.. but yet, they have an 
element of drama built in, so the probability of an interesting story 
emergent are high.

-ToastyKen

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| Kenneth Lu - kenlu@mit.edu - http://www.mit.edu/~kenlu/ |
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| "Life is far too important to be taken seriously."      |
|                                                         |
|                                          -- Oscar Wilde |
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