The art of storytelling

Every life has a story, it is a story and creates many stories around it.

Most gamers start with Dungeons & Dragons as their form of live interactive fiction. The lessons learned from D&D style storytelling are simple and thankfully the support for creating those stories has improved over the years. However, much of that Bardic wisdom remains untapped.

TVTropes explains much of the possibility from a theme, into a mood, and character and motif to make them almost clichés.

These only offer a world of rules and pre-packaged techniques that can be applied and their beauty is not forthcoming lacking a true heart to inflame our passion. Because even if the emotion is expressed by a master, it lacks relevance in our current world.

The art of a good story is to craft a tail that has a life of its own with twists and turns, failures and triumphs, and most of all one that can be seen by others.

Beyond that, a great story is never just told, but the teller also listens and interacts with the other players of the game. To highlight each player’s character in a way that only they can shine.

Even to showcase a minor character in a major way to show that as the individual grows, and demonstrate

Who the f#@k is my #DND character?

Sorry for the profanity, but this website (http://whothefuckismydndcharacter.com/) produces some of the weirdest characters for the D&D world I’ve seen for a long time. And it’s probably best if I give some examples:

  • A cynical half-Orc Rouge from a strict monastery, who’s a recovering cannibal.
  • A grouchy Dwarf Cleric from the Grave Digger’s Union, who can’t silence the voices
  • A mean Tiefling Wizard from a haberdashery who was raised by ghosts.
  • An old-fashioned Dragonborn Rouge from a floating city, who always alliterates their anecdotes.
  • A soulless Halfling Druid from a theatre company that wants everyone to like them.
  • A confident Tiefling Bard from a company of sell-swords who is certain their days are numbered
  • A conscientious half-Orc Monk from the pirate-infested isles of woe, who believes the trees can speak to them alone.
  • A stern Halfling Barbarian from the gutter, who was brought up to be a librarian
  • A curious Gnome Warlock from the Kitching of the local Barracks who is trying to avoid a prophecy