Now, we were talking about my method of Plot Building. For the most part, I lay it all out in my head, and then let my fingers go wild on the keyboard. I know that this method doesn't work for everyone, but for me, it ends up with me getting a lot of the story done in one go. While I may not yet know the precise ending, I sort of imagine, and act out the story in my head, like a movie...

Anyone who's seen my Design Doc will probably say that it almost reads like a storyboard, minus the pictures. And with a lot of details. Some people will find it easier to leave out most of the details until far later in the process, but for the most part, you want to find a method that works for you. Some people like to work in chapters, or sections, or scenes, and I try to break up my story that way myself, but eventually end up with a long list of events that just keep going, and going. I end up adding the chapters later on, as I re-read the finished product.

Don't struggle too much just yet with the overall plot layout, we still need to figure out how to create the plot.

Why did I talk about all this crap about bubbles, and stuff? Because I want you to start trying to come up with a method of your own on getting your plot written down, to be converted to real use later. We're going to start talking about the actual story itself now, and you need to know how to lay everything you're going to make up out. So there.

Okay, so you have a couple of Good Guys, a Villain or two, a settings, and, essentially, a world in which your Game will take place. Now what? Well, for some MMORPGs, this is it. Your done. Throw in some crazy tasks, and adventures, and a few billion different types of items, and you've got your game, and people will flock to it, and stand around all day chatting, and showing off the fact that they played for 6 months straight, at $20 a month, and have just now gotten strong enough to defeat the big bad monster, and obtain the Black Dye they used to make their shirt black. Fun.

But if you're like me, and require, rather, demand some kind of adherable story, or relish the fact that when you play the game, your actions matter, you're going to want to come up with an interesting, mysterious, and fun story for your Players to follow, and treat them to a game they can have a good time with.
So the story is going to play a big part. Better not screw it up.
At this point, you should know something of what your story is going to be like... some inkling of an idea, but if you don't there are some tricks that I have up my sleeve, to help you out.
There are several Key Story Points that we have to discuss, in order to build our story:
 

• The Quest
• The PCs' Role
• The Villians' Role
• The Path
• The Reward
• The Consequences
• Misc

We're going to discuss each of these items in turn, and hopefully go through a process of getting your story together.