Beginner's Guide to Creating a RPG Story

Beginner's Guide to Creating a RPG Story

NOTE: I know this has been done before, but I spent a long time making this.

Introduction

So, you want to make an RPG? First, you need a story. However, a story can be one of the hardest parts to make. This tutorial will take you through all the steps to create a decent RPG story from scratch.

Contents

1. Before You Start
2. Plot
3. Characters
4. Goals
5. Event Flow
6. Title
7. Other things

Before You Start...

You must get some idea about what the story will be. At this step you need to just think of the general, generic idea. Here are some examples...
- Hero goes to kill Evil King
- Hero travels through space
- Giant mushroom goes on a journey to find more tuna
See? Just come up with the bare-bones of the story. Now we can actually start...

The Plot

You absolutely HAVE to get this first. Why is your character doing what he/she is doing? (Hint: Try to avoid revenge as it is cliche and tends to get messy) And don't put a lot of detail into it. Here is some examples...
- Rick's sister is kidnapped by an evil king. Rick goes to rescue his sister.
Pretty basic, huh? But this is a good start. You can add more onto this later. Now here is an example of something wrong...
- Rick goes hunting one day. While he is gone, his sister, Sophia, is tending to her garden when the evil king Raul attacks the town. He kidnaps Sophia and lays the town to waste. Rick returns to the ruined town to find that Sophia is gone. He is filled with rage and runs after the evil king with hopes of rescuing her. Meanwhile, in a desert town...
See? Really complex. This is a full-blown story. We aren't there yet. (But, if you can manage to get this much this quickly, you're pretty talented.)

Anyway, now for the next step...

Characters

What are your characters like? Make sure you don't just describe the main hero. Describe the hero, the allies, important NPCs, and major enemies. Here is a template I like to use for describing characters...

Name<-- Pretty obvious, but make the name fit the character. Don't call some little guy "Killer".
Age: __<-- Again, obvious. It lets you know how the character may act in certain situations. Younger people usually are more rash and impulsive than older people.
Race: ___<-- List if they are human or some other type of race. Lots of games make their own races. So be creative.
Class: ___<-- This will tell what kind of skills and weapons they will use. Good classes would be like swordsman, mage, cleric, etc...
Bio: _________<-- Give details about the character's personality, connections to other characters, history of the character, etc...

It's also a good idea to make some type of picture to show what the character looks like. Just remember to do this for all important character. Now for the next step...

Goals

What is the hero trying to do? What is the Evil character trying to do? What is the annoying sidekick trying to do? This is where goals come in. They are usually simple one sentence things. Here are some examples...
- Main hero: Rick- Rescue his sister.
- Ally: Bob- Prove he can still fight despite his age.
- Evil guy: Evil King Raul- Sacrifice Sophia in order to open the gate of power and rule the galaxy.
- Important NPC: Sophia- Not be sacrificed.
Very simple. And from this you can come up with a good storyline. And some characters can have multiple goals. If they do, just list them all. Now for the next step...

Event Flow

Alright, this is where you finally get to plan out the flow of the RPG. Basically all you do is list the major events in order. Once you have the major events made, some smaller event ideas may (And most likely will) come to you and you can find places to fit them in. You can make an Event Flow in any organized way, but here is an example of how I did one for the example game...

Rick goes to hunt in the forest --> Town is attacked, Sophia is kidnapped --> Rick leaves town to go rescue Sophia --> Rick loses trail near ice town --> Rick enters ice town and meets Bob --> Bob asks Rick if he can help him destroy a beast --> Rick and Bob leave to go defeat beast --> Defeat beast --> Rick is told that Raul was headed towards a desert town-->... And so on and so forth...

So, this will give you an idea on how to go about making a game. Now for another step...

The Title

This can be a hard part of the game. There are a few rules that should be followed...
1. Make the title have some thing to do with the story.
2. Avoid using "Legend of", "Adventures of", and other things like that, as they are cliche.
3. Avoid using the words "Last", "Final", or "End" unless you don't plan on having a sequel.
And that is all. Here is the title I came up for the example game- "Gate of Power" (Remember, I spent 5 minutes thinking of this entire story. You will probably spend much longer.) Well, we are almost done. All that is left is fill in the...

Other Things

This includes...
- Town names
- Magic
- Side quests
- And anything else you can think of.
Town names can be hard. A good idea is to use real town names. Just don't use anything like New York. Use small town names. There is a town near my house called Yokina. That would be a good RPG town name.
Magic names are important only if the magic is used in the story. Come up with original names. Don't use stuff like Fire, Water, Ice... And DO NOT use magic spells widely used in the Final Fantasy series. Stuff like Ultima. It makes your game not seem as original.
Side quests can be thought of later. Basically just make them missions that you just get something good at the end. If it includes part of the main story, it in NOT a side quest.

Well, that is all I can think of to help you beginners out there with your story. I hope this helps someone.

FINAL NOTE: I apologize if this doesn't help anyone. I just really wanted to post this. And then I saw the other story tutorials. Anyway, that is all. Tell me what you think.

 ~ Final-Knight

 

Very well done. 

"Avoid using "Legend of", "Adventures of", and other things like that, as they are cliche."

....my game is based on the Legend of Zelda series, so.......

but is very well done, it help me alot! 

nice

* Nouman moves

Thanks, Nouman!

Oh, and...

"Avoid using "Legend of", "Adventures of", and other things like that, as they are cliche."

....my game is based on the Legend of Zelda series, so.......

I meant to say that if you were doing a game like yours, you can do that.

nice i finaly finish reading a tut that is not related to spriting lol

gratz simple,and easy to understand and very direct to the point

I would like your opinion on this:
"Yuri is travelling around the country of Indist together with his father when they get robbed.
Since they don't have much they kidnap his father.
On his travel he meets alot of people, some who join and help him.
While he is searching for his father he see's destruction, terror and chaos.
The only thing what he wanted was his father, how does it end?"

That is a good start. Give it some time and it could turn out pretty good.

Usually, a story that starts out with something simple and then goes into a deep twisting story is a good one.

you preety much summed it up. Very nice tutorial overall. I like the way you explained everything, very clear.

I hereby give this tutorial a 8/10.

very nicly put
tell me if  this is good a young boy (age 15) is working on a farm with his so called grand father when sold13rs came to the door.they asked where is the daemon your hiding(a type of race)he sasy he dosent no and then the pull out a there dog cerberus.he runs up to you.then they say attack.*battle* then after you defeat them the leader walks a stem but grandpa comes out des a magic.and brings you in the house. thats what i got so far.

im at after the mistion

Hm... Just as an out there note, its not always a good idea to make the main hero young (15-18 yrs old). Little kids do not go out and save the kingdom.

And as for your idea...

It kinda seems like a couple of ideas slapped together. If you organized it a bit more, you could have the start to a good story there.

Good luck.

(And... Please use the spellcheck. Its there for a reason. Sorry. )

Ok what about  he gets older after that.
Im making it so his powers are sealed away because he was out of controle when he was little...he's not  human

Don't worry about the age thing. Its just something I remembered.

But for you Inferno, I figure you just need to organize your story. An easy way to do it is to come up with the end and beginning first, then figure out important events in between.

I wish you luck.

Very nice tut! A+ I have been a plotter for knobs games that he never finishes so I have read a lot of plot tuts and this might just be the best. Great job make more because you have a Fresh to Death talent!

Awesome tut 10/10 in my book. Really helpful for me as i'am not organized and didn't have a good idea on how to make the storyline i wanted till now. "3. Avoid using the words "Last", "Final", or "End"" Thats pretty much sum up what i like in my games i planned on making.  I'll make sure to use this right away.

Simpler way to put that is - 10/10, Thanks for it and iam gonna go use it right now.

That's a great tutorial! Thank you, I'm just gonna go and write my story, using your tips.
I'd give it a 9.5 out of 10.

Very interresting dood! XD 5/5.
 lol there's so much cliche in rpgs anyway. like..
-hero has to save the world from the ''big boss'' that wants to rule it muahahaha!!
-the[number] [object]:fire,wind,water(ice),earth,electricity etc etc haha. mostly crystals
-some stuff like TOS,FFX which is. protect the girl till the very end so she can do ''that''
(taking colette and yuna as an example. there's some other rpgs like that.)

try avoiding theese 3,people!! =D
it's hard,i know...

Now to the important part: I think this tut is great. I can use this too, just like tons of others (duh...), and I'd (like everyone else) give it... 8.5/10. It's fantastic and useful, but there's always room for improvement!

For HolyQuebec's reply (the first thing he points out):
I wouldn't say it's THAT hard, but I'd still like to differ on the first one. Even though it gets bad if that is the whole point, a boss still makes the game good! And also one that leaves his mark throughout the story, and who actually gives the hero a personal reason to go all out and kill him. And besides, a villain needs a catchy story too, and (could have) a reason to be evil. Or maybe he's not evil at all! Maybe he thinks he's doing it for the greater good (maybe he is!!). And maybe it's not a he! Why aren't girls ever bosses (I know, they are, but not as often as men)?

Anyways, a boss can be good, but, as you've clearly pointed out, it's not supposed to be the "thing", the "important part". Also, the "boss" should be more than just a "boss". The boss can think as well. The boss also has personality. He has weaknesses and strengths, just like everyone else. Basically, a boss is nothing but a hero, just evil, and much more powerful, with lots of minions, and who is always bigger and badder than áll the others and so much stronger, and then he can just, excactly be defeated by the player. But I kinda guess I'm moving off topic...

Now to the important part: I think this tut is great. I can use this too, just like tons of others (duh...), and I'd (like everyone else) give it... 8.5/10. It's fantastic and useful, but there's always room for improvement!

For HolyQuebec's reply (the first thing he points out):
I wouldn't say it's THAT hard, but I'd still like to differ on the first one. Even though it gets bad if that is the whole point, a boss still makes the game good! And also one that leaves his mark throughout the story, and who actually gives the hero a personal reason to go all out and kill him. And besides, a villain needs a catchy story too, and (could have) a reason to be evil. Or maybe he's not evil at all! Maybe he thinks he's doing it for the greater good (maybe he is!!). And maybe it's not a he! Why aren't girls ever bosses (I know, they are, but not as often as men)?

Anyways, a boss can be good, but, as you've clearly pointed out, it's not supposed to be the "thing", the "important part". Also, the "boss" should be more than just a "boss". The boss can think as well. The boss also has personality. He has weaknesses and strengths, just like everyone else. Basically, a boss is nothing but a hero, just evil, and much more powerful, with lots of minions, and who is always bigger and badder than áll the others and so much stronger, and then he can just, excactly be defeated by the player. But I kinda guess I'm moving off topic...

very well said. you just made my day with this boss description. A boss also has personality, it's true. I find most rpg's that have these kind of bosses much more interesting than those that only have it there to the purpose of killing it. (Necron from FF9 appeared out of nowhere, the game would've come out better if Kuja was the final boss.)

Another example of a good boss is X-Death from FFV and Sephiroth, who is by far the most known evil guy ever. Ganodorf from the Zelda series is also a good example of this, but more clichéd.

The list goes on however, and the one boss that has marked me through all my RPG experience HAS to be Genesis from FF7:CC for the PSP. The guy just kicks ass and has an amazing personality.

Thanks for the comments. And you guys have some good points there.

Wrong place to ask. Completely off topic.

I split it for you Final-Knight. The offending post has been banished to the Script Request forum, where it will be mostly ignored

Link: http://rmrk.net/index.php/topic,24310.0.html

Great Tut, 10/10

I just started writing my story plan up notepad.

Here's what i came up with for the so far.





Main Chars:

Ryu - Main Char
Kyirri - Ryu's Sister, Essavantir's sacrifice to the gods.
Essavantir - Bad guy, Trying to recover all 6 crystals of eden, To become Gran-ultima.
(Gran-Ultima, is the power of the gods, only granted to those who are in possession of all six crystals.)

More characters to be written into plot yet.

To Gain Gran-Ultima, you must recover all six crystals and sacrifice one ancient, kyirri is frozen in crystal form, when Essavantir has stolen one of the crystals, causing a storm in which kyirri disappears... (i'm still working on this concept.)


This is what i'm thinking  for the start.

Ryu & Kyirri go out playing.
Storm Breaks.
Kyirri Disappears, struck by lightning, frozen in crystal form. (not revealed until later on in the game.)
Ryu rushes home.
Tells his mom, she insists, ryu must prepare himself and leave quickly, He needs to find Kyirri!
Ryu decides it would be best to consult with the elder, who is in the next town.
As leaving town, Ryu is stopped by distressed stranger, who has seen monsters, through the forest to the next town.
Ryu must turn back into town and head to the armoury. (cannot leave town until his is done.)
Ryu Speak to owner of the armoury and is given a short sword.
Ryu heads back into forest and heads towards next town.

Comments, Constructive criticism, Ideas please.
All will be appreciated. (:

Thanks! Helped a lot for my storyline

hey. Thanks for this. Its been help.. a lot!

10/12  great tut!  its helped me organize and reform my storyline