Modesty Studios

RPG plots usually center around the idea of saving something before it is lost. Generically somehow it's tied with saving the world before it is destroyed. You are that shining ray of hope for the entire world. And really, I don't think the RPG audience ever gets bored of it. How empowering it is to have the fate of the WORLD tied to YOU. Yet as a storytelling device, it wants something more...something that makes it believable. Here are some tips to carry in your pocket. 1) It's a Small World After All In an RPG you can travel the world in a matter of minutes. Making it a very small space. You may get to meet all the populated areas IN the world within the game. That way when you say you are saving the WHOLE world, it is accurate because you have traveled all of it and know almost everyone. Yet, this is unrealistic as far as the narrative is concerned. It takes 3 long novels for Frodo to reach Mount Doom and he didn't even travel the world and meet everyone. However, i...

You know writing about unicorns or a unicorn people is not that uncommon. Even in my own time I've written at least 5 stories about unicorns specifically. (The first being a paragraph I wrote in 2 nd grade.) I've also read various myths and stories relating the animal itself including "Into the Land of the Unicorns" by Bruce Coville , "The Unicorns of Balinor " series, "The Obsidian Trilogy" by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory and "The Last Unicorn" by Peter Beagle. (Yes, I read the book and have the movie.) I've also read a couple of short story collections about the beast and so on and so forth. Lately on DeviantArt , where I find lots of visual inspiration, I find lots of Unicorn people as a race. Not just furry art either. I knew I wasn't alone in my imaginings of such things. (I mean one story I wrote was about a unicorn who turns into a girl. Completely unoriginal by the way). But the myths are very different. At leas...

Magic in Games vs. Magic in Fantasy Novels For a bit here, I'd like to discuss magic systems in fantasy media with a focus on games, novels and comics. The concept of magic is something that makes a person something greater than normal. It allows for the impossible to happen. But when it allows for the impossible, it becomes improbable and in some cases unbelievable. I mentioned this in my geography entry that I don't like cheesy magic in my fantasy novels. There are times when it can feel like an excuse or a plot hole ready to happen. However, on the other hand, in visual stories such as video games and comics, I can be more forgiving about cheap magic. Because magic as well as being an empowerment to the character is a spectacle to be seen. Unless a book is illustrated you don't get that same awe (or at least I don't, since I'm visually stimulated) that you get from watching a fire ball consume something. I'm especially, especially forgiving to games because m...

Often times in games with stories attached to them there may be some hintings of a religious power or common faith. This can range from gods to mirrors of current religions. As someone who believes and practices my own faith I find it interesting when religion is included in a game. For the most part it is usually a trivial part of the game or plays mostly in the background. I consider myself very ecumenical but there are times when I feel things were done "wrong" or "poorly". This usually happens when a game uses a faith system that reflects a current one from Earth. Two big offenders that I have played are Luminous Arc and Tales of Symphonia. Both have a religious power that mirrors what happens to be my faith, Catholicism. The games featured bishops, priests and even a pope in one of the games. And in both such games, the Church of the world was villainized. Which is fairly common in popular media anyway. Needless to say I felt a little sad playing the games. Lum...