Summary: <h4>Stories in RPGs...what makes them good, and are they even necessary?</h4> <br> <p><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/id978223252">Subscribe on iTunes</a> | <a href="http://subscribeonandroid.com/podcast.ultimacodex.com/feed/">Subscribe on Android</a> | <a href="http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/spam-spam-spam-humbug">Subscribe on Stitcher</a> | <a href="http://spamspamspamhumbug.podbean.com/">Subscribe on Podbean</a></p><a id="more-6137427"></a><h4>Intro</h4> <br> <p><em><a href="http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR00810">Ultima VI Gates of Creation</a></em> by OC ReMix</p><h4>Co-Producers</h4> <br> <p>As always, a hearty thank you to our <strong>Patreon co-producers:</strong> Seth, Johnny, Chris, Dominik, Violation, Adam, Erik, Thorwan, Cody, Pascal, and Neil.</p><h4>New Followers & Ultima Dragons</h4> <br> <p><strong>Podbean:</strong> T.E.N., kendal259, sharmameenakshi850, albliker, jayxthexleo</p> <br> <p><strong>Ultima Dragons Facebook Group:</strong> John, Matt, Justin, Waxakupi, Michael</p> <br> <p><strong>UDIC:</strong> Lord Matt Dragon, Daland Dragon, Diet Dew Dragon <br> <br></p><h4>Podcast Topic(s)</h4> <br> <p>This week's topic is pretty much directly inspired by a <a href="http://www.usgamer.net/articles/usgamers-rpg-podcast-explores-what-makes-a-good-rpg-story">recent episode</a> of <em>Axe of the Blood God </em>, US Gamer's RPG-focused podcast. That podcast is headed up by Kat Bailey, one of the writers at US Gamer, and she described her inspiration for the episode thusly: <br> <br></p><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"> <br> <p>I was inspired to explore RPG narrative by Undertale, which is an interesting deconstruction of the genre. I've expressed in the past that an RPG doesn't need a good story to be successful, with Darkest Dungeon and Etrian Odyssey being key examples. However, in undertaking this exploration, I've realized that a high-quality narrative can mean more to an RPG than I realized.</p> <br> <p>Over the course of the episode, Steve and I explore the history of narrative in RPGs, talk about some of the different types of stories and the tools developers use to tell them, and share our favorite RPG stories. In the end, we ask the question, "Can an RPG succeed in spite of a bad story? And can a great story elevate otherwise middling mechanics?" I was honestly surprised by my answer. </p> </blockquote> <br> <p>It was a really good — if lengthy! — episode; Kat and her co-host Steve discussed a number of different RPGs and storytelling styles. If you have time (and it is a lengthy episode, so that's not an idle opening statement), it's well worth a listen.</p> <br> <p>But I thought it might be interesting to throw the same discussion topic out in front of the SSSH crew, and see what happens.</p> <br> <p><strong style="font-size: 10pt;">What Is a Story?</strong></p> <br> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Now, this could be a podcast in and of itself, but for the purposes of this episode we're going to adopt (roughly) the following definition: </span><em style="font-size: 10pt;">the story of a game is its principal framing device — the reason why you (the character, not the player) are doing what you're doing in the game, and the motivation behind why you're moving from whatever the beginning of the game is to whatever its end is.</em></p> <br> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Although if our past episodes are any indicator, we'll be chipping away at the boundaries of that definition pretty soon here.</span></p> <br> <p><strong style="font-size: 10pt;">What Is an RPG?</strong></p> <br> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">This too could be a podcast in and of itself, and in fact we've complained before about the fact that the definition of what is and isn't an RPG has become far too fluid over the last few years. (Seriously, WtFD has complained about that horrible Kim Kardashian iOS game being classified as an RPG on </span></p>
