In most fiction of today, books, films, movies, video games and also RPG stories/adventure paths it, in the end, always comes down to you or the group saving the world. This is a rather modern thing and comes to a stark contrast to the old legends even though they often serve as inspiration. Neither Achilles or Odysseus saved the world from destruction.
Why this is the case is, imo, obvious. Save the world stories are easy to tell and easy to understand. The sides are clear cut, there is no moral ambiguity and its easy to dehumanize the oppositions. Even if they are humans, why feel bad when killing someone so evil and deranged that he wants to destroy the world?
But those strengths are in my eyes also the big weaknesses those types of stories have. At least I get bored at some point with them as everything is so cliché and predictable and because the path you are supposed to take is pretty much set in stone and all roads lead to the big battle with the ultimate BBEG at the end.
So I want to know what type of stories do you run? "Save the World" stories? Or something else (what exactly?). And how did that work out for you?
Why this is the case is, imo, obvious. Save the world stories are easy to tell and easy to understand. The sides are clear cut, there is no moral ambiguity and its easy to dehumanize the oppositions. Even if they are humans, why feel bad when killing someone so evil and deranged that he wants to destroy the world?
But those strengths are in my eyes also the big weaknesses those types of stories have. At least I get bored at some point with them as everything is so cliché and predictable and because the path you are supposed to take is pretty much set in stone and all roads lead to the big battle with the ultimate BBEG at the end.
So I want to know what type of stories do you run? "Save the World" stories? Or something else (what exactly?). And how did that work out for you?