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<blockquote data-quote="Bacon Bits" data-source="post: 8602176" data-attributes="member: 6777737"><p>I tend to draw a lot of storyline inspiration from video games. Especially old video games that had pretty good stories. Plotlines from 90s RPGs (good or bad) and modern story-heavy games that got 6/10 are gold mines, so don't ignore games just because they're bad. Often they're good stories horribly executed. Anything by SSI tends to work well, probably because I played those games to death. The Dragon Quest games also have a lot of great quest ideas in them. Final Fantasy much less so because if that serie's focus on obtuse and surreal storylines. The great thing about video game stories is they demand the protagonist go out and do something, and that's what you need in D&D. The same is true of fantasy books, new and old, good and bad.</p><p></p><p>On the other hand, a lot of live action shows have the protagonists stand around until the final few episodes. So, I tend to <em>not</em> get storylines from live action TV or movies. I think it's because too many of them tend to rely on accidental luck resulting in humorous and unpredicted success. Live action shows also tend to focus on the character drama, sometimes to the point of melodrama, and that's not what my table is interested in. We tend to prefer and a more traditional adventure with a lot of exploration and combat more than a drama, and trying to get them to engage in politics is a non-starter. Westerns are a notable exception. They do tend to translate well to D&D.</p><p></p><p>For characters, I do tend to draw from live action. Crime, gangster, and western films in particular have a lot of examples of NPCs that work well in D&D. They have clear goals, they're quick to resort to violence, they're usually not moustache-twirling evil, and they're not always so smart. I think The Witcher's presentation of spellcasters is good. 90s sci-fi TV shows are great, too. Stargate SG-1 is a good representaiton of the range of different lawful characters that might exist. Star Trek is also good for a somewhat broader range, though that, too, heavily focuses on the lawful spectrum. Other shows like Babylon 5 have good examples of deeply flawed characters. Sci-fi is also useful for non-human or foreign cultures, although it grossly simplifies everything pretty consistently.</p><p></p><p>I have found that anything involving superheroics tends not to be useful. The design of the MCU seems to be to take sitcom characters and give them superpowers, which is a fun spectacle but that's hard to do in a non-visual medium. Also the humor can get grating. DC, on the other hand, seems to think that Batman needs to challenge 40K for the title of grimdark champion, and Zack Snyder's direction is uninspiring to me more than anything. The whole genre feels like it's in a rut.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Bacon Bits, post: 8602176, member: 6777737"] I tend to draw a lot of storyline inspiration from video games. Especially old video games that had pretty good stories. Plotlines from 90s RPGs (good or bad) and modern story-heavy games that got 6/10 are gold mines, so don't ignore games just because they're bad. Often they're good stories horribly executed. Anything by SSI tends to work well, probably because I played those games to death. The Dragon Quest games also have a lot of great quest ideas in them. Final Fantasy much less so because if that serie's focus on obtuse and surreal storylines. The great thing about video game stories is they demand the protagonist go out and do something, and that's what you need in D&D. The same is true of fantasy books, new and old, good and bad. On the other hand, a lot of live action shows have the protagonists stand around until the final few episodes. So, I tend to [I]not[/I] get storylines from live action TV or movies. I think it's because too many of them tend to rely on accidental luck resulting in humorous and unpredicted success. Live action shows also tend to focus on the character drama, sometimes to the point of melodrama, and that's not what my table is interested in. We tend to prefer and a more traditional adventure with a lot of exploration and combat more than a drama, and trying to get them to engage in politics is a non-starter. Westerns are a notable exception. They do tend to translate well to D&D. For characters, I do tend to draw from live action. Crime, gangster, and western films in particular have a lot of examples of NPCs that work well in D&D. They have clear goals, they're quick to resort to violence, they're usually not moustache-twirling evil, and they're not always so smart. I think The Witcher's presentation of spellcasters is good. 90s sci-fi TV shows are great, too. Stargate SG-1 is a good representaiton of the range of different lawful characters that might exist. Star Trek is also good for a somewhat broader range, though that, too, heavily focuses on the lawful spectrum. Other shows like Babylon 5 have good examples of deeply flawed characters. Sci-fi is also useful for non-human or foreign cultures, although it grossly simplifies everything pretty consistently. I have found that anything involving superheroics tends not to be useful. The design of the MCU seems to be to take sitcom characters and give them superpowers, which is a fun spectacle but that's hard to do in a non-visual medium. Also the humor can get grating. DC, on the other hand, seems to think that Batman needs to challenge 40K for the title of grimdark champion, and Zack Snyder's direction is uninspiring to me more than anything. The whole genre feels like it's in a rut. [/QUOTE]
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