Driving NARRATIVE in RPGs, not STORY

[Random Bystander]

I don't completely disagree with you here--there's definitely certain sequences of events that lend themselves to more "human interest" than others. I think what I'm getting at is that any story only has meaning to us in the real world when framed in and evaluated in terms of ethics and morals. Otherwise, every story is either, "Yeah, cool story!" or "Meh, boring." We tell stories because we want to evoke agreement or argument; we want to elicit sympathetic nods of "Yes, that was very bad!" or "Wow, that showed me something about my own life."

I would replace that with "framed in and evaluated in terms of real-world consequences". For example, classic science fiction often explored the technical implications of advanced science, without necessarily exploring the moral or ethical. Often, technology was simply accepted as moral and ethical.

The stories had meaning in the real world because they showed how a post-modern, or then post-modern, human society might operate with their technology, or how it could be advantageous or disadvantageous in a practical sense.

This is a different thing than something being a good story. But that's a different story, pun totally intended.