As I run games, read books, or watch movies I never really think about the formula behind the story. This is especially true when I games because when I prepare an adventure I have bullet points (that cover goals, obstacles, etc) and a list of locations with NPCs and I just let the players run with it.
It was not until I cam across a forum post by Matt Slaton that I really started to think about story design. Matt Slaton also has a great youtube channel where he talks about terrain building and other table top things.
Anyway, in Matt's original post he presented a technique called Dan Harmon's story circle. The circle has 8 steps to follow to help create all the elements of a good story.
Here is an example of a break down of the circle using The Dark Knight as an example:
Here is another example of how the circle can be used in a Dungeons and Dragons/table top adventure/setting:
In the above show, Satine Phoenix lists various references in regards to storytelling;
- Hero of a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell
- Heroes Journey by Joseph Campbell
- The Writer's Journey by Christopher Vogler
- Story by Robert McKee
It is also interesting to note that Dan Harmon is the creator behind Rick and Morty (I have never seen the show) but apparently almost every episode follows the story circle.
Matt Slaton also put together a pdf template for the story circle that can be found here.
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