Core Story

October 18th, 2006 at 11:05 am (Gaeana)

During our campaign planning session one of the more design-oriented players asked about the core idea in Gaeana. I didn’t really have a good answer for him. I was really at a loss to provide a good succinct reason for the existance of Gaeana and choosing it as your campaign setting. However, after looking through my notes and the extensive write-ups I’ve done so far, I have finally determined the core story of Gaeana.

To explain what I mean by core story, I will quote from a very good writeup done by Ryan Dancy of the core story of D&D (available at http://mearls.livejournal.com/97101.html?thread=661581#t661581). He said:

The “core story” of D&D is:
A party of adventurers assemble to seek fame and fortune. They leave civilization for a location of extreme danger. They fight monsters and overcome obstacles and acquire new abilities and items of power. Afterwards they return to civilization and sell the phat loot. Next week, they do it all over again.
Furthermore, he expanded that idea to Star Wars:

The core story for the Star Wars RPG is:
“A team of heroes goes to a space-based location, infiltrates it, and accomplishes a goal before fleeing to safety.”
(Note: This is a central component of Star Wars Episodes I, III, IV, and VI!)

With this in mind, I realized what I really liked about Gaeana. It is an opportunity to see things as they could be. Every time I sit down with a pen, or at a keyboard, I learn something new. ‘Of course sil are cold-blooded, they’re reptiles. Plus, as they have developed verbal communication, they obviously came from a social instinct. That would mean they needed to work in concert… possibly to survive predation and compete with larger predators.’

Then I considered what I really like in a story… drama and mystery. I must confess, I am a huge H.P. Lovecraft fan. His writing of personal terror can keep you anxious throughout the story and beyond.

Here’s what I came up with. The core story of Gaeana is:

A group of adventurers set out to obtain greater wisdom and understanding. Their quest is a constant struggle. Each answer merely reveals another question. Their ultimate goal is the elusive truth.

This sets up all the classic points of stories I enjoy — mystery, discovery and drama. There may be some horror thrown into the mix, but that’s just because I love to make an audience squirm.
Thoughts, comments? The above is a rough-draft only conceived yesterday.