RPG Maker Magazine

Introduction to RPG Design Part 4
RPG Maker Magazine Issue 2.2 » Introduction to RPG Design Part 4  
      Motivation… without it, nothing would get done. Whether you notice it or not, you have a motive every time you do something under your own will. Eating a pizza? Hunger was your motive. Reading a book? Knowledge was your motive. What does this matter you ask? Characters in games require motives just as much as us, and that's why it matters. I often find myself catching moments in even my most favorite games where one or more characters lack a reason for an action they perform. Such moments weaken the illusion of the world.

Motive: (mo-tive), n. 1: An emotion, desire, physiological need, or similar impulse that acts as an incitement to action.

      Motive is generally split into two categories: known and (you guessed it) unknown. They are easy to remember and easy to tell the difference between. Known motive is usually stated by the character and known by the whole party. Unknown motive is usually thought by the character, and known to only himself. Known motive should be found in main character of the game. Does it matter what type of motive a character has? Not really… but letting the player know what is going on, in each of the character's heads, is important. As a corollary, it is also important to keep the player and character on the same page. While that isn't always easy to do, it is often extremely helpful for the player to have all the information the character has. However, if you have to lean one way or the other, then allow the player to pick up tiny clues as to what is going on before the character does. If the player can guess what is about to go on just before it does, he will feel smarter than the character. They will still feel good if they guess wrong, but that is because your story was unpredictable. Avoid making the hero a dummy that doesn't get things until far after the player does. Here are some tips to keep the hero and player synced:

1. Always show events, instead of talking about them.
2. Remind the player of past events when the character makes a decision based upon them.
3. Show the thought process of at least the main character when making important decisions.
4. Start the game at the beginning of the adventure, even if you have to skip forward in time.
5. Don't bog down important details with unimportant names, titles, or other information.

      There is one more thing I have to say about motive before listing off some common types of motivation and where to reveal them, and that is this: A character can have a known motive, but it doesn't have to be true. Lying often occurs when the issue of motive comes up, but it is also often overlooked. Some of you might have "friends" that only serve their purpose because they have a truck to haul stuff, a big screen TV, or lots of other valuables. Just as well, you might help a friend move for another reason than just them asking you. The motive in these scenarios is generally left unknown because it isn't worth knowing or because it is assumed to be by the people who don't know.

Common types of motivation:

1. To find something
2. To rescue something
3. To learn something
4. To survive from something
5. To save something from something else
6. To kill someone
7. To prove something to someone
8. To improve

Note: Just so I don't get messaged, greed generally falls under improvement, as most people want money to improve their life style. There are other reasons for greed, but they also fall under other types.


      All motives boil down to these 8. Whether you want to find your birth parents, rescue your kidnapped sister, learn what happened to your hometown, survive an impending volcano blast, save your donut from a fat man, kill your barber for ruining your hair, prove that it's possible to climb death mountain, or to improve your strength, all motives revolve around these concepts. You now know what a motive is, some common types of them, and (with help from the list) a simple way to create them. Now you need to know where to reveal motives.

1. Introduction - When you first meet a character, there is a lot of information passed along to all involved. This usually includes the new guy's main goal, and his reason for joining you.
2. Campfire - It might be extremely cliché, but something about the silence around a campfire urges people to blab about recent happenings.
3. Bar - Although severely lacking in functionality in most games, bars are an excellent social gathering where people come to talk (and drink).
4. Dinner Table - This also happens a lot. The party gets invited to dinner and talk before they eat, after they eat, and while they eat.
5. Betrayal - Certain characters may not enjoy the company of other characters. If that hated character ends up betraying the party, or even just a single person, it opens the floodgates and let's everyone express how they feel. (usually betrayed, or the fact that they never liked/trusted them)
6. Graveyard - This happens when someone is dead (or at least thought to be dead). Many people reveal their feelings to someone only after that person has died.
7. Big Event - Right after a large change in focus of the plot, people will usually sit down and sort things out.
8. Flashback - If you've watched Naruto or The Cyborg, you've seen your share of flashbacks. Not only can flashbacks be used to remind people of what has already happened, but they can also be used to introduce new character's motive and general information of past events.
9. Confrontation - For some reason, usually stemming from the flow of anger, one character confronts another demanding they know why something has happened. Although this is usually right after a big event, it can be at anytime.

Of course there are many more situations that allow you to reveal motives, I just listed a few of the common ones. Remember that it is important to take time expressing motive. While the motive should be able to be summarized in a single sentence, it should never be explained to the player in a single sentence. Such sentences should be left to quickly explain the motive between close friends and nothing else. It is unlikely that the party would let a warrior join their group if all he said was "I'm looking for the man who killed my father", unless they are in dire need of a warrior or are somehow specifically sympathetic to his situation.

Foils are anything that serves by contrast to call attention to another thing's good qualities… but they also serve as an informational stepping-stone to motivation. Foils generally show a certain side of a character that you would not normally see. A normally brave person could flee at the sight of spiders. Foils don't even have to be alive they could be inanimate. Plenty of brave people are afraid of needles. Of course, bravery isn't the only trait affected. Stingy people could have a soft spot for little kids, ruthless killers for women. Kind people could be sickened by the greedy. The weak people angry at those who never had to work for their power. Such situations show that you have developed your characters beyond necessity, and strive to show depth.

Of course you must remember to not go overboard. Confronting your fears is one thing, but not everyone is willing to do so. Farther yet, not everyone who does will win. Mr. Bravery, afraid of spiders, might not flee from Cave of Creepy Crawlies™… but chances are he will. Repeated attempts to take him around such places will lead to more intense reactions. If he cannot overcome his fear of spiders, he will lose control of himself until he feels he is a safe distance away. This can make for a nice event. The whole party urges him inside, cheers him on, and then watches as he flees in terror as the 2-ton spider-boss descends from above. It would be unlikely for him to overcome his fear after such an event, and if the party were a group of exterminators, it would be unlikely for him to even rejoin them.

That being said, overcoming your foil is a great way to change the motivation of a character, and more. If Mr. Bravery happened to overcome his fear of spiders, he might see the world in a whole new way. His previous goal of "finding a suitable place to live away from spiders" would now obviously be different. He might want to return to where he previously lived or find a nice peaceful town to settle down. Someone else, who previously thought that all elves were evil and sneaky, might change his whole outlook on life if he saw one sacrifice himself to save a friend. No longer would he think that people were born evil, but they grew evil in time. Any foil can be changed throughout the story, and anything can happen because of it. Now for some more sample plots:

Medieval:

06: You used to be a demon. You used to command great power. You used to have many things until confronted by a mage on day. It happened all the time back then... warriors, clerics, spell casters, and even peasants tried to stop you. Nobody had really affected you until him. He took you by surprise with a weird chant that drove you into an odd form of sleep. Piece by piece he dismantled your body while you watched from outside (your body). He obviously planned to keep them as trophies, because he took special care of them after removal. After a while you were able to move. Eventually you inhabited a body from a weak willed person. Now you hope to regain your body and take revenge upon the mage that did this. (Note: In case you couldn't guess, the spell was some form of astral projection. It should also be obvious that the mage didn't know exactly what it would do, or that you would be able to take control of someone else. I don't think the idea of changing bodies would be a good path to follow, as it just leads to more questions that need to be answered and would easily be considered a (bad) plot device. This story has a lot of potential in any direction it's taken)

07: Once well respected members of the capital city council, you are now hunted criminals. This might not be a problem, except you didn't commit any crimes. An evil shape-shifter has committed them in your place, and had gone to extra lengths to make the situation believable. Now, while dodging law and any other type of authority, you must capture the shape-shifter and prove your innocence. (Note: I wager that not ALL law enforcement would know who you are or what you look like (given the rate of information flow and lack of photographs in this timeframe), but you should still keep a level of shadiness and risk involved with actions inside a city. Blending in with a large crowd would be possible. Tracking down the shape shift would be the hard part. Even harder would be proving he can change shapes. I suggest the having the main character be smart enough to look for a weakness. Something that might make him change at your by your actions).

08: Passed down from generation to generation is a story. This story entails the origin of all monsters. However, so long is the book the story is contained in, it was vastly shortened when told to children. Long forgotten is the original story, being several thousand years old. On a day like any other, you head to the library to research monsters for an upcoming mission. Swept into the book, you discover an ancient story about the defeat of the original monster. However, hidden within this story was a deeper prophecy, a dark prophecy. Civilization will be lost if you don't act! (Note: The hero probably wouldn't be able to convince his group to deviate from their current mission, and will probably have to set out alone or with his closest friend. Usually this type of person would be reserved for a secondary, nerdy character with the hero being his close friend. As far as what happens down the line, there are many possibilities. Destroying the original monster, which was probably some wizard's mutation experiment, could have a devastating effect on all the others. If you could make the party stumble upon an ulterior plot line while adventuring, you could easily make the prophecy a falsehood).

You may use any of these plots as your own, giving me no credit if you don't want to. I would, however, like to be informed if you want to use any of them for my own personal records. Please inform me by sending an email to:

KingSpoom@hotmail.com
Subject: RPG maker stories

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