Games and Writing, Part 5

Did you think I was done with this topic? Ha ha no!

What I’m finally getting around to is the actual narrative technique in role-playing games. You could think of a typical video role-player as very novelistic. The player starts with a character, either one they create or one that’s assigned, and that character is in a situation. Sometimes there are dialogue wheels and choices to be made. There are different factions to join that will show another side of the core issue. However, the most wrenching plot events are scripted, and the player cannot avoid dealing with those. In the end, the plot comes to some sort of conclusion.

A tabletop role-player is more episodic. The cast of recurring characters, which may change depending on who plays, go into different situations. The characters may grow in power, but their personalities remain the same. There is no ending as such, because the same characters will seek adventure again, the next time the gamers get together.

I’ve been intrigued, though, by the storytelling in Hades, which I mentioned I’ve been playing recently. Their method is new to me, but it may have been around for a while and I just didn’t happen to play a game like this before.

In Hades, you are given a character, Zagreus, and he tells you he wants to escape from the land of the dead. (It’s based on Greek mythology, so he starts out in Tartarus.) That’s all you know. As you go from room to room, fighting various creatures, you start to encounter other Greek deities who give you “boons” that put special effects on various attacks. This game is very sparing with ways to restore your character’s health, so eventually you die. Mythic forces return you to the palace of your father, who just happens to be named Hades.

Oh! Now you find out Zagreus is the son of the god Hades?

That is what is so interesting about this game. Each god, some of the level bosses, and some of Hades’ palace staff, will talk to you. Just a little bit, perhaps one or two lines of dialogue. All conversation is scripted, so the player doesn’t even get to choose how Zagreus responds. This doesn’t sound like much, but it engages the social part of your brain to try and figure out the back story. Having your character die, over and over, only to return to his starting point, might not sound very fun, either. Yet, each time you return, you can unlock a few more lines of dialogue to piece a bit more of the story together.

As a writer, this approach is fascinating and potentially really useful. Fantasy is full of world building and cool creatures and magic and all that, but Hades illustrates how we can use dialogue to draw readers in and keep them riveted to the story. Basically, we can make them do a little bit of the storytelling work for us.

If you ever feel that your story is dragging, think about Hades. Find a spot where someone is just describing scenery, or they’re thinking about a certain problem, and look for a way to make them talk about it instead. Just a few lines of dialogue can make a big difference.

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