Vladimir Propp - template for Adventure Plots

[Ali]

Hi, I thought anyone trying to come up with a plot for a game might be helped by this...

About 70 years ago a Russian called Vladimir Propp read a load of fairy tales. He put together a list of characters (or spheres) and events (or functions) which usually appeared in the stories. They are virtually a template for a fantasy adventure game, and can be used to describe stories like Cinderella and even Star Wars.

Characters:
Hero/Victim, Villain, Donor, Helper, Princess, Princess's Father, False-Hero

Events:
1.   A member of the family leaves home.
2.   A prohibition or rule is imposed on the hero.
3.   This prohibition is broken.
4.   The villain makes an attempt at reconnaissance.
5.   The villain learns something about his victim.
6.   The villain tries to deceive the victim to get possession of him or his belongings.
7.    The victim unknowingly helps the villain by being deceived or influenced by the villain.
8.   The villain harms a member of the family
8a.           A member of the family lacks or desires something.
9.   This lack or misfortune is made known; the hero is given a request or command and he goes or is sent on a mission / quest.
10.   The seeker (or the hero) plans action against the villain.
11.   The hero leaves home.
12.   The hero is tested, attacked, interrogated and as a result receives either a magical agent or helper.
13.   The hero reacts to the actions of the future donor.
14.   The hero uses the magical agent.
15.   The hero is transferred to the general location of the object of his mission / quest.
16.   The hero and villain join in direct combat.
17.   The hero is branded.
18.   The villain is defeated.
19.   The initial misfortune or lack is set right.
20.   The hero returns.
21.   The hero is pursued.
22.   The hero is rescued from pursuit.
23.   The hero arrives home or elsewhere and is not recognised.
24.   A false hero makes false claims.
25.   A difficult task is set for the hero (test by fire, drink, riddle or test of strength)
26.   The task is accomplished.
27.   The hero is recognised.
28.   The false hero is transformed.
29.   The villain is punished.
30.   The hero is married and crowned.

All you need to do to write a fantasy, sci-fi or adventure game using this structure is pick out the numbers you like the sound of and add in the "use-magic-dust-with-heavy-lock" bits.

If this is useful or interesting, please let me know. If it's boring, please tell me and I'll stop writing posts about Russian Structuralists.

[PureGhostGR]

By breaking down some stories, you keep seeing the same basic pattern, yet all good stories (even the twisted ones) hide a greater truth behind them.

His pattern is good, but I think you could break it down to an even simpler form.

It was fun reading this. I was asked to do something similar for homework some time ago and I had a hard time when I tried to apply the same formula to tales from different cultures.

[DGMacphee]

I've heard of Propp, though I haven't studied too closely into his work.

From memory though, I heard there were other characters to use, like the Shapeshifter.

While on this topic, I like to incorperate the 4-act screenplay model into my games -- I noticed that Grim Fandango uses a similar model (i.e the game is split into four years/acts and the three cutscenes between the years act as plot-points)-- However, this is probably unintentional.

[Kweepa]

In a similar vein is Joseph Campbell's "Hero with a Thousand Faces":
http://www.jitterbug.com/origins/myth.html
Famously used by George Lucas for Star Wars.

Steve

[DGMacphee]

Actually, I think the Shapeshifter was one of Campbell's charcters -- But I think he might have taken a lot of his character archetypes from Propp.