Story Design: Payback Stories
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How can you add more retribution and gratification to your revenge adventures?
Story Design Volume 6 - In a payback story the protagonist¸ or someone close to them¸ has somehow been wronged by the antagonist. Seeking to balance the scales or settle the score¸ the protagonist goes on a mission of revenge. It's a story about a person seeking justice by taking the law into their own hands.
Examples of the payback plot include The Cask of Amontillado¸ Death Wish¸ Hamlet¸ The Outlaw Josey Wales¸ and Sweeney Todd.
Story Design: The Payback covers all of the elements you need to prepare in order to tell a revenge story. It's based on concepts explored in Story Structure and the Lighthouse System games¸ also published by Dancing Light Press. It's a big book that goes into greater detail on how to get the most out of the three-act structure¸ as well as developing a three-phase series (campaign¸ if you prefer) with a clear beginning¸ middle¸ and end. If you want to use your favorite roleplaying game system to tell stories with more depth than kill monster¸ get treasure¸ repeat (not that there's anything wrong with that)¸ it is worth looking into.
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