Story Design: Rags-to-Riches Stories
 |
How can you add more hope and excitement to your story of dreams and aspirations?
Story Design Volume 19 - In a rags-to-riches story the protagonist starts out poor¸ unknown¸ and without any power or authority. This could be literal or metaphorical; they may be intellectually or spiritually poor¸ rather than without material wealth. Over the course of the story they rise to prominence¸ gain some form of power¸ and achieve their dreams. In the end¸ the protagonist gets what they deserve.
Examples of the rags-to-riches plot include Aladdin¸ Cinderella¸ Oliver Twist¸ Rocky¸ and The Razor's Edge.
Story Design: Rags-to-Riches covers all of the elements you need to prepare in order to tell a story of sicoeconomic ascent. It's based on concepts explored in Story Structure for Writers and Roleplayers ¸ 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.
Click on Full-size Preview to read the first few pages for free!