Story Design: Sacrifice Stories
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How can you add more drama and pathos to your story of selfless heroism?
Story Design Volume 16 - A sacrifice story finds the protagonist pursuing some noble cause or higher purpose. In order to accomplish their objective¸ they will need to give up something of great personal value. This might be other goals¸ a close relationship¸ or even their own life. They may survive¸ but it is the willingness to be selfless on behalf of others that allows them to succeed.
Examples of the sacrifice plot include The Dark Knight¸ High Noon¸ The Iron Giant¸ The Last Unicorn¸ and Norma Rae.
Story Design: The Sacrifice covers all of the elements you need to prepare in order to tell a story of selfless heroism. It's based on concepts explored in Story Structure ¸ 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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