So, procedural narrative will pretty much fall into the RPG category.
Originally RPG meant a pencil and paper roleplaying game like Dungeons and Dragons.
Critically these games were moderated by a human being (the dungeon master or DM).
Some preparation of the adventure would be done in advance. Big rule books and dice would play a part in moving the game forward. In this sense RPGs were like computer games (narrative written in advance, mathematical rules govern the game). One duty of the DM was to apply the rules correctly and fairly, like a computer. Another aim was to create a realistic experience of the often Tolkienesque world which the party was exploring. Again this is something computer games have put a lot of effort into, normally visual realism rather than say mechanical realism.
However the DM could apply his or her (ok let's be honest, usually his) more human skills to creating the game as it went along.
If he was a good DM, he would
- Apply his imagination. i.e. React appropriately to the party's actions, creating new game elements as they were needed. These new elements would fit meaningfully into the story in the sense that they would not disrupt the players' suspension of disbelief.
- Apply his dramatic / literary sensibilities e.g. Allow a character on the point of extinction one last chance to save himself. Have a nemesis. Use motifs to symbolically indicate themes.
- Play NPCs with drama. Non-player characters could be critical to the plot and the drama. Player characters could build relationships with them. The DM would act out the NPCs based on not only their attributes but their relationships with the player characters.
RPG plots seemed to vary between two extremes.
On the one hand you had "dungeon crawls". In these cases the geography of the adventure was explicit ("you enter a large stone vault -- how large? -- 20' x 50' and 12' high -- any exits? -- there is a door to the south and a narrow passageway east"). The problems to be solved were normally combat / item related so worked well by moderating them by rules and dice. In the world of computer games it is these dungeon crawls plots which have naturally been the main focus. Let's call this a reductionist RPG because it tries to reduce everything to physical action. Dungeon maps, combat, spells, items, dice, these are the bread and butter of dungeon crawls whether pencil and paper or on computer.
In narrative terms, reductionist RPGs are exciting when you are young. However, they quickly become repetitive and dull. Fundamentally one magic item is very much the same in narrative terms as another. You obtain them, then you use them. As are monsters. You fight them, kill them, take their treasure. Boring. Reductionist RPGs had three speeds:
- Find the dungeon by asking at the tavern, then travel there. Each player action would take up a few days (journey to the mountains where the entrance to Moria is). Once you'd found the dungeon everything would speed up.
- Explore the dungeon, each player action would take a few minutes (search the room for traps).
- Combat. Each player action would take a few seconds (Fire a magic missile spell at the orc).
The dungeon crawl would mainly be at explore speed, occasionally punctuated by combat speed.
In contrast to the dungeon crawl in pencil and paper RPGs you also sometimes had plots which were much more "social". The challenges were to manipulate NPCs, carefully building the right relationships with them and exploit them to your own ends.
Could you bluff your way into a social group's gathering? If your bluff was exposed, how would this affect your standing amongst the group? Could you play off the two rival claimants for the throne against each other, destabilising the kingdom? Could you convince the downtrodden peasants to rise up against the tyrant? What would it take for them to trust you? Etc etc.
In contrast to reductionist RPGs these "social" plots were:
- Much more demanding of the DM's human skills (imagination, acting, narrative)
- Less demanding of the robot rules / dice moderation.
- More demanding of the players' social reasoning. Players could come up with all sorts of crazy ideas for how to deal with the social problems. But in the case of dungeon crawls if you are a fighter confronted with an orc, the main option is to hit the orc with your sword.
- Much more varied than dungeon crawls.
- Much more satisfying narratively.
- Much more dramatic.
- Much more variable in game speed. You might arrange a secret meeting with a co-conspiring NPC plotter but have two game days to kill in the meantime, during which you might tend to another NPC who was sick. However when the meeting did occur you might be spotted by a member of the opposing faction and have to slow the game right down to combat speed.
Here's the thing. Is it possible to create a game which automates "social" RPG plots?
