Friday, April 1, 2011

Outline and Summary for Project Ziggurat

Since I am the originator of this project, and gave a 9 - point guide for making an outline and summary of making stories, I figure I should 'lead by example' and show one way to make a summary and outline.  You don't have to do both, though it can help to better solidify your general idea for the storyline.  After that, you can get more specific and can work on better forming the specifics of the events.  That is, unless you want to keep it to being by chance within the RP.  However, having pinnacle moments that must happen can be a good way to keeping the course of the story flowing as you would like it to.  But, we'll save the more detailed structuring for later.  For now, keep with forming the outline and summary of stories you would like to tell in the RP in Project Ziggurat.

Outline

1. The opening (the beginning/origins).

Ioh and others from Chamber escape some terrible catastrophe that leaves them wandering and seeking refuge.

2. Inciting incident (what calls your character to act in the story's setting)

Because the refugees need shelter, and a place to start anew, Ioh seeks out a place to stay, to which he finds the bunker.

3. First turning point (what first invites your character into the story/brings about the call to action).

After moving into the bunker, Ioh and others notice strange things going on, and so, to find out what is the cause of these things, Ioh decides to investigate the origins of the mysterious happenings.

4. Mid-point (the arc of the story, where the pieces of the story seem to come together and you think your character has it all wrapped up)

After looking around the bunker, Ioh shrugs off the mysterious happenings as being rats in the sewer, and possibly natural gas, or something else that causes the sensation of a 'rift' or 'portal effect' that causes dizziness and slight unease to certain people feeling the effects of the mysteries.

5. Second turning point (what pulls your character further into the story, what new elements of the story come to play and need to be payed attention to)

People start to begin missing from the bunker.

6. Crisis (where the pieces seem to fall apart, or mix and match up differently than perceived, or something pulls the original ideas and theories apart, or prevent them from being put together as previously thought possible)

After certain people wind up missing, Ioh finds that he cannot continue on with his original conclusions pertaining to the mysteries of the bunker and, more so, when exiting the bunker, finding that the doors open up to a completely new setting compared to where they were before they entered.

7.  Climax (the pivotal moment, the beginning of the end, and high point of the story)

Ioh and some of the remaining go out in search of the missing refugees to which, what they find amazes them.

8. Resolution (how to put the pieces together, what starts to bring closure to the story)

Ioh and his cohorts find out what happened to their missing refugees and learn the mystery behind the 'bunker'.

9. Final page (The ending, what closes the adventure, and may set up the events for a new one)

In learning that the bunker is not really a bunker, but an inter-dimensional transporter that can travel through space, time, and among parallel universes, Ioh, and the rest of the refugees seek out a way to harness the abilities of the bunker, or Ziggurat to travel into many worlds, and many time periods.

Summary

After the tragedy of Chamber's destruction, Ioh and others set out to find a new place to call home. The refugees sought shelter in a bunker that was found on their wanderings of the land. However, strange things began to happen in the bunker, and Ioh decides to investigate what could be going on. On first look around, Ioh decides that much of the bumps in the night had to do with rats scurrying around, and the strange, uneasy, queasy feelings possibly were from a leak in a gas pipe, or some other natural air born influence. However, these theories lose weight when people began to wind up missing. Therefore, Ioh decides to investigate further what the mysterious disappearances may mean. In deciding to go outside the bunker, Ioh and a select few who volunteered to help in the search for the missing persons found that they were in a strange land which itself held many puzzles. Eventually, Ioh and his cohorts find out what happened to the missing refugees and, at the same time, the mystery behind the bunker. Apparently, the bunker is an inter-dimensional transporter that can be used to travel through space, time, and to parallel universes. After learning of the mysteries of what they now call the Ziggurat, Ioh and his cohort of refugees decide to pilot the monolithic transporter into many worlds, periods of times, and dimensions in order to go on more adventures.

2 comments:

  1. I love it. Love multi-dimensional projects, stories and games. I think it'd be a great way to open up all of SL to your play, and it's very well put together.

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  2. Thanks Laz. It's one of many concepts being tossed about. I think they all can mesh together, and would love to see how they do. The bunker/ziggurat will basically be a HQ of sorts for those involved with the Project to step out from. Although, it could land on a sim of its own, with a story surrounding it and its mysteries. Time will see what develops. For now, it's just a big monolithic box in the sky, which, when entered by those of the Project, was believed to be a bunker that they sought shelter in. At least that's my version of the story for now...

    Can see more of the concept here:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/iohannesii/5581487922/

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