If you’d look for the term „Meta-Stories“ on google, you’d be bombarded with explanations how to post stories on Meta’s platforms like Facebook and Instagram. But that’s not what we want to talk about here (though it would definitely help with the SEO if I would, hehehe). In this months general topic, we want to look at how stories are placed within stories, how they are being used to push the general narrative forward and make your world more lived-in. Yes, the main focus of your story and your adventures should be the player’s urgency, their backstory and their progression, but these topics should expand your world and make your characters think about their place in that world. So, that was quite the meta description for a blog entry about meta stuff. Therefore, let’s dive in and consider some well-known examples of meta-stories.
Examples from Media
- Nested narratives (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade). Yes, we have been talking about this in the previous entry before, but maybe let’s consider another angle here. The diary not only contained the research on the Grail by Indy’s Dad, but also second- and third-hand information from other sources describing the location where the Grail is hidden and what traps are placed near it. Then, as with all historic sources, the question of reliability comes up, how much can you trust a source, because overall Henry Jones, Sr. copies the information from books, artifacts and other sources. What if one of those sources was placed as a red herring or as pure misinformation. Maybe the Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword would take the account of someone who came close and change the content, so that anyone following those texts would walk straight into a trap. And no one would like that, right? But this also gives other questions, who were those secondary sources and their accounts, what have they seen, and where have they placed other hints, so maybe having a first hint in the diary could lead to further discoveries later, which would fill out more of their backstory.
- Take-home idea: Play with the idea of an unreliable narrator and what an object might have seen in the past, what events it might have triggered.
- Take-home idea: Maybe if you want to have a smaller impact on the story, have your campaign be a story told as a lullaby or a historic retelling.
- Experience history actively (Star Trek – The Next Generation – The Inner Light). In one of the best episodes of Star Trek – The Next Generation, the Enterprise finds an ancient probe. Upon scanning it, it starts a scanning beam on its own that brings Captain Picard in a coma. Immediately he finds himself in another world, living out the life of a former scientist who documents the last years of a civilization before it ultimately is destroyed by what we would call today a climate change event. Picard lives the entire life span up until the start of a new probe that should document the last years of this world for others and it’s the very probe the Enterprise found at the beginning. Similarly, in campaign 3 of Critical Role, Bell’s Hells found themselves looking at an ancient recording device, which triggered them to experience the events of Downfall, a three-episode event, taking place in the past.
- Take-home idea: Instead of info-dumping lore stuff onto your players, have them explore and see it themselves. Whenever I’m writing stories, I’m always reminded of „Show, don’t tell“. Having the info-dump shown in terms of a one-shot or mini-campaign is an amazing way to incorporate „Show, don’t tell“ into your narrative.
- Different Outcomes, Different Realities (Everything Everywhere all at once). One of my favorite movies of the last few years shows a woman who works in a laundromat down in her luck, as she suddenly becomes the focal point of a multiversal crisis. She experiences the different life choices of her life, seeing herself as a martial artist, a famous movie star and all other possibilities that she might have had if she had chosen a different path in her life. With that, she is able to access the abilities of her alternative version and can download it into herself (don’t ask how, it still looks amazing). During those moments, she would see the point of divergence as well as a brief flash through her branched-off life, showing small vignettes of what she might have faced and experienced in another life.
- Take-home idea: If your campaign deals with multi-reality stuff, you might want to show alternative moments in their life, what different choices could have changed a character. Maybe that’s also a good thing to discuss with your players what might change and how their character would look out if they had chosen a different life path. Overall this also helps them think about their character’s backstory and how certain events have helped shape their personality up to the current point in their adventure.
- Hidden Personas (The Prestige). The second Christopher Nolan movie on this list is also one of my favorites. In this movie, we see the story of two rivaling magicians who would try to beat each other, find out what their secrets are, how their magic tricks work and it becomes a thriller that has deadly consequences. Similar to many other Nolan movies, he uses non-linear storytelling. Just as in Inception, every time the scene changes, the viewer needs to think and figure out, where a scene lies on the linear timeline. The entire movie is a large puzzle, where twists follow twists follow twists, like a large magic trick, played out over the entirety of the film. But then again, you’d also see the people from different aspects. Official aspects that they want to show to the public and the opponents and the personal aspects that they want to hide, in order to hide their tricks. So, I’m not advocating to have a non-linear campaign playing over different periods of time (I mean you could try… but I wouldn’t recommend it, that would be mind-bending for DM’s and players), but more like thinking of additional player options and what a character decides to show the other players. Is this something they would only tell them and hide from others or does the character have such secrets that they would have a second identity that would come up when they’re not together with the group. Maybe they have secret agendas that would be opposing the goals of the group, like a spy or a double agent.
- Take-home idea: Workshop ideas for your players for a secondary identity. Maybe they’re working for a secret organization or something the family of that character has done in the past, that would haunt them. Make them think about their official agenda and their hidden agenda and if those contradict each other.
- Fourth-Wall Breaking NPC (Deadpool, She-Hulk). Despite their usual superhero powers, Deadpool and She-Hulk are both capable of seeing beyond the Fourth Wall. They know they are characters in a movie or in a comic book. This leads to mind-bending scenarios, where they would question the narrative and address the reader or viewer directly. I haven’t tried it out myself to be honest, but you could think about an NPC who knows they are an NPC, controlled by a DM. Maybe they have already read through the campaign notes of the DM or the campaign book. On the one hand that could lead to hilarious scenarios, however, it might break also your game. You could make comments on some of the character’s choices or the campaign scenario. But maybe you’re playing a Spaceballs-like campaign and suddenly find a magic spell that lets them show into the future… after showing them what is happening NOW (If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll know what I mean).
- Take-home idea: Have an NPC that knows more about the world and has access to the literal DM notes.
- The Simulation (The Matrix). A classic scenario for Star Trek episodes (especially in the 90s) was the occasional holodeck episode where the main characters get together in a simulation room, playing a programmed scenario, like a noir detective play, a Sherlock Holmes scenario, a Western or a 1950s pulp Sci-fi novel. You don’t have to go full Matrix though, where your players are within a simulation. Maybe it suffices to jump into a one-shot scenario. It could also be an interesting way to continue your campaign after a total party kill (if that happens in your campaign). The antagonist takes all your players and subjects them to an alternate scenario and studies them to make themselves ready for the next confrontation (that also happens in the Deep Space Nine two-parter The Search).
- Take-home idea: Have an alternate one-shot scenario that takes the players into a completely different scenario. Maybe have them subjected to a magic spell that takes place for all of the players at the same time.
This (slightly different than usual) blog entry was mostly inspired by my upcoming solo journaling TTRPG game „Reel To Real“ that takes the player as a director of a movie festival, putting together a festival programming, talking about the presented movies, answer discussion questions and face mishaps that happen during the festival. It’s a game not only discussing the movies that are shown, but also lets the player develop an intimate story about what happens when you’re going to the movies, watching a movie within a community. So it’s multiple layers of stories playing out at the same time. I hope you got some inspiration and maybe additional comments for your upcoming games.