bowenandarrow

I like the idea of starting with God's, when you are writing a plan for anything you always need the overarching goals and objectives to guide where you are going or you are side tracked by unimportant things. That said I would want to be sure while doing that process you make sure that you don't put the cart before the horse. Also one of my disappointments with a great deal of RPG's with a fantasy setting is that they lack the proper integration of the deities into the narrative of their story; the deities having a clear impact on the story that is explicit enough to notice(or personal) but not too much that it feels like events are out of the players control. One of the only games I have played that has really used this to their advantage is both Baldur's Gate's. The way they built the sense of anticipation of WTF is going on with the creature you start turning into throughout the game and linking it back to Bhaal was quite amazing. The knowing that something bigger is going on but not really knowing played to a very big advantage in opening out the narrative and creating a sense of control over the immediacy of your environment but the adventure of not really being in control. I think these factors, mixed with a very good micro narrative are a very potent combination in creating a lasting and ultimately Epic(in the original sense of the word) story. In my opinion this is the stumble Bioware made with the original ending for mass effect three that people were up in arms about. They reached for the bigger story(meta narrative) and they failed. Another good case study for this is Fallout 3 vs Fallout New Vegas. Again, in my opinion, Fallout three failed to deliver a overarching narrative that was bigger than you could just minimise and thus no real bigger goal to reach for. Fallout New Vegas on the other hand offered, while sometimes over the top, a bigger story to what was happening on a number of fronts. Not necessarily God's but things that represent greater powers like the NRC, Mr. house etc. One of the issues, as you would no doubt know, is that nice graphic, a fantastic battle system, good voice acting and the like only go so far. You have to forget you are playing a game and tap into that part that allows you to completely forget you are sitting in front of a computer, you have to believe you are on an adventure.