When I was in City of Heroes I played as an unpowered archer named Sharona. Â Over the course of our Super Group's story, Sharona was established as the "Batman" of the story. Â She was severe, tactical, dedicated and never stopped working. Â She had a plan for everything.
In contrast, our leader was a guy named Shadeknight, who, if you couldn't tell from the name, was quite edgelordy. Â He was all magic, swords, demons and unimaginable power. Â He ran our major plot, got possessed by a demon, etc.
As Shade's plotline progressed, everyone became super aware that he was going to turn evil, the writing was on the wall. Â It was a plot twist everyone expected, both OOC and IC. Â OOC everyone knew there was going to be this possessed by a demon evil arc, followed by him being forgiven because nothing was his fault and we continue on. Â The twist wasn't going to be very good, and everyone knew it was coming, so I twisted the twist.
Sharona started undermining his authority in front of everyone, calling him out directly on the way he was acting. Â Before he could do his arc, she was demanding he take responsibility for being reckless and stupid. Â She demanded he step down after being possessed even if he "had it in control".
This created a story where what happened next had been foreshadowed and established. Â Sharona begins researching his weaknesses, and those of everyone else in case this demon possessed them too. Â She starts testing base security. Â When Shade reprimands her for breaking into the super secret vault of magic items, she turns it around on him. Â Shade's unreliable, unpredictable, careless. Â Instead of punished, she's made head of security to keep an eye on him.
I start throwing out multipage security plans and reports on the forums. Â At the big group meetings I submit these IC, and they're voted on and implemented without being read because they're too damn long. Â Sharona, like Batman, starts developing countermeasures for all the other players.
When Shade's twist finally hits, and he does his full evil turn, the council meets up and throws him out of leadership position with Sharona as head of the movement. Â He's shocked, this was not the way the plot was supposed to go!
Twist Twisted.
At the same time, I'm running a minor sideplot about Sharona's brother, a psychiatrist and skeevy fellow, who is trying to ingratiate himself in with all the heroes. Â He makes a few friends, but he's fairly generally unliked. Â Then, twist, he steals all of Sharona's data on the weakness of the others and runs off with it.
The group goes to chase him down, corners him in an office building after fighting through a bunch of hired mercenaries, and they demand their info back. Â Before he can explain himself, Sharona shoots him through the heart, teleports back to base, and activates all of those security protocols she put in place.
The group freaks out, OOC and IC. Â They demand to know how she has full control of security measures. Â I link them to the multipage reports they voted on a month prior. Â Each person gets hit with things that directly target their weaknesses, things willingly shared with Sharona in the past in idle conversation, things she openly built and showed to them.
She breaks into the same vault she broke into months before as a "security test" and steals everything. Â No one can do anything about it. Â Everyone clicks at the same time. Â There was a thirty person simultaneous "Oh Shit!"
Six months of foreshadowing and planning. Â Subverting leadership, gaining trust, becoming their most trusted friend, making them betray themselves. Â All for a single moment where the ball drops to the sound of shocked silence.
*****
Verad is right. Â You have to work with what's already established as plausible, and Faye is right in that you have to foreshadow, but more important than that, work with the player's expectations.
Players expect turns, so work with that in the narrative. Â Give them a twist, but not the twist they expect. Â Don't just throw it out there like some inevitable moment, work with the players to establish the legitimacy of the twist, even if they have no idea they're helping.
Make sure that if you're doing a twist that it doesn't effect the plot, but rather each character in the plot individually. Â Find out where the most subtle change can have the most narrative impact. Â Subvert expectation, not established reality.
Tomato in The Mirror works not because of the tomato, but because of the mirror.
In contrast, our leader was a guy named Shadeknight, who, if you couldn't tell from the name, was quite edgelordy. Â He was all magic, swords, demons and unimaginable power. Â He ran our major plot, got possessed by a demon, etc.
As Shade's plotline progressed, everyone became super aware that he was going to turn evil, the writing was on the wall. Â It was a plot twist everyone expected, both OOC and IC. Â OOC everyone knew there was going to be this possessed by a demon evil arc, followed by him being forgiven because nothing was his fault and we continue on. Â The twist wasn't going to be very good, and everyone knew it was coming, so I twisted the twist.
Sharona started undermining his authority in front of everyone, calling him out directly on the way he was acting. Â Before he could do his arc, she was demanding he take responsibility for being reckless and stupid. Â She demanded he step down after being possessed even if he "had it in control".
This created a story where what happened next had been foreshadowed and established. Â Sharona begins researching his weaknesses, and those of everyone else in case this demon possessed them too. Â She starts testing base security. Â When Shade reprimands her for breaking into the super secret vault of magic items, she turns it around on him. Â Shade's unreliable, unpredictable, careless. Â Instead of punished, she's made head of security to keep an eye on him.
I start throwing out multipage security plans and reports on the forums. Â At the big group meetings I submit these IC, and they're voted on and implemented without being read because they're too damn long. Â Sharona, like Batman, starts developing countermeasures for all the other players.
When Shade's twist finally hits, and he does his full evil turn, the council meets up and throws him out of leadership position with Sharona as head of the movement. Â He's shocked, this was not the way the plot was supposed to go!
Twist Twisted.
At the same time, I'm running a minor sideplot about Sharona's brother, a psychiatrist and skeevy fellow, who is trying to ingratiate himself in with all the heroes. Â He makes a few friends, but he's fairly generally unliked. Â Then, twist, he steals all of Sharona's data on the weakness of the others and runs off with it.
The group goes to chase him down, corners him in an office building after fighting through a bunch of hired mercenaries, and they demand their info back. Â Before he can explain himself, Sharona shoots him through the heart, teleports back to base, and activates all of those security protocols she put in place.
The group freaks out, OOC and IC. Â They demand to know how she has full control of security measures. Â I link them to the multipage reports they voted on a month prior. Â Each person gets hit with things that directly target their weaknesses, things willingly shared with Sharona in the past in idle conversation, things she openly built and showed to them.
She breaks into the same vault she broke into months before as a "security test" and steals everything. Â No one can do anything about it. Â Everyone clicks at the same time. Â There was a thirty person simultaneous "Oh Shit!"
Six months of foreshadowing and planning. Â Subverting leadership, gaining trust, becoming their most trusted friend, making them betray themselves. Â All for a single moment where the ball drops to the sound of shocked silence.
*****
Verad is right. Â You have to work with what's already established as plausible, and Faye is right in that you have to foreshadow, but more important than that, work with the player's expectations.
Players expect turns, so work with that in the narrative. Â Give them a twist, but not the twist they expect. Â Don't just throw it out there like some inevitable moment, work with the players to establish the legitimacy of the twist, even if they have no idea they're helping.
Make sure that if you're doing a twist that it doesn't effect the plot, but rather each character in the plot individually. Â Find out where the most subtle change can have the most narrative impact. Â Subvert expectation, not established reality.
Tomato in The Mirror works not because of the tomato, but because of the mirror.
