Unreleased Draft from [12-30-16]: RPG vs Story Adventure: Overview

In my last three RPG vs Story series I looked at:
RPG vs Story Scene
Story vs RPG Characters
Story vs RPG Setting: Groups

In this new series I wanted to look at two more of the elements in the RPG and stories called plots and conflict. For ease of reference I will call both of these the adventure. RPG vs Story Adventure will look into different plot techniques used in story writing, rpg adventure creation, and both.

Tension is important in both stories and RPGs.

In stories, tension comes from character conflict and action needed to accomplish the story goal. Only when the story goal is reached, will the story end.  The conflict in stories is already written. In most stories, the outcome is already written and the path is in the story waiting to be read.

In RPGs, tension comes from conflict resolution which is normally mechanically tied to the game through rolling or card mechanisms. These mechanism create dynamic stories in which the outcomes are not necessarily predetermined. Paths may be more flexible and sometimes unique to the player group. Stories may move sideways and backwards due to complications. And sometimes they come to an abrupt unforeseen end.

[Notes on 12-30-16 post]
This unfinished post represents the beginning of a thought to create a new entire series. However, this is the period when 5e x 5 had just been released and with it the determination to put out the Future and Modern versions which took until the three modern books published last year. Plot Generator was published in 2018,  Story Mechanisms, and Minimalist Adventure Seed Engine later, which may represent threads of this same thought.