[MUD-Dev] Re: Game Economies

[Brandon J. Rickman]

On Fri, 11 Jun 1999, Shawn Halpenny wrote:
> On Fri, Jun 11, 1999 at 02:04:35AM +0000, Jon A. Lambert wrote:
> > It has been said that there are really only 36 plots.  And everything 
> > else is a remake.  For instance, the original 'Star Wars' was yet another 
> > remake of 'Le Morte de Artur'.   
> 
> I'd love a reference for this!  And if there are only 36 plots, one would
> think it straightforward to write a storytelling engine to "play" them
> out and have your game work within them... <kof>

The likeliest source would be _The thirty-six dramatic situations_ by
Georges Polti, written in 1917, translated from Italian.  

Each plot has a number of variations - homicide could be patricide,
matricide, fratricide, &c.  And each variation is followed by an
exhaustive list of contemporary (ca. 1917) plays and operas that use that
plot.  Alas, it does not provide any kind of system for creating new
stories (they weren't concerned about that kind of thing back then).

- B!




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