Well, it’s time for something related to worldbuilding for a change. Let’s talk about settings that are just overcrowded. What does that mean? Generally, certain specific setting types invite the author to add in more and more things that are happening in the setting, until the point it’s no longer feasible for ordinary people to inhabit the constructed world.

I’ll get to a few examples in a moment and then go into why this is bad and what the implications are. And maybe some notes on how to counteract it. Tip: moderation.

Today we talk about scripting. Not the programming kind of script though, the literary kind! And we’re going to be examining it in the context of what makes a script and how it needs to be presented for the script to be valuable.

And we’re going to be dissecting the good old R&J for use as an example.

Japan has a rather unique relationship with role-playing games. Game development studios located there sometimes seem to pump them out by the dozen — garish, weird titles that all seem to share a similar core of mechanics and themes. And quite frankly… a lot of them are not that good. Indeed, the issues with these games are very much rooted in the same causes that give them their recognisable feel.

But before we can get to that, let’s talk cargo cults!

Subversion. Boy, there’s a lot of stuff going on with subversive narratives lately. And a lot of it is quite frankly shit.

But why? Is there something wrong with subversion? Well… no, there’s not. It’s a lot like how it goes with a lot of tropes. They exist, and it’s fine to include them in your work, but tropes are never about what they are. Just because it’s a pattern, it doesn’t mean you can or should use it in your own narrative. It’s always a matter of execution and making it work through the internal logic of your story.