Role-Playing Games - Fundamentals of Game Design - page 477

OPENING STORIES
continued
At the beginning of this game, the player finds his character locked outside of his vault,
Vault 13. The immediate priority is survival. It's dangerous outside the vault, and there is
no way to return without the water chip. Fortunately for the player, it looks like the water
chip will be easy to obtain. Vault 15 is only a day or two away, and provided that he can
survive that long, it should be a reasonably easy matter to obtain a new chip.
Fallout 's story begins with a seemingly simple quest, but no apparent mystery. As the
game goes on, complications arise: The water chip cannot be obtained from Vault 15.
Vault 15 stands in ruins and the control room lies under tons of rock. This false ending
approach is used more than once in Fallout . When the character does finally get another
water chip and returns to Vault 13, he realizes that Vault 15 was attacked — and that his
actions have now revealed the location of his home vault to the same attackers. The
adventure continues with the player now compelled to destroy the forces that threaten
his home vault.
The opening uses the popular theme of returning home to good effect. The ironic twist at
the end of the game, that his experiences in the outside world have changed the charac-
ter so much that he cannot return to his home vault, is an excellent example of
storytelling in a role-playing game.
The Presentation Layer
Like strategy games, CRPGs have complicated core mechanics, and the player needs
access to a large amount of information. In addition to the game world, the player
needs to see critical information about the health (and possibly mana status) of
each member of the party. Spellcasting characters require a menu of the spells that
they currently have available.
Interaction Model
The interaction model for most single-player CRPGs is party-based, with the player
controlling the activities of a small group of people who generally stay close
together. In a few cases, most notably the Diablo games, the player controls a single
avatar. In multiplayer online games, the interaction model is always avatar-based,
though the player may have a familiar —a pet or companion who is also under the
player's control.