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| Introduction | |
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| Background | |
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| Myths and Equations | |
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| Why Make Games? | |
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| Why Tell Stories in Games? | |
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| One Last Equation | |
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| The Story Remains the Same | |
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| Aristotle and Those Other Greeks | |
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| Jung's Collective Unconscious | |
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| Campbell's The Hero's Journey | |
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| Primary Sources | |
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| From The Great Train Robbery to Birth of a Nation | |
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| The Language of Drama and Film | |
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| Creating Characters | |
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| Respecting Characters | |
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| Three Dimensions | |
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| Character Progression | |
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| The Pivotal Character | |
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| The Player-Character | |
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| Character Roles | |
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| The Character's Role in Story | |
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| Populating the World | |
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| Commentary and Gossip | |
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| Living Useful Lives | |
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| The Player-Character Revisited (Protagonist) | |
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| Death of a Player-Character | |
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| Villains (Antagonists) | |
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| Mentors | |
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| Sidekicks | |
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| Servants and Pets | |
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| Merchants | |
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| Trainers | |
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| Quest Givers | |
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| Character Traits | |
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| Mobility | |
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| Physical Skills | |
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| Professions | |
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| Race | |
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| Sex | |
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| Character Emotion | |
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| Characters in Opposition | |
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| Memory | |
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| Revealing Character Through Action | |
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| Character Encounters | |
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| Perception | |
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| Perspective (First Person Versus Third Person) | |
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| Dialogue | |
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| Dialogue Systems | |
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| Entrances and Exits | |
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| Return Visits | |
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| Relationships | |
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| Telling the Story | |
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| Once Upon a Time | |
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| Building a Home for Characters | |
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| Story or Game: Which Comes First? | |
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| Original Material | |
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| Adaptations from Other Media | |
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| Sequels | |
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| Finding a Style That Fits | |
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| Linear Versus Non-Linear | |
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| Avoiding Cliches | |
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| Respecting Story | |
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| Willing Suspension of Disbelief | |
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| The Fourth Wall | |
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| The Trap of Cut Scenes | |
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| The Trap of Too Much Backstory | |
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| The Trap of Letting Players "Discover" the Story | |
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| Verisimilitude | |
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| Expressionism | |
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| Symbolism | |
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| Consistency of the World | |
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| Setting | |
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| Weather | |
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| Scope and Scale | |
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| Bringing the Story to Life | |
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| Foreshadowing | |
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| Point of Attack | |
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| The Obligatory Scene | |
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| Reversals | |
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| Arcs | |
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| Exposition in Action | |
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| Games: Charting New Territory | |
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| Characters Revisited | |
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| Puzzling Developments | |
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| Quests | |
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| Types of Quests | |
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| Rewards | |
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| The Story Up Till Now | |
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| Story Chiropractics | |
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| Heart: Player Emotion | |
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| Mind: Sharing the Theme | |
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| Funny Bone: ROFLMAO! | |
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| Editing | |
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| Collaboration | |
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| Adapting to the Engine You End Up With | |
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| Stopping the Bleeding When You Cut Levels and Areas | |
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| Polishing Dialogue | |
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| Copy Editing | |
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| The Roots of a New Storytelling | |
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| The Odyssey | |
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| The Canterbury Tales | |
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| Don Quixote de la Mancha | |
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| Charles Dickens and Publishing in Parts | |
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| Saturday Morning at the Movies (Movie Serials) | |
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| Dennis Wheatley's Crime Dossiers | |
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| Daytime Soap Operas | |
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| Episodic Television | |
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| Modular Storytelling | |
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| The Yoke of Narrative | |
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| Nesting Modules | |
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| Structuring Chaos | |
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| Adventures in a Non-Linear World | |
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| Games People Play | |
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| Game Types | |
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| Action | |
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| Adventure | |
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| Role-Playing | |
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| Simulations | |
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| Strategy | |
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| Multiplayer | |
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| Game Genres | |
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| Fantasy | |
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| Science Fiction | |
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| War | |
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| Espionage | |
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| Crime | |
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| Mystery | |
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| Horror | |
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| Romance | |
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| Western | |
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| Console Games | |
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| Demographics | |
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| Push the Button, Get the Story | |
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| Integration Versus Cut Scenes | |
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| How Story Enhances Gameplay | |
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| Cooperative Games (Minimally Multiplayer) | |
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| The Incredible Shrinking Game | |
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| Bringing Virtual Worlds to Life | |
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| The Roots of Role-Playing | |
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| Scope and Scale | |
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| Death of a Player-Character Revisited | |
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| The Social World | |
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| Footprints in the Sand | |
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| The Trap pf Episodic Structure | |
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| Enabling Story in Virtual Worlds | |
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| Thousands of Heroes | |
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| Ongoing Story | |
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| Revealing Story | |
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| True Multiplayer Quests | |
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| Crowd Control | |
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| Variety | |
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| Hiding the Numbers | |
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| Empowering Emergent Storytelling | |
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| Reflections | |
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| The Responsible Writer | |
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| Appendices | |
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| Opinionated Bibliography | |
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| Developer Primer on Building Writing Teams | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Team Configurations | |
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| The Lead Writer | |
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| The Staff | |
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| Additional Considerations | |
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| Conclusion | |
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| Index | |