Your Storylines

[Stennick]

So usually what I do is I look over my roster, figure out who I want to go up against who at the pay per view and then I build to it. Thats how I do things in a very linear way. Although lately I've had these stories, three or four that intertwine together somewhat yet mostly stay seperate. I'm thinking of fleshing out the stories and then plugging the workers into the roles. My question is which does everyone else do. Do you create the story around the workers? Or do you plug the workers into an already created story? Obviously like a movie once you figure out who's playing the role you might have to change or add to the script but you know what I mean. Get the general idea down and then decide who would be best for whatever role. I think with my lessor feuds I'll continue on the wrestler a vs. wrestler b but with my main event stories I think I might try a bigger story telling approach and see how that does for my creative juices.

[Greg2511]

I tend to wing it... In my diary game I base the stories around the wrestlers. So for example I had the DaVE vs SWF idea going, and instead of saying I need someone who is an SWF veteran to rally the troops and then thinking through, well it could be Gilmore it could be Faith or it could e Enforcer Roberts...it was more of Gilmore was returning and I needed to think of something for him to do. I thought about it and thought well, no one has really stepped up as a leader for the SWF, he's been there since he was 18 years old. They gave him a home, he should step up and say "NO, you can't do this." Its reasons like that that I use unchained storylines, because I can change them whenever I need, and fit people in where THEY need to be as opposed to thinking of storylines and then fitting in the workers. HOWEVER, in my non diary games, its far more generic and I just plug people into the stories and there's really no rhyme or reason as to why they do things. I prefer the prior.

[scorpion]

I have several different methods I use. I keep several notebooks by my desk, which i use to keep storyline ideas. Currently I have loosely mapped out the direction of my major characters as well as a few minor characters. Some guys I'm still trying to figure out and I do struggle with them. After I finish my PPV, and before I start the next show, I schedule out my next PPV. After I know my matches, I decide how I'm going to get there. This is the most tedious part, but I enjoy it when i can come up with creative ways to start feuds. If I can't come up with anything original, I just do the old tried and true methods. Lastly, I'm never afraid to just wing it and take an angle somewhere I wasn't planning if it seems natural. Case in point, in my diary I had planned to turn Scout against Rick Law for two months, so I laid down several clues, although none of them overt. On the other hand, I just did a tag team feud where I turned one partner on the other, but i didn't decide to go that route until I was writing the actual PPV. Originally it was just supposed to be a placeholder feud. But, as I was writing the promos, the character was telling me that it made sense to turn heel, so i did it. Now I've got a whole new direction planned for him that I hadn't previously thought about.

[Phantom Stranger]

With Ring of Fire it's a question of working out the matches on the big shows and getting there, plus showcasing as many guys as possible hunting for improvement. With SWF, I'm actually using storylines imported from the '07 edition of the DOTT mod - it's just a question of matching things up. THere will be a more modern style of faction war coming along soon, however.

[CQI13]

I try to have one big angle/storyline that will take place over the course of several months, up to a year; the focal point of the promotion. They tend to revolve around a stable so that I can get several people involved at once. It works, because I can build up the face by him going over several workers (over the course of several months) and builds anticipation for the big match up. The big storyline doesn't have to be the main event storyline. Probably better if it isn't, since the ME can get itself over. I try to pick the major events I have in a promotion and plan for them, working my way back to now, using other big events as placeholders in the story. So if I was running WWE (which I never do, as it turns to work as opposed to fun, running three brands) I'd plan the big matches for WM, then work back to the Rumble, then Survivor Series & Summerslam. So I do try to work linearly. I'm not good enough to just wing it, I need to know where I'm headed. And while it's extremely dangerous to plan so far ahead (as one injury/suspension can derail your plans), I try to have several minor storylines around it, so I can plug someone else into a title match at a PPV and not have it seem forced, much like WCW used to do with the cruiserweights.

[Dragonmack]

Usually I build around my planned PPV match-ups,and then if there is good chemistry or good match results,some of those feuds will get carried over, and i may bring in a couple of other people into their storyline to build another feud. But occasionally I will get an off the wall idea for a storyline and then I will go with that. I really love the new angle writer in '08 as now, if I have a segment that I want to go a certain way, I don't have to try and shoehorn the participants into one of the default angles. I just quickly make one with the number of participants I want and what I want them rated on, and away I go. This has been particularly useful for a storyline that is coming up in my diary game.

[ggazoo]

Being new to TEW, maybe I'm not doing it right. I'll write a storyline to span over several cards. But sometimes, half-way through the storyline, it won't be getting over with the fans. I'm stuck with it unless I want to end the story and incur a penalty. I guess I'm just not clear as to how storylines actually work. What are unchained storylines are vs storylines that have steps... what's the difference?

[CQI13]

Storylines with steps have certain angles/matches you need to complete. Unchained will gain/lose heat from any participants involved. Say for example you have two unchained storylines....your heavyweight title and your tag title. So if your heavyweight champ has a 6 man tag with your tag champs against someone else, both feuds will be advanced. In the example you gave of a storyline not getting over, you can evolve the storyline to an unchained storyline and end it there. But from a realism standpoint you should give the fans closure. In the example I gave in the thread, it's not actual storylines in the game. I tend to use the unchained storylines, but when I'm writing the results out (for a dynasty or whatever) I'll adapt what happens to what I was imagining.

[Remianen]

I write the story around the workers. On occasion I've recycled storylines I've written previous (especially in the midcard) but that's hard for the main event since I usually like to have most of my MEs entwined in a single storyline surrounding the world title.