I’ve noticed a lot of people have wondered what would happen if the players for various throughlines never met, so I decided to do an experiment. Thanks to ideas sparked by @jhull and Subtext, I developed a treatment using a known Storyform. Here’s the result.
The treatment is shown below, but here are notes about the intent.
- An irrational person, with backing in the government, is taking over a city.
- Daryl, the MC, is nowhere near this, nor has knowledge of it.
- Gunner, the IC, runs a company in a entirely different country.
- The RS is encompassed by twins, separated at birth, and are neither Daryl nor Gunner.
Here’s the treatment:
Act I
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Daryl visits a countryside, and his lack of desire to be there shows, raking in ridicule and scorn.
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A shadowy criminal reveals his plans to take the city.
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Gunner’s ambitious plans for his company drives others to work too hard and too fast.
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Estranged twins fear the worst of their first meeting, and thus stall their soon to develop brotherhood.
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Fearing the worst, people acts as if it’s an apocalypse, reveling in destruction in the name of protecting their freedom.
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The criminal now also reveals he has various government-stationed backers.
Act II
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As more and more government backers are revealed, various factions in the city arise to maintain their version of justice, which soon leads to an all-out war.
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Daryl attempts to learn the job of stable keep, but his unsuccessful attempts lead him to verbal and physical self-abuse.
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Upon weighing their options, the twins come to the conclusion: They would rather meet to provide the chance for friendship than always wonder what would have been.
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Gunner’s pretense of listening to his employees (he doesn’t, really) manages to breed distrust among the group, including between one another.
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An city extremist in the midst of the wars topples buildings, killing hundreds, and injuring thousands more.
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A truce is called to heal the injured and mourn the dead, but some disagree - they should be liberating their government offices.
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Gunner soon fires a whole team, causing everyone to worry they will soon lose their jobs and disabling their focus.
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Feeling as though his flame has been lost, Daryl releases the horses - physical violence from the owners, then judicial arrest, follows.
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The twins first meeting goes well, and over the course of additional meetings, they reveal various aspects of their lives to one another, fostering and strengthening the developing friendship.
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The criminal pulls in those who disagree with the truce to his side, guaranteeing their desires.
Act III
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Gunner holds a brainstorm meeting for new products, thus revealing the company truly is going under - everyone leaves.
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The party of criminals march on the med camps, burning them, ensuring their future by showing a destruction of the past.
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Those who remain either surrender and pledge their servitude, or lose their lives running from the city.
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The twins, finally feeling like long-lost brothers, have become calm and even playful around one another.
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In his arrest, however, Daryl realizes that as the horses have been free, so as he - the countryside is no longer an enemy.
It turned out to be more dystopian than I expected, but I didn’t actually look at the storyform before encoding. Thus, I didn’t know what the ending would look like.
Anyway, there you have it. What does this structure and separation of concerns feel like to you?
