The Story Man Game©
Story Man is made up of three important parts: a Beginning, a Middle, and an Ending. The Beginning is vital because it draws you into the story and invites you to stay around as the tale unfolds. The Middle is crucial because it reveals the crisis or conflict that keeps you interested! The Ending is important because it resolves the conflict often in an exciting and unpredictable way! A good story takes you on a journey of the imagination because
© 2003 Storytree Productions by Jerry & Ada Forney
Story Man is there supporting its every twist and turn! By linking a good beginning to a good middle and ending it is possible to build a strong Story Chain for Story Man to travel along. Below we have some suggestions on how to do this by playing the Story Man Game.
Game Description: Building a Story Chain for Story Man

Main Deck

Make up three decks of cards and place in 3 stacks: Beginnings, Middles and Endings. Shuffle and draw a card from each deck. Join them together to create a suggested plot line. Do this several times until you get a Story Chain you feel comfortable with.

Special Decks

Character Decks: Create two decks, one with favorite male names on it and one with favorite female names on it. (You can also use a magazine or newspaper to randomly select names). Draw cards from each deck to get suggestions for character names.

Animal Decks: If animals figure in the plot or story idea that pops into your head, put animals on a deck of cards and draw from this as well.

Additional Deck Ideas

Decks can be made up of almost any category you choose: create cards with city names, historical epochs, occupations, physical objects (toys, weapons, appliances, transport systems, technologies etc.). Compatibility and continuity will certainly figure in any sequential mixture of elements randomly drawn from the decks. Feel free to draw again and again until you put together a Story Chain that works for you. You now will have created the backbone of your new story. Draw from additional decks of your own making or existing game decks (old maids, tarot, etc.) until you have a story structure and story elements that inspire you to begin writing.

Plot Suggestions for Main Story Decks

(Add your own ideas to each deck, of course).

Ten Beginnings:

- Main character is recruited for a quest
- Main character is confronted with a mystery
- Main character joins a secret group or organization
- Main character's city or town has a crisis brewing
- Main character has just been hired to perform a highly specialized task
- Main character meets a special person and falls in love
- Main character discovers a treasure map or an ancient scroll
- Main character unexpectedly meets a magical person or a powerful group
- Main character loses or finds something of great value
- Main character receives a mysterious gift that changes everything

Ten Middles:

- Main character rescues an endangered person or group of persons
- Main character confronts a villian or opponent directly or indirectly
- Main character tricked into joining one side of a conflict
- Main character hunts for and finally reveals a hidden antagonist
- Main character masters special skills or powers crucial to the quest
- Main character seeks to fulfill a prediction or a prophecy
- Main character finds and solves sequential clues towards solution of a mystery
- Main character gathers people and resources to advance a cause
- Main character finds a magic person, place or thing as an aid to completing a task
- Main character struck down by evil forces but survives to fight another day

Ten Endings:

- Main character completes the quest
- Main character is subdued by an opponent
- Main character subdues an opponent
- Main character is proclaimed new leader of kingdom, tribe or village
- Main character finds true love and a promise of happiness
- Main character solves a mystery or discovers a hidden treasure
- Main character dies but leaves behind a legacy (reputation, objects or offspring)
- Main character discovers a hidden meaning or a solution to a puzzle
- Main character finds a lost or endangered, person, place or thing
- Main character receives a reward and returns home a hero

Have Fun!
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