The Hero's Journey

Subpages on this site represent components of a simplified, three-act hero's journey:

• Act I

  • Ordinary World

  • Catalyst

• Act II

  • Obstacles

  • Aid

• Act III

  • Final Trial

  • Resolution

As well the Cast subpages of Characters, Props and Scenes.

Below are some links that detail the structure and methods of storytelling that are featured in the storyforms. Chiefly:

• "In narratology and comparative mythology, the hero's journey, or the monomyth, is the common template of stories that involve a hero who goes on an adventure, is victorious in a decisive crisis, and comes home changed or transformed."

• "The three-act structure is a model used in narrative fiction that divides a story into three parts (acts), often called the Setup, the Confrontation, and the Resolution."

• "The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure For Writers is a popular screenwriting textbook by writer Christopher Vogler, focusing on the theory that most stories can be boiled down to a series of narrative structures and character archetypes, described through mythological allegory."

• "Whether you’re talking about fantasy, science fiction, superheroes, or gritty cop shows, Fate works best when you use it to tell stories about people who are proactive, competent, and dramatic."

Storyforms allow students to submit drafts of story components. They are designed to: 1) break up the work of creation, 2) accommodate review, editing and collaboration, and 3) facilitate management and publications of the library. The storyforms listed below all record to a shared storysheet:

• Student Gaming Interest Survey

• Domain - your world setting and pressing issues

• Scenario - a collection of scenes that represent a journey

• Character - the cast of protagonists (playing characters, PCs) and supporting figures (non-playing characters, NPCs)

• Scene - a story unit which serves as building block for a scenario.

• Prop - ancillary objects of note in scenario.

• Catalyst - a 'Call to Action' writing prompt

• Quest - a 'Call to Action' interactive prompt

(Note: See additional forms in extras folder.)

The storysheet (embedded below) constitutes the 'library' of storyform responses. Google Apps Script enables the teacher- 'Game Master' or General Manager (GM)- to manage the storyform responses to produce finished works. (See the documentation folder inside the Game Master folder for examples of script utility, like conditional formatting, document templates and variables.)

The "Response URL" column on each sheet contains the hyperlinks (emailed to respondents) to edit each submission, that students may follow or share with peers to collaborate. (Note: multiple submissions for each form are allowed, with exception to Student Gaming Interest Survey.)

The Apps Script (here) that is attached to the storysheet is triggered when a form is submitted. It has been modified to send an email. (To view and install the script trigger, make a copy of the Game Master folder, open the storysheet, select Extensions->Apps Script from the menu, select createFormTrigger() function from the code editor's dropdown menu, select run and authorize. Now the addFormResponseUrl() function will run when any form is submitted to your storysheet. Read more about event triggers here.)