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Storyline Creation

rich1722Posted on 05/02/07 at 00:06:02

I am a long-time TNM player, and I love playing the game.  My problem is that I have a hard time continuing a fed because I am not creative and have no imagination, so I have a hard time working storylines into my fed.  Does anyone have any ideas?  Is there a game or program out there that will help me develop and integrate storylines for use with TNM?  The random interference helps, but only does so much.  Thanks in advance for any advice.

Rich
91Posted on 05/02/07 at 00:27:51

There's no specific tool that'll help you think of ideas, but it always helps to look for inspiration where you can. If you see anything in the WWE or TNA, or anything really past or present that you think you can do something similar to (without necessarily ripping it right off) then go from there. It also often helps to read some of the cards that are posted on these boards, see if anything there can influence you.

Failing that, if you're still looking for storyline, if you watch any soap operas, there's actually sometimes stuff on there that can be incorporated into a wrestling landscape (maybe have an angle where all your wrestlers go to a big event in Moldavia on the eve of a military... oh never mind).

And failing all that, make your characters interesting (they don't have to be gimmicky) and have the most interesting ones feud over the title belts. Championships are almost a Macguffin in wrestling of sorts in that they give motivation for two or more people to fight to the bitter end even if there's been very little else to build it up beforehand.
triad4evrPosted on 05/02/07 at 02:39:52

Something else I've done with my TNM circuits- I use a deck of cards that have pretty much every known wrestling angle ever, one on each card. As bookings roll along from month to month and stories end, I draw a new card which I then try to fit my wrestlers into. Sometimes I'll get something crazy that pulls me in an entirely different direction. Maybe we can help here, I'll suggest some simple storylines from wrestling, others can add. You can turn those into cards for your deck...

Invasion! (We're takin' over! - nWo)

True Love (valet, manager, opponent's wife, whatever)

One Against Many

Defending the Old Master (veteran gets taken out, his protoge tries to avenge him)

Corrupt Official (Eric Bischoff? Nick Patrick?)

Celebrity Feud (Vince vs. the Donald)

You Stole my Gimmick!

Infidelity (for married wrestler, official, whatever)

Kidnapping! (somebody grabs their partner, manager, sister, whatever)

Forced into Servitude (like the Robert Ruud angle)

I am the Greatest! (rookie upstart shakes things up)

Unholy Alliance (two arch-enemies team up against a bigger threat)

Under the Hood (wrestler has to don a mask for whatever reason)

Rampage! (a monster heel destroys matches week after week)

Versus Match (hair vs. hair, career vs. title, whatever)

An Offer you Cannot Refuse

Everybody Has a Price (rich wrestler/manager tries to buy off the competition)

Giant Slayer

Ungrateful Rookie

For King and Country (patriotic nation vs. nation angle)

I'm Losing my Mind!

Bounty (rich person puts price on wrestler's head or a price on, say, slamming a big wrestler)

Legion of Doom (all of a wrestler's enemies team up)

Quest for the Gold

Robbery (somebody steals something from a wrestler)

Stalker (wrestler torment's opponent's family/friends)

Falling Star (wrestler starts falling apart due to drugs/ partying/ breaking the law in real life/ whatever)

Redemption (fallen star finds one last moment of greatness)

I Know Your Secret

Gang Warfare (large stables fighting each other)

Legend's Last Stand (one final run for an aging veteran)

Brother Against Brother (two friends/partners fall out and become adversaries- thanks to 91)

Well that's about as much as I can come up with right now- I'm real interested to see what everybody else has! Just put these on index cards, every time you need a new storyline, draw one. You can either try to fit people into it, or if you don't like it, toss it and draw another! At very least it should be food for thought!
rich1722Posted on 05/02/07 at 03:13:45

Thank you.  This is very helpful.  Anyone else have some angles to share?
phudjiePosted on 05/02/07 at 05:38:45

.....that was an awesome list there triad.....most of the angles I use are more along the line of "F**K You, Let's Fight although I have shat out a gem or two along the line.....
91Posted on 05/02/07 at 17:55:23

You could also add two friends becoming enemies for whatever reason to that list. There's an obvious one.
wicked_rexPosted on 05/02/07 at 18:16:15

Wow... I think I may need to put down some of those angles down, too! I occasionally run into the problem of lackluster ideas. I have a feeling I will use those in the future...

626punkPosted on 05/02/07 at 23:10:05

I once booked a double pin between two guys which lead up to a 6 month long feud where they just beat the hell out of each other and traded wins back and forth. I ended the feud with a double pin as well, thus making them realize they were never going to determine who the better man was, and then formed a tag team between the duo who went on to win the Tag Titles in their first chance.
Memphis_VicePosted on 05/03/07 at 02:59:10

Once you have an idea of what you want to do, you can flesh it out by asking yourself the six questions any good writer or reporter tries to answer:

Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?
Rick GarrardPosted on 05/03/07 at 04:59:11

Here is another nice listing of ideas to use when in doubt with where to go with a storyline:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/36_Dramatic_Situations
triad4evrPosted on 05/03/07 at 06:00:04

Decided to get extra fancy- I made a set of these cards complete with artwork from various sources as a Word document- size so that you feed an index card into the envelope slot and you can print right to the card in case anybody wants it. Not sure where to put the file, though. I do have a Yahoo group for one of my feds- could probably put it there- but I'd e-mail it to anybody who wants it, too. Gonna print myself out a set to replace my hand-written ones.

Anyway, if you want it, post your e-mail or private message me.
ntnrerunPosted on 05/06/07 at 04:50:20

Man, I'm in the same boat. I think I'm having some good matches, I just suck at writing the shows themselves.

One thing that has helped me with the new cards I'm doing is in Eric Bischoff's book he says that McMahon would always come up with the ending to a storyline and then work backwards. I applied that logic to a big storyline I have starting in June and have managed to plan it so it that it will run until Summerslam in August, at which point there will be a twist that will take it a new direction until Survivor Series in November.

Good luck, I look forward to seeing some of your cards.
Rick GarrardPosted on 05/06/07 at 06:48:03

Rerun, that was almost ALWAYS the old WWE philosophy until WCW Nitro came along with hot shot booking on live TV.  Since then WWE has gone back to doing this type of booking for it's big 4 shows, with pretty much everything in between being "transitional".
The TNM Members ChampPosted on 05/06/07 at 07:18:21

Everything seemed to be more organized and made more sense back in the 1980s wrestling promotions. Considering the WWE has no true competition, I don't understand why they don't just revert to what Rerun referred to and book from point B to point A.
Rick GarrardPosted on 05/06/07 at 15:14:43

I've actually been running my most recent circuit here using this same philosophy and it's a LOT easier to fill in the blanks when a top star gets hurt or leaves using this method at least so far.
triad4evrPosted on 05/24/07 at 06:22:36

Oh yeah, one more!

Please Don't Fire Me! (that's a classic one where the wrestler's job is on the line and he has to go through some extraordinary measures to keep it!)
triad4evrPosted on 06/02/07 at 04:27:53

Here's a few more:

Who Am I? (Wrestler is experiencing an identity crisis! Mick Foley? Ed Leslie?)

I'm Blind! (Wrestler suffers a debilitating injury but keeps on fighting! Doesn't have to be blindness, I just like thinking of Army of Darkness' famous quote. Injuries of any kind work fine here- HBK's concussion, Chris Harris' eyepatch, whatever.)

Illegitimate Champion
(Wrestler has or gets the gold through unorthodox means and must go to great lengths to retain it. Think Edge and the money-in-the-bank deal.)


These have now been added to my "official" angles card document, complete with art! Send me a message if you want a copy- they are designed to be printed right onto index cards with relative ease!