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Metaplot

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</style><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">This article is about a story connecting multiple works, usually in a setting inspired by a role-playing game. For a story within a story, see <a href="Metastory" class="mw-redirect" title="Metastory">metastory</a>.</div>

The metaplot (also, metastory<a href="#cite_note-1">[1]</a>) is the overarching storyline that binds together events in the official continuity of a published <a href="Role-playing_game" title="Role-playing game">role-playing game</a> <a href="Campaign_setting" title="Campaign setting">campaign setting</a>, also defined as an "evolving history of a given fictional universe". Major official story events that change the world, or simply move important <a href="Non-player_character" title="Non-player character">non-player characters</a> from one place to another, are part of the metaplot for a game.<a href="#cite_note-Pajączkowski-2">[2]</a><a href="#cite_note-White-3">[3]</a><a href="#cite_note-Callaghan-4">[4]</a><a href="#cite_note-Unterhuber-5">[5]</a> Metaplot information is usually included within gaming products such as rule books and modules as they are released. Major events in the metaplot are often used to explain changes in the rules in between versions of the games, as was the case with the <a href="Time_of_Judgment" title="Time of Judgment">Time of Judgment</a> in <a href="White_Wolf_Publishing" title="White Wolf Publishing">White Wolf</a>'s <a href="World_of_Darkness" title="World of Darkness">World of Darkness</a><a href="#cite_note-White-3">[3]</a><a href="#cite_note-Hillenbrand-6">[6]</a> and the <a href="Time_of_Troubles_(Forgotten_Realms)" class="mw-redirect" title="Time of Troubles (Forgotten Realms)">Time of Troubles</a> and <a href="The_Sundering" title="The Sundering">the Sundering</a> for <a href="TSR%2C_Inc." title="TSR, Inc.">TSR</a>'s/<a href="Wizards_of_the_Coast" title="Wizards of the Coast">Wizards of the Coast</a>'s <a href="Forgotten_Realms" title="Forgotten Realms">Forgotten Realms</a>.<a href="#cite_note-Hillenbrand-6">[6]</a><a href="#cite_note-7">[7]</a><a href="#cite_note-Pajączkowski-2">[2]</a> Because of events like this, many gaming groups choose to ignore the metaplot for a game entirely.

Metaplot is often developed not just by the writers, but by teams - multiple writers, editors, publishers, graphic designers and even players. The concept is related to more than just role-playing sourcebooks, as much of the metaplot can come from other media, such as novels (for example, <a href="The_Legend_of_Drizzt" title="The Legend of Drizzt">The Legend of Drizzt</a> or the <a href="Dragonlance" title="Dragonlance">Dragonlance</a> novels, representative of numerous <a href="List_of_Dungeons_%26_Dragons_fiction" title="List of Dungeons & Dragons fiction">Dungeons & Dragons fiction</a>).<a href="#cite_note-Pajączkowski-2">[2]</a><a href="#cite_note-Callaghan-4">[4]</a><a href="#cite_note-Laurent-8">[8]</a> For the Forgotten Realms this was the case only after its inception, while it was part of the design from the start for the <a href="Dark_Sun" title="Dark Sun">Dark Sun</a> setting.<a href="#cite_note-Laurent-8">[8]</a><a href="#cite_note-Snow-9">[9]</a> For campaign settings based on movies, TV shows or other pieces of fiction, the plot of those works usually functions as the metaplot,<a href="#cite_note-10">[10]</a> while for historical settings <a href="History" title="History">history</a> itself may fill this role.<a href="#cite_note-Ward-11">[11]</a>

Metaplot appears in settings of various genres like <a href="The_Dark_Eye_(role-playing_game)" title="The Dark Eye (role-playing game)">The Dark Eye</a>,<a href="#cite_note-12">[12]</a> <a href="Deadlands" title="Deadlands">Deadlands</a>,<a href="#cite_note-Ward-11">[11]</a> <a href="Dragonlance" title="Dragonlance">Dragonlance</a>,<a href="#cite_note-Callaghan-4">[4]</a> <a href="Fading_Suns" title="Fading Suns">Fading Suns</a>,<a href="#cite_note-13">[13]</a> <a href="Legend_of_the_Five_Rings" title="Legend of the Five Rings">Legend of the Five Rings</a>,<a href="#cite_note-Snow-9">[9]</a> and <a href="Shadowrun" title="Shadowrun">Shadowrun</a>.<a href="#cite_note-White-3">[3]</a><a href="#cite_note-14">[14]</a>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Reception">Reception</h2></div>

The metaplot is meant to "give the players a sense of immersion in a large and complex world as well as an aesthetic appreciation of the story they were witnessing" whenever their characters come into contact with it. The narrative tool of metaplot has been criticised for shifting the focus away from the player characters and making them "marginal rather than central figures".<a href="#cite_note-White-3">[3]</a>

Role-playing game designer Jasmin Neitzel commented that metaplot could facilitate constructive interaction of players with a game setting within and beyond individual gaming groups, but could be a hindrance in getting beyond harmful stereotypes used in past products.<a href="#cite_note-Unterhuber-5">[5]</a>

Olaf Pajączkowski notes that the metaplot constraints reduce the freedom of writers, who have to respect the history and present events in the universe (as many books are set in the present), and they cannot "break the world". Pajączkowski gives an example of <a href="Elaine_Cunningham" title="Elaine Cunningham">Elaine Cunningham</a>'s novel Reclamation which was cancelled because the metaplot evolved changing the world (a 100-year jump) making her book 'obsolete', and the publisher decided it's not worth finishing as it was no longer set in the "present" of the evolving Forgotten Realms universe.<a href="#cite_note-Pajączkowski-2">[2]</a>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>

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</style><cite class="citation book cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=iaY9cMnOCUoC&dq=storyworld+metaplot&pg=PA143">First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game</a>. MIT Press. 2004. p. 143. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-0-262-23232-6</bdi>. <q>a metastory, primarily in the form of a predesigned story world and various plots within it</q></cite>

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<li id="cite_note-Pajączkowski-2">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Pajączkowski_2-0">a</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Pajączkowski_2-1">b</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Pajączkowski_2-2">c</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Pajączkowski_2-3">d</a> <cite id="CITEREFPajączkowski" class="citation book cs1 cs1-prop-foreign-lang-source">Pajączkowski, Olaf. "Artyzm czy robota na zlecenie? Wolność twórcza autorów książek osadzonych w światach RPG (na przykładzie powieści z cyklu Dragonlance i Forgotten Realms)" [Art or craft? Creative freedom of RPG writers (based on examples of Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms series of novels)]. In Dudziński, Robert; Wróblewska, Anna (eds.). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=iDcfEAAAQBAJ&q=metaplot&pg=PA5">Gry fabularne. Kultura – praktyki – konteksty</a> (in Polish). Stowarzyszenie Badaczy Popkultury i Edukacji Popkulturowej Trickster. pp. 31–48. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-83-64863-07-3</bdi>.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-White-3">^ <a href="#cite_ref-White_3-0">a</a> <a href="#cite_ref-White_3-1">b</a> <a href="#cite_ref-White_3-2">c</a> <a href="#cite_ref-White_3-3">d</a> <cite id="CITEREFWhiteArjonataHitchensPeterson2018" class="citation book cs1">White, William J.; Arjonata, Jonne; Hitchens, Michael; Peterson, John; Torner, Evan; Walton, Jonathan (2018). "Tabletop role-playing games". In Zagal, José P.; Deterding, Sebastian (eds.). Role-Playing Game Studies: Transmedia Foundations. <a href="Routledge" title="Routledge">Routledge</a>. pp. 63–86. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>9781138638907</bdi>.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-Callaghan-4">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Callaghan_4-0">a</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Callaghan_4-1">b</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Callaghan_4-2">c</a> <cite id="CITEREFCallaghanManhire2006" class="citation book cs1">Callaghan, Paul; Manhire, Bill, eds. (2006). Are Angels OK?: The Parallel Universes of New Zealand writers and scientists. <a href="Victoria_University_Press" class="mw-redirect" title="Victoria University Press">Victoria University Press</a>. p. 270. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-0-86473-514-0</bdi>.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-Unterhuber-5">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Unterhuber_5-0">a</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Unterhuber_5-1">b</a> <cite id="CITEREFUnterhuber2022" class="citation journal cs1 cs1-prop-foreign-lang-source">Unterhuber, Tobias (2022). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://zff.openlibhums.org/article/id/9113/">""Ein Spiel für alle". Interview mit Jasmin Neitzel"</a> ["A game for everyone". Interview with Jasmin Neitzel]. Zeitschrift für Fantastikforschung (in German). 10 (1). <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.16995%2Fzff.9113">10.16995/zff.9113</a>. <a href="S2CID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="S2CID (identifier)">S2CID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:251450885">251450885</a>. Retrieved September 4, 2022.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-Hillenbrand-6">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Hillenbrand_6-0">a</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Hillenbrand_6-1">b</a> <cite id="CITEREFHillenbrandLischka2016" class="citation book cs1 cs1-prop-foreign-lang-source">Hillenbrand, Tom; Lischka, Konrad (2016). Drachenväter - Die Geschichte des Rollenspiels und die Geburt der virtuellen Welt [Dragon fathers - the history of the role-playing game and the birth of the virtual world] (in German). epubli. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>9783741855580</bdi>.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-7"><a href="#cite_ref-7">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFBergmanLambert2011" class="citation book cs1">Bergman, Gregory; Lambert, Josh (2011). Geektionary. <a href="Simon_%26_Schuster" title="Simon & Schuster">Simon & Schuster</a>. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-1-4405-1114-1</bdi>.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-Laurent-8">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Laurent_8-0">a</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Laurent_8-1">b</a> <cite id="CITEREFDi_Filippo2017" class="citation book cs1 cs1-prop-foreign-lang-source">Di Filippo, Laurent (2017). "Les mondes d'Advanced Dungeons and Dragons au spectre du transmédia: l'exemple de Dark Sun". In Collard, Anne-Sophie; Collignon, Stéphane (eds.). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02978307/document">Le transmédia, ses contours et ses enjeux</a> (in French). Presses universitaires de Namur. pp. 54–55. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-2-39029-102-2</bdi>. Retrieved August 27, 2022.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-Snow-9">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Snow_9-0">a</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Snow_9-1">b</a> <cite id="CITEREFSnow2008" class="citation journal cs1">Snow, Cason (2008). "Dragons in the stacks: an introduction to role-playing games and their value to libraries". Collection Building. 27 (2): 63–70. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1108%2F01604950810870218">10.1108/01604950810870218</a>.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-10"><a href="#cite_ref-10">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFFaricelli2015" class="citation book cs1">Faricelli, Ryan (2015). On A Roll - Level Up Your RPG. Reel Fun Studios. p. 131. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-1-312-90744-7</bdi>.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-Ward-11">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Ward_11-0">a</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Ward_11-1">b</a> <cite id="CITEREFWard2013" class="citation book cs1">Ward, Rachel Mizsei (2013). "Genre Mashing in the Role-Playing Game Deadlands: The Weird West, the Horror Steampunk Western". In Miller, Cynthia J.; Van Riper, Bowdoin (eds.). Undead in the West II: They Just Keep Coming. <a href="Scarecrow_Press" class="mw-redirect" title="Scarecrow Press">Scarecrow Press</a>. p. 281. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-0-8108-9264-4</bdi>.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-12"><a href="#cite_ref-12">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFUnterhuber2020" class="citation journal cs1 cs1-prop-foreign-lang-source">Unterhuber, Tobias (2020). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://zff.openlibhums.org/article/id/1942/">""Donecker, Stefan et al., Hg. Forschungsdrang & Rollenspiel. Motivgeschichtliche Betrachtungen zum Fantasy-Rollenspiel Das Schwarze Auge. Ulisses, 2019.""</a>. Review. Zeitschrift für Fantastikforschung (in German). 7 (2). <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.16995%2Fzff.1942">10.16995/zff.1942</a>. <a href="S2CID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="S2CID (identifier)">S2CID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:213302959">213302959</a>. Retrieved September 1, 2022.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-13"><a href="#cite_ref-13">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFSchallegger2012" class="citation thesis cs1">Schallegger, René (2012). Joyful Games of Meaning-Making: Role-playing Games and Postmodern Notions of Literature (PhD). <a href="Alpen-Adria-Universit%C3%A4t_Klagenfurt" class="mw-redirect" title="Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt">Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt</a>. pp. 224–225.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-14"><a href="#cite_ref-14">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFWhite2020" class="citation book cs1">White, William J. (2020). Tabletop RPG Design in Theory and Practice at the Forge, 2001–2012 - Designs and Discussions. <a href="Palgrave_Macmillan" title="Palgrave Macmillan">Palgrave Macmillan</a>. p. 231. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1007%2F978-3-030-52819-5">10.1007/978-3-030-52819-5</a>. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-3-030-52818-8</bdi>. <a href="S2CID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="S2CID (identifier)">S2CID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:226616406">226616406</a>.</cite>

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