September 2, 2010 9:28 PM PDT

plot multi-generator

Welcome! This is a quick hack of the lovely work done over at The Internet Public Library, where they've done a lovely writeup and collation of "The 'Basic' Plots in Literature". As a quick summary, it's been put forth that there are only so many plots in existence; 1 (which we don't have to mention), 3 (basic patterns), 7 (the "versus" plots), 20 (basic enough), and 36 (dramatic situations). I've taken a couple of liberties (you can see the details at the IPL), but if you're stuck for a plot, try blending the below:

The literary plot, where the critical event takes place at the beginning of the story rather than at the end—the plot does not hinge upon decision so much as fate
person versus god/religion
Rescue
Revolt

And for more details on the basic plots, check out what RPG Library has.