“Everything’s a reboot. There’s nothing original anymore.” Boring statements. Defeatist. Ironically, not even original complaints.

“Everything’s a remix.” Punk as hell. Creates opportunities. Empowering.

Whether we’re talking about Marvel movies, the latest Disney live-action reboot, or an American remake of a popular foreign film, the idea that we’ve “run out of ideas” runs rampant amongst those of us who hang out in creative spaces or care deeply about the stories we consume.

And while I don’t think this article will save us from the ump-teenth reboot of Batman’s origin story, I do think there’s something important we can take away from this storyteller’s lament — if nothing’s original any more (and really, it hasn’t been original since before Classical times) then everything’s a remix, and all stories are fodder for our stories.

So, in the punk spirit of DIY, I’m gonna tell you how to steal a story and get away with it.

HOW IT’S DONE

To steal a story, you have to step back and train your brain to look at stories like recipes. You know how a good cook can taste a dish and tell you the ingredients that went into it? (And how great cooks can then give suggestions for substitutions that would transform the food into a completely new experience?) That’s what we need, and that’s what we’re gonna learn how to do.

So, if you’re new to this deconstruction thing, start by taking notes on five key elements of the story: the characters, the situation they find themselves in, their goals, the obstacles that prevent them from completing those goals, and your favorite thing about the story.

(For the rest of this article, my go-to example will be my current obsession: K-Pop Demon Hunters, or as I like to call it, “Hannah Montana meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”)

Characters

You know these folks. They’re the heroes, the sidekicks, the villains, and bystanders. When we’re thinking about stealing a story for our table, the characters in your target story are important, but a lot less so than you might think. That’s because your players should be the main characters, but you can’t expect your players to make the same choices those characters did.

And that’s a good thing.

If you expect your infernal pact warlock to hide their contract from the party the way Rumi hides her demonic heritage from the other members of HUNTR/X, then you’re making some huge assumptions about your players and taking away a lot of their agency.

So what will this ingredient be good for? NPCs, of course. Especially villains. Hell, you can twist it around so your players end up fighting the world’s favorite supernatural idol group.

Situation

You may be tempted to call this “the plot,” but I want to veer away from that word because plot and story tend to be synonyms in most people’s minds. I don’t want us prescribing the route our players will take through the adventure.

Instead, think of the situation as the context for the action. It’s all of the various external events that bring the players together and propel them towards the climax.

For example, if we say, “a demonic boy band is using their music to steal the souls of their fans,” we’re giving our players context for the situation without dictating how they should solve it.

Depending on the length of the story you’re stealing, the characters could find themselves in a lot of different situations. Make note of them, and save them for our synthesis phase (coming up shortly).

Goals

When you’re analyzing your story, look at the characters’ goals — what they want. Rumi, for example, wants to energize the Honmoon so she can banish all of the demons in the world and live a normal life.

Ideally, your players’ goals should be determined by the players themselves, but the more you train your brain to think about the goals of the characters within your favorite stories, the easier it will be for you to pull out the appropriate elements. Then, when your paladin player comes to you with a tragic backstory and says, “My paladin is hunting her father, who betrayed his knightly order and brought shame to my character’s family,” you’ll know where you can situate that character within the rest of the story.

A traitorous father is not the same as a secret shame, but it’s close enough that you’ll know what to do when the time comes. And by that, I mean…

Obstacles

Now we’re getting into the real meat and potatoes of what it means to steal a story. Obstacles are the things that get in the way of the characters from achieving their goals. A demonic love interest, for example, forces a character to realize there are shades of gray in a world she once thought of as black and white. Or having your secret shame outed in front of a room of people you’ve been lying to for years. These are the roadblocks that create delicious, delicious conflict. The kind that keeps our players on the edges of their seats, wondering how they’re going to get out of this one.

When you combine the situation with character goals and obstacles, that’s where the “plot” develops. Where the story comes to life. And studying the kinds of roadblocks your favorite stories throw in the path of their protagonists will help you port those obstacles into your campaigns.

Your Favorite Thing

Maybe it’s a derpy demon tiger. Or themes of found family and self-discovery. Or really cool outfits. Make note of your favorite thing(s) in your favorite stories. It doesn’t have to be big and important — like the way all of the Saiyans are named after vegetables in Dragon Ball Z — but it can be a big thing too — warp technology in Star Trek.

I want you to note your favorite things for a couple of reasons, but mostly because they’re the elements that draw you back into the story. So, regardless of how important the tiger is to the plot, it’s important to your heart. And if you can find ways to incorporate Derpy into your campaign, well, that’ll give you even more investment, and your excitement will spill over into your players, creating a wonderful feedback loop of awesome.

Take this list and go through three or four of your favorite stories, making the notes I mentioned above. 

Once you’ve done that, come back here because…

IT’S TIME TO GET WILD

Now that you’ve got a stack of notes about characters and goals and giant blue tigers, it’s time to start synthesizing them and turning them into your next game session. How do you do that? Well, you pick up your elements like they were action figures in a toy chest, and you smash ’em together and make ’em kiss.

This technique works best when you mash up two stories from different genres. Take my “Hannah Montana/Buffy the Vampire Slayer” joke above. From Hannah Montana, we’re taking elements of musical acts and the pull between two lives — one very public and one very private — and we’re mixing that up with the supernatural demon slaying from Buffy. 

What happens if you mix up Star Wars with Downton Abbey? Or Edgerunners with Fraggle Rock?

I don’t know, but it sounds like fun! And when you’ve broken down your stories into their elemental components, you get to find out. 

Use the goals and the situations to create hooks. Then lean on the obstacles to create your encounters. Sprinkle in NPCs from the characters you’ve studied and bam! Your campaign is ready to rumble. Just add players and chase your favorite things through the new story you totally didn’t steal.

THE CONCEIT

If you’ve made it this far, you’ve probably figured out that I’m not really talking about heisting a story like it’s a diamond in a vault. I’m talking inspiration. Where we find it. How we call on it. And most importantly, how we can teach our brains to find it even when we’re not feeling inspired.

The more we study stories and how they work, the easier it will be to come up with our own. Original or not, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that we love them, even a little, and that our players are having fun.

What are the wildest mashup ideas you can think of? Leave them in the comments and let’s figure out how to turn them into campaigns!