The Third Act

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 I'm not a fan of the third act. It feels ... overused in Western storytelling.

The first act:  The set up, we learn about the main character, see the social dynamics.

The second act: The main character makes friends, is a rising star, that sort of thing.

The third act:  The main character fucks things up, everyone turns against them, and they're alone / abandoned until...

The fourth act: they make it right.

Usually, this doesn't involve the idiot ball ... which is almost a shame, because if it was a case of idiot balls, we could chalk it up to bad writing. But usually... it isn't.

This is very much a Western mindset though ... this idea that the main character has to fuck up, has to make additional drama, has to atone or have everyone realise they were right all along.

Part of it, I think, is the West's fixation on being the underdog. That the hero has to be abandoned so that they can rise up and say 'see? I was right all along!' or even as some sort of redemption.

Note: They even turned Light from Death Note from a brilliant, successful character into an ostracised underdog for the Western version. (as mentioned here).

I think I've an aversion to it - it feels ... cringe. Like, the first and second act is fine, and then I dread the third act, because I know what's coming. It's overdone.

And here's the thing, though.  Let's bring this into gaming.
Imagine playing an RPG, where every single campaign is 'you start from nothing, you become a hero, then oh no, it all gets taken away because you screwed up and everyone hates you and you have to fix it'. Make that ... let's say ... nine out of ten campaign arcs.

Wouldn't you be dreading that third act?
We really need to step up our cultural storytelling game.

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