From personal experience, learning or brushing up on - or studying - fundamentals of drama & storytelling can be quite helpful. I'd be interested in a group aiming at improving those skills, if anybody has good tips for that or is interested in it, PM me.
I really like that these articles recommend that players do not resort to attacking or interfering with other characters. I understand that many times, if this were a completely realistic setting then one player attacking another could be extremely logical and evident however, this being a storytelling game, you always have to consider those questions about as strongly as realism. I would say, "Is it realistic?" is as important as "Does this tell a good story?" and "Does this make for a more interesting game?". Obviously there are a lot of ways to consider this, but I like how the article framed these issues.
Check this out, Aphel: https://iversity.org/courses/the-future-of-storytelling
Thanks to Masterjack for finding the course and sharing it in the first place.
I would also recommend the books "The Power of Myth" by Joseph Campbell and "Story" by Robert McKee. "The Power of Myth" is an excellent examination of what universal qualities can be ascibed to successful story-telling. "Story" is along the same lines, but is geared more towards writing screenplays; regardless, it is an excellent examination of what makes story-telling powerful.
Thanks milty and gilshem. I've read various publications on storytelling so far (went as far as Aristotle's Poetics) as well as other resources, I'll have a look into what new tricks I can find in the resources you two mentioned. I am not sure if it helps with roleplaying as well, but I found that a good way to practise storytelling is to write a full story in a dialogue of 10 lines or in a text of 400 words. For people with little writing time, I can recommend telling a story in less than or exactly 200 words.
Excellent links.. thanks.
PS.. I hate Kender too. LOL :-)
No clue who Kender is but the articles I read were quite a refreshing read so thankyou guys, also welcome back Ravemore!
Kender are a race of uber-pickpocket/cleptomaniacs from Dragonlance. They are related to dwarves and gnomes, and are generally one-dimensional. Picture a halfling, with an over-developed Id, no sense of responsibility, and the best dex score you can imagine.
Kender are so used to spending nights in prison, that they rate cities based on how nice their prison system is.
LOL..
Also, thanks Dremora! :-)