History Main / Metaplot

* Also an InUniverse example in ''LightNovel/LogHorizon'', though this is something only few character are aware of. In Kanami's spinoff, it's revealed that [[spoiler:there are the Ancients, powerful Heroic [=NPCs=] of the Elder Tale. However, they have been sealed by Genius, extremely powerful monsters and borderline-EldritchAbomination, which are ''aware'' of the MMORPG nature of Elder Tale. Kanami manages to free one of the sealed Ancient, Elias Hackblade]].

*** Despite not really having a running plot, the NewWorldofDarkness still has many of the same metaplot issues that its predecessor had. This is ironically a result of WhiteWolf attempting to avoid the mistakes made with the previous meta-plot by setting most of their supplements in the past, filling out the history of the setting. Unfortunately, this means that creatures, people and events only alluded to in earlier supplements often get expanded in later ones. And if you're running a game where you chose to use those allusions in a different way from what a new supplement says... Well, congratulations, that new supplement is now as useless to you as the Baron von Skullfist example above.

** Metaplot however, killed its sister game - [[SeventhSea 7th Sea]]. The players had very few things to do, and all the important characters in the settings were effectively immortal.

* Most of {{Creator/Bungie}}'s games all seem to relate to the same underlying themes; possibly taking place in the same universe, or related universes. The ties are particularly strong between ''PathwaysIntoDarkness'', ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Halo}}''. It should be noted that ''Pathways Into Darkness'' and ''Marathon'' are already confirmed as taking place in a SharedUniverse.
* One interesting solution to the problem is that taken by the MMORPG ''TheLordOfTheRingsOnline'', where the players do important-but-offscreen tasks related to the main plotline. For example, there's a quest arc starting in Rivendell that ends with Aragorn's sword being reforged ... the book doesn't say that a piece of the sword was missing until somebody named [=GobblinnKilla93=] recovered it, but it doesn't explicitly say that ''didn't'' happen, either. It does ruin the immersion a little bit if you play more than one character and have to keep getting that stupid gem for the hilt over and over, though.

* ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'' has something of a metaplot, in that the comics and its free expansions advance the timeline of the setting, changing the game world to match. In this case, the "independent works" would be the stories created by each character's experiences.

** The writers of ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'' are, on the other hand, pretty bad about letting the players actually accomplish anything. To date, the city of Paragon (where the game for heroes takes place) has been subjected to repeated alien invasions, is home to a literal war zone, and has a number of areas currently closed off due to being very hazardous. [[PerpetuallyStatic However, no amount of player activity will allow players to prevent another alien invasion, win the war, or make a particular zone less hazardous.]] While StatusQuoIsGod, it certainly lends a certain amount of futility to the overall experience of being a hero: no matter what you do, nothing you do matters.
*** [[ReedRichardsIsUseless Just like the comics, then?]]
*** One thing you might have overlooked is the recent Faultline changes. Due to little interest in the zone they changed it from a Hazard zone to a City zone, essentially taking an area of Paragon that was very hazardous and making it less hazardous. Not any particular hero's fix, but an accomplishment from an in-universe perspective. In addition the regular invasions were fought off, leading to sporadic ones in the current edition.

* The ''MarvelCinematicUniverse'' is building this up, featuring various beings developing into superheroes with their own storylines while being recruited into SHIELD's Avengers team.

* Both major ComicBook publishers currently have a metaplot in their universes: TheDCU, with the run-up to ''Comicbook/FinalCrisis'', and the MarvelUniverse, with the new status quo after ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' and the buildup toward a Skrull Secret Invasion.
** DC followed ''Final Crisis'' with ''Comicbook/BlackestNight / Comicbook/BrightestDay'' then rebooting with Flashpoint and the The Comicbook/{{New 52}}. On the other hand, Marvel's Secret Invasion has led directly into World War Hulk, then the ''Comicbook/DarkReign'' plot, followed by ''Siege'', ''Fear Itself'', ''Avengers Vs. X-Men'', ''Age of Ultron'', and ''Infinity''.

* The ''GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' had two overarching [[MetaPlot meta-plots]] during its twelve year history. The first was the slow assimilation of nonhuman intelligences (aliens, sentient apes, and sentient machines) into normal human society. The second was the effects of advancing technology on normal human society.

* ''CityOfHeroes'' has something of a metaplot, in that the comics and its free expansions advance the timeline of the setting, changing the game world to match. In this case, the "independent works" would be the stories created by each character's experiences.

** The writers of ''CityOfHeroes'' are, on the other hand, pretty bad about letting the players actually accomplish anything. To date, the city of Paragon (where the game for heroes takes place) has been subjected to repeated alien invasions, is home to a literal war zone, and has a number of areas currently closed off due to being very hazardous. [[PerpetuallyStatic However, no amount of player activity will allow players to prevent another alien invasion, win the war, or make a particular zone less hazardous.]] While StatusQuoIsGod, it certainly lends a certain amount of futility to the overall experience of being a hero: no matter what you do, nothing you do matters.

* Many ''DungeonsAndDragons'' settings have had metaplots. ''{{Dragonlance}}'' in particular had a strong metaplot, and has in fact become primarily a setting for novels with an RPG attached over the years. Notably, ''Forgotten Realms'', ''The Known World''/''{{Mystara}}'', ''{{Greyhawk}}'', ''{{Ravenloft}}'', ''Dark Sun'', and ''Planescape'' all had CrisisCrossover-style supplements that dramatically shook up the status quo of the setting (the Time of Troubles, Wrath of the Immortals, the Greyhawk Wars, the Grand Conjunction, the Prism Pentad novels and modules, and Faction War, respectively).
** ''{{Planescape}}'' had a metaplot that was more confusing than it needed to be, particularly given that there was ''no way'' the player characters could ever learn what was really happening (something even [[LampshadeHanging pointed out]] in ''Faction War'').
** ''{{Birthright}}'' is possibly the only setting of its vintage that didn't have a metaplot, largely because the players were intended to be rulers of nations and therefore controlled what would normally be the metaplot.

* ''{{Traveller}}'' incorporated its Fifth Frontier War metaplot into years of fiction, adventures, supplements, miniatures and even a boardgame.
** Then they [[BrokenBase broke the base]] by having the Emperor assassinated and slowly burned down the campaign setting over the second edition of the game.

* Despite never being big on continuity to begin with, West End Games tried this with ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'' in the late eighties by releasing several adventure books with overarching storylines. First was the "Secret Society Wars," which resulted in a pre-Alpha Complex programmer being thawed out of [[HumanPopsicle suspended animation,]] whereupon he got his hands on a keyboard and caused Friend Computer to crash. WEG then took the opportunity to sell various sourcebooks and supplements set in a post-Crash complex, trying everything from parodies of post-apocalyptic wastelands ("The Crash-Course anual") to time-travelling crossovers with other [=RPGs=] ("Alice Through the Mirrorshades, Vulture Warriors of Dimension X"). Unfortunately, it was all very random, terribly executed, and devoid of ''Paranoia's'' unique black humor, driving away players and eventually leading to the end of WEG and the Second Edition.

[[folder: Video Games ]]

*** Despite not really having a running plot, the NewWorldofDarkness still has many of the same metaplot issues that its predecessor had. This is ironically a result of WhiteWolf attempting to avoid the mistakes made with the previous meta-plot by setting most of their supplements in the past, filling out the history of the setting. Unfortunately, this means that creatures, people and events only alluded to in earlier supplements often get expanded in later ones. And if you're running a game where you chose to use those allusions in a different way from what a new supplement... Well, congratulations, that new supplement is now as useless to you as the Baron von Skullfist example above.

*** It also was a setting full of [[PlanetOfHats national archetypes]], most of whom pointedly did not like each other and had only limited means of mobility (ships and one nation's limited teleportation ability). Metaplot did get as far as the FrenchRevolution, but the RPG and card game lines were canceled just before the discovery of the new world. Frustratingly, some details had already been released, such as a [[BigBad Moctezuma]] {{Expy}} as a lich.

* ''BattleTech'', on the other hand, has a metaplot that encompasses roughly a century or so of game time since the game was created, and has seen several irrevocable changes to the setting. [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks Some people have not liked some of the changes,]] but their method for dealing with it is to [[BrokenBase simply not play in those time periods]].

There's a final problem with metaplots, though, that crops up even outside of games: A lengthy metaplot can become a barrier to entry for new readers. Although early on it encourages players to buy every book in order to keep up with what's happening in the setting, if someone tries to pick it up later on they can find themselves faced with ArchivePanic just to catch up, compounded by the fact that early books may even be out of print. The combined weight of all this metaplot can also end up seeming silly or irrelevant to new players or readers when consumed all at once rather than bit-by-bit, especially in serial works where the FleetingDemographicRule or some degree StatusQuoIsGod are in effect -- these can result in a silly-seeming metaplot consisting of nearly-identical events occurring over and over or with things constantly happening and then getting undone by a later RetCon. In extreme cases, this can require a ContinuityReboot to let new readers join in without having to read huge amounts of convoluted backstory.

** One interesting solution to the problem is that taken by the MMORPG ''TheLordOfTheRingsOnline'', where the players do important-but-offscreen tasks related to the main plotline. For example, there's a quest arc starting in Rivendell that ends with Aragorn's sword being reforged ... the book doesn't say that a piece of the sword was missing until somebody named [=GobblinnKilla93=] recovered it, but it doesn't explicitly say that ''didn't'' happen, either.

** One interesting solution to the problem is that taken by the MMORPG ''TheLordOfTheRingsOnline'', where the players do important-but-offscreen tasks related to the main plotline. For example, there's a quest arc starting in Rivendell that ends with Aragorn's sword being reforged ... the book doesn't say that a piece of the sword was missing until somebody named GobblinnKilla93 recovered it, but it doesn't explicitly say that ''didn't'' happen, either.

* ''MageKnight'' used its metaplot to try to bridge players from the first version of the game to MK 2.0. It was a spectacular failure. They then used the metaplot to phase out a subfaction whose abilities were too powerful. This development was mostly ignored.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Tabletop RPG ]]

* ''{{Deadlands}}'' has an extensive metaplot as revealed in published adventures such as ''Fortress O' Fear'' and ''Dead Presidents.'' Later versions of the game publish summaries on the assumption that these stories played out exactly as planned. The three core game settings, ''Deadlands, Hell On Earth,'' and ''Lost Colony'' form a lengthy and chronological trilogy. This is part of the reason all of the major villains have PlotArmor.

However, these issues are fairly unique to Tabletop [=RPGs=], where the "independent works" are indeed completely independent and not subject to any editorial control. In other media types where that isn't the case, metaplots are still used. For example, they work very well in Comic book universes.

* Both major ComicBook publishers currently have a metaplot in their universes: TheDCU, with the run-up to ''FinalCrisis'', and the MarvelUniverse, with the new status quo after ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' and the buildup toward a Skrull Secret Invasion.
** DC followed ''Final Crisis'' with ''BlackestNight / BrightestDay'' then rebooting with Flashpoint and the TheNew52 . On the other hand, Marvel's Secret Invasion has led directly into World War Hulk, then the ''Comicbook/DarkReign'' plot, followed by ''Siege'', ''Fear Itself'', ''Avengers Vs. X-Men'', ''Age of Ultron'', and ''Infinity''.

* In pretty much any licensed RPG of a popular setting of another genre (''Star Wars'', ''Battlestar Galactica'', ''Serenity'', ''Marvel Super Heroes''), the original movie/TV series/comic book universe storyline serves as a metaplot for the RPG.

** Conversely, ''Cyberpunk 2020'' played it the other way - when the metaplot was advanced, all important plot events were done by a group of chracters based on the original writing team's player chracters, and led by one who was a pretty obvious SelfInsert of the game's chief writer; in essence, the [=NPCs=] were the centre of the plot, and the Player Characters were just along for the ride.

* Both major ComicBook publishers currently have a metaplot in their universes: TheDCU, with the run-up to ''FinalCrisis'', and the MarvelUniverse, with the new status quo after ''MarvelCivilWar'' and the buildup toward a Skrull Secret Invasion.

* Both major ComicBook publishers currently have a metaplot in their universes: TheDCU, with the run-up to ''FinalCrisis'', and the MarvelUniverse, with the new status quo after ''MarvelCivilWar'' and the buildup toward a Skrull invasion.
** DC followed ''Final Crisis'' with ''BlackestNight / BrightestDay''. On the other hand, Marvel's Secret Invasion has led directly into the ''Comicbook/DarkReign'' plot.

* Many of Creator/StephenKing's books are heavily implied to take place in the same {{multiverse}}, although individually they have little to do with one another. The overarching plot is dealt with in the ''DarkTower'' series, his magnum opus.