History Main / Metaplot

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 of 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.

* Creator/BrandonSanderson [[WordOfGod has stated]] that this is the point of Franchise/TheCosmere. After seeing authors like Creator/StephenKing and Creator/IsaacAsimov [[RetCon retroactively tie many earlier works together in later stories,]] he wanted to design a {{Metaplot}} that was deliberately worked into the framework of the individual stories from the very beginning. It begun quite covertly, but by now, the connections are pretty obvious for all to see.

** First sign was a character called Hoid, who appears in every single novel, although usually only in bit roles. Currently, he shapes up to be a bigger player in ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive''. Likewise, the author of Ars Arcanum and the map collector, who are the same for every book, but only get officially named in ''Mistborn: Secret History''.
** Random references to cosmere (small "c"), Investiture and Cognitive Realms have been there since first ''Literature/Mistborn'', but only recently started to gain traction as well.

* The ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'' Phase 1 was revolving around a Metaplot featuring various beings developing into superheroes with their own storylines while being recruited into SHIELD's Avengers team, culminating in ''Film/TheAvengers2012''. Phases 2 and 3 also have a clearly defined Metaplot regarding Infinity Stones, setting up the eventual ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar''.

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* Unlike Warhammer 40,000 where the change in metaplot didn't result in major changes to the game, their Fantasy game ''TabletopGame/WarhammerAgeOfSigmar'' had a change to the metaplot that effectively destroyed the canon in order to allow major changes to rules & factions. TheBadGuyWins! Incredibly major characters were killed off constantly in the build up to the end and eventually the entire world was destroyed to rebuilt for the new "more accessible" edition of the game. Unsurprisingly this was met with a generally poor reception.

* Tabletop miniatures game ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' has something of a metaplot, but it is somewhat subverted in that [[StatusQuoIsGod nothing ever changes too much]], for similar reasons to those listed here. However, they still like to claim that the next planned event will have a drastic effect on the game world to get players interested, but then it doesn't.
** May be justified, or at least explained, by the scope and brutality of the setting. In most universes having a hundred billion people die would be a galaxy-wide tragedy rather than a statistical blip.
*** This is accurate up to a point: many such metaplot events are battles over places "crucial" to the Imperium and other in-game factions, but if a faction loses or wins (say, if Abaddon's Black Crusade overran and completely destroyed Cadia for instance) the factions would still be unchanged and Cadians would likely still be playable, even considering their planet had been destroyed.

*** Despite not really having a running plot, the TabletopGame/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.

** Also from WhiteWolf was the TabletopGame/TrinityUniverse, which had a pretty epic metaplot covering three games along the same timeline, with the pulp Adventure!, the superhero {{Deconstruction}} Aberrant and the {{Cyberpunk}}/SpaceOpera Trinity. While it was good story and only had two characters that were likely to dominate the [=PCs=], it was irritating to know that your Adventure! team was unlikely to have much effect on a world heading for the other games.

** Metaplot is conspicuous in its absence, however, from the NewWorldOfDarkness. The creators were quite open about this being done to avoid the issues listed above. This did not stop many fans of the old metaplot from complaining, "Then they could just ignore the metaplot!", not fully comprehending the first reason listed above. That said, though, it isn't ''completely'' absent, just a little more subtle - the games, while modular, reference each other at times. ''TabletopGame/HunterTheVigil'' in particular has a system in place for faking other supernaturals, but has a number of jump-in points for the other game lines - one of the Compacts is being manipulated by the main villains from ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening'', Task Force: VALKYRIE captured a group of Daksha from the same game during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, and so forth.

*** 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.
*** 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 UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution, 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.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Torg}}'' (no relation to ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'') was built around user-generated metaplot. Game Masters were asked to send in questionnaires about published adventures they ran, and to report in a general way how well their heroes were doing in various areas of the game world, and the data were compiled and processed to produce an overall state-of-the-Earth report which the authors would then use to shape their subsequent products.

* German RPG ''TabletopGame/TheDarkEye'' had a Metaplot since its development. For the first 15 years, the Metaplot hasn't moved the world forward. People vanished, or found new opportunities, a few organisations perished or formed themselves. The world however didn't change fundamentally. But after 15 years something new came along: an old evil raised his head and the world didn't look the same. Now every few years, parts of the setting change, but later adventures are often playable without incorporating these changes.

* In licensed [=RPGs=] that draw upon "outside" works of fiction for their background and -story, the original story canon quite naturally serves as this. How much of a constraint that proves to be is largely a function of how much room said canon leaves for new ''original'' characters to shine just as much as the "official" protagonists; comicbook superhero universes like the creations of [[Creator/MarvelComics Marvel]] and [[Creator/DCComics DC]] are usually all but designed to allow the easy addition of new faces as desired and something like the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' universe always has room for at least one more Starfleet vessel whose crew have their own episodic adventures just like those of the various ''Enterprise''s, but it's rather harder to meaningfully insert player characters into settings where the canon {{Chosen One}}s are already supposed to be doing all the ''truly'' plot-relevant heavy lifting.

** Metaplot is conspicuous in its absence, however, from the NewWorldOfDarkness. The creators were quite open about this being done to avoid the issues listed above. This did not stop many fans of the old metaplot from complaining, "Then they could just ignore the metaplot!", not fully comprehending the first reason listed above. That said, though, it isn't ''completely'' absent, just a little more subtle - the games, while modular, reference each other at times. ''TabletopGame/HunterTheVigil'' in particular has a system in place for faking other supernaturals, but has a number of jump-in points for the other game lines - one of the Compacts is being manipulated by the main villains from ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening'', Task Force: VALKYRIE captured a group of Daksha from the same game during WorldWarII, and so forth.

*** Aberrant was kind of a transitional phase between the metaplot-era OldWorldOfDarkness and the completely wild TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}. It ''had'' a metaplot, but the designers also acknowledged that the [=PCs=] were essentially guaranteed to screw it up and made sure to give plenty of examples of PC-level characters doing just that.

* ''Stargate'' and ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' both had events which affected each program, first the search for Zero Point Modules to power the gate to Atlantis (and Earth Spaceships), then the Ori and Wraith and their attempts to invade the Milky Way.

* 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 ''VideoGame/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.

* Both major ComicBook publishers almost always have a metaplot running in their universes. For example, while TheDCU was in the run-up to ''Comicbook/FinalCrisis'', the MarvelUniverse was dealing with the new status quo after ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' and the buildup toward a Skrull Secret Invasion. After that DC followed ''Final Crisis'' with ''Comicbook/BlackestNight / Comicbook/BrightestDay'' then rebooting with Flashpoint and the The Comicbook/{{New 52}}.

** ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'', from the same company, has no metaplot because it's ''expected'' that the players would derail it at some point. Especially since the entire ''point'' of Solar Exalts is that they have power because they're willing to use it in spectacular, stunt-assisted fashion that would utterly dismember the metaplot for a game like ''HeavyGear''.

Not to be confused with ''{{Medabots}}''.

* The ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'' Phase 1 was revolving around a Metaplot featuring various beings developing into superheroes with their own storylines while being recruited into SHIELD's Avengers team, culminating in ''Film/TheAvengers2012''. Phase 2 also has a clearly defined Metaplot regarding Infinity Stones, setting up the eventual ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar''.

* The ''Literature/StarTrekNovelverse'' has an ongoing metaplot about galactic politics which affects the ''Literature/StarTrekTheNextGenerationRelaunch'', ''Literature/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineRelaunch'', ''Literature/StarTrekVoyagerRelaunch'' and ''Literature/StarTrekTitan'' novels. Major changes in the metaplot are given their own miniseries, involving characters from more than one corner of the franchise, such as ''Literature/StarTrekTyphonPact'' and ''Literature/StarTrekTheFall''.

* The ''MarvelCinematicUniverse'' Phase 1 was revolving around a Metaplot featuring various beings developing into superheroes with their own storylines while being recruited into SHIELD's Avengers team, culminating in ''Film/TheAvengers2012''. Phase 2 also has a clearly defined Metaplot regarding Infinity Stones, setting up the eventual ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar''.

* Creator/BrandonSanderson [[WordOfGod has stated]] that this is the point of Franchise/TheCosmere. After seeing authors like Creator/StephenKing and Creator/IsaacAsimov [[RetCon retroactively tie many earlier works together in later stories,]] he wanted to design a {{Metaplot}} that was deliberately worked into the framework of the individual stories from the very beginning.

* ''TabletopGame/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]].

* Both major ComicBook publishers almost always have a metaplot running in their universes. For example, while TheDCU was in the run-up to ''Comicbook/FinalCrisis'', the MarvelUniverse was dealing with the new status quo after ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' and the buildup toward a Skrull Secret Invasion. After that 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'', ''Comicbook/Infinity'' and ''Comicbook/SecretWars2015''. With the current rate of major crossovers involving most, if not all, of the current titles, each new event basically sequences into the next one, all advancing the Metaplot.

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

** ''ForgottenRealms'' got another jump forward in the metaplot--a full century--as an update to 4th Edition's "points of light" design theory.
** While ''{{Eberron}}'' is an aversion, for a time it looked like it would fall into this trope for 4th Edition, before fan outcry brought about an AuthorsSavingThrow.
** ''DarkSun'' had a metaplot in the first series of novels that completely revised the campaign setting. This was reversed in the 4th Edition revamp.
* The OldWorldOfDarkness is (in)famous for its metaplot.

*** In an unfortunate example of [[RealLifeWritesThePlot Real Life Writes The Metaplot]], ''[[VampireTheRequiem City of the Damned: New Orleans]]'' is unusable as a result of Hurricane Katrina decimating the city, and the clanbooks mention that the local vampire society is in shambles. A troupe can ignore these events, of course, but that approach [[FridgeLogic opens a whole new]] [[SuspensionOfDisbelief can of worms]].

* ''LegendOfTheFiveRings'' is notable both for still having a metaplot, and for that metaplot being partially based on the outcomes of tournaments for the [[CardGames collectible card game]].

* ''{{Traveller}}'' started well with its use of a metaplot, incorporating 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 burning down the campaign setting over the course of the second edition of the game, with the third edition of the game being AfterTheEnd. GDW, the company that created Traveller, did not survive the third edition. Later editions (by different publishers) have been much more reluctant to make major changes to the setting, or to have a metaplot at all.

* Subverted in ''{{Ironclaw}}''. The first published adventure ''and'' the first tie-in novel deal with the murder of the High King and most of his family, and the search for the sole surviving heir. It became the common touchpoint for almost every campaign using the official setting -- but ''every campaign resolved it differently'', with far-reaching impact on the rest of the political situation. (It also immediately established ''Ironclaw'' as a game where beginning characters ''can be kingmakers''.)
* Subverted by the kooky ''OverTheEdge''--the final pages of the game's GM manual revealed that the characters in the RPG were, in fact, '''characters in an RPG'''.
* As battles rage in the backstory of the ''IronKingdoms'', borders get re-drawn and [[CharacterDevelopment characters develop]]. To be given official rules in either WARMACHINE or HORDES is also to be given PlotArmor though, leaving the most active movers and shakers free to continue moving and shaking without fatal consequences.
* ''HeavyGear'' is very up-front about the game's metaplot. Each sourcebook has a date which indicates where in the story the book is, not to mention entire books ''solely'' dedicated to detailing the events and mysteries of the metaplot.

* German RPG ''TheDarkEye'' had a Metaplot since its development. For the first 15 years, the Metaplot hasn't moved the world forward. People vanished, or found new opportunities, a few organisations perished or formed themselves. The world however didn't change fundamentally. But after 15 years something new came along: an old evil raised his head and the world didn't look the same. Now every few years, parts of the setting change, but later adventures are often playable without incorporating these changes.
* ''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.

* Both major ComicBook publishers almostr always have a metaplot running in their universes. For exampple, while TheDCU was in the run-up to ''Comicbook/FinalCrisis'', the MarvelUniverse was dealing with the new status quo after ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' and the buildup toward a Skrull Secret Invasion. After that 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'', ''Comicbook/Infinity'' and ''Comicbook/SecretWars2015''. With the current rate of major crossovers involving most, if not all, of the current titles, each new event basically sequences into the next one, all adavnding the Metaplot.