CHARACTER INTERACTION APPROACH

Characters make or break rpg games. I'll go through a process I find reliable which you can go through in any direction you want in order to build a great plot.

Start With Your Goals In Mind

If I'm making a game and its going to be good, it needs a goal. Otherwise it would be a huge waste of time. Well, its always good to practice and have fun tho, but in order to keep yourself going and motivated you need to see results from your work. I usually stress some moral I wish to follow then think of some storyline that will portray this moral and take the player through the emotions and thoughts associated with it. Hopefully this will give the greatest impact. Think of a couple simple characters just to get started or whatever you want and bla bla bla, but most of all, let your mind flow and take you into this world you are creating.

Catalysts

Every character needs their reasons for doing what they do. If they didn't they would be unmotivated (like me) and wouldn't do anything at all. Classic examples are "the typical save the princes and slay the dragon scheme," "my home was destroyed so i have to journey into a strenge new world," "appocolyps...," "you killed my father, prepare to die" revenge motive, and so many more. Try to be as unique, yet realistic, as possible. Once you have your characters rolling, fate will intertwine them and suck them into the master plot of your story.

Its All About How They React

Once you have a basic setting and goal in mind, or if your already in the process of making an already developed game and wish to add a little flesh to it, build your characters. A character without a foundation will be very wavering and will fall and "thats not good eats." A person's past will largely effect how he or she will react to every situation they are in. On top of this, think of how their base personality is and kinda mesh it all together appropiately to make a realistic, self-thinking character. Think outside of yourself, put yourself in their shoes and interact with the other characters around you. Be sure not to think of what you would do, but rather what he or she would do. Add catalysts and special events outside of them that will eventually effect them in order to achieve your goals in mind by using characters who would meet cirtain requirments in cirtain situations.

Let Beautiful, Unexpected Things Happen (Plot Thickening)

This part's fun. Once you have several highly developed characters in one room, amazing and beautiful things will happen and the characters will make the story happen for you! Be sure to have contrasting characters in order to make interesting things happen and to show how different personalities will react to the same situation or person. Realize the goals they have and any conflicts there might be and secrets that may be revealed later on or not at all. A character who acts strangely because of some secret in their past makes for a very interesting plot, it keeps the observer thinking and on their toes. Just keep whats around your characters in mind, let them make the story for you, make them approach your goals you want to portray and EURIKA! Your plot just thickened as if you were sturring some cookie dough. VIEWPOINTS.

Emotion Rollercoaster

Take the player on a rollercoaster ride. Make him or her care about your characters. Once this happens he or she will deffinately not want to stop. In order to do this, give the player opportunities to see what your characters are feeling, use your plot thickening techniques, and supprise him or her often, just like eating vietnam food, little chunks of goodness are hidden in the entire mix of noodles (or at least thats what i hear). Make the player feel what your characters are feeling and give them a glimps of how it would be like if they were in their shoes. All of this should happen naturally using your plot thickining and letting things flow. Sometimes you will get a very stubborn player who is as hard as a rock (like my brother). In order to get around this, strong emotions are required. Be bold but realistic. Oh, and try to avoid lame situations like makeing your characters go to jail when they didn't have to. Also overthinking or being controlling while using this approach is a no no. Don't make your characters make decisions they would'nt make. Anyways... strong emotions will portray themselves when two freinds with opposing goals clash. You can do this by simply confusing one or both of them or making their personalities different enough to do this. "Misunderstanding is the greatest enemy." Another way to emote is to build bonds between characters and even the player, then rip them appart through death or something like the method before. Ouch. You can also build bonds possitively and make an awesome team who trusts eachother after making mistakes or a sweet, oh so sweet romance. A good romance will make the player jealous. But mostly try to put your beloved characters in impossible situations and see what they do. This is where heroics and strong emotions really come in.

Well, I hope this helps and was fun to read and whatnot. Good luck out there and have a good one! XD