abstract
| - The good guys and the bad guys are both pursuing a set of MacGuffins or Plot Coupons that are hidden or distributed in what appears to be a random manner. In order for either side to achieve their aims, it is necessary that they get to these objects before the other side does. However, the objects are difficult to locate or reveal -- research must be done, or inspiration must strike, before one of the hidden objects can be found. Strangely, regardless of the differences between their resources and their methods, the good guys and the bad guys always find the same object at the same time and have to fight over it. There's never a case where the heroes get one while the villains head off in a completely different direction and get another, with no problems for either side. It's almost as if they're not random and have to be approached in a predetermined sequence that forces both sides into conflict. But that's ridiculous, isn't it? A common trope in videogames, where, even though the bad guys seem to be everywhere at once, they'll always close in on a particular MacGuffin just as you do. A common video game variant is discovering the bad guys have had the final MacGuffin in their possession the whole time, forcing you to storm their stronghold and have a climactic battle against their leader. Another has the villains trading a convenient hostage for the items the heroes collected and then storming their castle. Yet another reveals that the villains were just letting the heroes collect the treasures so they could steal them later. Examples of One True Sequence include:
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