I believe that my problem with storygames most often is biting off more than I can chew - planning big, long stories, with dozens of story paths, all extravagant and each able to be a short story of it's own. Like TOW. Which was written over the course of several months with inhumane speed and dedication.
1) I don't have /that/ much dedication.
2) I can't work that fast.
3) I have a dead end of 1 month, not several.
So, for this to work, I need people to bring me back down to reality, and make sure I don't go too terribly crazy with story ideas.
The idea is that everything has a true name, and that that is where magic comes from in it's purest form. If you know it's name, you can command it to do your bidding. Simple, one word commands. The power depending on the strength of your mind. Command the stone to break, and it will shatter into a million pieces to one who knows it to be true that the stone will do as he says. But the command by one who does not know if it will obey him, or who is unsure of their own selves, and the stone may merely crack a small bit.
Stone is always there, always sturdy, and the easiest to name. Water, a little harder, since it's so fluid. Wind, always in motion, roaring and dying and changing, yet even has matter to control. Fire, fire is impossible. It is merely heat - no matter to command. Nothing to shape, and even if it could be named, it is doubted to obey any commands due to how wild it is.
I mean, yes, there are legends of a man who merely had to look at something to name it. Who could name fire, and even those that have life and names are constantly changing. But those are only stories. Right?
