Assorted Story Ideas

Assorted Story Points

As a preface, I understand that this game will be following Countdown to Chaos quite closely. If ever there is need of extra help in writing (especially in regards to sidequests or NPC dialogue), then I would love to be of assistance. Here are some ideas I've had in regards to certain Chapters in a Paper Mario game. There is no need to use any of them, but if something seems to fit or can be taken out and used for this game, that would be neat. I figure that a large pool of ideas to work with would be very helpful in making this game as good as possible. I've had to tweak the ideas that I wrote in order to make them more presentable as an 'idea' (the word documents were much longer). I'll tweak a few other chapter ideas later and post them, and if anything within them is of any use to you guys, then that is awesome. If not, that's just as fine too.


Infiltration of the Ghost Ship

One of the seven star spirits (or sprites, or whatever it may be) ends up in the hands of a wealthy Boo, who helms a fancy ship that he flies around the Mushroom Kingdom. This ship is a well-known tourist attraction in the Mushroom Kingdom, and is home to a Boo 'high-society' full of well-off and well-known Boos. It could definitely be a ripe area for recurring NPCs to appear, ala the train level in Thousand Year Door.

Scattered on this ship (which is also used for travel purposes, and will thus stop at a few destinations during the Chapter) are the staff that take care of this ship, many of whom are young Koopas, Goombas, and Shy Guys who are working entry-level jobs. In order to become a part of the ship staff without being noticed, Mario has to get disguised (a recurring theme from the previous Paper Mario's) and is, following a small test/tutorial, hired by the ship.

The recurring theme of this chapter could involve Mario climbing the ranks as a staff member in the ship (starting off with small mini-games relating to cleaning the kitchen and waiting tables for the richest individuals in the Mushroom Kingdom), to eventually getting bumped up to a security position, through which he is able to locate where the star is located in the ship, and eventually leads to him getting immersed in the Boo high-society himself.

Battles could be scattered through this Chapter, all the way from Mini-bosses who catch on to the fact that this entry-level worker is in fact Mario, to enemies that Mario has to face during his duties (fighting robbers when Mario is a security guard, to fighting random NPCs who are trying to steal food, etc., and maybe even the obligatory 'dungeon of the ship' section where more enemies are strewn about).

While mystery levels in Paper Mario are definitely fun, I think that approaching this level as a reconnaissance mission or as a heist could be an interesting take. The 'heist' element could involve an NPC who acts as a guide for Mario coming up with a plan early on in the Chapter, which is then actualized through the progression of the chapter.

Following Mario's rise through the ranks, he is eventually able to get into a room one on one with the aristocratic Boo who runs the ship and inherited the star spirit (or sprite, etc.). It is then revealed that the Boo himself is quite happy with giving away the star spirit, as it has been bringing him a lot of unwanted attention and has been causing a lot of unnecessary conflict on the ship. The Boo maintains that if anyone were to deserve the star spirit, it would be a loyal member of his crew.

At this point, the 'boss' of this Chapter could be revealed to be a fellow staff member who was working alongside Mario, who (through the pulling off of a horrible disguise) ends up being part of the 'other force' that is trying to get the star spirits (ie. The X-Nauts in Paper Mario). This guy could be anything from a one-off boss to a recurring enemy who gets a boss role. It does not matter too much. Before the face-off, the wealthy Boo decides to let all of the passengers on the ship watch the fight as the night's entertainment, and decides that the winner of the battle deserves the Star Spirit (The Boo, of course, stays oblivious to the fact that neither Mario nor the recurring villain had been working at his ship for very long, and neither were true employees).