Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Applying the Hero's Journey to the Treasure Hunt

I was reading about the mythic structure of "Hero's Journey" so that I could apply it to the "Hunt for the Chakra Jewels" DVD to try and make the story behind the treasure hunt more compelling. I got a good guide about how to apply the archtypes and motivations from a book called "The Writer's Journey" with tips about putting the stages of the journey into 3 Acts and how to put the high points of the stages into dramatic plot points to sustain interest throughout the 3 Acts. That is a better framework to making the story more cohesive throughout all the stages of the Hunt. Also making the puzzles and clues relate better to the story if they are put into parts of the journey.



I figured I could use the archtype of the Herald as the representative of the Gamemaster and that would be a better name for character. So that the 1st Act would be the stage of "The Call to Adventure" and the hook to get the people that bought the DVD to identify with the cause of embarking on the quest and interested enough with the story to put some effort into solving the puzzles.



I can use the Angel of Death in the Tarot Card as a archtype of The Shadow to show the fears and hestitations to the Hero would have to take up the challenges to clarify the stakes of trying to transcend Death. The hazards of leaving the Ordinary World and entering the Special World with all the rewards to be earned making the effort worthwhile.



I could also use The Empress Tarot card as an archtype of the Ally to aid the Heroes that buy the DVD to impart gifts that help them on their quest and the Justice Tarot card as a Mentor to give them training in the rules of the Special World of the treasure hunt. That will help sustain the interest over the length of the hunt since it will maintain the dramatic tension over the 3 Acts because the hunt will include all the stages of the journey when I give all the characters and archtypes an arc of progress to follow



I can put the stages of Act I on the DVD, Act II in the search for the Keys and Act III opening the locks and finding the prizes. The DVD will include the stage "The Call to Adventure" then the webpage with the chakras clues will include "The Refusal of the Call" stage and buying the stuff at CafePress will be the "Crossing of the First Threshold" stage with the Temperance as the Shapeshifter and the Star Tarot card as the Trickster archtypes providing the roles of the Threshold Guardian as tests to show commitment to the quest



The book goes into some detail about the origin, purpose and value of cathersis that is what I think is important to give the treasure hunt a more compelling purpose than just winning the prizes

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!

Anonymous said...

Bonjour

It is my first time here. I just wanted to say hi!

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

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Argon said...

Which parts? It's easy enough to believe in the Hero's Journey since it has been part of every story and evolution all through history.

But is it enough to believe that it would be worth following along with the Hunt for the Chakra Jewels and investing in it enough to be able to solve it?

Anonymous said...

Have you ever considered adding more videos to your blog posts to keep the readers more entertained? I mean I just read through the entire article of yours and it was quite good but since Im more of a visual learner,I found that to be more helpful well let me know how it turns out! I love what you guys are always up too. Such clever work and reporting! Keep up the great works guys Ive added you guys to my blogroll. This is a great article thanks for sharing this informative information.. I will visit your blog regularly for some latest post.

Argon said...

I'm glad you enjoyed what was here, thanks for your interest.

How many other articles did you read? I did more than 3 other articles on the subject with 5 other videos.

How many is enough? In 2009 there were 27 videos included in 11 articles, in 2008 there were 37 videos include in 14 articles and in 2007 there were 55 videos included in 44 articles.

Feel free to check out the rest of the blog.

Anonymous said...

Not a bad article, did it take you plenty of your time to consider it?

Argon said...

Thanks for your interest. Yes it did, and I'm still considering it

Anonymous said...

hi to all nobleargon.blogspot.comers this is my first post and thought i would say a big hello to yous -
speak soon
garry