History Main / Metaplot

** Also from Creator/WhiteWolf was the TabletopGame/TrinityUniverse, which had a pretty epic metaplot covering three games along the same timeline, with the pulp Adventure!, the superhero {{Deconstruction}} Aberrant and the {{Cyberpunk}}/SpaceOpera Trinity. While it was good story and only had two characters that were likely to dominate the [=PCs=], it was irritating to know that your Adventure! team was unlikely to have much effect on a world heading for the other games.

* Both major ComicBook publishers almost always have a metaplot running in their universes. For example, while Franchise/TheDCU was in the run-up to ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'', the Franchise/MarvelUniverse was dealing with the new status quo after ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' and the buildup toward a Skrull Secret Invasion. After that DC followed ''Final Crisis'' with ''ComicBook/BlackestNight / ComicBook/BrightestDay'' then rebooting with Flashpoint and the The ComicBook/{{New 52}}.

* Both major ComicBook publishers almost always have a metaplot running in their universes. For example, while Franchise/TheDCU was in the run-up to ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'', the MarvelUniverse was dealing with the new status quo after ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' and the buildup toward a Skrull Secret Invasion. After that DC followed ''Final Crisis'' with ''ComicBook/BlackestNight / ComicBook/BrightestDay'' then rebooting with Flashpoint and the The ComicBook/{{New 52}}.

* In-universe example in ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline''. While we don't get too much detail, it seems that there was a metaplot intended for the game, with one player (chosen due to having the fastest reaction times and marked by [[spoiler:the [[DualWielding Dual Swords skill]]]]) acting as TheHero, who will eventually defeat the Demon King on the 100th floor, played by [[spoiler:the man who designed the death trap in the first place, Kayaba Akihiko himself]]. This got derailed when TheHero [[spoiler:realized who Kayaba was 25 floors early]].
* Also an InUniverse example in ''LightNovel/LogHorizon'', though this is something only a few characters are aware of. In Kanami's spinoff, it's revealed that [[spoiler:there are the Ancients, powerful Heroic [=NPCs=] of the Elder Tale. However, they have been sealed by Genius, extremely powerful monsters and borderline-{{Eldritch Abomination}}s, which are ''aware'' of the MMORPG nature of Elder Tale. Kanami manages to free one of the sealed Ancients, Elias Hackblade]].

!!Examples:

* The ''VideoGame/TrailsSeries'' runs on this. Every sub-series ([[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky Sky]], [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsFromZeroAndTrailsToAzure Crossbell]] and [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel Cold Steel]]) tells its own self-contained story set in one country of Zemuria, but the [[OverarchingVillain Overarching Villains]] the Society of Oroboros are always involved, and all the events of the series are part of one big GambitRoulette of theirs, [[AncientConspiracy hundreds of years in the making.]] For example, the events of the Crossbell and Erebonia games are all part of Ouroboros' "Phantasmal Blaze Plan".

** Metaplot is conspicuous in its absence, however, from ''TabletopGame/ChroniclesOfDarkness''. The creators were quite open about this being done to avoid the issues listed above. This did not stop many fans of the old metaplot from complaining, "Then they could just ignore the metaplot!", not fully comprehending the first reason listed above. That said, though, it isn't ''completely'' absent, just a little more subtle - the games, while modular, reference each other at times. ''TabletopGame/HunterTheVigil'' in particular has a system in place for faking other supernaturals, but has a number of jump-in points for the other game lines - one of the Compacts is being manipulated by the main villains from ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening'', Task Force: VALKYRIE captured a group of Daksha from the same game during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, and so forth.

* The ''VideoGame/TrailsSeries'' runs on this. Every sub-series ([[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky Sky]], [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesZeroNoKiseki Crossbell]] and [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel Cold Steel]]) tells its own self-contained story set in one country of Zemuria, but the [[OverarchingVillain Overarching Villains]] the Society of Oroboros are always involved, and all the events of the series are part of one big GambitRoulette of theirs, [[AncientConspiracy hundreds of years in the making.]] For example, the events of the Crossbell and Erebonia games are all part of Ouroboros' "Phantasmal Blaze Plan".

* The ''VideoGame/TrailsSeries'' runs on this. Every sub-series ([[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky Sky]], [[VideoGame/ZeroNoKiseki Crossbell]] and [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel Cold Steel]]) tells its own self-contained story set in one country of Zemuria, but the [[OverarchingVillain Overarching Villains]] the Society of Oroboros are always involved, and all the events of the series are part of one big GambitRoulette of theirs, [[AncientConspiracy hundreds of years in the making.]] For example, the events of the Crossbell and Erebonia games are all part of Ouroboros' "Phantasmal Blaze Plan".

* Both major ComicBook publishers almost always have a metaplot running in their universes. For example, while Franchise/TheDCU was in the run-up to ''Comicbook/FinalCrisis'', the MarvelUniverse was dealing with the new status quo after ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' and the buildup toward a Skrull Secret Invasion. After that DC followed ''Final Crisis'' with ''Comicbook/BlackestNight / Comicbook/BrightestDay'' then rebooting with Flashpoint and the The Comicbook/{{New 52}}.
* On the other hand, Marvel's ''Comicbook/SecretInvasion'' has led directly into ''Comicbook/WorldWarHulk'', then the ''Comicbook/DarkReign'' plot, followed by ''Comicbook/{{Siege}}'', ''Comicbook/FearItself'', ''Comicbook/AvengersVsXMen'', ''Comicbook/AgeOfUltron'', ''Comicbook/{{Infinity}}'' and ''Comicbook/SecretWars2015''. With the current rate of major crossovers involving most, if not all, of the current titles, each new event basically sequences into the next one, all advancing the Metaplot.

* The TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness is (in)famous for its metaplot.
** Metaplot is conspicuous in its absence, however, from TabletopGame/ChroniclesOfDarkness. The creators were quite open about this being done to avoid the issues listed above. This did not stop many fans of the old metaplot from complaining, "Then they could just ignore the metaplot!", not fully comprehending the first reason listed above. That said, though, it isn't ''completely'' absent, just a little more subtle - the games, while modular, reference each other at times. ''TabletopGame/HunterTheVigil'' in particular has a system in place for faking other supernaturals, but has a number of jump-in points for the other game lines - one of the Compacts is being manipulated by the main villains from ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening'', Task Force: VALKYRIE captured a group of Daksha from the same game during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, and so forth.
*** In an unfortunate example of [[RealLifeWritesThePlot Real Life Writes The Metaplot]], ''[[TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem City of the Damned: New Orleans]]'' is unusable as a result of Hurricane Katrina decimating the city, and the clanbooks mention that the local vampire society is in shambles. A troupe can ignore these events, of course, but that approach [[FridgeLogic opens a whole new]] [[SuspensionOfDisbelief can of worms]].
*** Despite not really having a running plot, TabletopGame/ChroniclesOfDarkness still has many of the same metaplot issues that its predecessor had. This is ironically a result of Creator/WhiteWolf attempting to avoid the mistakes made with the previous meta-plot by setting most of their supplements in the past, filling out the history of the setting. Unfortunately, this means that creatures, people and events only alluded to in earlier supplements often get expanded in later ones. And if you're running a game where you chose to use those allusions in a different way from what a new supplement says... Well, congratulations, that new supplement is now as useless to you as the Baron von Skullfist example above.

*** Aberrant was kind of a transitional phase between the metaplot-era TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness and the completely wild TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}. It ''had'' a metaplot, but the designers also acknowledged that the [=PCs=] were essentially guaranteed to screw it up and made sure to give plenty of examples of PC-level characters doing just that.
*** The reboot keeps Adventure! -> Aberrant -> Aeon [[note]]renamed from Trinity[[/note]] as its presumptive default timeline, but gives permission for groups in all eras to take things in a different direction, so now your Adventure! [=PCs=] ''can'' change how things turn out.

** Metaplot, however, killed the first edition of its sister game - TabletopGame/SeventhSea. The players had very few things to do, and all the important characters in the settings were effectively immortal.
*** It's also a setting full of [[PlanetOfHats national archetypes]], most of whom pointedly do not like each other and have only limited means of mobility (ships and one nation's limited teleportation ability). First edition metaplot did get as far as UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution, but the RPG and card game lines were canceled just before the discovery of the new world. Frustratingly, some details had already been released, such as a [[BigBad Moctezuma]] {{Expy}} as a lich.

* Unlike Warhammer 40,000 where the change in metaplot didn't result in major changes to the game, their Warhammer Fantasy game (now named the more trademark friendly ''TabletopGame/WarhammerAgeOfSigmar'') had a change to the metaplot that effectively destroyed the canon in order to allow major changes to rules & factions. TheBadGuyWins! Incredibly major characters were killed off constantly in the build up to the end and eventually the entire world was destroyed to be rebuilt for the new "more accessible" edition of the game. Unsurprisingly this was met with a generally poor reception, especially as much of the changes were done to enable the company to get out of generic fantasy names into names they could properly trademark.

* The ''VideoGame/KisekiSeries'' runs on this. Every sub-series ([[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky Sky]], [[VideoGame/ZeroNoKiseki Crossbell]] and [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel Cold Steel]]) tells its own self-contained story set in one country of Zemuria, but the [[OverarchingVillain Overarching Villains]] the Society of Oroboros are always involved, and all the events of the series are part of one big GambitRoulette of theirs, [[AncientConspiracy hundreds of years in the making.]] For example, the events of the Crossbell and Erebonia games are all part of Ouroboros' "Phantasmal Blaze Plan".

** Metaplot is conspicuous in its absence, however, from the TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness. The creators were quite open about this being done to avoid the issues listed above. This did not stop many fans of the old metaplot from complaining, "Then they could just ignore the metaplot!", not fully comprehending the first reason listed above. That said, though, it isn't ''completely'' absent, just a little more subtle - the games, while modular, reference each other at times. ''TabletopGame/HunterTheVigil'' in particular has a system in place for faking other supernaturals, but has a number of jump-in points for the other game lines - one of the Compacts is being manipulated by the main villains from ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening'', Task Force: VALKYRIE captured a group of Daksha from the same game during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, and so forth.

*** Despite not really having a running plot, the TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness still has many of the same metaplot issues that its predecessor had. This is ironically a result of Creator/WhiteWolf attempting to avoid the mistakes made with the previous meta-plot by setting most of their supplements in the past, filling out the history of the setting. Unfortunately, this means that creatures, people and events only alluded to in earlier supplements often get expanded in later ones. And if you're running a game where you chose to use those allusions in a different way from what a new supplement says... Well, congratulations, that new supplement is now as useless to you as the Baron von Skullfist example above.

* The ''Franchise/StarWars'' franchise is notoriously large, with numerous stories extending beyond the main series, sometimes in directly supplementary ways, and others for just sharing the same universe. The transfer to Disney was controversial for retconning the meta-plot with had previously extended beyond the films into official novels, rendering the majority of the Extended Universe non-canon.

First, Game Masters might not want to incorporate the plot twists, revelations and events of the metaplot into their campaigns. Suppose a GM was using [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Baron von Skullfist]], head of MurderInc, as the Big Bad of his campaign, but ''Murder Incorporated: The Complete Guide'' had the Baron make a HeelFaceTurn and be replaced by his subordinate, Captain Killfoot, who in the GM's campaign had already been revealed as a ReverseMole. Obviously, this new supplement couldn't be used as is, and the GM would have to declare his campaign world an AlternateUniverse and do additional work to adapt the supplement's material to the campaign. Worse, as the metaplot continued, each future supplement from the point where the GM's campaign diverged would progressively become less and less useful to that campaign.

* The ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'' Phase 1 was revolving around a Metaplot featuring various beings developing into superheroes with their own storylines while being recruited into SHIELD's Avengers team, culminating in ''Film/TheAvengers2012''. Phases 2 and 3 also have a clearly defined Metaplot regarding the Infinity Stones, setting up the eventual ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar''.

** The writers of ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'' were, on the other hand, pretty bad about letting the players actually accomplish anything. Paragon City (where the game for heroes takes place) was subjected to repeated alien invasions, was home to a literal war zone, and had a number of areas closed off due to being very hazardous. [[PerpetuallyStatic However, no amount of player activity allowed players to prevent another alien invasion, win the war, or make a particular zone less hazardous.]] While StatusQuoIsGod, it certainly lended a certain amount of futility to the overall experience of playing a hero: in-character, sure you're saving lives and that's important, but for the ''player'', no matter what you do, nothing changes.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* The ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' had two overarching meta-plots during its twelve year history. The first was the slow assimilation of nonhuman intelligences (aliens, sentient apes, and sentient machines) into normal human society. The second was the effects of advancing technology on normal human society.
[[/folder]]

** Possibly the first one comes when ''Discworld/MovingPictures'' features a cameo by [[ThoseTwoGuys Fred and Nobby]], thereby establishing that the growth of the City Watch is not something that is confined to the Watch novels.
** From ''Discworld/TheFifthElephant'', most of the novels reflect the Disc's "semi-industrial revolution" in one way or another; either directly or obliquely (the clacks and the newspaper don't get mentioned in ''Discworld/AHatFullOfSky'', for example, but we've gone from the Make-Things-Bigger-Device being a new invention in Ankh-Morpork (as shown in ''Discworld/{{Jingo}}'') to a village witch casually using telescopes as a metaphor).

The term originates from {{Tabletop RPG}}s, where it refers to the tendency popular in the 1990s for RPG companies to insert an overarching story incrementally advancing the timeline of the setting into the supplements for the RPG, with the aim of encouraging people to buy every supplement to follow along. In this case, it is the campaigns of individual {{Game Master}}s that are the "independent works." This idea was popular for a time, but caused a number of problems that made metaplots as controversial as they are (though despite fan outcry, many of the biggest games still have active metaplots).

Third, the use of metaplot encouraged [[{{Metagame}} metagaming]]. If the GM utilized the metaplot - as some [=GMs=] and players felt was desirable or even required to play the game "correctly" - players could become aware of the future course of the campaign and much theoretically "secret" knowledge just by reading the supplements, possibly even unintentionally if a supplement on their character type happens to be set late in the metaplot.

There's a final problem with metaplots, though, that crops up even outside of games: A lengthy metaplot can become [[ContinuityLockout a barrier to entry for new readers]]. Although early on it encourages players to buy every book in order to keep up with what's happening in the setting, if someone tries to pick it up later on they can find themselves faced with ArchivePanic just to catch up, compounded by the fact that early books may even be out of print. The combined weight of all this metaplot can also end up seeming silly or irrelevant to new players or readers when consumed all at once rather than bit-by-bit, especially in serial works where the FleetingDemographicRule or some degree of StatusQuoIsGod are in effect -- these can result in a silly-seeming metaplot consisting of nearly-identical events occurring over and over or with things constantly happening and then getting undone by a later RetCon. In extreme cases, this can require a ContinuityReboot to let new readers join in without having to read huge amounts of convoluted backstory.

!!Examples

[[folder:Film]]

** Goes full throttle with ''Secret History'' connecting four different worlds and name-dropping various Cosmere terms directly. Events at the end of ''Literature/BandsOfMourning'' only reinforce the thought that metaplot is moving to become the ''main'' plot.

* The ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' had two overarching [[MetaPlot meta-plots]] during its twelve year history. The first was the slow assimilation of nonhuman intelligences (aliens, sentient apes, and sentient machines) into normal human society. The second was the effects of advancing technology on normal human society.
[[/folder]]

* The ''Franchise/StarTrekNovelverse'' has an ongoing metaplot about galactic politics which affects the ''Literature/StarTrekTheNextGenerationRelaunch'', ''Literature/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineRelaunch'', ''Literature/StarTrekVoyagerRelaunch'' and ''Literature/StarTrekTitan'' novels. Major changes in the metaplot are given their own miniseries, involving characters from more than one corner of the franchise, such as ''Literature/StarTrekTyphonPact'' and ''Literature/StarTrekTheFall''.