I had a nice chat with Laura Mixon today, and a wonderful idea emerged during our discussion: using my Fate character as the antagonist in all stories. Thus, the the conflict is always between the player and Fate, and the storybuilder programs Fate to provide an interesting, dramatic, and edifying conflict. All interactive storyworlds created with the Erasmotron have one master plot: Fate probes the player, identifies an abnormality in the player's character, and presents the player with tests which stress that abnormality. If the player handles the tests well, then the abnormality is regarded by Fate as a strength, and the episode ends happily; if not, then the abnormality is shown to be a weakness by means of an unhappy ending.
That's great &emdash; now, how do I make it work?
We'll handle this as an extension on existing ideas. The storybuilder creates a series of special Fate verbs that occupy something like a sequence. The early verbs in the sequence are probing verbs that present the player with odd challenges. Later on, there are two types of reactions: regular sequential reactions and plotpoint reactions.
What if we follow something like the Arthur/Mordred plot scheme, in which Fate presents the player with a challenge that follows a vaguely linear path, and the steps in the path are widely separated, and Fate measures the player's progress through his relations with others during the interim? Sorta like a Victorian novel in which ghosts visit the protagonist at intervals, commenting on his progress.