Horror Plot

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I agree. And I'd also like to add that, realistic or not, the bigger the scale of the events, the harder it is for the player to relate to them and have feelings about what's happening. (ok I guess that's pretty much what you mean with "epic" )That's why a story like "The evil, ancient cult of Ar'khrngk is trying to reawaken the unspeakable powers of the dark side of the universe and bring the end of times upon us" often feels downright boring compared to the emotional impact the relatable, personal fate of a few selected characters can have. Or, to give another example, seeing 100 corpses of people the player doesn't know evokes fewer emotions than seeing one character he cares about die.