There are two (and sometimes three) ways that games tell stories.

There’s the theme, which is the conceptual framework given to us by the game to understand it and give us motivation. For example, in my game Get Bit!, you’re told that you are swimming away from a voracious shark. This gives you the prime motivation: don’t let the shark bite you. The theme and the mechanics work together to give tangible results to your actions: don’t play the right card, and you lose a limb. If the theme were removed, and you were just losing points to an abstract threat, it wouldn’t be as compelling.

Then there’s the plot arc of a game. In a standard story- say, in a novel- there’s a beginning, rising actions, a climax, then an ending. Many games follow this model, and are better for it. The very beginning is the setup of the game. You get everything you have to work with, and build on it from there. The rising action is the bulk of the game, where everything really picks up steam. Plans are made, alliances are formed, moves dictate success. The climax is the really exciting part where everything starts to pay off. The players know the end is near, and need to grab everything they can to try to ensure victory. In the best of games, everyone will have a chance… if they’re just clever and lucky enough. In Get Bit!, players start with all their limbs intact and all their resources (cards) at hand. Then the shark starts biting, and players start to drop off. The game reaches a climax when there are only three players remaining, and they are each low on limbs. The game can end at any time… but like a good story, instead of dragging it all the way out to its conclusion, it ends quickly after the climax.

The third type of story told during a game is when a text story is told within the game. Tales of the Arabian Nights, the paragraph game, actually tells you a series of miniature stories. The theme overall is that you’re a questing adventurer in Arabian Nights time. The plot arc is based around gaining skills, gaining treasures, and gaining story/destiny points towards victory. Then every turn, you hear a story told to you from the book (via the person on your left.)

Not all games have any of the above elements. There are plenty of themeless games, and plenty of games that do not have plot arcs (often party games), and the vast majority of games don’t have in-game stories. But by making the theme and the plot-arc work together (and maybe some metaphor), just like in a well-crafted novel, your game can tell some exciting stories.