Slide Navigation Question

I don't recommend placing the "Previous" and "Next" buttons on the Slide Master. While the "Jump to next slide" trigger on the "Next" button will generally work as expected (except for "Jump to next scene" actions), you'll likely encounter issues with the "Jump to previous slide" trigger on the "Previous" button.

The "Jump to previous slide" trigger functions more like a browser's Back button. It returns to the previously viewed slide, not necessarily the previous slide in the course's linear sequence. This behavior can lead to unexpected navigation, especially if learners revisit slides out of order.

To address your other concern "...when the Story View breaks and no longer shows slides in a top-down sequential order."  You can fix this by enabling Player Triggers (Swipe Gestures) in the slide properties.

Even if you don't want learners to actually swipe to go forward or backward, you can still enable the swipe gestures and add a condition that’s never met. This way, the swipe action will never execute, but the connection between slides will still be established in Story View.