Posts Tagged by narrative
| March 16, 2011 | Posted by Matthew J. Neagley |
The supers genre seems fairly straightforward. Discussions of themes and ages aside, most supers games and campaigns follow a fairly standardized set of plot structures. Oddly though, in the unassuming supers game lies some potent forms of player narrative control. Chief among these is the PC origin story. In the supers origin story, the player generally gets to dictate the way in which the PC gained or discovered their exceptional abilities. More so than any other standard genre, supers origins allow players to completely ignore…
| October 20, 2010 | Posted by John Arcadian |
I just got finished with my stint at Con on the Cob. I and the other gnomes, who schlepped it out to Ohio for the convention, had a blast. By and far one of the best moments of the convention for me was the total improv game I ran on Sunday. The title of it was “WHOSE GAME IS IT ANYWAYS” and the description read like this: “Ever feel like watching the Game Master wriggle? Well with this game you can. Absolutely nothing about this…
| August 2, 2010 | Posted by John Arcadian |
On Thursday I read about a new book by called Hamlet’s Hit Points coming out through Gameplaywright Press. Their book Things We think About Games is a carry everywhere book for me. It sits in my very-manly-not-a-purse courier bag alongside a few other books, work things, and the odd death ray or two. Hamlet’s Hit Points is written by Robin D. Laws, and when I saw the announcement of this title I immediately realized it was related to some things I’d read on Robin’s blog about…
| July 27, 2010 | Posted by Martin Ralya |
Over in the Suggestion Pot, Gnome Stew reader renner asked us to write an article on this topic: How do you handle a narrative combat? Mainly, if you are used to miniatures and maps, and don’t want to use them anymore. Prior to D&D 3.0, the majority of RPGs used narrative combat — IE, combat that’s largely descriptive, with a sketchy map if a map is used at all. From D&D 3e’s launch onwards, battlemap-driven combat, complete with minis, grids, and tactical movement, has become…
| June 11, 2010 | Posted by Phil Vecchione |
Recently, I have found myself gravitating towards games that include a task resolution mechanic that includes a way to measure the margin of success on a check. It started over a year ago, with my short-lived Witchcraft campaign, and then flowed into my year-long Corporation game, and recently it became a requirement for picking the system for my latest campaign, In Nomine. Of all the mechanical elements of a game, this is by far, becoming one of my favorites. The best part is, that even…
| December 22, 2009 | Posted by John Arcadian |
It is no secret that I’m a fan of shared narrative in the games I run and create. If you are unfamiliar with the term, shared narrative is essentially handing narrative control of the story over to the players instead of the Game Master. If you want a more detailed explanation of shared narrative, here is an article that I wrote on the subject a while back. Some games make shared narrative the cornerstone of their concept and I definitely enjoy these types of games.…
| May 12, 2008 | Posted by John Arcadian |
As I’ve started to run more and more published settings and adventures, I find myself doing something new to my GMing style. I’ve been turning the adventure/setting/rule book to my players and just pointing to art that is built into the product. Using pictures to backup description isn’t a new practice to me, but I usually try to first use a verbal description to hook the players into the story, and then back it up with a picture. I also tend to find my illustrations…
