Questions tagged [narration]
For questions primarily about narration, the act of describing the events that unfold in the game world, either as player or gamemaster.
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What type of speech do I use when GMing?
I remember that there are three types of speech. I will quote Wikipedia on this one:
Direct speech:
He laid down his bundle and thought of his misfortune. "And just what
pleasure have I found, ...
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As a GM, how to react to players challenging contradictions in your narration?
As with any position of power, responsibility is bestowed onto a GM when running a game. Because good GMing has a lot of impact on overall enjoyment, the GM carries a certain amount of weight behind ...
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How can I deal with PC access to myriad sources of subtly conflicting information in a game where those conflicts matter? [closed]
I have been running a solo game for a friend in a system I created several years ago.
I have encountered a GMing problem that I have not previously had to deal with, because real-life time ...
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How to deal with the differences in perception between group characters?
I struggle with the following :
You enter the room and a dark, old man dressed with a humble and threadbare mantle is prattling in a corner. When he sees you, he stands up and comes forward, ...
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How do you convey the feeling of a crowded area?
Recently, one of my players suggested that streets and buildings felt too empty when we are playing Shadowrun. Other than many RPG, a lot of Shadowrun takes place in crowded cities, with the ...
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Can giving players "target numbers" like AC improve narration, and with what side-effects?
My players aren't narrating their actions as much as I want them to. Oftentimes, the narration is left solely up to me, the DM, and it's exhausting to come up with every successful (and failed) ...
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How to begin a role-playing scenario in medias res?
If I am running a pre-planned role-playing scenario, how and when can it work to start the session in medias res? The narrative technique can work so well in literature, film and video to increase ...
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Do cinema/film-like descriptions ruin immersion or do they improve games? [closed]
Ok, this might sound silly, but I've seen several examples of descriptions from both players and GMs that actually illustrate a cinematographic technique, such as:
GM: The camera pans out to reveal X,...
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How much creative and descriptive power should I offer my players? Is it different for sandbox campaigns? [closed]
I know that as a GM you have to have some skill with your words to make the descriptions really come to life. However, as I think more and more about my next sessions, which are probably going to be ...
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Punishing a player for instant-actioning
I GM a home-made D&D-style game which my friends and I play, and we had a scenario go as follows:
After a player-character threw something at the wall, the players rolled a one and I was ...
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Pros and cons of 2nd person narration?
As a GM, I'm not sure whether should I try to avoid 2nd person narration whenever possible. For example, instead of saying, "You feel a chill in the air," would it be better to say, "The air grows ...
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What game made leading questions a GM technique?
I am looking at history of gaming to understand the range of RPGs that are being played today.
In the context of sharing some influence on narration between players and game masters, loaded or ...
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Properly describing enemies: how much detail to provide?
Faced with a group of enemies, players in our group tend to ask for enemy descriptions in some detail--the kind of armour/clothing they're wearing (to get an idea of who are the casters, the nimble ...
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Are there any sources more concretely describing the Shield spell?
This question stems from an exercise in rule interpretation that happened in a friendly brawl after our game ended. A Dragonborn blasted an acid breath at a mage player who blurted out "I use the ...
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Being Descriptive [duplicate]
I realise the title is somewhat ironic.
I have started playing a new game, it is exciting, well-paced, suspenseful; everything an rpg-er like me could ask for.
The issue is the description of, well, ...
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