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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How do I narrate a player's PC's actions without causing unintended consequences for the PC?
Daxius: "I'd like to roll an investigate check on Statue 1." Rolls. "Solid... 19."
DM: "You walk around the statue, gliding your fingers along the rough outlines of it's crisp, defined ...
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How do I rein in a player who talks over my descriptions?
I am a new DM (although I have played D&D before), and I was very excited to play with my friends, but as we started playing I realized there would be a problem.
As I would describe either ...
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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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How to improve my descriptions of the health status of monsters
A bit of background; I'm a new GM to two players, one of whom played a bit of 3.5e and 4e while the other is a complete newbie. The veteran is used to knowing when creatures are "bloodied", as per 4e, ...
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How do I respond to players who keep asking powerful NPCs to help them in ToA?
I'm playing Tomb of Annihilation(ToA) with my group right after playing Waterdeep Dragon Heist. The group have met powerful characters like Vajra Safahr, the open lord Laeral Silverhand, Mirt, Artus ...
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How do I narratively explain how in-game circumstances do not mechanically allow a PC to instantly kill an NPC?
Inspired by this question, in particular this aspect:
. . . how do I handle realism and one-shotting bosses out of combat?
My understanding is that any creature, even a "normal person", cannot be ...
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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 communicate feelings to players without impacting their agency?
As a Game Master I'd occasionally like to communicate premonitions or sensation to my characters, as a benefit of their backstory, or as a means to give them opportunity to be deeper tied into the ...
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Narrativist Gaming: How do you transition more traditionally-trained players into them?
This was obviously inspired by the corresponding question on GM-less gaming.
For the past couple of years I've become really interested in RPGs that are less about dungeon-crawling and combat and ...
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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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Is D&D a suitable tool for fleshing out my own fictional world?
So I've gone around on the web, trying to figure out exactly how D&D works, and still I'm befuddled. Let me first start by stating what exactly it is I'm trying to achieve.
So, I'm an aspiring ...
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How can I narrate Charm/Fear/Rage/etc effects in a liberating manner?
Or, How can I implement behavior-centric status effects without giving the players a sense of having lost their autonomy?
It's something I have found to be a personal agitant as a roleplayer, and ...
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What techniques can I use to improve flavor text?
I've been improving my GM skills lately, but there is one area in which my skills are very weak, and that is flavor text. For example, if my players go into the woods, I tend to say something stupid ...
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How do I telegraph the difference between life-hating and faithful-guardian undead at a distance? [closed]
(In my world...)
Some undead are raised for evil purposes, and are motivated to extinguish any life they encounter. But some undead were so dedicated/faithful in life that they do not leave their ...
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How can I describe hit point damage without talking about wounds?
The PHB's description of hit points (p. 196) says:
Hit points represent a combination of physical and mental durability, the will to live, and luck. Creatures with more hit points are more ...
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