Odd Narrative Habits
Cliff H:
Quote from: Callan S. on January 11, 2011, 02:11:26 PM
After the whole pick up line thing, what happened in terms of keeping him quiet or not? Or did you already describe that and I'm recalling badly? I think you said they didn't need to kill him in the end. But what changed the NPC's mind to not publishing the article?
The PCs brought up how they met this NPC. Upon first meeting he begged a favor, which turned out to be substantial. So they said he owed them, and he conceded. That part of the conversation, by the way, didn't require a single die roll.
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I'm thinking one issue is that the dice roll, which seemed initiated by the player, was a bit 'premature ejaculation'.
Quite right. The players are familiar enough with the rules that they often feel comfortable enough matching stat + skill and rolling right after they make some declaration of action. The only time they ask is when they're not sure what to roll. I have said sometimes that a roll is not required, but in general the reflex is to declare an action and reach for dice.
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Perhaps if it becomes an informal rule that if a player picks up dice like that, he has to turn to the group first and go 'So...how bad is it if I fail' and actually wait a bit to get some feedback and back and forth on the matter? I'm not saying determine it in fine detail, just an overall sense of bad result?
Assuming the snow allows everyone to get together (we're in eastern PA, and currently snowed in), tonight is game night. That sounds like something small I can add in right away.
(edited to fix quote format - RE)
stefoid:
Quote from: David Shockley on January 01, 2011, 08:27:25 AM
Obviously I don't know your group, or the groups Ron referred to, so I could be way off base. But this strikes me as a pretty straightforward example of Creative Agenda in action. I'm not sure how versed in the CA concept you are, but the idea that CA is what you intend to do, or that CA is what a specific person prefers to do, are both common misconceptions. CA is how you use the medium of play to enjoy the game _together_. It doesn't matter how invested in Lothar the badass barbarian, and his epic struggle to avenge his fallen village a player is, its not a part of CA until its enthusiastically shared and reinforced by the group. If everyones eyes glaze over when you talk about Lothar (perhaps not out of fundamental disinterest, but because we all know it really doesn't make a damn bit of difference), but they all grin or laugh when you have him trip over his feet and fall into a hole when you roll a 2 on your spot check... Then thats what you are going to do.
In the essays Ron talks about how Sim is easily supplanted by the more basic human activities of competition (gamism) and story telling (narrativism), but Sim-comedy seems to be just as basic and powerful.
Narration mechanics are a technique, that can support any agenda based on the context. In this game, they are supporting the Sim-comedy agenda. If you don't want to support it, I'd suggest removing or refocusing the mechanic. Honestly, what sort of failure narration would matter to the other players at the table? If the answer is none, then its not a useful rule.
dude, you nuked that nail!
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