Player Narrative Games, Part the Second
I’ve had a chance to do some reading yesterday, and sparked by a comment from the Tookster, I would like to elaborate on some of the concepts of player narrative games.
The way I grok it, in many player narrative games (here forward known as PNGs) the players do scene framing. They set up the where, the when, and to some extent the who and the what. After a scene is framed, the narrative control goes mostly back to the GM. This sometimes happens in a traditional style too. Like when you ask, “What do you want to do?” and the player responds, “Go to the inn.” The difference here is that in a traditional game the player is basically requesting the GM to frame a scene at the inn. In a PNG the player would not only say they are going to the inn, but also might describe what is going on at the inn, some of the people there, or just cut to the chase and set up the situation they wanted to go to the inn for anyways.
“Ok. So we are at the inn. There is a big party going on and everyone is drinking and dancing. I see this attractive chick at the bar giving me the eye, so I decide to go over there and talk to her.”
Its a form of player investiture. It allows players to influence the kind of story being told. Since the ball is now back in the GM’s hands, the attractive woman might actually be a villain, or a plot-giving NPC, or maybe just a cheap floozy looking for a one night stand. Also keep in mind that a player’s character comes to the table with specific goals. It stands to reason that most scenes a player frames will be towards achieving those goals. The GM can have goals too, and the GM can expect to do a fair amount of scene framing of their own. In fact, it is the GM that often decides what player has the power to frame the next scene, and in this way tries to control (read: give purpose, direction, and rhythm to) the overall narrative of the session.
When giving some of the narrative control to the players, the social contract suddenly becomes very important. Everyone at the table has to be there with the understanding that they are telling a group story, and that it is the intention for everyone to have fun. Unlike a traditional game where a jerk player can sometimes be reigned in by the GM, the jerk player in a PNG is a game-killer.
The quest for the PNG continues!
