Note that this is the player version to identify themselves. The GM gets more tips on how to cater to these core engagements.
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Narrative
Players who enjoy a good narrative enjoy a good story in
their role-playing games. These players enjoy reading, viewing, listening, or taking
part in a story.
Having a good narrative in role-playing games is usually
something that GMs have to prepare for in advance rather than improvise on the
fly, so recognising there are players who enjoy a strong narrative before the
game starts is pretty important. It can be important for narrative seeking
players that the GM to runs a Story-driven
campaign format which features an overarching plot which ties in with or
determines the adventures and quests taken by the party. Fortunately for the
narrative seeking player, many GMs nowadays have an expressive side which seeks
to create stories for the players to partake in, and so Dungeon Crawls are
currently rarer than Story-driven campaigns.
Do note that there are many genres of fiction and medieval
fantasy role-playing games are not particularly suitable at catering to every
genre unless significant effort is put in by the GM. The classical genres of
fiction are Comedy, Drama, Horror fiction, Literary realism, Romance, Satire, Tragedy,
Tragicomedy, Fantasy, Mythology and Adventure. Of these genres, medieval
role-playing games are more suitable for fantasy, mythology and adventure,
possibly with a splash of one of the other genres. Some players and GMs
in the hobby have come to expect mostly fantasy, mythology and adventure narratives. So
if you find yourself enjoying a different genre (say, romance) in your
role-playing games, it may be a good idea to highlight which genres you appreciate
to the GM as these genres may not be one of the “default” genres the GM prepares
for in their narratives. Well, at least the GM can try.
How do I know if I’m
a narrative-seeking player?
Narrative-seeking players are fortunate in that they are not
limited to the medium of games to satisfy their desire for good narratives.
Narrative seeking players will often look to television, movies, books and even
audiobooks as well for good stories. If you’ve enjoyed carefully following an ongoing
TV drama (news, reality shows and sports don’t count), an anime, a movie series
or a series of novels you probably can appreciate a good narrative.
How much you are willing to actively participate in the
narrative of a role-playing game may be indicated by how much effort you are
willing to put into consuming stories. Folks who carefully read novels from
cover to cover are putting in more effort than someone who only watches the
cut-scenes from a TV show on the internet and skips to the “good parts”. The
former may be more willing to take more effort in carefully listening and participating
in the narrative of a role-playing game than the latter.
Some examples of games that narrative seeking players love
are the Final Fantasy series and many other JRPGs, Uncharted, Legacy of Kain,
games by Telltale Games, Undertale and adventure games such as King’s Quest and
Broken Sword.
The Elder Scroll series (Skyrim, Oblivion) offers more than
one core engagement, including discovery, expression, narrative and fantasy. Discovery
and fantasy is handled particularly well in the Elder Scrolls series and are arguably the main attractions. But if you completed the main questline in Skyrim or
Oblivion, narrative may be a core engagement for you. Narrative-seekers may not
like to leave stories hanging without an ending.
Take note that enjoying the consumption of good writing is
remarkably different from enjoying the act of writing/creating stories and
being a part of the writing process. Players who enjoy consuming a good
narrative may not necessarily enjoy writing themselves; writing is a form of
expression, which a different type of engagement.
Conflicts:
Submission/Hobby, Challenge, Expression, Discovery
Submission/hobby seeking players are a really common in most
games, and medieval fantasy role-playing games are not excluded. Some players
who primarily enjoy submission/hobby but do not appreciate listening to a good
narrative may get bored if a lot of time is spent expounding the narrative and
interacting with NPCs to carry the narrative. Hobbyists who get REALLY bored
are infamous for taking drastic actions which are completely uncalled for in the
given context in order to make something interesting happen. They’re goofing
off; it’s how they have fun. This kind of fun does not match well with
narrative seeking players as it breaks apart cohesive narratives. Also note
that the preferred campaign format of the hobbyist is the Dungeon Crawl, which
features limited narrative. Communication and compromise is important.
Like the hobbyist, tactical challenge seekers enjoy combat
over interaction and exploration. Interaction is usually more important to the
narrative seeking player than combat because it is usually through interactions
with NPCs that stakes are set and drama is created. Cunning challenge seekers
on the other hand may spend a sometime plotting and planning moves outside of
combat. Sometimes these plans are relevant to carrying the narrative of the
game, sometimes they are not. Narrative seeking players who are ready to put
their own minds to the task can participate in discussing plans that affect the
outcome of high stakes dramas and find themselves enjoying the experience.
Otherwise, they may find the intricate planning processes of their fellow
players disinteresting.
On the surface, expression seekers and narrative seekers
want the same things. Campaigns which feature a lot of interaction rather than
combat satisfy both expression and narrative seeking players. In fact, many
narrative seeking players may use some expressive acting in order to interact
with NPCs and move the plot forward. However, unpredictable PC behaviour can
make it difficult to run a role-playing game with a strong narrative. Players
who enjoy creating unique and quirky characters who are full of flair and style
sometimes do not want to roleplay as (what they consider to be) boring,
reserved and predictable characters. Instead they may roleplay as chaotic,
unpredictable characters which may break the narrative planned by the GM and
thus ruin the experience for narrative seeking players.
Some expressive players
enjoy creating their own stories and taking part in the creative process, and
may even actively finding ways to replace the narrative planned by the GM with
a story of their own. This could end up very positively if the GM is able to
adapt to the story being told by the expressive player and other players find
they enjoy this new story instead. The potential payoffs in fun for everyone involved can be high. However, there is also risk of frustration and
disappointment for everyone as well if handled poorly, so some care should be taken.
Discovery seeking players clash slightly with narrative seekers
in that they desire the sandbox/megadungeon campaign format rather than the
typical story-driven campaign. Sandbox/mega-dungeon campaigns are flexible
enough to be structured in such a way that it allows for an overarching
narrative to tie in to the adventures in each location, but some GMs may find
it easier to plan for a self-contained dungeon crawls in each location instead.
Specific advice for
narrative seeking players: A backstory which includes elements which
indicate who or what your character cares about can be important. This is a way
signalling to the GM how you want to participate in the story crafted by the
GM. Otherwise, your character’s participation in the over-arching story will be
that of an outside observer who is intervening in the story rather than central
character for who the stakes are important. You may need to talk to your GM to
make sure the GM can involve your character in the story in some way before the
campaign starts.
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