Encouraging Player Narration

[tomfish]

As LM, I try more and more to encourage player narration. This may have to do with me enjoying the feeling of surprise when a player comes up with something unexpected, or just being lazy, or lacking time to prepare all options for one adventure.

I have been rereading the rules recently and to my surprise I did not find much incentive in the game to encourage player narration during the Adventuring Phase. Am I missing something or has something been lost in translation (I have the rules in french) ?

Do you encourage players to narrate ? For instance when you come up with a Travel Hazard, do you from time to time leave the room for one player to narrate the situation instead of always coming up with something yourself ?

If I encourage this more and more during the Adventuring Phase, am I breaking something in the philosophy of the game ?

[Glorelendil]

If I encourage this more and more during the Adventuring Phase, am I breaking something in the philosophy of the game ?

Not at all!

Out of curiosity, do you have players narrate before or after they roll dice? I have found that when players are asked to narrate the outcome of the dice rolls, it gives them some creative material to work with. Wonder where "sneak attack" is in TOR? It's in the Tengwars. "Extraordinary success! While he's distracted by the Beorning trying to intimidate him, I sneak around behind him and stab him right in the vitals!"

The most fun to narrate are the Sauron fails.

Also, don't forget to have players describe how they are using their traits when they invoke them, either for autosuccesses or APs, and when they use bonus dice, either for themselves or giving them to companions. It's not, "I'll give Deuce Baggins a bonus die on this attack." It's "I'm going to Intimidate Foe this round, and specifically I'm going to distract the Orc Chieftan so D.B. can sneak around behind him...I'll give him my bonus die to do so."

Or is that not the question you were asking....? (Ever since Madhausgate I'm wary of giving offense along with advice.)

[shipwreck]

The rules say that on a successful roll the player should narrate and I really encourage my players to do this. I've enjoyed watching Wil Wheaton's Titanfall series; I think it's produced very nicely and is a great promo for tabletop RPGs. But I don't like that Wil (the GM) takes over and narrates almost EVERYTHING. Players should have way more say in the narrative and I think TOR does a good job of encouraging that.

[Stormcrow]

If by "narration" you mean reciting prose, I wouldn't encourage this. Most gamers I know aren't writers, and listening to them drag out old tropes is painful. When The One Ring speaks of narration, it means describing what a character does, not trying to make the description frilly or emotionally charged.

During the adventuring phase, a player will "narrate" during a task: he must make a statement of intent. On a normal success, the player "narrates" how he achieved his goal, based on the quality of the success. This is all explained carefully in the rules. The rules do NOT say anything about giving rewards to players who dress up their descriptions with poesy or elaborate prose.

[tomfish]

If I encourage this more and more during the Adventuring Phase, am I breaking something in the philosophy of the game ?

Not at all!

Out of curiosity, do you have players narrate before or after they roll dice? I have found that when players are asked to narrate the outcome of the dice rolls, it gives them some creative material to work with. Wonder where "sneak attack" is in TOR? It's in the Tengwars. "Extraordinary success! While he's distracted by the Beorning trying to intimidate him, I sneak around behind him and stab him right in the vitals!"

The most fun to narrate are the Sauron fails.

Also, don't forget to have players describe how they are using their traits when they invoke them, either for autosuccesses or APs, and when they use bonus dice, either for themselves or giving them to companions. It's not, "I'll give Deuce Baggins a bonus die on this attack." It's "I'm going to Intimidate Foe this round, and specifically I'm going to distract the Orc Chieftan so D.B. can sneak around behind him...I'll give him my bonus die to do so."

Or is that not the question you were asking....? (Ever since Madhausgate I'm wary of giving offense along with advice.)

That's perfectly on the spot, and perfectly courteous , many thanks !
For resolution of actions, I ask players to describe their intent, the skills they want to use, and expected outcome, but for the outcome I read the rules as "The LM describes the consequence of the roll".

The rules say that on a successful roll the player should narrate and I really encourage my players to do this.

Also, don't forget to have players describe how they are using their traits

That's actually the type of thing I have been searching in the rules, and it eluded me while re-reading them, or maybe it's very much diluted in the french translation (1st version of the rules). I will carefully re-read, because I think it does make quite a significant difference in terms of overall "feel" of the game compared to more traditional rpgs.

If by "narration" you mean reciting prose

No I don't, I just mean coming up with their own elements of the story and bringing additional "flavor" to the game.

This is all explained carefully in the rules.

Somehow I missed it but I will carefully reread. If you can point me to the right section I'd be very appreciative.

Thank you all for your feedback, appreciated.

[tomfish]

Somehow I missed it but I will carefully reread.

Done, and it was right in front of my eyes but I kept not seeing it.

So if I try to summarize the situations where the game actively encourages players to narrate (in the sense of providing descriptive détails and "flavour", including potential plot hooks) :

- during the whole fellowship phase
- after successful rolls (especially Superior and Extraordinary successes)
- when using traits
- when using combat bonus dice (before using the dice) / applicable to other preliminary rolls as well ?

Thanks
Tomfish

A couple more questions :

- Are there other situations than above where you encourage player narration (even beyond what is in the RAW) ?

- How stricly do you usually enforce the rules surrounding player narration (for instance refusing to grant an auto-success if a player only says "I use my Secretive trait" instead of providing a description of what the PC does in order to justify the use of the trait) ? I see the risk that if it is not enforced properly some players will go down the easy road and some of the narrative experience of the game may be lost.

[robert_pat]

- Are there other situations than above where you encourage player narration (even beyond what is in the RAW) ?

It's kinda covered in successful rolls, but especially after the use of magic, whether that be a Wondrous Item, a Famous Weapon/Armour, or a magical Virtue. I flip-flop on this, but sometimes I have my players narrate the results of enemy attack/special ability rolls, regardless of success. My players really get into describing how they valiantly deflect a blow with their shield, or how, tragically, an orc's rusty blade caught their arm. It does really slow down combat though.

- How stricly do you usually enforce the rules surrounding player narration (for instance refusing to grant an auto-success if a player only says "I use my Secretive trait" instead of providing a description of what the PC does in order to justify the use of the trait) ? I see the risk that if it is not enforced properly some players will go down the easy road and some of the narrative experience of the game may be lost.

It depends on my players. I have one group of 100% fresh meat, who've never played TTRPGs before. I don't push or punish them too hard. They're new, they're in their little shells. I'll encourage them to come out, but I recognize it takes time. In a group of more experienced players I'd be strict, but I wouldn't lock them out of opportunities. If they did what you described, I'd just make them narrate rather than saying no auto-success and moving on.

[Stormcrow]

[quote="tomfishAre there other situations than above where you encourage player narration (even beyond what is in the RAW) ? [/quote]

Frankly, the game encourages player "narration" at any time, since most things a player wants his character to do are automatic actions. Try not to make the players roll for anything inconsequential or easy, but there should be plenty of opportunity for them to tell you what they're doing.

As a game referee I give the players pretty free reign to do whatever they want. I only pipe up when I have to tell them what they experience, whether that's describing a room or playing the part of a character.

But avoid "narration" just for the sake of embellishment, and avoid trying to speak in an archaic register. If someone is riding a black horse, just say so; don't try to come up with blather like "he rides in nobly on a sable steed." You're just a bunch of goofs playing a game; don't take yourselves too seriously.

[Glorelendil]

But avoid "narration" just for the sake of embellishment, and avoid trying to speak in an archaic register. If someone is riding a black horse, just say so; don't try to come up with blather like "he rides in nobly on a sable steed." You're just a bunch of goofs playing a game; don't take yourselves too seriously.

I 100% agree with Stormcrow.

(Did I just hear thunder outside my window?)