How to handle narative time?

[Oldtoby]

Hello. I'm fairly new to rpg's and completely new to LM'ing and one thing keeps coming to mind as i read through the rules....How is the passing of time handled in game? is it simply a matter of telling them "its been 2 weeks since yadda yadda? I think i have a fairly decent grasp of the rules now but cant wrap my head around this concept for some reason When it comes to healing or regaining lost endurance or hope, can the players just say "We are now resting for 3 days" and heal?

[Wbweather]

From my experience (and I was completely new to role playing when I picked up TOR) it just depends on the story and the group you are playing with. Sometimes it is completely appropriate to skip over the boring parts and just say ""Ten days later you all meet up at the Prancing Pony." Other times you will want to fill in the details. If your group is good at role playing then let them have fun with it. If you have important events planned to take place in the middle of a down time, then fill in the intervening days with some descriptive narrative. In TOR there is a lot of time spent on journeys. I don't feel like I have to make my players live through every moment of every day. Sometimes though it is important to give a sense of the passage of time. For example, our group might be traveling down the Anduin for a week with not much going on but the clouds passing overhead. You might share some details about the surrounding terrain, the colors of the changing seasons, clues to their location, but that might take just a few minutes. However, once the group reaches a certain point I might want them to begin hunting for a missing person. I might slow time down and describe each morning, afternoon and evening as they perform a prolonged action for the search, make camp for the night and begin again the next day. Ultimately though it comes down to what is enjoyable for you and your players.

[Oldtoby]

Exactly the answer i needed. Thanks mate

[zedturtle]

Bill's advice is excellent.

If the players are not under threat and want to slide into narrative time, I'd be inclined to let them.

[Stormcrow]

Now it is a strange thing, but things that are good to have and days that are good to spend are soon told about, and not much to listen to; while things that are uncomfortable, palpitating, and even gruesome, may make a good tale, and take a deal of telling anyway. They stayed long in that good house, fourteen days at least, and they found it hard to leave. Bilbo would gladly have stopped there for ever and ever—even supposing a wish would have taken him right back to his hobbit-hole without trouble. Yet there is little to tell about their stay.

[Kurt]

What I have done in the past to fill in the blank spaces between adventures and space out the story narrative was to do a bit of 'character discovery'. During character creation I spent some one on one time with each player and asked them to tell me about their character. I asked about their hopes, values, history etc. If they struggled with the task we came up with something together (most of the people that I played with were quite good at it). During the adventure, I would bring in a little detail from their past which other characters would notice. This created an internal dialog between the characters and allowed each of them to discover one another. It was simply campfire talk at the end of the night whilst sharing a meal. By bringing in history, characters mentioning where they grew up or the life they were trying to leave behind a truely immersive world was being created.

So chit chat would go something like this.

With a pause after eating the bread that had been dipped into the delicious soup, Grofin turned to Hugo "So why were you in Laketown again?"

"I told you, delivering a supply of some of the finest picked vegetables this side of Mirkwood to the markets. I just felt like doing something more and seeing the world that's why I joined you lot." Hugo replied.

"Oh, I see. You don't perhaps happen to know why a tall man is looking for you? I overheard a conversation about a certain hobbit called Hugo and a debt." Grofin raised his waterskin to his lips and drank whilst waiting for the response.

Hugo took a long puff on his wooden pipe "Tall fellow?"

"Yes"

"Dark hair, beady eyes and a scar on his right cheek?"

"That's the one"

Hugo took another long puff on his pipe and blew a smoke ring across the fire, watching it ascended as it passed over the centre of the crackling flames. "Nope, don't know anyone of that description. I steer well clear of folk like that". With that he put out his pipe, rolled over and pulled the blanket over his body to fall asleep for the night.

Grofin dipped another bun into his soup and grumbled to himself "Hummm, is that so."

It's just as much fun to watch the characters discover interesting details about each other as it is to watch them travel on their journey.

Cheers,
Kurt

[Majestic]

That's a really fun idea, Kurt. I may have to try that.

[shipwreck]

Great ideas, Kurt! I'm always looking for new ways to get the characters to interact and share stories; I feel most players are intimidated by this aspect of the game so any kind of prompt to nudge them along is fun.

I would also add that I've handled long-ish journeys with the same quick cuts in narrative time, accompanied by a roll. For example half the company was in Lake-town, the other half was with Beorn. So rather than having the one half play out the whole journey from Lake-town to the Forest Gate (it was a late session and we were worn out), I narrated a bit and had them do one Fatigue Test just to see if anything interesting happened. We got one Eye, played out the Hazard, and that was the story of their journey.

[Oldtoby]

Now it is a strange thing, but things that are good to have and days that are good to spend are soon told about, and not much to listen to; while things that are uncomfortable, palpitating, and even gruesome, may make a good tale, and take a deal of telling anyway. They stayed long in that good house, fourteen days at least, and they found it hard to leave. Bilbo would gladly have stopped there for ever and ever—even supposing a wish would have taken him right back to his hobbit-hole without trouble. Yet there is little to tell about their stay.

Brilliant!

[jamesrbrown]

Narrative time is one of those beautiful things that can really make games of The One Ring feel more like the source material. While the Loremaster is the primary storyteller during the Adventuring phase, the players should be the ones who tell the tales during the Fellowship phase.

I have also found that journeys are a natural spot in a gaming session when players can take storytelling initiative. For one, they have an allotted number of Common skill rolls they can make each day to accomplish Tasks related to their travelling roles. The results of these rolls can be summarized by each player who makes a roll, or if the players insist, one person can summarize the entire journey for everyone in a paragraph or two, adding interesting details.

Even though Hazard episodes can involve detailed combat, they mostly involve a singular dice roll to avoid a negative consequence. It would be easy to convert these "episodes" into narrative time and allow players to describe the events in summary.

Battles can be told in narrative time as well with some creativity. For example, rather than following the regular rules for combat, convert the entire scene to a Prolonged action requiring a certain number of successes to achieve victory. Allow players to use Weapon skills (or other appropriate skills) and set the TN based on the average Parry rating of the adversaries. If anyone fails a roll, maybe they lose a Success dice or more in Endurance. If they fail with an Eye, they suffer a Piercing blow and must make a Protection test to keep from being Wounded. If appropriate, the Eye could trigger a Special ability in some way.

Just some thoughts...