#narrating tips

[gamemastermusings]

Follower Musing: Narrative Description, Part 2.2 - Describing NPCs and Player Characters - Actions and Characteristic Phrases

Thanks @invizagoth for requesting this topic!

On the last post, we talked about camera and lighting effects when describing your NPC. Today, let’s talk about some other aspects, including intial actions and characteristic actions/phrases.

What do you gather about this character just from seeing them in action?

Even if we didn’t have an introduction to Strider (real name Aragorn) earlier, this does a lot to establish him as a powerful fighter.

The three hooded, menacing figures that have been threatening the lives of Frodo and the Hobbits are being fought off, successfully, by one guy.

This does so much to establish Aragorn’s prowess as a warrior without anyone telling you that he is an accomplished fighter. Rather, it is shown.

In a similar way, you can do this with your NPCs. As you walk into the lecture theatre, you see many students hanging on the professor’s every word. A number of complicated diagrams are all spread on the wall, the professor pointing to each in succession and explaining the intricate mechanism behind the machine’s engineering.

Or: You see the man sitting at the bench in the bar. He is isolated from anyone else. Five empty glasses occupy his table. With fervor he empties a sixth. You can give a character some introduction before words are even exchanged by using actions, which often speak louder than words.

Now, let’s talk about characteristic actions or phrases.

Remember Ocean’s Eleven?

Brad Pitt’s character is eating in almost every scene - something that made his character quite memorable.

Characteristic actions or phrases can help identify a character easily without directly mentioning their name. If I had a similar character in my game, and I mentioned that “you hear the familiar crunching of an apple around the corner, interspersed with a mild cough,” and I often described the character this way, players would immediately recognize who it is. It’s a great way of developing familiarity with a character.

Characteristic actions or phrases can also help identify a key item or important plot point.

What if a character in the tavern is constantly flipping a key or a coin? This could be a great way to not only introduce the character, but the key item that may play into the plot.

When it comes to characteristic phrases, there’s lots of things you can use. The NPC in question may perseverate on something plot related: “Get the gold... the lucky man gets the gold...” or it can be something more unique to their character. Maybe your character refuses to swear, so they curse with very nonthreatening language: “Puffins! Puffins, that hurt.”

Even better, they may have a characteristic phrase they use with the party, like my old wise Dwarf NPC who favours a bit of tough love. “A right mess you all are, but a useful mess nonetheless.” I had a great moment where they had saved the local dwarven town from a surprise attack, but ended up in a pile on the ground after jumping from a building. All I said was you hear footsteps approaching you, and all your hear is [using my dwarf voice], A right mess you all are, but a useful mess nonetheless.

Having a phrase associated with the party or a given character can increase familiarity and attachment with that particular NPC.

Let’s review our NPC introduction and description toolkit so far.

1) What is your camera doing? 2) What is the lighting of your scene/the NPC? 3) What is the NPC first doing or saying when the party meets them? [and what does it imply about their character or situation?] 4) What characteristic actions or phrases does this NPC have? On the next post, we’ll dive more into appearance, ongoing behaviours and personal effects.

Until then, thanks again to @invizagoth for inspiring this series, and I’ll see you all again soon!

[gamemastermusings]

Follower Musing: Narrative Description, Part 1 - General Principles

@invizagoth

Thanks for requesting the topic!

So you’ve made an intriguing plot, designed characters, and have this detailed, beautiful picture in your head of your world and what is happening. And then, you remember...

And then you may have questions such as:

How can I enhance my narrative descriptions for my players? This would include how they look, describing their actions in and out of combat, and scenes in the story.

I gave this some thought, and I think before we break down specific stuff for each area, we should talk about general principles for narration and description.

1) You don’t need to describe every small detail. While you may want to highlight certain details, it’s great to let your players use their imagination with the details you have given them. Before the movies came out, I’m sure many people had their own ideas of what Harry Potter looked like. Now, everyone universally imagined him having a bolt-shaped scar on his forehead (which was an important detail relevant to the plot), but I’m sure we did not all envision a young Daniel Radcliffe. Notice I said need - some groups may actually want fuller descriptions, in which case tailor it to their tastes.

2) You need to alternate between describing less and describing more, because when you DO elaborate people will pay attention. People may think that high-quality narration means elaborate descriptions at every point in the game. However, I disagree, especially in the context of tabletop when you have to think about how much time you are taking out of the game, and also away from the player, when describing something to them. If I describe every 5-foot square that the player advances in a dim room of a dungeon, it will end up sounding redundant. However, the contrast is what makes your description (and your overall narration) shine. Once you hit a change, really bring home the description and it will be a major highlight.

“Having made through the 6th floor of this dreary, dark dungeon, with gray and crumbling walls, you are astounded as you enter the next room. The room itself is basked in a golden hue, and as you slowly open the door, your eyes are treated to a feast like no other. The walls are lined with gossamer curtains, that trail to a carpet that feels like silk on the soles of your feet. A large statue of D’wyn, the Elven Matriarch, overbears a varnished wooden dining table. It is awash with a variety of delicacies that you have not seen for a long while, as your journey has been long. The grapes are plentiful and they glisten, engorged with sweetness as if the juice were to burst out of them. A deep red, charred slab of meat is served on a glass plate at every seat, its smell permeating the air, inviting you in. For an adventurer like you, this room is not a dungeon. It is paradise.”

3) In general, make your description of the event or thing proportional to its importance. I have discussed this to some degree in the last two tips, but I really wanted to drive it home. Having a good contrast between what seems regular and mundane, and what isn’t, allows you to highlight both. For example, during a mass combat, you may have a general description for the chaos:

“You look around you and your eyes cannot find a single place of respite. Soldiers and goblins clash with swords and shields, the sounds echoing a cruel cacophony throughout the cave.”

But when the players’ big boss comes in: “The Eastern wall erupts in an amazing crash, with the deep rumbling of Abzug, Abzug, Abzug. A horrific figure emerges, towering over you and your fellow adventurers. His skin is coarse and grotesque, with scars upon scars from numerous battles. Some of them are hidden by the spiked pauldrons and guards on his person. But, proudly displayed for all to see are the severed,horrified heads of many Elven villagers, their expressions immortalized as they were made to take their last breath by this beast. His thick torso is guarded in spikes, which extends to his arms. He wields a massive spiked mace, easily the size of one of you, which he manages to swing with only one hand. He foams at the mouth, his lips unable to contain his crooked teeth. His mithril face mask hides the full extent of deep scars. You can only stare in awe as he roars, baring his fangs, and defeats three of your comrades with only one swing of his mace. Abzug is here.”

The opposite of this advice (i.e. giving less detail even though important) can be useful when you are trying to make it a detail that the player needs to notice or may require a Perception or related check as it bears influence on the outcome. “Heather smiles as she walks next to you. Laughing, she reaches up to fix her hair. You see it glisten briefly in the light.”

In this case, it could be a challenge for the player. What if she’s a thief? They may roll and find out more about what exactly is glistening.

4) Use more than one sense! Smell, sound, taste, touch. Even though we are trying to have our players see everything, part of role-playing is experiencing everything too. So, instead of discussing how delicious the bread looks, talk about: “The smell of the fresh bread is warm, inviting and immediately puts you at ease.” “As you put the bread into your mouth, you notice its initial saltiness, but as you chew through its soft centre, the sweetness subtly swells at the back of your tongue.” “You hear a sounds of strain and tension as you pull the chewy, doughy bread apart, but as the pieces separate the sound dissipates into the air.” “The bread feels rough on the outside as you pick it up from the basket. Giving it a squeeze, you notice its’ soft centre as it compresses easily in your hand. As you cut the bread, you notice flakes from the crust coming onto your hand, warming it.”

5) Use your voice and intonation.

With reference to the previous examples in this post:

I cannot sell how sumptuous and welcome that room with the feast is unless I add an element of excitement, of fulfillment, of hunger to my voice. I need to echo how the players may be feeling/how I am intending them to feel with what is presented before them.

The Abzug intro needs to be dark and menacing, with a component of fear and dread as I narrate. This enhances your description by setting the tone and enhances the vocabulary you choose to describe what is happening.

6) Read and watch! Continue to read posts like this one, read books by your favourite authors and notice how they describe scenes. Also, think of a movie where you actually noticed how well the camera was used to the capture the scene. Go back and watch it, and ask why? This can help with your description. We’ll talk about applying cinematic ideas and approaches to description in each part to come, as they have unique applications in describing people, places, combat and non-combat actions.

On the next part of this Follower Musing, we’re going to discuss tips on describing characters (PCs and NPCs). In later parts we’ll discuss combat and also describing a scene or major story event.

Thanks @invizagoth again for the suggestion! I really love taking suggestions and requests from my readers, so if you have any comments, additional pointers to add, or other topics you’d like to talk about send me a message or reply!

[gamemastermusings]

Follower Musing: Narrative Description, Part 2.1 - Describing NPCs and Player Characters - Working the Camera and the Effect of Lighting

@invizagoth

Thanks for requesting the topic! Today, let’s talk about describing NPCs, and we’ll discuss Player Characters in a following post. We already went through some general principles for narration, but let’s dive deeper with this post. The first thing to consider is: what’s your “camera” doing? Take a look at these pictures and the following examples.

Notice in this clip of Colossus from Deadpool, we first see Colossus through a “low-angle” shot. This makes the character or scene in question appear more intimidating or imposing. For someone like Colossus, who is already, well, colossal, this adds even more to highlight his imposing stature and physical might without actually having any dialogue discussing it to that effect.

So, how might we use this in terms of introducing an NPC?

“Prepare for an audience with none other than Dragoth, Lord of the Giants!” As you and your comrades lay captive, hands tied and knees on the ground, an imposing figure approaches you. Looking up, you see him towering over with his massive, muscular body. His square and bony face, his beard and the glint overwhelm your vision as he maintains eye contact, sternly looking down on your all. Your eyes can’t escape.

In this clip, we see an example of “male gaze”, a technique used to prototypically introduce characters (prototypically females) who are sexually attractive or appealing. However, you could use this technique to describe a character who players should be in awe of, or admire their prowess, or has multiple features you wish to describe about the characters appearance, regardless of gender or sex.

Applied to a roleplaying perspective:

You enter the tavern. The first thing that strikes you is a smooth, red, silky, and seductive leg sprawled over a table. Your eyes follow to reveal the short skirt of Naella, a Tiefling barkeep. Your enchantment is quickly snapped when Naella erupts in laughter and stands on his two feet.

“Never fails. I once thought these hairless legs were a curse, but the customers always seem to order more when I start with this...”

Above we see an example of the Dutch Angle (though actually German in origin!) which tilts the camera in order to evoke a strong emotion or tension - whether it is implying that a character is unstable or aggressive, a situation is dire or in disarray - it all depends on how you use it, but the underlying feeling is tension.

So how do you work this in your game? You could say “the camera tilts” but you can also use words related to tilting, or being unsteady, or being deranged in your general description. As your players are listening, if they have any experience with film they may end up “Dutch Angling” the scene by suggestion alone.

“Die, die, die, die, die...”  Archibald’s fervor and constant repetition is making you and your comrades uneasy. As his mumbling persists, the claustrophobic nature of the space begins to bother you, even as it didn’t before. Archibald’s head tilts while looking over you and the whole world feels deranged. “...Today... is a good day to die!” He exclaims before proceeding to laugh maniacally.

The above pictures detail my last point for this post: Lighting. This can add so much depth in terms of “showing, not telling” about a character. Consider the two examples below.

The sun cascades through the open window of the bakery, glistening the glaze on many of the pastries. It also highlights the cheeks of Jayna, baker and owner of the shop, as she greets you wholeheartedly.

A looming shadow follows Narceus as he enters the room. The only faint light in the room adds to his menace as the shadow obscures his lower face, highlighting the red, malicious glint of his eyes.

That’s it for this post! I apologize for the long break as I had a couple of things I had to attend to in addition to work. Rest assured I will be back with regular content starting this week! On the next post, let’s talk about what your NPC may be carrying on them, their general appearance and what behaviours outside of their dialogue that can further enhance their description.

With regard to this post - I have given some examples on things you can do with angles and lighting and have left readers to experiment with ideas. However, if anyone wants me to create a more exhaustive list with examples for different angles and lighting ideas send me a message and let me know - I’d be happy to do a more in-depth post. Until then, thanks @invizagoth again for requesting the topic, and see you all very soon!