hawkeyefan
Legend
But your post made it not about GMing practices, but about types of games. It was clear "Or you could stop sucking and play narrative instead." It was not terribly constructive.
I’m reasonably sure it was about how those games function differently, and how familiarizing one’s self with them would likely help with understanding how differently games can function.
Because many folks lack understanding of those games but don’t show any hesitation in asserting things that such understanding might prevent.
That phrasing is why I don't like the phrase "scene framing". It strongly implies that narrative point of view, taking me out if the world and into stage direction.
How do you move from scene to scene in a game?
Some ways are obvious… you move to the next door and open it, and we have a scene dealing with whatever’s inside.
But outside such a structure as a dungeon crawl provides to play, how do you handle it? Let’s say the PCs are back in town after their most recent expedition.
Do you prompt them? “Anyone got anything they want to sell? You know the market is open until sundown.”
Do you ask in an open ended manner. “Does anyone have anything they want to do in town?”
You don’t roleplay every moment of the PCs’ existence, so you must have some means of skipping things. Some way of deciding what to skip and when. What is it?
Whatever it is, once it’s determined, the next thing you do is scene framing.
“You arrive in the outdoor market with just a few minutes of sunlight left. Some of the merchants are already packing up their wares for the evening.”
Or…
“Okay, Finn wants to check with his contact in the thieves’ guild to see if they know anything about the missing magistrate. Holgar says he wants to go carousing at the tavern. Let’s handle Finn first. You’re on the rooftop that serves as a meeting place for the Moon Runners….”
This is just scene framing. It’s present in every RPG. Call it whatever you like, you do it all the time. I’d think having a two word phrase to sum it up would be convenient.