What is a "Narrative Mechanic"?

[Reynard]

I think it depends on the ability. Is it a magic item that does it and the PC knows it recharges at dawn? Then it's not a narrative mechanic, per se. But if it's a metacurrency-type ability that the PC doesn't really know about and it's up to the player to deploy, then I'd argue it's a narrative mechanic because the player is using it to pick the point in the narrative where the PC has an unbeatable skill check.

I thought the implication was that it was a class ability or similar.

 

[Mannahnin]

I thought the implication was that it was a class ability or similar.

I don't think that affects @billd91 's point/opinion. In-world, does the character know she has an ability to once a day automatically pick any lock? But only once a day?

I think this hinges on a point of how people view the game fiction and what class abilities represent.

This is part of the ongoing challenge of nonmagical skills vs magical powers. The idea that I am so skillful that I can automatically pick any lock in the world... but that this skill can only manifest once per day, runs afoul of people's conception of how skill works in a real-world sense. If I'm that skilled, presumably I can do that trick all the time.

 

[Reynard]

I don't think that affects @billd91 's point/opinion. In-world, does the character know she has an ability to once a day automatically pick any lock? But only once a day?

I think this hinges on a point of how people view the game fiction and what class abilities represent.

That would be a weird way to define a "narrative" ability rather than simply a "gamist" one.

 

[billd91]

I thought the implication was that it was a class ability or similar.

Doesn't really matter if it's a class ability. Is it a PC point of view ability, something that a PC can consciously know about and use? Or is it a player point of view ability that couldn't be known/understood by the PC themself?

 

[Reynard]

Doesn't really matter if it's a class ability. Is it a PC point of view ability, something that a PC can consciously know about and use? Or is it a player point of view ability that couldn't be known/understood by the PC themself?

See my response above. I don't think purely game based abilities count as be "narrative."

 

[billd91]

That would be a weird way to define a "narrative" ability rather than simply a "gamist" one.

Not really. It could certainly be both because it's a mechanic intended to overcome a game-based challenge as a limited resource, but it's also one that has the power to set a narrative beat at a clutch moment in the unfolding story.

 

[Reynard]

Not really. It could certainly be both because it's a mechanic intended to overcome a game-based challenge as a limited resource, but it's also one that has the power to set a narrative beat at a clutch moment in the unfolding story.

All PC abilities have that potential. By that definition, everything is "narrative."

 

[Squared]

I'm at a loss trying to imagine a character aspect that could be invoked with a Fate Point that would allow a player to declare the existence of a door in a room with the aspect "No Way Out" or "Sealed Tight."

No, but if it is just a room you do not have that limitation. The wall pass spell can also be disabled if there is an anti-magic zone there.

^2

 

[CreamCloud0]

I don't think "Once per day you can automatically succeed at X check" constitutes a narrative ability, primarily because the character is still taking an action in the fiction directly related to the outcome. It is really just a non-magical spell or double-extra-secret-Advantage.

i wasn't saying it was an auto succeed on a check, in this case lockpicking, i only picked unlocking a door as it had an common mechanical example to compare and contrast with, it was about the 'you can do [thing], you [achieve result]' skipping straight to the goal.

it's about being able to perform the action specified completely irregardless of circumstances.

 

[billd91]

All PC abilities have that potential. By that definition, everything is "narrative."

No, all things the PC can do can affect the narrative. But, as I see them, narrative mechanics allow the player to manipulate the narrative from the player perspective, not the PC's. It could be by picking particular moment for the PC to benefit from extra metagame resources, by defining part of the milieu involved in the narrative, etc.