What is a "Narrative Mechanic"?

[Pedantic]

From this I'm learning that Fate seems to have fewer narrative mechanics than GURPS and I need to think on whether Apocalypse World has none or lots. I'm curious whether people think that this classic ability from Spirit of the Century/Fate 3.0 is what they consider an example of a narrative ability.

I think my "nexus of causality" point handles this just fine.

Master of Disguise [Deceit]​

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Requires Clever Disguise and Mimicry.​

The character can convincingly pass himself off as nearly anyone with a little time and preparation. To use this ability, the player pays a fate point and temporarily stops playing. His character is presumed to have donned a disguise and gone “off camera”. At any subsequent point during play the player may choose any nameless, filler character (a villain’s minion, a bellboy in the hotel, the cop who just pulled you​

over) in a scene and reveal that that character is actually the PC in disguise!​

​

The character may remain in this state for as long as the player chooses, but if anyone is tipped off that he might be nearby, an investigator may spend a fate point and roll Investigate against the disguised character’s Deceit. If the investigator wins, his player (which may be the GM) gets to decide which filler character is actually the disguised PC (” Wait a minute – you’re the Emerald Emancipator!”).​

The first paragraph is moderately narrative, as the character takes no specific action to imitate any of these people. The second paragraph is entirely narrative, as no character's choices have any impact at all, and the ultimately assignment is entirely in the hands of a player.

Also these two from the Driver playbook in Apocalypse World. And does it make a difference that they are both class-specific?

Eye on the door: name your escape route and roll+cool. On a 10+, you’re gone. On a 7–9, you can go or stay, but if you go it costs you: leave something behind or take something with you, the MC will tell you what. On a miss, you’re caught vulnerable, half in and half out.​

I find it very difficult to parse the language of AW abilities. "Half in and half out" could mean just about anything, and "name your escape route" may or may not involve a narrative component, depending what it actually entails. I can imagine say, a social situation that a player escapes through the timely intervention of another party showing up to interrupt things, which is entirely narrative, or they might literally run away, which is not at all narrative.

 

[Reynard]

Let's look at the kinds of mechanics that add something to fiction that wasn't there before.

First, we have Hero's Variable Power Pool. This is a mechanic that reserves a number of "build points" in a pool that can be used to allow the character to have what is needed at the moment. The classic example is Batman's utility belt. While the idea is "pull out whatever you need" the reality is that the exact way one builds the VPP defines exactly what is possible. The definitions and guard rails are inherent in the mechanic, and it is explained fully in the fiction. Therefore, I say that this is NOT a "narrative mechanic."

Another example is the use of Hero Points (a classic metacurrency) in Mutants and Masterminds. There are lots of uses for Hero Points, but one is to "alter the scene" in a way the player desires. The classic example is a PC is knocked off a building and the player spends a Hero point to declare that there were awnings below that slow his fall to save him. The requirement is that it should make some sense in the fiction (which of course is a very loose requirement in a superhero universe) but notably it isn't anything the character does. The player invokes the ability to create awnings that weren't there before. That is, then, a narrative mechanic IMO. Hero points are interesting though in that most uses for them are not narrative by that definition: their use usually represents extra effort or heroic competence on the part of the PC, completely in line with the genre.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Let's look at the kinds of mechanics that add something to fiction that wasn't there before.

First, we have Hero's Variable Power Pool. This is a mechanic that reserves a number of "build points" in a pool that can be used to allow the character to have what is needed at the moment. The classic example is Batman's utility belt. While the idea is "pull out whatever you need" the reality is that the exact way one builds the VPP defines exactly what is possible. The definitions and guard rails are inherent in the mechanic, and it is explained fully in the fiction. Therefore, I say that this is NOT a "narrative mechanic."

Another example is the use of Hero Points (a classic metacurrency) in Mutants and Masterminds. There are lots of uses for Hero Points, but one is to "alter the scene" in a way the player desires. The classic example is a PC is knocked off a building and the player spends a Hero point to declare that there were awnings below that slow his fall to save him. The requirement is that it should make some sense in the fiction (which of course is a very loose requirement in a superhero universe) but notably it isn't anything the character does. The player invokes the ability to create awnings that weren't there before. That is, then, a narrative mechanic IMO. Hero points are interesting though in that most uses for them are not narrative by that definition: their use usually represents extra effort or heroic competence on the part of the PC, completely in line with the genre.

I think those kind of mechanics work much better in a supers game than in anything D&D adjacent.

 

[Neonchameleon]

I think my "nexus of causality" point handles this just fine.

The first paragraph is moderately narrative, as the character takes no specific action to imitate any of these people. The second paragraph is entirely narrative, as no character's choices have any impact at all, and the ultimately assignment is entirely in the hands of a player.

Thank you. In part because I see where you are coming from - and have never run into anyone who read that as anything other than "while the player stops playing the character is getting their disguise together and infiltrating but they are good enough at this and it would take enough of the spotlight that although it's what they are doing we don't; want to play through the actual actions"

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

I think those kind of mechanics work much better in a supers game than in anything D&D adjacent.

Are you saying those kinds of mechanics wouldn't work in a fantasy setting or in a d20 setting?

 

[Reynard]

I think those kind of mechanics work much better in a supers game than in anything D&D adjacent.

Do you mean that from a mechanical perspective or a milieu perspective?

 

[Micah Sweet]

Are you saying those kinds of mechanics wouldn't work in a fantasy setting or in a d20 setting?

No, I'm saying I don't like them there.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Do you mean that from a mechanical perspective or a milieu perspective?

Milieu. I don't want that stuff in D&D. I also don't care for it mechanically, but I can get over it somewhat for other games.

 

[Reynard]

Milieu. I don't want that stuff in D&D. I also don't care for it mechanically, but I can get over it somewhat for other games.

I can't argue with that. We all have our fantasy flavor preferences.

 

[Pedantic]

Thank you. In part because I see where you are coming from - and have never run into anyone who read that as anything other than "while the player stops playing the character is getting their disguise together and infiltrating but they are good enough at this and it would take enough of the spotlight that although it's what they are doing we don't; want to play through the actual actions"

That simply isn't the same though. Suspending the decision to impersonate a butler vs. a chauffeur vs. a nurse quickly moves the choice outside of what the character can choose when they take the action, and if you had to go through every decision they make, those three different disguises are likely to result in different board states. I suppose you're theoretically abstracting the research/scoping component of preparing/deploying the disguise as well, but that's a whole bunch of decisions (many of which are outside the character's control) collapsed into a single action.