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GM DESCRIPTION: NARRATION OR CONVERSATION?
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<blockquote data-quote="Bedrockgames" data-source="post: 7625452" data-attributes="member: 85555"><p>First, Description does not Equal Narrating Scene. A scene is a specific concept from other types of media. I think in this instance it is best thought of as an analogy. If you want to analogize to scenes, go ahead. But I find it very much gets in the way of play at the table when I think of things in terms of scenes. Scenes have all kinds of implications, everything from this is something I planned before it happened, I have a sense of how it should go, I have a sense of the drama that should be involved, etc. That isn't how I think of play at all. Yes the players may encounter an NPC they never met before, or they could be there specifically to see him because they heard about him. All kinds of things could prompt this character's emergence. But I don't have a pre-planned idea of how the NPC is going to be introduced. Again, I treat these things as living adventures and campaigns. The NPC has his own agenda and motives. So the situation that arises is going to depend on many factors (what the NPC is trying to do, what is going on at the moment among various sects in town, and why and how the PCs approach this location). In terms of what I do when they see him, I simply describe him I suppose. Though they could easily wander into town and never bump into the guy. Usually these kinds of characters show up because A) the players seek them out, B) I roll them on a local encounter table, or C) the players go some where this character is very likely to be. </p><p></p><p>Also I don't think my definition of narrating a scene is that unusual. One of the main reasons I push back against that kind of language, or at least don't embrace it myself, is precisely because of the equivocation I mentioned in other threads. I've encountered this all the time where someone uses scene like you are using (I think to essentially mean anything that occurs in a given situation or event in play). Then they shift to what a good scene should include, and they start layering in requirements that come from other media like plays or movies. So its this tendency among gamers to start with a broad defintion to establish terms, then shift to a more specific definition to advance a playstyle argument that makes me very wary of this kind of terminology in threads. However I am also wary of this analogy personally because whenever I've tried to conceive of play in terms of scenes, I find I don't like the table results. Thinking in terms of situations serves my purposes much better. Plus whenever I have encountered modules structured around scenes, I find it leads to adventure structures I dislike.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Bedrockgames, post: 7625452, member: 85555"] First, Description does not Equal Narrating Scene. A scene is a specific concept from other types of media. I think in this instance it is best thought of as an analogy. If you want to analogize to scenes, go ahead. But I find it very much gets in the way of play at the table when I think of things in terms of scenes. Scenes have all kinds of implications, everything from this is something I planned before it happened, I have a sense of how it should go, I have a sense of the drama that should be involved, etc. That isn't how I think of play at all. Yes the players may encounter an NPC they never met before, or they could be there specifically to see him because they heard about him. All kinds of things could prompt this character's emergence. But I don't have a pre-planned idea of how the NPC is going to be introduced. Again, I treat these things as living adventures and campaigns. The NPC has his own agenda and motives. So the situation that arises is going to depend on many factors (what the NPC is trying to do, what is going on at the moment among various sects in town, and why and how the PCs approach this location). In terms of what I do when they see him, I simply describe him I suppose. Though they could easily wander into town and never bump into the guy. Usually these kinds of characters show up because A) the players seek them out, B) I roll them on a local encounter table, or C) the players go some where this character is very likely to be. Also I don't think my definition of narrating a scene is that unusual. One of the main reasons I push back against that kind of language, or at least don't embrace it myself, is precisely because of the equivocation I mentioned in other threads. I've encountered this all the time where someone uses scene like you are using (I think to essentially mean anything that occurs in a given situation or event in play). Then they shift to what a good scene should include, and they start layering in requirements that come from other media like plays or movies. So its this tendency among gamers to start with a broad defintion to establish terms, then shift to a more specific definition to advance a playstyle argument that makes me very wary of this kind of terminology in threads. However I am also wary of this analogy personally because whenever I've tried to conceive of play in terms of scenes, I find I don't like the table results. Thinking in terms of situations serves my purposes much better. Plus whenever I have encountered modules structured around scenes, I find it leads to adventure structures I dislike. [/QUOTE]
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