NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="TaranTheWanderer" data-source="post: 9133711" data-attributes="member: 15882">Lots to unpack here but I'd say that a Narrative 'Mechanic' is any part of the game that lets someone at the table control the flow of the story (or narrative) mostly outside(but not always) of what their actual character can do.Fate: While Fate points are a 'meta-currency' as [USER=467]@Reynard[/USER] put it, I wouldn't say they are the 'mechanic'.  The mechanic is Aspects.  Fate Points are, often, what gives you narrative control of that aspect.So, someone can be 'PRONE' (an aspect), it has no narrative implication unless a player or GM makes it so by invoking the aspect.  They can be PRONE the entire scene but it never takes centre stage.  But let's say the guy tries to attack you and the player says,  He misses because I get a +2 to dodge by invoking his PRONE aspect or more cinematically,  "No, I'm going to have him miss my as character because he easily jump over his weapon because the guy is prone."    The PRONE aspect now has centre stage and has influenced the narrative because the player used the mechanic embedded in FATE to change the story.FATE also gives you narrative control when you Take Out an opponent.  You can dictate what happens:  they surrender, they die, they go unconscious, they give you the MCguffin, they become your servant - whatever is reasonable for the fiction.  There's no meta-currency here.  It's just a rule of the game.  Some DMs in D&D will allow players to narrate how they defeat enemies.  In FATE, it's codified in the rules and, therefore, a mechanic.D&DI included posts that brought this to mind:It's true that BIFTs were poorly executed in 5e and that there wasn't a lot of guidance on how to use them or Inspiration.  As they stand, they CAN be used narratively, depending how your table chooses to implement them.  My group allow FATE-like abilities to declare details about the scene, or the game world.  At one table, the DM also required us to describe HOW the Inspiration gave us advantage before we were allowed to spend it.In D&D, I'd say the biggest narrative mechanic is the HELP or AID action.  It requires no roll and only requires you to be next to the person or enemy that you are aiding.  You see it all the time with familiars:"the hawk swoops in and flutters around the enemy's head, distracting them so I can get my sneak attack."But it doesn't have to be fluttering.  IT could be making a loud noise, pooping on the creature's head, boosting the attacking character's morale - whatever.Most tables have a basic requirement to at least DESCRIBE how your aid action is helping.  That could be kicking sand into someone's face, or flanking them or trying to trip them or shining a light on the door as the rogue picks the lock.  For most tables, "I do the AID other action" isn't good enough.And, in that sense, that mechanic is strictly an In Character action that describes the story.</blockquote>

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