thread: 2011-06-27 : The Dice & Clouds series from 2009
On 2011-06-29, Tyler Tinsley wrote:
What prompts the player to think "I will take a stand here" is it something in the fiction? That would not really happen in my game because the fiction of a die roll or the fiction that sets a scene dont exist before mechanical choices are made and resolved.
My game has named powers and players activate them for their mechanical benefits, in practice these become extra sources of inspiration for players to draw from in their narration, they are not bound to these details but the game encourages their use in narration through a fan mail like mechanic.
There is no penalty for non-creative play or ignoring a particular point of the rules in narration but there is a reward if you reflect the game in an interesting way. I can trust most players to judge when they find something interesting.
That reward is the little bit of uphill flow I think is necessary for some players to narrate their actions. even if they fail a roll they can still gain chips if they narrate it right.
I have been playing with my project for I guess a little over a year? 10+/- sessions all with different people. in that time this flow has worked very well with most everyone, old pros and new youngsters, there have been a few exceptions, some people are really tied to the Pre-Roll narration pattern. I suspect they will have to work a little harder at this, for them it's like their first time walking across an invisible bridge.
Maybe it would be helpful if I describe how more aspects of a game functions with a downhill flow? Am I making sense?
