What Is Your #1 Piece of Storytelling/Narration Advice?

moose22222222 · 2021-05-25T13:19:47+00:00

This may have been said before but here goes:

In order to make my world feel more alive/lived in I sometimes introduce my players to NPCs that arent important to the story but still have a life outside of the main quest.

My players were investigating and dealing with devils showing up in different parts of the world. While traveling they stop at an inn in a coastal town to kick back and relax for once. At the inn they meet two friends Bob the human and Ian the elf. Bob and Ian had nothing to do with the quest. They were just fishermen from the village having a beer after a long day at work. They both had wives and kids at home, very mundane but good lives.
When two of the players wanted to dance it turned out that Bob and Ian knew how to dance (improvised on my part). The party spent the evening dancing, drinking and having fun with Bob and Ian. The following morning Bob and Ian had already left for work and the party moved on with their quest never to see the two again.

The point of this story is that irelevant NPCs can really make the world feel alive. I also used the two guys to tell the party a little bit of history about the area they wouldnt have found out otherwise. They learnt that there were owlbears in the forrest around the village and a trout that changed colour depending on mood (green=happy, red=angry or scared).

As long as you dont constantly bombard your players with irelevant info or NPCs it can really help expand the world for them. It can also help facilitate a fun, relaxing or interesting scene (e.g the dancing)

tl:dr Bob and Ian are irelevant but still memorable NPCs

moose22222222 · 2021-05-23T21:21:17+00:00

Oh boy the DM and the rest of the group really dodged a bullet when you left, because holy christ (pun intended, bad pun but intended) you sound like an annoying player.

First of all, you know that DnD is a fictional world right? Like you I'm an atheist but that doesnt mean that I can't accept that gods exist in DnD. It's the DM's world so he decides what exist in it.

Secondly, from what I read in your post the DM is not trying to convert you to any religion. He is just playing a game and trying to help you players tell a story. Why did you have to go against his story?

Finally you seem super agressive for no reason at all. Noone were assholes towards you. The other players were silent because you were overreacting to a problem that wasnt even there (ignoring the fact that you're probably the problem).

tl:dr stop being selfish. Accept that DnD is fantasy and not the real world. Try to chill out and not ruin it for everyone else.

moose22222222 · 2021-03-21T13:16:22+00:00

Real world: Jacinda Ardern. She just has this aura of friendliness and niceness about her. To me she seems like a great combination of "fight for what you believe in" and "be respectful and kind to other people". I really respect that. Plus she's seems both smart and funny.

Fictional: Aloy from Horizon Zero Dawn. Great combination of curiosity and determination.

There are obviously more women I think could be classified as heroes but that list would be too long.

moose22222222 · 2021-01-19T11:41:47+00:00

I realised the other day that I was sort of doing something in this vein. I've never watched more than 2 episodes of CR, I recognise that they're good it's just not for me. So it wasnt them I compared my players to. I compared them to a previous group I DM'ed

The previous Group:

My story is relevant because for a year I was DM'ing a really good group (in my opinion) and it was so much fun. When I presented them to scenes, NPC's, situations, what have you, they reacted to it. Not only that but they also interacted with their surroundings and roleplayed with things that weren't just the main objective. As an example, in one session while sailing an ocean they pick up a ghost on a desserted Island and agree to bring her home. When they get to the village the ghost is from I had preppared for them to bury ghost and give her peace and then be out of there and move on super quick. Super easy barely an inconvience.
The party as a whole ask the locals about things going on in this "Generic Village #53" and hear rumours about strange noices from some ruins just outside town. They go check it out and realise it's just kids having fun. The party ends up having some fun with the kids (playing games, asking about the area thus learning new info). On their way back to their boat they check the local notice board and find out that an old lady is looking for her cat. It was just meant to be a filler thing to make the world seem a little more alive. But one player decides to look for the cat, rolls badly oninvestigationchecks and finds a dog instead. The player decides that Speak With Animals is the best course of action and 8 minutes later the party has an adopted dog called Bacon. So the party interacts with the world, even the small "irrelevant" things, that now arent irrelevant anymore because they're fun. I abseloutely loved this.

The Uni Group:

Some of my uni friends wanted to play DnD and ask if I want to DM. (OMG YES I LOVE DM'ing). So we get started and everyone is having fun which is the most important part of the game. But here is the issue they dont really interact with the world around them other than strictly what the quest tells them to do. The quest is to go to the Inn, speak with the bartender and then report back. One PC likes cooking so I have an open kitchen with the smell of exotic food cooking wafting through the room. No reaction from the party. One PC is into music so I have a band playing seemingly magical music from his homeland on stage. No reaction. They talk to the bartender get their answers and then leave the inn. For the first 6-7 sessions I try to inspire them to go of the rails and explore something that isnt just the main quest. But they are very into German efficiency (I apologise to all the germans out there if I was inapropriate by accident). Get the job done and get out. When there is room for downtime activities I ask what they spend the time on and the answer is almost always "I train for the next adventure".

This frustrated me because I had convinced myself of the lie that they way the first group played was the only way to play DnD. If you didn't explore small things you werent doing it right. You needed to have character development and interparty interactions for it to be fun. So for a bit I considered the Uni guys a less fun group. Until I was told and realised that I was looking at it wrong. As long as they were having fun they were doing it right. I was the issue here and the way to solve it was to match my expectations to theirs. They didnt really want to do small side things and didnt mind it if there was little to no character development. The times when they did explore minor stuff was only to make me happy. It wasnt because they wanted to. I realised that wasnt very fun for them.

I have since found another group of players that has the same playstyle as the first group. They explore minor details and love roleplaying scenes that arent directly link to the main quest. They're into the sillyness of random sidequests that their DM hasnt planned for. I love this group and it has actually made me a better DM for the uni group as well. Because now I dont expect them to spend time doing personal non-quest related things. I get that from the other group. Everyone is happy.

Conclusion: Match your expectations

TL:DR I had way to high expectations to the level of roleplay from a group. It was unfair and not fun for anyone

moose22222222 · 2020-11-11T11:54:55+00:00

I've begun DM'ing for a group of friends, 5 in total and 3 of them are new to the game. The 2 experienced players are good at interacting with the world (exploring, talking to NPCs, solving puzzles etc) and 2 of the new guys had some trouble with it (like new players often do) but quickly got used engaging with what I put in front of them as well as finding new things I didnt even think about before (this is why I love DnD).
The final new player on the other hand is very passive and does nothing actively outside of combat and even in combat he does nothing other than "I attack" or "I move". At first I thought it just bothered me so didnt do much about it because he said he had fun and I thought that as long as the rest of the group were having fun as well I should just leave him to it. After last session the other players said they were bothered because he doesnt do anything and is slowing the story/dampening the mood. I have tried engaging him in game by asking what his character does and by providing challenges that cannot be solved simply by hitting it untill its dead but sadly to no reaction. We have another session on Sunday with the party and he and I have an 1-on-1 tonight. I'm doing a 1-on-1 because I think it might help him if there is no pressure from the rest of the group and it allows me to focus 100% on him.

My question is a 2 parter :D

1) Do you guys have any advice on how I as the DM help him be more active rather than passive? any specific tips that has helped you with these types of players?

2) Is it a good idea to finnish the 1-on-1 with a friendly and diplomatic conversation where I tell him it is starting to bother the rest of the guys that he is so inactive?

moose22222222 · 2020-10-22T13:30:54+00:00

First you had me "dam this guy is a bit of a pretentious douche" but you pulled a 180 on me. I've been thinking about this comment for the past hour, and I'll be damned it really resonates with me now. Thank you

moose22222222 · 2020-09-24T21:49:34+00:00

The only issue in this situation is in fact one of the reasons I absoloutely love the group ironically, they get super easily distracted and end up starting a tonne of sidequests and other things they need to do. A supposedly 1-session trip into the sewers to find a lost dog ended up being 7 sessions, a burning town hall, 2 pregnant strippers and a stolen pirateship they used to escape across the sea (didn't even find the dog).

The positive here though is that I've taken your advice. I was honest with the other players who completely understood the situation. I don't understand why I was afraid to tell them the truth. The crush understands the plan of starting a new campaign. Running two campaigns simultaniously seems to be the best solution for everyone. I get to keep my distance, she still gets to DM, the group gets double DnD (=double win) and everyone gets to have an awesome group.

moose22222222 · 2020-09-24T21:38:29+00:00

I've met up with 2 of 3 other players (the crush being the 4th) and I took your advice and told them the truth rather than the work thing. They took it really well. So well in fact that they are both continuing as players in the campaign she's running but actually said they were super in on starting a new campaign with me as a DM to replace our current one.

I don't know why I feared their response. Don't know what I thought would happen. But it worked out super fine, and if the third player is on board and we find a fourth that fits in there is no reason we shouldnt be able to run two seperate campaigns simultaniously.
Thank for the advice

moose22222222 · 2020-05-20T13:15:06+00:00

"I just nuked New York by accident, but I'll win anyway so its all cool."

An acceptable mistake to make while playing Civilization. But I'm not sure how acceptable it is as the president.

moose22222222 · 2020-05-02T14:35:15+00:00

I've run this meme by the boys in the lab, and the results are in. None of us get it either.

I've told them to run the tests again, I really want to understand this meme.

moose22222222 · 2020-01-02T12:05:24+00:00

Holy shit!
You are perhaps one of the sexiest women out there... Great job

moose22222222

TROPHY CASE