Narrative Tools

Like many role-players, I have heard the terms "crunch" and "fluff" being used to describe the content of game books - "crunch" being the writing that covers rules and mechanics, and "fluff" being a game's setting and its stories.  Lately, however, I have noticed that some role-playing games have a third element: narrative tools.

I am writing about the part of a game book that advises players and story tellers about creating and structuring a game so that it tells a good story, and I have come to realise that it is an element that a lot of rule books sorely neglect.  In many role-playing games, the only concession that the core book makes to advice on narrative tools is a short section on games-mastering tips.  I'm not trying to be overly-critical; such tips as "don't make the players roll dice for every little action that their characters take" are reasonable advice.  However, I have recently had the chance to read game books that show just how far guidance on using narrative tools has progressed; games writers are now able to offer much more developed ideas that help with the pace, structure and drama of games.  The games master sections in old White Wolf books seem dated and thin by comparison.

For my birthday, Adrian bought me a copy of Monster of the Week, a tabletop game in which players take the roles of monster hunters, dealing with a variety of threats, in the same vein as such television shows as Supernatural and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  Of course, such a game concept has been done before; the aforementioned franchises have their own dedicated tabletop games.  However, what Monster of the Week has to set it apart from the others is a very commendable section on narrative tools.

For example, the game asks the story teller to assign a category to every non-player character that he or she creates.  Minor characters, collectively referred to as "Bystanders", should each have a word to express that character's purpose in the story.  An "Innocent" is a character that appears in the story to do the right thing or remind the player characters what the moral course of action is.  A "Detective" is a minor character that is in the story to rule out explanations for events.  I really like that the book specifies "rule out" - in that short phrase, it reminds the story teller that the job of solving a mystery should fall to the players, and so non-player characters should usually steer an investigation without solving it.

The point is that Monster of the Week encourages games masters to think "why am I making this character?"  This can help to prevent doing things in a game that serve no real purpose.  The game also has a very good section on story arcs.

I think that one of my reasons for being so keen on the development of narrative tools is because they stack.  Since they are tied neither to a game's system nor to its setting, any ideas that you get can be combined to help in the writing of other games.  When creating a game, nothing stops me from combining what  Monster of the Week has taught me about pacing with, say, what Leverage advises about the effect that certain plot twists have on players' psychology.