The overly long post talking about DMing in the game for RP; how to narrate without imposing on player agency. (TM)

[Crystal Dragon]

Alright, I promised this a couple years ago, RL swept me up and got me caught up in a spiders web of nonsense for a good bit, and for that I do apologize to the community for the long delay.

 

Introduction

 

Here we are going to discuss roleplay DMing, or guided play style with an agreed upon selected player taking the lead as the story teller for group events and gatherings. This form and style sometimes requires die rolls based on the tabletop format of making big decisions and choices that could determine how the story is to next unfold. This form of play is usually best hosted with players that agree on the terms to trust the DM, the selected player to be the arbiter of the story telling aspect. Every players character voice counts in this format, and each action, decision, or choice is taken into account with all levels of levity for the story tellers twist in narrating the tale.

 

How it works

What this breaks down to is what formats are agreed upon for the "die roll". Sometimes coin flips are a good replacement for overly complicated die and maths involved, but for those that wish to do this with basic tabletop sheet systems, die rolls are a fair way to receive a random result with every roll of the die. Some systems allow for modifiers to rolls, and some do not. When it comes to DMing, being open with your players involved is pretty important, it allows them to trust you with the results of the encounters your group faces, and gives you lots of creative wiggle room to provide a random element to the roleplay that most might not expect.

 

The important part of this form of play is to ensure all players in the group encounter are on the same page, with their mini-sheets (If one wishes to have a sheet dependent format), and clear with their character stats in regards to perks/bonuses and specifications in reflection of the players own canon for their character. Respectively, this can also be a bit of extra work for the DM player to work out the best way to maintain an even playing field for the players involved in the encounter.

 

What does the DM do

 

The goal of a DM player is to maintain an fair game, whether it's the encounter with bosses, minibosses, or regular NPC foes, or the interactions between the players of the group encounter. This means there is a weight of importance with keeping those same players in the loop on what content is to be expected of the play format, and any hurdles they may have to overcome along the way.

 

Whether it's a limitation to the characters power by effect of the NPC's involved, or some outside force de-leveling them in a sense to keep the game play balanced and fair for all involved. Randomized encounters based on die rolls can be hard to go by, because the chances of a flubbed roll is still fairly high but the narrator/DM can actually provide chances for the players to recoup from the loss/flub even if it's unconventional ways. One thing about this style of play is not to give TOO much of the story away, foreshadowing for instance, is perfect for giving the players in the encounter hints of whats to come but without detailing too much to ruin the genuine surprise element of the encounter.

Something to bare in mind when it comes to tabletop to in-game encounters of this kind is that the DM is intended to be trusted to be a reliable story teller, what one character might not detect in a die roll flub, another in the group might pick up on. The necessity of keeping player agency is something that's quite valid in this style of play as well. Mini-sheet systems, or micro tabletop systems are actually really designed specifically for this style of play and I do encourage those interested in DMing to look into micro tabletop systems for this specific reason.

 

The importance of player agency and not violating player-canon

 

Every system has it's own rules not just for combat but for player discovery and skill checks as well. Some systems use a reduced or condensed number of skills per character to make the encounter more easy to translate from tabletop sheet to in-game encounters, which I do recommend looking for actually for ease of DMing and encounter experiences for the players involved. One thing that I'd like to really put weight upon is making sure the players, and the chosen DM/Narrator is clarity. If there's a rule in the sheet system that may make or break another players character concept, discuss it with them to try to find a good workaround for them to still be included, whether it's accepting that a specific power cannot be included in the encounters, or the use of innate abilities being put aside for the encounter itself, there's always a way to work around personal canon without violating the players agency.

 

An example if I may:

Quote

DM/Narrator: You face off perhaps one of the most malicious beings you've ever seen, with the intents to destroy all that you have protected. Roll for intimidation checks please.

Player Two: Rolls A D20. (18)

Player Three: Rolls A D20. (10)

Player Three: Can we add my experience modifier to this roll?
DM: Yes, a plus 4 is added to your roll for the encounter, thank you for reminding me.

Player One: I've faced off hamidon, what makes you think I'll be intimidated by this?
DM: This being is nothing like you have faced before, you could try steeling your nerves to face them off, but I want to make sure that we all understand one another. The intimidation check is just for effect of what you have been revealed to know of this foe, that knowledge must be quite disturbing to learn about, so, intimidation is a factor to be counted in this encounter in story telling.

Player One: I see...very well.

 

The elements of this play to keep in mind is the importance of story telling and ensuring your players involved are aware of the difference between In-Game encounters OOC wise, compared to IC encounters for story telling. It can be hard to write off raid encounters, and npc encounters of the past to be included in the story encounter, but sometimes this is the best approach to take to build a cohesive story for all the players involved including the DM in turn with their encounter foe. What is built into the game, isn't considered written off entirely, involvement with certain NPC organizations and groups could actually be woven in as well as points of contact, mission turn in points for the encounter group and even for information gathering as well. But to tailor the story to involve not just the player characters, but their canon too is something that is a primary goal for the DM to build an inclusive story and encounters based off of the story for all to play a hand in creating together.

 

What type of conflicts come up from this type of style

 

For the most part the conflicts that come up from this type of play style can often be written off as miscommunication between the DM and the players in the group, and sometimes it's frustration from the player involved in the group for not having their part in the story included. The importance of inclusion of those interested in the encounter is something that can often take a lot of work for the DM/Narrator to commit to, and sometimes these stories can take not just a few hours to tailor but days, weeks and often times even months or years to develop.

 

Not every player has that level of commitment to play the role, and sometimes you have players drop from the encounter group to tend to other obligations, real life, school and other such events in reality that can interfere with further developing their character in the story play involved with the encounter group. Some DM'd groups are more open and fluid to adapting to the time away for the players interested, so always speak to the DM headlining the group to ensure they are in the know of your characters absence, most DM's will be happy to help tailor a reason for the departure temporarily so that you don't miss out on the details of the story and how it unfolds during your absence.

 

Some conflicts happen out of character, characters headbutting or not getting along, sometimes it's the DM themselves that are the problem along the line, but building a cohesive story can be really rewarding in the long run, even if one has to step down as a DM to let another continue the story thread from where it was left off with the original DM's departure. Most DM's are willing to communicate the baseline of what the story is to the replacement DM so that the cohesion of the story can continue to fit and make sense to the players involved.

 

AE as a tool for DMing encounters

 

Now for my favorite part of DM style play. AE arcs can actually be created to help facilitate the encounters the players face without the need of mini-sheets or tabletop systems overall. The results of the fights and encounters in the AE arc can be woven into the story overall for the players in the group and easily be respected as canon to the group of players. More often than not, this can be really hard to do if the DM specifically isn't sure of their AE creation skill, so I would recommend doing some test runs with random players before releasing the arc into the wild, however, if you feel it's something that might not be widely accepted for character development, you can always keep the arc saved for doing test runs with rewards enabled for the players of the group instead of submitting it to the AE directory. Improv after completion of the arc with the DM and players group involved can help actually make the development of the story continue further to branch into other stories as well.

 

Respecting Player Agency and Content Consent

 

Something that can sometimes be a bit difficult to do is ensuring the players agency is respected even if the content might not be acceptable to the player themselves. Background involvement is always an option for those that wish to still take part in the story but don't wish to play through the content that can be otherwise unacceptable to themselves. Whether it's handling negotiations, gathering further information, remote handling of drones and technology, ect, these are ways you can work around the content barrier that some players might hold objection to without directly exposing them to that content specifically. A DM can use tact to summarize the encounter for the player stepping to the background without detailing the content they might not be okay with and still keep the story cohesive for all in the group of play. Inclusivity for those that might be sensitive to some subjects that can come up in play is something that the DM is meant to help manage and be responsible for, bridging the absence in cohesive ways while still maintaining the story fluidity for adapting new players into the core story.

 

But something to really keep in mind is that we are all players in the theater of the mind, and sometimes we encounter things that are disturbing, harmful even to those that are not ready to approach those subjects. Safeguarding your players involvement is something that should be widely accepted, along with informing them of what they are to expect content wise to help them navigate when is a safe time to be involved, and when it is not. Everyone has their own personal limits and boundaries in what they feel like they can handle in encounters, and respecting that, and finding ways to continue their involvement while accepting their limits by backgrounding them temporarily from possibly "triggering" content is perhaps the best and safest way to manage your players involvement.

 

Afternote:

If you would like to share some of your experiences with DM'd events in the game, feel free to post about them here! I'd love to hear about everyone's experiences with this form of play style and can answer questions along the way if there is anyone that would like to know more. ALSO, one more thing I need to really put through to a definite base line for all RP. If the player doesn't consent to the encounter, don't violate their trust by doing it anyway. It's rude, abusive, and can be taken as a form of harassment.

Edited January 23 by Crystal Dragon
Final note added.