Out of Character (OOC):
Chronicle: Mage 2: The Dethroned Queen
Venue: Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition
Chronicle Storyteller: Jerad Sayler
Assistant Storytellers: Hannah Nyland & Alex Van Belkum
Storytelling Routines
Here's a typical VtR game:
Storyteller: "The darkness wraps around the city like the robes of death herself. Cold winds blow against the skyscrapers, flinging newspapers and various bits of trash into the air. You feel a heaviness in your heart as you awaken and realize that this cursed state has not ended... and the dream is not a dream. You are a vampire, and the night is your home. What do you do?"
Player: "I guess I hunt."
- cut to next evening -
Storyteller: "Having survived the brief interlude with the Primogen and his coterie, you embrace the silence the sewer offers. The next evening begins with a startling fear. You jerk upright upon realizing that the Primogen you supposedly insulted had the strange ability to paralyze you with a gaze. A Discipline which your Mentor described to you years back. But your wounds from the Uratha's claws ache still and you need to feed soon. What do you do?"
In my gaming circle, there tends to be three to five players. Strangely, a
player turn tends to last for a range from five minutes to nearly half an
hour. This is a time allotment which everyone in the group enjoys because it
allows for the nice unrushed dialogue, the building of mood through music and
pacing and the allowance to feel the emotional benefits of the scene. Now,
realize then that it is possibly an hour before one's turn begins again.
Would you really waste some precious moments of real-time declaring actions
which the Storyteller knows you will do anyway out of habit? And what a waste for the other players who are waiting? I used to do characters all split up when I first started running games and it left a lot of people waiting in the wings. Now I prefer having a Chronicle focused on a close-knit coterie in a shared Haven and switch between characters as much as possible when they do split up. Not splitting the party can be an excellent time-saver in real-time.
Movies as an example:
Watch a movie and see how the moment a character is given a turn (meaning, he or she is the focus of a shot), the character is doing something that contributes to the story as a whole. Sure, we know that everyone gets dressed and fixes themselves up before going to an important dinner. But if this scene will have any importance to it other than to let the Storyteller know you got dressed, then it does not have to be covered in their turn. It could be an understood action that the Storyteller does not have to play through.
After all, how many games have you had where you play each and every passing minute you wait for the Prince to finish his meeting with others? Or play in real time the trip from one building to another? We tend to summarize such moments simply because they can be taken as "having happened" without necessarily being mentioned as an action.
Player: "Can I make a roll to notice or feel that something is up?"
In the example, the time to wait is immediately waived as an action to be declared. The Storyteller pushes forward and describes what happens. The player should realize that the Storyteller has removed the option because of the need for a scene that is beneficial to the game as a whole.
Does this mean the players should rarely talk?
No, it simply means the players should not waste time going through expected motions. Take for instance a VtM Dark Eras game I read about. The player had a Salubri who had befriended the townsfolk and had begun to be seen as a Saint.
On the first night, the player mentioned to the ST, "I plan to visit the townsfolk each night possible. And when there is free time on my hands, I'd be speaking with the children and teaching them to read."
The storyteller understood this was to be his routine and applied it as simply events that have happened and do not need to be mentioned... unless they have a reason to be. Such as when one of the children the Salubri was teaching turned out to be possessed.
The ST began the game session telling the player, "You are with Paolo, one of the children you teach to read." Instantly, the player realized that the scene had something of importance and approached it with interest. No time was wasted.
Again, simply think of the game in the sense as a movie.
Once the camera points at you and your part of the story is being told... do you waste that time on camera simply doing the usual everyday thing? Or do you bring up something of interest.
Make the game run smoother, by seeing the difference of Routines and Scenes.
Storyteller: "The darkness wraps around the city like the robes of death herself. Cold winds blow against the skyscrapers, flinging newspapers and various bits of trash into the air. You feel a heaviness in your heart as you awaken and realize that this cursed state has not ended... and the dream is not a dream. You are a vampire, and the night is your home. What do you do?"
Player: "I guess I hunt."
- cut to next evening -
Storyteller: "Having survived the brief interlude with the Primogen and his coterie, you embrace the silence the sewer offers. The next evening begins with a startling fear. You jerk upright upon realizing that the Primogen you supposedly insulted had the strange ability to paralyze you with a gaze. A Discipline which your Mentor described to you years back. But your wounds from the Uratha's claws ache still and you need to feed soon. What do you do?"
Player: "Hmm... I hunt."
- cut to next evening -
Storyteller: "The Prince has commended you for the revelation of who had been leaking information out to the dreaded VII. With a gesture of appreciation... and prestation... he has given you a new haven and has cleared your name of all crimes. You are no longer Unaligned... and it is a new experience for you. Awakening, you find yourself feeling a strange sensation of satisfaction.. being an excellent Daeva feels good. What do you do?"
Player: "New night huh?"
Storyteller: "Yes, I downtimed a bit."
Player: "Well, better replenish my Vitae. I hunt."
Sound familiar? If no, then congratulations! You're players have learned the big difference of Routine and Scenes. But trust me, there are very few gaming groups that have escaped from this little constant in gaming. And it's not surprising, after all, players use Routine when they focus on their characters so much, they forget they are in a game.
Why Routine can be good:
It keeps your character in tip top form. And I don't mean this as a min-maxing meta gamer. Nor to I mean this sarcastically. If you're playing a Daeva who always waters his roses each night, then you're playing in character right? Routine allows you do play in character. But please, must you really declare that as your action when your turn comes around? No, morning pre-casts and routines usually happen in the background. Downtime actions can also serve the role of tracking boring efforts that characters are doing off-screen.
Why Routine can be bad:
- cut to next evening -
Storyteller: "The Prince has commended you for the revelation of who had been leaking information out to the dreaded VII. With a gesture of appreciation... and prestation... he has given you a new haven and has cleared your name of all crimes. You are no longer Unaligned... and it is a new experience for you. Awakening, you find yourself feeling a strange sensation of satisfaction.. being an excellent Daeva feels good. What do you do?"
Player: "New night huh?"
Storyteller: "Yes, I downtimed a bit."
Player: "Well, better replenish my Vitae. I hunt."
Sound familiar? If no, then congratulations! You're players have learned the big difference of Routine and Scenes. But trust me, there are very few gaming groups that have escaped from this little constant in gaming. And it's not surprising, after all, players use Routine when they focus on their characters so much, they forget they are in a game.
Why Routine can be good:
It keeps your character in tip top form. And I don't mean this as a min-maxing meta gamer. Nor to I mean this sarcastically. If you're playing a Daeva who always waters his roses each night, then you're playing in character right? Routine allows you do play in character. But please, must you really declare that as your action when your turn comes around? No, morning pre-casts and routines usually happen in the background. Downtime actions can also serve the role of tracking boring efforts that characters are doing off-screen.
Why Routine can be bad:
Movies as an example:
Watch a movie and see how the moment a character is given a turn (meaning, he or she is the focus of a shot), the character is doing something that contributes to the story as a whole. Sure, we know that everyone gets dressed and fixes themselves up before going to an important dinner. But if this scene will have any importance to it other than to let the Storyteller know you got dressed, then it does not have to be covered in their turn. It could be an understood action that the Storyteller does not have to play through.
After all, how many games have you had where you play each and every passing minute you wait for the Prince to finish his meeting with others? Or play in real time the trip from one building to another? We tend to summarize such moments simply because they can be taken as "having happened" without necessarily being mentioned as an action.
Example:
Storyteller: "The Prince is busy. You will have to wait. Having waited for nearly half an hour, Samantha begins to sing to herself a song. She fails to realize that the song she is singing was the song that was playing during her domination by the Belial's Brood."
Storyteller: "The Prince is busy. You will have to wait. Having waited for nearly half an hour, Samantha begins to sing to herself a song. She fails to realize that the song she is singing was the song that was playing during her domination by the Belial's Brood."
Player: "Can I make a roll to notice or feel that something is up?"
In the example, the time to wait is immediately waived as an action to be declared. The Storyteller pushes forward and describes what happens. The player should realize that the Storyteller has removed the option because of the need for a scene that is beneficial to the game as a whole.
Does this mean the players should rarely talk?
No, it simply means the players should not waste time going through expected motions. Take for instance a VtM Dark Eras game I read about. The player had a Salubri who had befriended the townsfolk and had begun to be seen as a Saint.
On the first night, the player mentioned to the ST, "I plan to visit the townsfolk each night possible. And when there is free time on my hands, I'd be speaking with the children and teaching them to read."
The storyteller understood this was to be his routine and applied it as simply events that have happened and do not need to be mentioned... unless they have a reason to be. Such as when one of the children the Salubri was teaching turned out to be possessed.
The ST began the game session telling the player, "You are with Paolo, one of the children you teach to read." Instantly, the player realized that the scene had something of importance and approached it with interest. No time was wasted.
Again, simply think of the game in the sense as a movie.
Once the camera points at you and your part of the story is being told... do you waste that time on camera simply doing the usual everyday thing? Or do you bring up something of interest.
Make the game run smoother, by seeing the difference of Routines and Scenes.
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