In this post I touched on the roles of the gamemaster (also known as the DM) in a roleplaying game (RPG). That only scratched the surface, so in this post we started digging a little deeper. Today we’re going to grab our shovels again and pick up where we left off. This time we’re going to explore the role of narrator.
If you’d like to see all the posts in this series, simply click on the “GM Roles” tag at the bottom of the page.
Why would you need a narrator?
Roleplaying games are at least in part a form of “theater of the mind”. Much like a radio play, there’s no action to see, except in the imaginations of the players and the DM. And again much like a radio play, someone must set the scene. In a radio play the narrator would set the initial scene. “We begin in a squalid flophouse on Skid Row in Los Angeles. It’s mid-afternoon. A single shaft of sunlight, shining through a hole in the window shade, provides the sole illumination. You can barely see the man lying on the filthy mattress, thrashing about in fevered opium dreams.”
From there the voice actors playing the roles would provide the clues the listeners needed for them to build a scene in their imaginations. The dialogue was full of statements that would help describe the surroundings. “We’ll hop in my convertible and head up highway 101 along the coast.”
In an RPG, though, there’s no dedicated narrator. The DM plays that role. There’s no canned dialogue to describe the scene either. Again, the DM does that work. Finally, it’s up to the DM to provide the sensory input that the characters would experience, so the players can react accordingly.
Narrating the setup
At the beginning of the game session, the DM has to describe the character’s general situation. If it’s the first session of a campaign, or a single-session scenario, there’s a lot to say. In that case the DM needs to explain where the PC’s are, why they’re together, and what’s going on around them.
If it’s a later session in an ongoing story the DM needs to recap the action so the players are up to speed and ready to proceed. The DM can usually keep that brief, compared to the initial session. But even so it’s basically the same job as the narrator in a radio or TV show.
Setting the scenes
Each time the scene changes the DM has to do a bit more narration. In a radio play a character might say “look at the beautiful palm trees” to set a scene in the listener’s mind. Coupled with the earlier statement about driving up Highway 101, the listener can build a scene in their mind of the California coast, beaches, surf, etc.
But in an RPG the DM has to supply that too. Since all the dialogue is improvised, none of the players know they need to mention highways and palm trees to establish the scene. Instead, the DM needs to describe the new surroundings to the players so they can act accordingly. All this begins to mesh with…
Taking the role of your senses
During the course of the game the DM needs to describe the PC’s surroundings. There aren’t sets built for each scene. Nobody’s paying for flashy special effects either. So the only way for the players to know what their characters are experiencing is through the DM.
This can come in the form of basic visual cues: “You see a ramshackle, weatherbeaten building on the edge of town. The sign hanging outside proclaims “The Do Drop Inn”. Sound is important too. “You can hear an out-of-tune piano playing a raucous melody, and a score of drunken voices singing along, but you can’t make out the words.”
Smell can be a vital clue as well. The smell of wood smoke might tell of a camp nearby. The scent of rotting flesh might warn of a lurking zombie. Taste and feel can play a part at times as well. And let’s not forget that “sixth sense” that tells you you’re being watched, or makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up in the presence of the supernatural.
The thing to remember though, is that the players only know their characters are experiencing them if the DM tells them about it. So it’s really critical that the DM does a good job in the role. Players can help by asking pointed questions: “What do I hear?”. But it falls to the DM to answer that question clearly.
Describing the action
The DM as narrator also has to describe what happens when characters act. If someone misses with a sword attack, they might say “You dodge just in time, and the sword misses by a hairbreadth”. When a PC samples an unlabeled magic potion, she might say “It tastes like a mixture of rancid bacon grease and lima beans, with overtones of sulpher. You suddenly tingle all over.”
Whatever is happening in the story, it’s up to the DM to describe it. The key is to describe it vividly enough that everyone at the table has a similar imagined experience.
Stay Tuned, Folks!
Stay tuned till next week, readers! We’re going to wrap up this series with a look at the role of director. See you then!
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