mini #ttrpg rant:
I love D&D, but it's not a storytelling game. It has nothing in the *actual mechanics* to support storytelling. And that's fine if
1. you don't want your game to feel like a story or
2. you're an experienced storyteller & never needed the game
But MOST players are neither π§΅
I love D&D, but it's not a storytelling game. It has nothing in the *actual mechanics* to support storytelling. And that's fine if
1. you don't want your game to feel like a story or
2. you're an experienced storyteller & never needed the game
But MOST players are neither π§΅
Comments
Though the issue with TTRPGs is the tellers are the audience.
Even alignment, which is probably the most character-driven mechanic in 5e, is all surface fluff with no real play elements.
I'd love the idea of an...
I've had success with homebrew rules that influences narrative, but its still a Patch kit Β―\_(γ)_/Β―
I do not care much for the story because average people tell terrible stories.
World of Darkness certainly has no interest in that and it was a strong competitor with D&D for a decade.
PbtA games and FitD games aren't especially interested in such things.
Typically, 99% of this responsibility falls on the DM. They do setting, tone, theme, pacing, conflict, and *most* characters. It's so much!
If you want a D&D game to feel like a story, players need to β¨step upβ¨
"I don't want to do all that, it's just a game!"
Fine, then stop making your DM wrangle you into the plot, or make anything in the story matter.
But in D&D, many ppl seem to want their DM to essentially write them a novel, starring them, without any narrative contribution.
Let's tell a story πtogetherπ.
Other games will use the mechanics to facilitate this, but in D&D, it's all on you, out-of-game. I get that it's not the easiest thing if you have no background in writing, but we can still *try* & *share the responsibility*.
/rant
1. all the storytelling tips are in the DMG, not the PHB
2. they are not in the mechanics, the actually gameplay
Find another table.
Setting expectations of the players and of the DM are often suggested for Session Zero but I think it should happen at least loosely when asking a dm or players to run or to join a game.
The dice tell stories. Whether it's a hit roll, a sneak or a save, they all tell stories. And just because there isn't a specific lever that has story written on it, doesn't mean it's not there.
I'm not a hater or hopelessly devoted to DnD, it's just not the barren story wasteland everyone makes it out to be.
I literally quit trying to make story arcs as a GM because a keeping a bunch of feral, stoned and drunk late-teens to early 20s dudes on track was impossible.
Which was fun in it's own way. In a group of half-dragons, vampires, and nonsense anime elf rewrites I'd be a bored, relatively mundane human fighter with a halberd.
Storytelling is a skill you can also learn outside of the game with a class.
If I wanted to run a "story" all on my own with no support from anyone, I'd just go write a book.
If I wanted to power-trip as a character with no effort involved, I'd play a videogame.
But if this is the arrangement, the players should definitely appreciate the DM and buy their DM a pizza, bc itβs a LOT of energy output