EMERGENT NARRATIVE What We Can Learn From Dungeons & Dragons

@stefangrambart

Noots

I’ve always been a storyteller at heart. D&D, Improv, etc.

Earliest examples of storytelling date back to prehistory.Serra da Capivara cave painting

Oral storytelling traditions are found in the roots of every culture.David Geister

SO… WHY STORY? Why do we listen / read / watch / play them?

To experience emotion in safety.

Stories transplant us into situations without danger.

To gain some insight about life.

To learn about people, places, things, and events.

To experience excitement.

Action, adventure, and/or adrenaline.

AUDIENCE NEEDS In roughly equal doses

Emot

ion

Exp

ositio

n

Action

STORY

NARRATIVE MODELS Understanding how stories are told.

LINEAR NARRATIVE Story unfolds without input from the audience

‣ Authorial techniques create drama and elicit emotions.

‣ Author has total control over the direction and outcome of the plot.

BOOKS

George R. R. Martin

FILMS

New Line Cinema

TELEVISION

MTV

GAMES?

Eidos Interactive

By definition, games are

inherently interactive.

But…

NOT ALL GAMES TELL STORIES

Games can rely on

gameplay mechanics to drive interaction.

UNCHARTED 4 Cinematic Action-Adventure

Naughty Dog

Naughty Dog

“It has a very specific ending that’s very definitive

to the franchise.”- Neil Druckmann

Creative Director, Naughty Dog

In order to keep the story moving forward,

failure is not an option.

DRAGON AGE Action Role-Playing Game

BioWare

BRANCHING NARRATIVE The audience chooses from pre-authored storylines

‣ Audience can make decisions about how the story progresses.

‣ Every choice creates a new storyline.

Complex branching narratives will experience

EXPONENTIAL GROWTH

SKYRIM “Open-world fantasy epic”

Michal Kus

244 Story-based quests

Michal Kus

8% Form the main story

TANGENTIAL NARRATIVE The audience can explore optional story content

‣ Essentially a linear narrative with optional supporting story branches.

‣ Branches are self-contained, and have limited effect on the main plot.

Michal Kus

What Skyrim does is create a

believable world the audience can explore.

WALKING DEAD “Every choice matters”

Telltale Games

Every decision in Telltale Games’

WALKING DEAD: SEASON 1

Narrative where the branching paths never deviate too far or too long from the main storyline.

ELASTIC NARRATIVE Branching storylines integrate back into the plot

‣ Decisions create new branches that invariably fold back into the main storyline.

‣ Consequences don’t deviate too far from the main plot.

Telltale Games

Telltale’s Walking Dead is about

making hard choices. Consequences are real and meaningful, but the author has

a very specific and engaging story to tell.

Telltale Games

“choices should feel meaningful, permanent,

and tailored to your story”- Joshua Rubin

Writer, Telltale Games

Supergiant GamesDontnod

ThatgamecompanyQuantic Dream

STORY-DRIVEN GAMES

In all of these models, the storyline suffers from

PREDESTINED OUTCOMES

Is there a narrative model wherein exists

spontaneous, collaborative storytelling?

Larry Elmore

Zero Charisma

Tabletop Role-Playing Games have provided fantastic story experiences since the late seventies.

CreditCredit

A variety of RPG rulesets, spanning countless genres and settings.

The rules, setting, and mechanics become a

framework for building narrative.

EMERGENT NARRATIVE Spontaneously created storylines

‣ Infinite options collapse into a single storyline as decisions are made.

‣ True collaboration between author and audience.

Canadian Improv Games

RPGs are a lot like a seated version of Improv Theatre

Canadian Improv Games

IMPROV MISCONCEPTION When and improv troupe asks the audience for suggestions, there’s interaction, but the emergent narrative is actually created between the players onstage.

If an improv troupe could collaboratively improvise a scene, bringing a story to life - but without suggestions, the audience would never believe it wasn’t rehearsed.

Meanwhile, any improvised scene is created by the players, in character, without the ability to plan or discuss its direction or ultimate outcome.

Drachenfest

Add fantasy back into improv, and it’s essentially LARPing!

Collaborative storytelling allows for

DYNAMIC OUTCOMES

Wizards of the CoastTSR

Modules give the Dungeon Master a pre-made story to follow,

Dice Shaming

but things don’t always as planned.The players and the dice are unpredictable.

Dungeon Master Tip #1

ASK QUESTIONS, USE ANSWERS

Wizards of the Coast

Steve Wang

THE FOUNDING OF SHITSBURG We were starting a new campaign and the player characters began in a run down city. I described its lack of comforts, how the buildings were run-down and neglected and the townsfolk were downtrodden.

I then asked “What’s it called?”

One player replied “Shitsburg!”

Following groans and protests from the other players we decided on a more story appropriate name.

CNN

Steve Wang

Over the course of a few adventures, I continued to get the players to fill in details about the town:

• The name of their favourite Inn, details about the owner and his staff.

• The nature of an annual festival that seems to be the only joy this place and its people ever see.

• A vast criminal empire lurking just out of reach of the meagre law enforcement.

• Various rivals for the player characters, and some allies as well.

PLAYER AGENCY Players’ interactions have a meaningful impact.

Dungeon Master Tip #2

EVERYTHING HAS DETAIL

Wizards of the Coast

(or does it?)

ArenaNet

THE ADVERSARY As a novice DM, I would spend hours creating characters beforehand; creating a history, interesting quirks and cool abilities.

In one case I created a villain I planned on using to harass the PCs time and again, leading up to a final confrontation.

But I had grossly underestimated the players’ ingenuity, and they managed to kill him off in short order.

All that work for nothing.

To make matters worse, later in the session a set of bad rolls nearly wiped out the PCs in a random encounter with a troll.

Everyone forgets the Adversary, but remembers the troll, whom the players named…

Marshmallows For Breakfast

ALPHONSE THE TROLL OF INDETERMINATE BACKSTORY

Suck it!

I spent so much time

building out a single character, I couldn’t pivot to the needs of the story.

Now, I Write Characteristics, Not Characters

Applying them as needed

When the players

APPROACH a story element, I start to ascribe it characteristics from my lists. The element grows more detailed

the more it is approached.

Dungeon Master Tip #3

USE WHAT MATTERS MOST

Wizards of the Coast

Steve Wang

Back in Shitsburg, I needed an inciting event that would get the PCs to leave town and head for a larger city…

Marshmallows For Breakfast

Suck it!WITH FIRE

Luckily Alphonse was still around, so I decided he’d raze the town in a fit of vengeful wrath.

Mathieu Latour-Duhaime

To my surprise, destroying the town the players had helped build created a

strong emotional reaction.

THE ACT IV DISASTER The audience needs to genuinely care about what is lost.

Mathieu Latour-Duhaime

Games often make the mistake of forcing

empathic connection.

Bethesda

Leveraging past decisions at key plot points creates

agency conversion.

DRAMATIC AGENCY Narrative outcomes create emotional responses.

HOW CAN THIS WORK DIGITALLY?

Sure it works at a tabletop, but what about on a desktop?

FIVE ACT STRUCTURE It was good enough for Shakespeare…

Act I: Setup Introduce the character, their desire, and their world. Create the familiar.

Act II: Setting Out Send the character on a journey (not necessarily physical) Create the unfamiliar.

Act III: Set Piece This is where you give the audience what you promised them. The movie poster.

Act IV: Setback Disaster! The Character’s karma is all wrong.

Act V: Settling The Score Karma is paid off.

The 36 Dramatic Situations

By Georges Polti

Mela Muter

Rivalry of Kin The Object Of Rivalry

chooses the Preferred Kinsman over the

Rejected Kinsman.

Georges Polti

LEFT 4 DEAD The Director

Valve Corporation

Valve Corporation

The Director follows how you play the game and creates tension and moments of action when you’re in a lull.

SHADOW OF MORDOR

The Nemesis Engine

Monolith Productions

Monolith Productions

The Nemesis Engine creates enemies that behave naturalistically; holding grudges, suffering long-term injuries, falling to cowardice,

and taunting the player character with insults.

WHY NOW? What drives the need for a new narrative model?

Storytellers knew their audience and tailored story to suit them.David Geister

Audiences became consumers instead of collaborators.Eidos InteractiveMTV

New Line CinemaGeorge R.R. Martin

New platforms empower the next generation as MakersManus VRNetflix

GoogleMojang

The Rules•The DM will describe a situation and asK:What Do You Do?

•Someone answers, using suggestions on screen, or making up their own.

•Be respectful! Let’s keep this PG-13.

•Don’t yell! Yelling is loud. And hurts my ears.

•Have fun! I like fun.

TraitsSkilled Magical Mysterious Joyful Strong

Funny Warped Broken Sinister Helpful

Lazy Strange Foolish Fearless Curious

Musical Chatty Dim Bright Swift

AttributesNewly tattooed Dressed in rags One-eyed Hairy Scaly

Gleaming smile Scarred Hooded Bearded Hooked hand

Iron Pot for cooking Ancient relic once lost Magnificent sword Cursed wand Delicious cupcake Bag of nails

Arcane book Polished skull Ten foot pole Harp (out of tune) Glass slippers A few coins

Things

Busy tavern Ominous tower Shifty bridge Dangerous cave Helpful store Enchanted forest Haunted manor

Deserted island Shitsburg Forlorn ruins Comfy campsite Lonely mountain Darkest dungeon

Places

Boating incident Childhood trauma Unexpected weather Parade Stop, Thief!

Book Dog Umbrella Wheel Unicorn

Events

Marshmallows For Breakfast

I ain’t got time fo’ dat!

Marshmallows For Breakfast

You can’t beat me! lolz

Marshmallows For Breakfast

I Win! Suck It!

Marshmallows For Breakfast

Oh noes! I ham dead!

THANKS! Any Questions?

@stefangrambart

Suck it!