Pre-Stream Session 4 - Learning to Narrate (Patreon)

Each of our pre-stream sessions have had a theme designed to prepare us for presenting an 'actual play', something none of us have ever done. When we played yesterday (Friday 8th July, 2022), our theme was 'Learning to Narrate'.

So, what does that even mean?

Well, each of our players is very used to roleplaying in their own way. Each individual's specifics may not be the same, but the overall tone is: they play in a way that's to be experienced at home.

But, for this stream of the Enemy Within, things are different. Why? Because we're presenting our game publicly, and that requires a different kind of play. This upcoming streamed campaign is not only to be enjoyed by us, it's to be enjoyed by others, and that's something we're simply not used to doing.

So, practice.

Yesterday's practice for 'Learning to Narrate' focussed on two primary things.

1) Ensuring anything our character's say is said in-character, and with voices that are discrete from our own. So, all spoken stuff is in 1st person.

2) Ensuring we narrate the details of our character's actions so that anyone watching can understand what the individual characters are actually doing. When we're narrating, it will be in 3rd person so that listeners can easily differentiate each character's actions.

So, I presented the above two targets and explained that, for that sesh only, there would be almost no imposition from me from NPCs pitching plots to chase or unexpected events or random shenanigans – this session was all about the players having a good go at defining their PC voices and narrating their PC's actions.

Inevitably, this was easier for some than others, but by the end we all had a grasp of what needed to be done.

If I was highlight a single issue we encountered, it would be the shift from 1st person to 3rd person for describing character actions.

Why was that sometimes an issue?

Well, most of the players, if narrative was required, were more used to roleplaying in the following fashion:

Player: Ah ha! I jump forward, brandish my sword menacingly at the guards, then turn to you [points at another player ] and whisper: Run!

But, for a listener of a podcast or streamed video, this can cause problems. Who is 'I'? And who is 'you'? And what is said aloud by the character and what isn’t?

To clarify this, we’re aiming for something that sounds a little more like this:

Player: Gerhardt calls out with a laugh, 'Ah ha!' He then jumps forward, brandishes his sword menacingly at the guards, and, while they're distracted, turns to Alamennowyth and whispers: 'Run!'

For normal groups, the choice between those two roleplaying styles is a matter of personal preference and taste. But, for a group that intends to stream their game, I feel it's important we lean much harder into the second example than the first.

So, we were practicing.

Hopefully, once we jump in front of the cameras, that practice will be worth it.

Andy Law
9th July, 2022