Scene framing and narrative authority.

[donbaloo]

This is an issue that I've split out of my AP here, as I thought maybe it would be more relevant as a TSoY specific question.  We're still trying to get our feet under us when it comes to narrative play and I just want to try to get clear where the TSoY stands on some of the following questions.

Should I be expecting or wanting the players to frame some of their own scenes or should they pretty much be following my lead in that regard?  Is it just a matter of leading them through my prearranged Key Scenes?  And within those Key Scenes, I've been assuming that a successfully achieved intent would at least temporarily provide authorship to the player.  That was what I took from Burning Wheel and just sort of anticipated it being the same within TSoY.  Is this wrong?  How much narrative power does a player have within a Key Scene?  For example, when soldiers approached in the first scene could Melani have just jumped in with a cool inspiration and tell us who those guys were and what they were doing even though I already had an idea of who they were?  Guess I'm just a bit confused on what areas of narration are hands-off in regards to each individual at the table and where is that line drawn that delineates where we stop collaborating and the Story Guide begins providing preordained facts about the scene?

[Clinton R. Nixon]

Should I be expecting or wanting the players to frame some of their own scenes or should they pretty much be following my lead in that regard?  Is it just a matter of leading them through my prearranged Key Scenes?  And within those Key Scenes, I've been assuming that a successfully achieved intent would at least temporarily provide authorship to the player.  That was what I took from Burning Wheel and just sort of anticipated it being the same within TSoY.  Is this wrong?  How much narrative power does a player have within a Key Scene?  For example, when soldiers approached in the first scene could Melani have just jumped in with a cool inspiration and tell us who those guys were and what they were doing even though I already had an idea of who they were?  Guess I'm just a bit confused on what areas of narration are hands-off in regards to each individual at the table and where is that line drawn that delineates where we stop collaborating and the Story Guide begins providing preordained facts about the scene?

Donbaloo,

This is probably going to sound unhelpful, but the answer is: whatever your group feels comfortable with. The rules intentionally shy away from saying who gets to say what. Looking back, I can see a compelling argument for putting rules about that in there, but I like my decision. It's based off this line of reasoning, which will help decide for you, I hope:

People have been playing RPGs for some time. In earlier games, where the concept of narrative power wasn't addressed at all, some groups looked to the GM for all narration, and some split it up, either based on what story element was being talked about, or maybe just on who had the coolest idea. I think that works with a group dedicated to the same goals, and I don't think any amount of rules will work with a group not dedicated to the same goals.

If you want to know how I play it, anyone can suggest scenes, but the Story Guide has the authority and responsibility to start them. As Story Guide, I hand off authority to other players regularly, especially in scenes where they win a conflict, or lose a conflict and I want them to describe recovering somehow. The authority tends to lie in my hands, but I'm very free with it: a sort of benevolent dictator working as a traffic cop.

[donbaloo]

If you want to know how I play it, anyone can suggest scenes, but the Story Guide has the authority and responsibility to start them. As Story Guide, I hand off authority to other players regularly, especially in scenes where they win a conflict, or lose a conflict and I want them to describe recovering somehow. The authority tends to lie in my hands, but I'm very free with it: a sort of benevolent dictator working as a traffic cop.

Perfect example that summed your answer up nicely Clinton.  Thanks. 

As an aside, I know this will probably sound pretty lame to anyone who has spent time playing narrative-esque games, but I've often thought how beneficial it would be for folks trying to learn the style to have an audio clip of a real play session.  Just a couple of unedited scenes, to hear the dialogue and kibitzing (think I used that correctly), from an experienced and comfortable group of narrative gamers.  I'm not pining for someone to take up that project or anything its just that I found myself thinking the same things when we were wrestling with Burning Wheel.  If anyone knows of anything like that I'd like to listen to it.

Again, thanks Clinton.

[John Harper]

Matt Snyder has recorded a few sessions of his game Nine Worlds. It's different from TSOY, but it may be a good starting point for you.

Links to the audio files are here:
http://www.chimera.info/blog/2006/04/light-years.html

Matt's group doesn't do as much character-acting as some groups. This is just a group preference, and not really a quality of so-called "narrative games."

[donbaloo]

Downloading Session 1, Scene 1 as I type.  Thanks for the link John...