"Consciousness is the phenomenon whereby the universe's very existence is made known." ~ Roger Penrose
Here it is, my narrative manifesto. It's a revolution, y'all.
While the narrative part is just that, part of the greater whole, it's usually the sticking point for many old-school, OSR, and traditional gamers... supposedly the VENGER CON crowd.
Some bad GMs decided to write an awful fantasy novel and now the players are trapped in that Hell, their PCs moved around like pawns and told exactly what to do and how to do it. No thanks!
And there are some who bristle at the idea of roleplaying games being both a game and story, where the game is about collaboratively creating the story that's lived, rather than simply watched as a spectator. Those damn theater kids - get off my battle-maps!
After many, many rounds of argumentation on social media (lots of great tweets where I use Star Wars and The Matrix, among other things, to defend my positions), I've decided to clarify and codify my approach to the TTRPG hobby, in terms of running the game.
While there are instruction manuals for Game Masters, the rule-books give you generalized advice and a few "best practices," but it's all fairly subjective. This, too, is subjective. I'm telling you what works for me based on what I want out of the game. If you want to do something different, even the opposite, cool - go for it. I wish you luck, hoss!
And what do I want out of the game? That's the million-dollar question, because if you don't know what you want, how are you going to get it? For most of us, you know it when you see it... and when you do see it, you grab hold, gaze, ponder, dissect, try to recreate, fail, try again, and somehow fashion exactly what you want. Then, you have to be careful it doesn't get corrupted or thrown in the trash on the way to exalt the shiny new thing full of promise, hope, and novelty...
"You've had the entire universe explained to you and you're bored with it. So now you want cheap thrills and plenty of them, and it don't matter how tawdry or vacuous they are as long as it's new, as long as it's new, as long as it flashes and fuckin' bleeps in forty fuckin' different colors." (Naked, 1993)
I want to simulate, emulate, and immerse myself in a - allow me to bold and all-cap this description so there's no subtly, no obfuscation, no hiding the ball whatsoever - PULP-FANTASY SWORD & SORCERY ADVENTURE.
The kind found in literature, TV, and movies. Allow me to help you visualize - it's going to include plenty of action (Arnold as Conan decapitating people), skulking around temples and tombs (Indiana Jones seeking golden idols), and amusing banter (epitomized by the "jam scene" in live-action Aladdin). Bottom line, that's what I'm looking for.
Without further ado, let's proceed...
What am I calling this? I can't think of a name or term that wouldn't require an in-depth explanation. I was thinking about holistic gaming, then leaned towards esoteric; prior to this week I'd been using storygame-adjacent. Also, people have liked narrative approach or narrative shift. Maybe it's just the Venger Satanis method? I don't know. Yes, we're off to a rocky start. Not great. Hopefully, this is just a hiccup on the way to gold, glory, and great big... tracts of land!
Here are the following tenets of my Game Mastering philosophy according to the Venger Satanis method (sure, why not?)...
The Venger Satanis Method
"A Game Master can feel the force flow through him."
"You mean it controls your actions?"
"Partially, but it also obeys your commands." ~ Obi-wan and Luke Skywalker discussion on Game Mastering
1) Living World and Living Story - The Living World involves everything physical and mater-of-fact. The Living Story focuses on the meaning and purpose behind what's there - emotion; how it feels. Living Story deals with the anima mundi or soul of the world, the animating spirit that breathes life into the campaign setting. It's like the force, "a mystical, invisible energy field created by all living things which binds the universe together."
The TL;DR version is this - the Living World is the body; the Living Story is the soul. Body and soul. One without the other is like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without either the peanut butter or jelly.
2) Narrative Structure - This is not a script, nor a railroad. Nothing is set in stone; everything is malleable. Surprises will inevitably happen. However, the GM should have plot-points helping to guide the player-determined path towards something gameable that makes sense in terms of the story. The story is happening as it's being created, moment to moment, encounter to encounter. GMs should also be concerned with all manner of narrative tools such as pacing, Chekov's gun, the rule of 3 (including clues), call-backs, dramatic irony, comedy relief, characters talking about their emotions, spotlighting the PCs, montage, negative space (breathing room), climax, and so many things!
I wasn't sure where to include Unifying Theme because it could stand on its own, or be included in either the Living Story or Aesthetic-Keys, but since stories have themes, I'll put it here. Vibes, basically. What's the game about, the central idea? If you can't say anything about the tone, atmosphere or mood, the motif, then you probably don't have a unifying theme, yet.
3) Aesthetic-Keys - What's the genre? What are the conventions, expectations, and tropes appropriate to that genre... the milieu-nodes? Furthermore, pay attention to what makes this campaign setting, the one you're using, special, unlike the others. Why Cha'alt and not World of the Last Sun or Forgotten Realms? I like to call them aesthetic-keys. If the GM isn't constantly pinging the world's milieu-nodes (if you don't have a specific campaign setting, these are even more important) and aesthetic-keys throughout campaign, then why bother having a campaign setting at all?
The 8 aesthetic-keys for Cha'alt are eldritch, gonzo, science-fantasy, post-apocalypse, humor, sleaze, pop-culture, and grindhouse exploitation. Each one is like a slice of eclectic pie that makes up the whole. If I'm neglecting a player's favorite aesthetic-key, they can nudge the GM by stimulating a Cha'alt X-Card.
4) Demonize Masculinity - I hesitated to include this one, but we're no longer in the 20th century. We were spoiled in the 70s and 80s with pop-culture entertainment. If we keep fighting back, those days shall return!
Men have been robbed. In the times we're living in, you can see it plain as day. All the stuff that was made by men for men has been feminized, softened, weakened... sharp edges sanded down, adapted for modern audiences. Everything that's inappropriate, problematic, and way too gory, pornographic, offensive, horrific, sexist, funny, etc. has been removed until all that's left is pink, plastic mush with child-safety locks, ensuring nothing awesome ever happens at the table.
Well, fuck all that! Cha'alt is a middle-finger to the woke scolds who'd love to parent-teacher conference our hobby after letting a DEI committee of sensitivity readers decide how much raw masculinity we're allowed to have? Spoiler alert - none! Reject modernity; embrace tradition.
Not only should we create for the male gaze, but adventures should focus on the masculine experience because this is a hobby for men (of course, women who like what we like are more than welcome to join us, assuming they aren't doing so in order to change TTRPGs from within). If your session has more shopping than exploring, start cramming sizzling gypsies, tentacle-wrestling competitions, fighting cosmic battles for supremacy, and journeying to strange lands to conquer them!
Celebrate your masculinity, don't shrink from it. "There is a beast in man that should be exercised, not exorcized." ~ Anton Szandor LaVey
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Well, there you have it. 4 tenets of the Venger Satanis method. While I'm not the first to incorporate these principles into their Game Mastering, perhaps the way I put all of it together is unique.
Regardless, now they're here. I can point to them... or, more likely, post a link to this blog post, and let people know my play-style before they try ripping it to shreds. While I've been GMing since 1982 with the Erol Otus / Tom Moldvay "magenta box" set of Basic D&D, the full extent of my TTRPG philosophy or school of thought hadn't coalesced until 2018.
Thanks for reading, critiquing, supporting, sharing, commenting, and all that good stuff!
VS
p.s. Yes, weekend badges are now available for July 2026's VENGER CON V: The Will To Power. Want the hardcover Cha'alt trilogy? Here's how (and they're currently on sale!)!!
Yes to all that. You have to balance the plan against the time, avialable, and let the story tell itself a little bit, you're working on the long term goals, but also keeping each session fun.
ReplyDeleteIt really is a like running an exercise class. Even more than it's like refereeing a basketball game. Because you have to push them sometimes and there is sort of 'work to do' but making it a certain level of fun is required.
Indeed, as the GM, you're the referee and also the coach. And every once in awhile, you have to jump into the game yourself and score a few points. ;)
DeleteSomeone elsewhere on social media asked a great question. Does #2 Narrative Structure include Game Masters relaying the information based on die rolls (you hit, you missed, that action succeeded) in the form of a story players can visualize at the table?
ReplyDeleteMy answer is yes; absolutely.
This is a great take on things and the analogy of the Force moving through you as GM is a great one.
ReplyDeleteI think playstyle should adapt to the genre you're trying to evoke, have a finger on the pulse of what players are doing but also be able to interject the chances and opportunities for great moments organically, never forcing them but coaxing them into existence.
Some people may prefer a straight dungeon/point crawl, perhaps even adventure paths that rely heavily on foregone conclusions (regardless of RPG genre.) And there's nothing wrong with that if a GM and players enjoy it. But even there, I always see the opportunity to have interesting developments. I think GMs/DMs who mostly stick to vanilla types of D&D, whether it's OSR, 5E or anything else, miss a great opportunity, because they may focus only on mechanics or PCs ate too often deadlocked in preconceived fiction. You can have emergent storytelling based on how a story unfolds, and I think that's the point that critics miss. You want to be the maestro who conducts while allowing musicians the freedom to jam.
If you're looking to have cinematic moments in a game that benefits from it, you don't need to write a whole screenplay. You can set those ideas up as plug-and-play vignettes or even craft them based on PC actions. Think of Indy's showdown in the club where he's trying to chase an antidote to the poison he's been given, amidst a panicked dance floor full of people and mooks trying to kill him. Now imagine if that evolved based on PC interactions, with the GM upping the ante on how it all plays out. The GM's notes might be just the NPC villains involved, the basic plot (retrieve a relic from a nefarious Chinese mobster.) Maybe Indy's old friend who takes a bullet for him was creative narration of dice rolls. Maybe that kid showing up driving a car with blocks tied to his feet was an afterthought.
When the players are really into it and the GM is riffing off that, helping to tie everything into one cohesive whole, then you have something that is far greater than the sum of its individual parts. Then you have that "Psychocosm" you often speak of, where everyone is along for the ride, experiencing it together, making it live amd breathe.
Yep, couldn't have said it better myself. Thanks for the comment, hoss!
DeleteAnother productive discussion on social media led me to this claim (that has not been refuted)...
ReplyDeleteIf meaning is only derived from PC decisions, then the campaign world is dependent on the PCs, and therefore less realistic and immersive than independent worlds where meaning comes from both PC decisions and the GM's story... in the form of plot points, narrative structure, guardrails, dramatic set-pieces, etc.