Creation of Narrative in Tabletop Role-Playing Games - Jennifer Grouling Cover [60]
The Game Frame
Like the social frame, the game frame operates in the actual world in that the players are sitting in this reality face-to-face playing the game. However, a new sort of logic comes into play in the game frame—the logic that governs the rules of the game itself. Because the make-believe games Cook-Gumperz (1992) studied did not involve the type of complex game mechanics seen in D&D, she does not include a type of speech for actions such as statements of intention or dice rolls, both of which are crucial to the game frame of TRPGs. The game frame is governed by the rules of the game and is composed of moves in the game. It thus accesses another possible world—that of the game—which is governed by its own logic separate from both the logic of the AW and the narrative world.
The transcript in the previous section shows how game logic may be different from logic in either the AW or the narrative world. Mary asserts that it is not logical to be able to perform a musical instrument at full capacity while intoxicated in either the AW or the narrative world. However, the game logic, governed by the game rules, maintains that this is fully possible. The participants go on to negotiate how this logic of the game syncs up with logic in the AW and the APW; yet the game logic exists as a system of its own. In fact, gamers often joke about the way that game logic can conflict with logic in the AW and APW. When a character goes up a level, he or she gains additional abilities. Yet, these abilities are usually not a direct consequence of anything in the narrative world. A rogue may suddenly be able to pick locks better even when he or she has been adventuring in the forest far from any chance to practice lock picking technique. This increase in skill makes logical sense within the logic of the game world rather than the narrative world and thus is accepted by most players.
I identify two types of talk in the game frame: narrative suggestions and dice rolls. Narrative suggestions involve statements of intention in which the player describes the actions his or her character attempts, which may or may not involve dice rolling. Like narrative planning speech, narrative suggestions have a greater effect on the TAW than off-record speech because actions taken within the game cause what happens next in the story. The main difference between narrative planning speech and narrative suggestion is that narrative planning speech often involves a good deal of negotiation and discussion of ideas that may or may not end up being followed by the players. The group may discuss whether or not to attack the orcs, for example, and if they attack how to orchestrate that attack. This discussion of tactics is not taken seriously as a narrative suggestion until it is articulated in the game frame. A player may suggest that Alex’s character, David, attempt to entangle the orcs before attacking, but until he states, “Ok. I try to entangle the orcs” or “I cast the spell entangle on the orcs,” this speech does not constitute an action in the game world.
In my observations, players use either future tense or present tense when stating the actions of their characters. Lacy (2006) determines the present tense is used most frequently in TRPGs. He states that the use of present tense serves to mark “re-orientating to the RPG frame” (Lacy, 2006, p. 64). Although further linguistic study is necessary, the use of tense initially seems like a way to distinguish