Creation of Narrative in Tabletop Role-Playing Games - Jennifer Grouling Cover [63]
Note here that the DM refers to the non-player character in third person, stating “he’s doing the same.” Because the DM runs multiple characters, he remains far more removed from those characters than do the players.9 In contrast, Mary refers to her character Gareth in first person, even when the separation between character and player could be potentially confusing. In fact, in line 34, the “I” that “assumes” is Mary reacting in the actual world to the narrative world. She assumes, but needs the DM’s confirmation, that certain events took place in the narrative. The “I” that has been playing songs is Gareth, the character in the narrative world. Ultimately there is not room for confusion here because it does not make sense in the logic of the narrative world that Gareth would be wondering whether or not he had performed certain actions, and it does not make sense in the actual world that Mary has been playing songs. Possible-world theory, then, helps to explain the lack of traditional linguistic markers when moving in and out of character.
In this example, also note the use of in-character speech in lines 27–28. This speech is preceded by a change in intonation. Aside from the dice roll in line 32, which Mary makes to determine how successful Gareth is at joining in the music, this transcript takes place mainly in the narrative frame. Together, Mary and the DM narrate the scene in the Foppish Wererat that the rest of the party observes. However, at many times narrative speech may be a long narration by the DM alone.
In TRPGs, multiple worlds exist, but the world presented in the DM’s narrative speech directly creates the storyworld. It is this level that possesses full narrativity. Because of this level, players feel as though they are immersed in a story, even as they continually shift between frames and worlds. This sense of being immersed in a narrative world is one of the main reasons for playing TRPGs. The narrative speech frame may be the least interactive of the levels in my model, particularly when it involves only the speech of the DM. However, the significance of the narrative speech frame is directly impacted by the other levels of the model. Thus, interactivity and immersion go hand-in-hand in the TRPG.
Because players’ actions in the game frame influence the narrative frame, their level of immersion in the narrative frame is directly related to their level of immersion in other frames. The sense a narrative experience of the TRPG comes not from one frame, but from all three frames; and all three frames affect the narrative to varying degrees. Off-record speech is least likely to affect the narrative; this is particularly true of off-record speech that serves only as a bond within the social sphere. Yet, if this social sphere collapses, so does the narrative sphere. If players do not return to the game because they do not fit in the social setting, their characters may end up with their heads thrown into a camp as a warning, as with the twins Mirador and Mardowin. All the frames are necessary for an enjoyable narrative experience. We need not see all levels of the TRPG as narratives in order to see that this is, as Cook-Gumprez (1992) calls make-believe, a “narrative game.”
6
IMMERSION IN THE TRPG
I saw David take the amulet down the passageway toward the drow, convinced that he meant to betray us. I had given it to him in good faith, to show that I could be trusted, and he had outright stolen it. The party was divided; they scattered. I came across Cuthalion’s paralyzed body, and while searching for a healing potion, I saw it. Somehow he had the amulet. After all that! I took the powerful magic item back, forced some magic healing liquid down the elf’s throat, and quickly ran off. I had always thought Cuthalion understood, but to find him with the amulet—I wiped away a tear—it seemed I had no friends left. After wandering alone in the woods, I stumbled across an abandoned cottage and stopped to sleep, to rest, to think...
When we turn to look at narrative