Narration Structures

The one-sentence "definition" that should be in italics.

This pattern is a still a stub. Until then, Predetermined Story Structures provides many aspects relevant to Narration Structures in general.

Examples

Records of game instances of Chess can be seen as Narration Structures but this may be even more apparent when the chess pieces are presented as characters. "Through the Looking-Glass" by Lewis Carroll is an example of this although some artistic freedom is taken in the alternation of players moving. Another example is that Samuel Beckett includes an annotated Chess record in the novel "Murphy", and "Reunion" (a project by among others John Cage and Marcel Duchamp) used the structures emerging from Chess game instances to create music.

Tabletop Roleplaying Games have Narration Structures through "adventures" or "campaigns" that consist of a series of "adventures". They are rather unique as Narration Structures in that they have detailed descriptions of interesting locations, important characters, and possible events but typically not the player characters since these are to be created by players for each game instance. Examples of adventures include "The Keep on the Borderlands", "Rahasia", and "Ravenloft" for Dungeons & Dragons and "The Rise of R'lyeh" for Call of Cthulhu, and examples of campaign include "Queen of the Spiders" for Dungeons & Dragons, "Masks of Nyarlathotep" for Call of Cthulhu and "The Enemy Within campaign" for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. Live Action Roleplaying Games such as 1942 – Noen å stole på, Prosepopeia, and Mind's Eye Theatre can have planned events but rely heavily on players providing additional input and substance to the narration.

Both Adventure Games such as the Myst, King's Quest, Leisure Suit Larry, and The Secret of Monkey Island series, and Computer-based Roleplaying Games such as the Dragon Age, Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and Final Fantasy series have detailed pre-planned narratives. In contrast Massively Multiplayer Online Games such as MUD2 and World of Warcraft have many Narration Structures to tell players through quests but players can to certain extent create their own narratives in these games as well.

Using the pattern

Narration Structures in games can both be created or told as gameplay evolves. Construction, Emergent Gameplay, Player-Constructed Worlds, and Player-Generated Narratives, Speedruns, and Storytelling are all patterns to support the former while the use of Predetermined Story Structures is the primary way in which narratives are revealed through the gameplay. Dedicated Game Facilitators can be used to not only reveal or present Predetermined Story Structures as appropriate, they can be used to choose between different ones depending on context. In addition, they can create new Narration Structures as needed if they have the right abilities; Game Masters naturally do but computer-based ones need algorithms to create new structures.

Having game elements that can carry the Narration Structures is a requirement for the pattern. Most essential is the presence of Characters that can have goals and Agents that can perform actions in accordance to these; Player Characters and Algorithmic Agents can create structures during gameplay, so together with Dedicated Game Facilitators the process can become a joint one but a signification design choice for using Narration Structures is to decide if players should have such Creative Control.. MacGuffins can be the source of these goals while Alien Space Bats can explain settings different from the real world. Enemies are also very common since they can provide resistance to players, while Game Items and Non-Player Characters in general can bring life to narratives by adding detail.

Some events may be desirable for Narration Structures regardless if they are pre-planned or ones that game designers wish will occur from circumstances regarding gameplay because they will make the narratives memorable. Examples of such events include Betrayal, Character Defining Actions, Character Development, Internal Rivalry, and Social Dilemmas and designers may consider both designing these or making it possible to situation for them to occur more likely.

Can Be Instantiated By

Scenes,

Can Be Modulated By

Character Development, Diegetically Outstanding Features, Focus Loci, Game Element Insertion, Inaccessible Areas, Non-Consistent Narration, Non-Player Characters, Open Destiny, Player-Created Characters, Thematic Consistency,

Games that support Pottering at least partly work against Narration Structures since the Pottering activity specifically does not result in noteworthy events.

Narrative Aspects

Narration Structures is a Narration Pattern.

Consequences

Narration Structures of any type in a game offers a chance for players' to have Narrative Engrossment.

Relations

Can Instantiate

Narrative Engrossment

Can Modulate

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Can Be Instantiated By

Agents, Algorithmic Agents, Alien Space Bats, Character Defining Actions, Characters, Construction, Emergent Gameplay, Enemies, Game Items, MacGuffins, Non-Player Characters, Player Characters, Player-Constructed Worlds, Player-Generated Narratives, Predetermined Story Structures, Scenes, Speedruns, Storytelling

Can Be Modulated By

Betrayal, Character Development, Creative Control, Dedicated Game Facilitators, Diegetically Outstanding Features, Focus Loci, Game Element Insertion, Game Masters, Inaccessible Areas, Internal Rivalry, Non-Consistent Narration, Open Destiny, Player-Created Characters, Social Dilemmas, Thematic Consistency

Possible Closure Effects

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Potentially Conflicting With

Pottering

History

An revised version of the pattern Narrative Structures that was part of the original collection in the book Patterns in Game Design. Large aspects of it has been refactored to be part of Predetermined Story Structures.

Acknowledgements

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