Tips and Tricks

This section contains educational materials and recommendations on how to effectively narrate tabletop RPGs in various settings and genres.

What Does a Narrator Do?

The Narrator is responsible for most aspects of the game and effectively allows for each session to be possible. You can’t run an Altered Realm’s Campaign without a Narrator. Players can miss sessions and phase in and out but the Narrator is essential and integral to the functioning of the game.
Many Narrators spend hours prior to each game session, preparing materials and content. While it is more work to operate in the role of the Narrator it can be extremely rewarding to see others enjoying interacting with your content and collectively creating stories, based, in no small part, on your ideas and imagination.

Narrator’s have to do a lot of work to assemble a story, especially if they are making it from scratch. While they make plans for their next session and document them they also need to recall the events of the previous sessions and incorporate consequences of decisions made by players in game, often after a considerable amount of time has passed. There are a lot of methods that can help reduce the workload of the Narrator.

Take Notes

Meticulous note-taking is definitely a must have for the successful narrator as many players do not take consistent notes and their memories will often fixate on one aspect of the story while others remain fuzzy or are forgotten. This allows the narrator’s synopses to be more accurate and reliable and instills a feeling of competence, confidence and organization associated with the Narrator in the minds of the players. This helps the Narrator to run their sessions with less interruptions, ruling objections and corrections from players and increases the time spent on the more fun aspects of the game.

Use Folders

Having physical and digital organizational folders for different campaigns and locations within those campaigns can really help you find what you’re looking for, when you’re looking for it. This helps reduce the time spent awkwardly shuffling papers around or looking through the files on your phone or laptop for that custom guy you had all prepared in case they did the thing but now you can’t find him for the life of you. With the organized folder method you simply open a series of folders: Campaigns > Locations > Town Name > Characters > Powerful Magic Villains.

Character Portfolios

If you can manage it, keeping a collection of NPC's you have used throughout your campaign(s) can allow you to keep track of character motivations, determine how they might respond to stimuli or help players when they forget details or aspects of their favorite characters.

Local Information

Creating a map and legend can go a long way, allowing you to convey a lot of information to the players in a very effective manner. They can ask questions and make skill rolls if they want to know specific information about locations and any information not on the map or legend can be contained on a separate document or improvised on the spot.

Plot Information

Keeping a record or log of the plot, including the movements and actions of the stories antagonists can help increase the level of depth of story immersion. This cues players in on the fact that the world reacts to them, but does not revolve around them. Plots can develop without them if they don't show up or ignore the call to adventure for too long. Kings and nations can post bounties and mark them as enemies of the state if they act villainously in a region. Towns and villages can thrive or become abandoned due to their aid or inaction.

Maintaining good story notes and keeping the plot moving regardless of player actions helps add an extra level of believability to the story and can completely eliminate some of the most common plot holes.

Plot Map

If you are doing a long arcing plot with many story points, scenes and major revelations, we recommend making a Plot Map. You write a scene or reason the players might visit a location or character. Add notes for any information, quests, items or XP they can acquire and then draw a line from that block of information to the next. Write how the two are connected on the line between the two story point. Do this on top of the copy of your map to make it even more cohesive. This will help you keep accurate track of your entire overarching plot within the story and can assist you in creating a more freeform story progression that feels more organic and less like a plot on rails.

Homebrew Information

If you make changes to the standard rules, generate creatures, alter the fundamental use of magic or create new spells, abilities or traits, you should always make a detailed record. Keep yourself accountable and give your players something to reference. They only have access to the standard rules and whatever materials you generate or pull from other homebrew resources. Try to maintain a semblance of balance whenever you decide to homebrew. Players will appreciate having additions that make sense and are fun. Items or spells that are too overpowered can quickly suck out the challenge and creativity of the game. The same can be true if the enemy has an ability, equipment or spell that seems out of place or improbable in the setting. This can make situations feel unfair or uncreative if they can't understand how the effect was done using the same system.

Record Sessions(Optional)

You might be surprised what you and the players miss and forget even when taking notes. Recording the audio from game sessions and going over them later can be both rewarding and entertaining. This allows the narrator to never miss a plot hole or lose a story thread. It also makes for great highlight reels and compilations down the road.

The role of the Narrator usually but not always includes coordinating and communicating with players to arrange a date and time to meet and to confirm that players can indeed still make it to the session. Here are some tips and tricks to help coordinate various aspects of the game.

Turn Management

As the Narrator, you will be responsible for establishing a standard playing style and turn order. It’s best to have an established turn order either that goes in sequence around the table or goes from the fastest character to the slowest(Highest DEX Modifier/Initiative to Lowest). If there are PVP elements to your game it is usually best to allow players to Roll Initiative at the start of each new scene.

Time Management

The role of the Narrator will often require that you manage the time of player turns, interactions, rabbit trail discussions, and then balance that between narration and character interactions. Players should all be getting an equal opportunity to act and narrate their characters’ interactions. If one player is taking more of the group’s time it’s perfectly acceptable to let them know that’s all they can do this round and call on the next player to act.

Communication

As the narrator, people will look to you to address any issues and mediate all discussions during sessions. Having superior communication skills will help in nearly all aspects of the game. Almost every issue that has ever arisen during the course of a tabletop roleplaying game could have been avoided or diffused with a single level headed conversation.
Ask questions, have individual discussions, have group discussions, make sure you communicate what you are thinking and try to prompt others to do the same. You can’t collaboratively tell a story without collaborating, which requires communication, so the better your communications between the group the better your collaborations and thus your stories will be.

Role Call

People get busy and forget what day it is, or forget to say when something comes up. A good narrator will check in with players a week prior to the game session and the day before the game session to minimize any surprises or hurt feelings the day of the game.

Online Resources

Online chat programs such as Discord and Slack make the group communications much more simple and streamlined and allows players and the narrator to easily and quickly transfer Information, Sheets, Materials and Files. Online tabletop simulators, such as Roll20 and Tale-Spire are a great way to keep your games going even when you can't meet in person.

While the game cannot happen without the narrator, it’s also important to remember that the game isn’t the same without all the players and is different when new players or characters are added to the mix. Altered Realms is at its core a tool for Collaborative Storytelling which inherently requires a group of people working, or in this case, playing together. The following is advice for how to interact with the human element of this game.

Collaborate with Players

The more connection your players have with the story and lore the more likely they are to engage with the content. If they feel like their character is integrated into the world they are more likely to act like they are a part of it. It can be okay to allow a player to take a specific Item or Archetype outside of the pre-agreed constraints as long as it doesn’t give them a significant advantage over other players or break the tone of the campaign setting.
If you give one player something, its best to allow other players something similar such as additional XP or an Item. Another option is to make it clear that the first was granted that item or XP due to their diligently written origin, and they would be granted something as well, if they were willing to invest more time or effort into the creation of their character. It’s also perfectly acceptable not to allow any deviations from the agreed upon ruleset and end such discussions with something like: “We all agreed on this setting” or “The Narrator has Spoken”. This is especially true if it is clear that the players are enjoying the current setting and deviations would cause the dynamic of the game to shift unfavorably.

Know your Audience

Try to make sure you know the people with whom you are creating stories. People tend to reveal their personalities during the course of role playing campaigns. If their personality isn’t compatible with the group’s it is probably best they play with a different group until that is no longer the case.
Communicate with and ask questions of people who you are planning to invite to games. Make sure other players are comfortable with new additions. If their political, religious or scientific worldviews are vastly different from the groups own, there’s a good chance that conflict will arise during the course of a campaign. A group of friends or family who know each other well and have similar interests is the best case scenario for a new group of players.

Session 0

Have a session 0, where you all collaboratively decide what type of campaign you would like to play and what characters you will play in it. If you as the narrator have something controversial you would like to depict in the story, you should ask your players ahead of time. If someone says they are uncomfortable with it, then don't include it in their story. Phobias and potentially triggering imagery should always be things that are discussed prior to the first game session. The same goes for players. If they are planning on depicting a traumatized or traumatic character, they should get consent from other players and the narrator. This is a group experience, and as such, we should respect the wishes of everyone in the group.

To be very clear and specific, please do not include concepts in your campaign such as: Slavery, Racial Prejudice, Sexual Assault, Mental or Verbal Abuse, Suicide or any common phobia triggering imagery such as images of spiders, without the explicit consent of all players involved. Even so, ask yourself if this element is adding to the story before you ask that it be included. Often these elements can be replaced without adversely affecting the story. Ideally we view it through a lens of "what will be the most fun and entertaining for the people involved?".

Conflict Resolution

If something comes up and anyone is offended or upset by something a player or the narrator has done in or out of game, it’s best to try to address it as soon as possible. Don’t let it stew in people’s minds and don’t let people get away with things you or anyone in the group finds offensive, even if it is “In Game.” Try to be diplomatic and diffusive, give people the benefit of the doubt. Try to gently remind the offending party that apologies and empathy go a long way. If an issue is not resolvable it’s better to remove the offending party rather than allow the issue to continue. If people are uncomfortable with someone in the group they are not going to be enjoying this game that is intended to be a leisure activity allowing them to get away from the real conflicts of life and instead solve imaginary and metaphorical problems.
If you must eject a player, talk to them in person or over video or voice chat.
People put a lot of their heart and souls into these games and ghosting or a simple
unemotive text or email can be a heartbreaking way to end a long collaboration. That being said, you should be resolute in your position if the decision has been made and you have the right to hang up or walk away if they respond with aggression or are verbally abusive in any way.

Center Stage

As the Narrator you will be the person people look to answer questions about lore, game mechanics and the mechanics of their own character. You will need to prepare or improvise content and gameplay, approve player actions, give rulings, manage multiple pages of Creature Powers and Abilities and of course Narrate all elements of the game not directly done by players.
While this can be a lot to handle and can be overwhelming at times, like everything, you get better with practice. In addition to that, the creation of stories and content can be both satisfying and therapeutic. Several people at a time interacting with and enjoying content created by you can be a uniquely fulfilling experience.

As the Narrator, more than likely, you will need to roleplay more than any one of the players, possibly all of them combined, since you are performing as an entire cast of characters. Ideally a narrator is already comfortable roleplaying, but it gets easier with practice. It’s a combination of acting, improv and playing pretend. There are different styles of roleplay and different narrators will naturally magnate more towards one or the other and their preference can, and probably will, shift over time.

Types of Roleplaying

There are many ways to roleplay a character, both as a narrator and player. No one way is best, everyone has their own roleplay style. As long as its not inappropriate or offensive; Anything goes.

Descriptive Role Playing - This style sees the Narrator describing the gist or content of what characters say and do, rather than speaking with the voice or mannerisms of the characters they portray. Many people who are newer to roleplaying in general prefer this style.

Performative Role Playing - This style sees the narrator acting out scenes, actively portraying characters and in some cases even doing voices and sound effects. People who have been playing for a while or those with a flair for the theatrical tend to prefer this style.

Costume Role Playing - This style of roleplaying is often combined with performative roleplaying. Maybe it’s a full costume change or the addition of a mask, wig, hat or fake beard. The addition of these little touches can make the games more light-hearted and comedic.

Voice Acting

Many Narrators enjoy voice acting for some or all of the characters that they portray. This is by no means required or the only way to narrate games, but if that is your cup of tea, here are some voice acting tips that may help you.

Accents - If you have an ear for accents or can do more than 2 or 3 bad accents there’s a lot of different characters you can portray, especially if you mix in other voice acting techniques.

Diaphragm - Use your abdominals and the lower part of your throat to control and release the air from your lungs to generate deeper and more booming, attention grabbing tones. Great for portraying larger or more intimidating characters.

Nasal - Use your nose and the upper part of your throat to control and release air from your lungs to generate higher tones. This can often be used to generate voices that people find more nerdy, aristocratic or annoying.

Emote - Try to keep in mind the emotional state of the character you are portraying. Are they angry, sad, happy, exhausted? Try to convey those states through the voice you are using. Sorrow often causes people’s voices to crack or waver. Excitement often causes people’s voices to get louder and increase in pitch. Sadness can cause people’s voices to become very flat and low. Inebriated people often slur and mispronounce words. Anger often causes people’s voices to deepen and increase in volume.

Voice Control

You can hold your mouth in different ways to generate different sounding characters even using the same tone of voice or accent. Try imagining the character talking when portraying them. How do they hold their mouth? Does their chin jut out while they talk or perhaps they speak out the side of their mouth. Perhaps they speak with something in or over their mouth.
Mimicking that mouth position affects the sound of your voice and thus the performance, making both the voice and the character more distinct and memorable and, as an added bonus, easier to recreate.

Voice Portfolio

If you have the note taking and organizational skills then it’s a good idea to quantify how many different voices you can maintain while saying various lines and emoting, then naming those voices and visually assigning them to characters you portray with notes on any variations or differences from that standard voice. This is by no means necessary but it can add that extra level of consistency that makes your game stand out.

Narrator’s Face

Practice your "Narrator’s Face", or "Poker Face", as some people call it. People are going to ask questions during games that they know you can’t, or shouldn't tell them the answer to, hoping that some quiver or glance left will betray you and cue them in on secret information. Just be prepared for questions like: "The butler did it, didn't they? What did you roll? How much HP does this guy have? The hallway is trapped isn’t it? Can I hit this guy if I roll a 12? The room "appears" to be empty?" The best way to combat this is to not engage with them verbally or give them your attention. Keep a straight face, pretend you didn't hear them.

Pacing

Ideally you can run games as often or rarely as you like. It can be really fun to create and run games but be careful not to overload yourself. Not every Narrator runs a game every week, few run more than once a week and some run once a month or just once a quarter and there’s nothing wrong with that. If players really want more sessions they can always run one themselves or join additional campaigns.

Players will look to you to create the majority of the game's content. While some more enterprising players may want to do quite a bit in the background, the vast majority aren’t going to do a lot of homework. This leaves the maps, factions, creatures and everything else the players don’t supply, up to you. There is a lot of free content and resources available for narrators, not just on this website but also online at various websites such as Pinterest, which has a huge collection of downloadable battle-maps, city maps and locations that are free for personal use.
There’s nothing wrong with pulling from other sources to create your content, even a mashup of two types of stories is quite common and acceptable. You can even build out custom creatures and characters using Altered Realms systems to mimic your favorite films, shows and book series. So long as everybody at the table is into it, it is content, and that makes you a content creator.

Balancing

When pulling and creating content, such as creatures and characters, make sure to keep an eye on the XP Cost of those additions, including enchanted items and technology. If the balance of XP goes too high in favor of the players, they may start to feel unstoppable; if it goes too far in the favor of the antagonists, then the threat can feel hopeless or insurmountable. The Altered Realms XP system isn’t perfect but it can easily be adjusted if players or their adversaries feel too powerful. Simply add or subtract XP and its associated bonuses, modifiers, traits and abilities to adjust the power level of any creature, enchanted item, piece of technology, encounter or adventure.

Character Creation

The Character Section of this website has many pre-made sentient characters that you can use as they are, or feel free to modify as you see fit, either as the starting or ending point for Characters in your stories. The Character Builder has an effective guide for the creation of almost any character you can imagine and the Buyer’s Guide can be a great place to customize a character in any way available through purchases.

Creature Creation

The Creature Section of this website has dozens of pre-made creatures that you can use as they are, or feel free to modify as you see fit, either as the starting or ending point for Creatures in your stories. The Creature Builder has an effective guide for the creation of almost any creature or combination of creatures you can imagine and the Buyer’s Guide can be a great place to customize a creature in any way available through purchases.

Improvisation

The ability to think on your feet and improvise is probably, if not definitely, the most powerful tool when operating as the Narrator. Did players completely miss a story point like a preserved evil mummy? That’s alright, have the great evil be released because they missed it and didn’t restore the magical seal to the tomb they entered, or have the same village request their help again later, or have it instead appear in the next dark pit they inevitably go crawling into, looking for loot and renown. A great and simple general rule to follow is “If the player’s didn’t see it, it didn’t happen; Unless it did, which is still fine.”.

Narrative Causality

Stories are often better received when they follow or defy the rules of narrative causality. The hero gets the girl in the end. The heroes always win. A random romantically charged encounter will always lead to a second meeting, somehow. These are examples of what some would call tropes but are often what we enjoy seeing or being tricked into predicting how events will transpire and then being pleasantly surprised. Actively implementing some tropes and using others to mislead expectations can generate particularly satisfying and memorable stories.

Information Resource

As the Narrator, people will look to you to be the most knowledgeable and well versed in the rules and functioning of the game. You don’t have to learn it all at once but it will be easier to run a game the more familiar you are with the ruleset you have chosen. There’s nothing wrong with looking up the answer on the spot if you don’t know or can’t remember. Next time you will remember, because you had to look it up mid game last time, and everyone was staring in awkward silence and anticipation. Admit it if mistakes were made, make apologies, make in-game accommodations or retcons if necessary, and move on. No reasonable person expects the Narrator to be perfect.