I need help designing a Narrative-Focused System

[BlizzardSucks80]

For the past month or so I have been working hard on 2 tabletop systems. 1 of them is SciFi, the other is medieval fantasy. The medieval fantasy one was truly awful so I had to scrap it, but I set the SciFi one aside for now.
The problem I was having was the systems ended up being too video-gamey, too tactical and by the numbers, too heavy-handed with the rules and mechanics.
The characters and world didn't feel real at all. The characters felt like just a collection of stats, they didn't feel alive or like people at all.
All in all, these systems were difficult to work with for what I was trying to accomplish as a GM.

I find that more story-focused games are more fun and memorable, in my opinion. I'm tired of sitting at the table with my friends, rolling the dice and staring blankly while saying "I swing my sword at the monster."

However, making a new system like this (that is more narrative-focused) is pretty new to me. I have looked to 5th Dungeons and Dragons for some inspiration on this, since it is my observation that it is the closest to a narrative-focused game that I have seen.

I would buy a system that is narrative-focused, as I am sure there are tons out there, but I am dirt-poor and can't afford any of it right now.

So, if any of you have any tips as how to create a narrative-focused game, I would appreciate it.

[Thrudd]

Fate and its simpler version Fate Accelerated are both free. Apocalypse World and Dungeon World are also games you probably want to look at.

Don't try to reinvent the wheel before you have looked at more games. There's a lot of free stuff.

PS, D&D is just about the least narrative focused game that exists. Look at literally almost any other game for more ideas.

[Knaight]

However, making a new system like this (that is more narrative-focused) is pretty new to me. I have looked to 5th Dungeons and Dragons for some inspiration on this, since it is my observation that it is the closest to a narrative-focused game that I have seen.

I would buy a system that is narrative-focused, as I am sure there are tons out there, but I am dirt-poor and can't afford any of it right now.

So, if any of you have any tips as how to create a narrative-focused game, I would appreciate it.

There's a few major tips here.
1) Don't use D&D for inspiration here. 5e might be as close as D&D gets to narrative, but it's by virtue of taking a couple of ideas that weren't particularly fresh in the 80's and bolting them on the side of a system that fundamentally isn't geared that way.
2) You can probably afford free pdfs, and there are a lot of systems that either are free or have free starter material. Among these are a lot of systems built around specific narratives. Then there's detailed reviews that go into mechanics for commercial systems.
3) Also on the free side are actual plays of narrative games - which also provide examples of them being played. I'd look there first. There's a decent Geek & Sundry episode on Fiasco, there's a great deal of Microscope, there's at least a little on Shock: Social Science Fiction.

Taking all this in order suggests a decent method of exposure to the broader genre before doing any design work. Jump in with the more esoteric, edge case games - everything I listed in tip 3 is perfect for that. After that initial exposure try running something almost completely traditional with a splash of narrative for a while (Fate is perfect for this), just to get a grounding.

Then read up on and preferably play a fair few systems, leaning towards the narrative. Looking into them tends to find people familiar with them, and these people can point you towards specifics.

[Vitruviansquid]

For whatever it's worth to you, I find that the best feeling games, whether they are narrative or not, are based on an inherently fun mechanic that is used as often as possible.

Like Savage Worlds's mechanical skeleton is you rolling dice that can explode (if you roll max, reroll the die and add) and also you having a very limited number of rerolls that you have to decide to use at the best times. This is a fun mechanic for its swinginess with the exploding dice, and the risk-reward structure of deciding when to reroll. As much other stuff as possible is layered on top of this inherently fun mechanic - like attacking, defending, solving problems, and so on all involve rolling dice that can explode and be rerolled.

For your narrative-focused system, you want to think of a mechanic that is inherently fun to a narrative-focused playgroup. Or, since you are probably making this system because you like narrative-focused play, think of a mechanic that is inherently fun for you. Then layer everything else on top of that.

[erikun]

First, I'd recommend looking at other systems before trying to create your own. Sometimes, just a little bit of modification is all you need to get the game system you want, in which case it really isn't worth trying to rebuild it yourself. There is a large, large amount of variety outside D&D, and especially if you want to do something outside the "find and kill stuff in a dungeon" game style, D&D probably won't be your best option. Even a homebrewed or modified version of it.

Second, what exactly do you want out of a narrative RPG system? When I hear a narrative system, I think either a World of Darkness/Burning Wheel one (where characters have stats like Virtue or Nature which affect how a player might play the PC) or I think something like FUDGE/Fate Core (where it is very easy to quickly create and use content as GM and so they can "create the narrative" in response to player actions). You'd probably want to consider which one you want for your narrative purposes, and possibly give both of them a try to see what exactly you're looking for. You could certainly find more "dungeon crawl-esque" systems along those lines as well, if you still want to retain the feel and setting that D&D typically provides.

[Pleh]

Nothing necessarily wrong with D&D. Almost all my games in my career have been 3.5 and I tend to be a narrative focused DM. Sure, the system doesn't DO much to help you, but I always took that as a blank slate so I could do whatever narrative I wanted.

That said, I find it helps to start with common cliches and tropes (because they are familiar and somewhat formulaic). As soon as people get the gist and start looking for more depth, I start adding dimensions and subverting expectations.

"You meet in a bar."
"Boring."
Okay. What do you not expect to happen here? Town comes under attack by zombies while they speak to the bartender about retreiving his goat. Guards storm into the tavern demanding the heroes submit to arrest because they match the profile of wanted criminals. A wizard explosively teleports into the room, seems befuzzled, but casually orders a drink without concern for the injury his magic caused. All of the above?

A plot twist is only the first step to advancing the plot. From there, it's the players' job to investigate the Why behind the twist.

Why are the zombies attacking? Is it common, infrequent, or isolated? Where are they coming from, the village graveyard? The next town over? Is there knowledge or suspicion of a necromancer or a local curse?

Why are the guards trying to arrest us? Are they sincerely pursuing justice in error or is it mere convenience that we happen to match the profile or just outright discrimination? What are the alleged crimes?

Why is the wizard cavalier about unnecessary destruction? Is he unstable? Just cruel? Negligent? Why was the teleportation destructive? Did the spell go wrong or right? Why did the wizard seem bewildered? Did they reach their intended location? Are they aware that they are the cause for the damages to the tavern?

There's nothing wrong with making stories about stock SRD monster entries. The point is that a narrative focus game will pick out THIS particular specimen and start giving reasons to care more about it. Plot twists tell us that something is different about this one. They don't have to be elaborate mysteries, but they should have the ability to gradually ramp up the drama as needed.

[Cluedrew]

Yeah... D&D is a war game that they focused in on individual characters a lot and has room for flavour text. A narrative-focused system is about telling a story and has some rules to shape that story. That is my 2 one sentence overviews of the matter. So you need to make some very drastic changes to D&D to get where you are going.

If you feel you have too many mechanics, all of drop them and add in the simplest mechanic that will do the job when you need it. You can also go the other way, but by logic of "you don't know what you got till its gone" that can be harder. So just cut rules, cut a few randomly, cut some every time you spend longer than you would like on a section. Cut, Cut, Cut. Than add back in the simplest thing that will do the job. My system has actually gotten a lot simpler than when I started, although it has also gotten broader as I have added new ways to use the rules.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Fate and its simpler version Fate Accelerated are both free. Apocalypse World and Dungeon World are also games you probably want to look at.

Aye-- Fate and Apocalypse World are probably the two most common "narrative focused" systems, though the former in particular still has a fairly conventional base. Given that both are free, there's really no excuse not for looking at them. Other prominent games worth checking out might be Fiasco (not much of a game, but the most directly "collaborative storytelling" experience I've ever had), a Cortex/Cortex Plus system like the Smallville RPG (lets you play as both Superman and Lois Lane by making relationships the key stats), and Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine (Miyazaki: The RPG, basically)-- you should be able to find plenty of reviews and actual-play videos of those.

As for tips... there are I think two main threads connecting character-focused systems, at least in my experience.

• The first is to bring personality into mechanics. You can see that most directly with something like Fate Accelerated, where instead of skills you have "Approaches" like Forceful or Cunning, but even crunch-heavy games like Exalted can get a lot of mileage out of embedding personality traits into the actual rules. (See here for a 5e example).
• The second is to incentivize failure. This could be as simple as giving out hero points, or as complicated as Fiasco's bidding. In a traditional RPG like D&D, the goal is concrete-- save the princess, kill the dragon, loot the tower-- but narrative games tend to be less about the goal and more about the journey. Failing in D&D means a loss. Characters die, lose loot, lose experience points. In a story-focused game, though, loss is just another prompt for roleplaying, and it's important for the rules to make that equally appealing.

[Florian]

[QUOTE=Grod_The_Giant;22963202](not much of a game, but the most directly "collaborative storytelling" experience I've ever had)/QUOTE]

I tend to prefer Lady Blackbird over Fiasco - closer to roleplaying.

[Grod_The_Giant]

I tend to prefer Lady Blackbird over Fiasco - closer to roleplaying.

I've not heard of it, but from a quick Google it looks very cool.

[Max_Killjoy]

For whatever it's worth to you, I find that the best feeling games, whether they are narrative or not, are based on an inherently fun mechanic that is used as often as possible.

Like Savage Worlds's mechanical skeleton is you rolling dice that can explode (if you roll max, reroll the die and add) and also you having a very limited number of rerolls that you have to decide to use at the best times. This is a fun mechanic for its swinginess with the exploding dice, and the risk-reward structure of deciding when to reroll. As much other stuff as possible is layered on top of this inherently fun mechanic - like attacking, defending, solving problems, and so on all involve rolling dice that can explode and be rerolled.

For your narrative-focused system, you want to think of a mechanic that is inherently fun to a narrative-focused playgroup. Or, since you are probably making this system because you like narrative-focused play, think of a mechanic that is inherently fun for you. Then layer everything else on top of that.

Even that's going to be highly subjective -- I really dislike exploding dice and "wild dice", some people love them.

[Florian]

I've not heard of it, but from a quick Google it looks very cool.

It´s a nice little game and can be further personalized with the Companion. Plays pretty intuitive, too.

(We used a modified version for a convention, about a taxi driver, a bank robbery and the bavarian hinterlands and I also tried my hand at doing something in the vain of Sunless Sea.)

Even that's going to be highly subjective -- I really dislike exploding dice and "wild dice", some people love them.

Depends on context and also how the rest of the system works. I like it for L5R because the basic system models bell curves quite well and this handles "luck" better than just high rolls. I dislike it with systems like SaWo, as it just makes the game "swingy" with a wonky math.