On Narration

From the perspective of the player, Narration can seem to be a very random business. One may even feel there are personal intensions lying beneath the cover of a narrative post. However, Narration – at least good Narration – is neither random nor personalized.

What makes web-based role playing so unique amoung other forms of role playing are the consequences attached to bad rp’ing. The most basic of slip ups can result in catastrophic outcomes, and the more horrendous of mistakes cannot justifiably go ignored.

“Bad rp’ing”, is not a reference to a distasteful post in-character, or to moral codes or any such things. It refers to the logistics and continuity of the story itself, and how errors in these fields can result in failure of one’s mission or adventure.

A lot of these mistakes are most commonly made in situations of action: gun battles, fights, chases and other such instances. During periods of action, it is common for a player to want to exit the battle as the victor. This would seem to be the catalyst for mistakes in logic and continuity, as a player may take an action which is incomplete, unfair, poorly thought out or just plainly impossible. Any good Narrator of the story or Administrator of the game could not overlook some of these mistakes in good conscience. This may be because it is unfair to other players or because it diminishes the challenge posed in the task at hand.

Mistakes in logic and continuity extend beyond the realms of action sequences, of course, and they come in varying degrees of objectionable offense. These decisions are of course relative, and whereas it may seem necessary to react to a mistake in one instance, it may be the contrary in another. It is the duty of the Narrator to ensure that players experience a fair and challenging game, that the credibility of the website is upheld and that those who make mistakes learn from them.

There is one more notable topic regarding Narration to be mentioned. Certain actions, combat or Skill related or otherwise, may require a random number be generated to aid in determining success/failure or progress on a project. In these cases, the Narrator will utilize the following website for doing so: www.random.org/integer and then adjudicate the result.

We welcome you to message your Narrator or any other Staff member if you have concerns about Narration of your storyline or Narration in general.