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Podcasts: Narrative Control - Episode 34 - Storytelling by Ira Glass

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  1. Administrator
     

    Welcome back to Narrative Control – Season Two!  Justin and I took a two month sabbatical to reflect on season one and plan for the new material.    This week we’re brining you Ira Glass.  He has a few Youtube videos up on storytelling that both Justin and I really enjoyed.  Here’s our take on how his advice applies to gaming.

    Hosts: Sean Nittner and Justin Evans

    Length: 26:14

    Show Notes

    [00:32]  Welcome back to Narrative Control. 
    [01:07] Preview of Season two.  What is the new season all about?
    [02:16] Intro to this episode: Storytelling by Ira Glass (of This American Life)
    [02:49] Links to all four clips of Ira: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4
    [03:27] An excerpt from Ira’s clip. The building blocks of a story.
    [04:19] Our discussion on the antidote.  In RPGs the antidote is a sequence of scenes.
    [04:59] Made more complicated by every player acting as a storyteller and a protagonist.
    [07:07] Sons of Kryos talked about “weaving” threads together.
    [09:31] Passing scenes around like a hot potato. SoK talked about this a well!
    [10:20] An excerpt from Ira’s clip. Raising questions and answering them.
    [10:57] Bait. Asking questions and the implication that you will answer them.   Our discussion.
    [12:06] What is that bugbear doing? Why is he running? Where is he running to?
    [12:50] Introducing new “bait” to keep the story interesting.  Mixing short and long term goals together.
    [13:59] An excerpt from Ira’s clip. The moment of reflection.  Why are you listening to this story?
    [14:21] Out discussion.  Not necessarily present in RPGs. 
    [14:50] An opportunity for reflection to allow players to understand what is going on in the heads of the other characters.
    [15:00] With Great Power has the Thought Bubble.
    [15:12] Sean’s L5R Game – Sapphire Magistrates.  Exposition created through character scenes.
    [17:31] Moments of reflect allow you to give a flag to other players so they can contribute to your fun.
    [17:53] Some settings make it VERY hard to share the meaning of an event to a protagonist.  This can be used to create suspense if we intentionally hold out on reflection to keep the audience guessing what something means.
    [18:56] Some systems that build in reflection.  In Inspectors there is the “confessional”.   Confessionals can completely change the meaning of a scene you just watched.
    [20:42] Montsegur 1244.  Everyone knows that the game will end with a reflection scene as the characters explain why they chose to convert or burn at the stake.
    [21:15] Roanoke has a moment of reflection tied to the Doom of the island at the end of the story.
    [22:39] Reflection baked into Dogs in the Vineyard.  Each conflict ends with traits changing to reflect on the conflict that just happened.
    [24:07] Wrap up: The anecdote, question and reflection.

    Direct Download: NC_Episode_034.mp3

  2.  
    Member
    • CommentAuthorrenatoram
    • CommentTimeJul 31st 2009
     
    As I said on twitter...

    Dirty Secrets is another game with reflection scenes that have a very mechanical and important role, allowing the Investigator to get back dice... they are even called Reflection Scenes IIRC.

    Also, this very show respects the format it's talking about:

    1 - The anecdote (Introducing the story, talking about the radio program)
    2 - Questions being asked, and answered
    3 - Reflection on the show.

    :-D

    It really works, and you don't even think about it most of the time ^___^
  3.  
    Member
     
    I agree, still it helps breaking the whole thing down so you can give each bit the specific touch it needs. I need to think more about this.

    The bleeping sound when you start the clips...was that intentional?
  4. Administrator
     
    Posted By: renatoramAs I said on twitter...

    Dirty Secrets is another game with reflection scenes that have a very mechanical and important role, allowing the Investigator to get back dice... they are even called Reflection Scenes IIRC.


    Yep, surprised I forgot that one. Interestingly in the one Dirty Secrets game I played in the protagonist never lost dice, so she never had reflection scenes to regain them. That is probably why it didn't stick with me. But yeah, that is a perfect example.
  5. Administrator
     
    Posted By: Minion_MindThe bleeping sound when you start the clips...was that intentional?

    Yep, I wanted some clear indicator that we were transitioning into clips from other sources. What did you think about the noise? Useful? Annoying?
  6.  
    Member
     
    Posted By: Sean Nittner
    Posted By: Minion_MindThe bleeping sound when you start the clips...was that intentional?

    Yep, I wanted some clear indicator that we were transitioning into clips from other sources. What did you think about the noise? Useful? Annoying?


    It worked fine, just was a little puzzling at first. Stick with it so people get used to it.

    It was really cool though that you brought in some one else's words rather than just put up a link and such.

    Really continuing the conversation there ;)
  7. Administrator
     
    Thanks Minion, it was a fun show to do. The interview with Paul Tevis coming online tonight or tomorrow.
  8. Member
    • CommentAuthorDSchmitt
    • CommentTimeAug 7th 2009
     
    Great show, here.

    I do love how Dogs Fallout is a reflection on the conflict. I think that Universalis allows this very well too.... after a conflict everyone involved gets to buy in facts that happened as a result of the conflict. These can be new traits, just like in Dogs, or even elimination of traits such as 'Mortal enemy of so and so', showing some degree of reconciliation.

    As for the beeps, I thought they were annoying myself. I listen to a good bit of talk radio and I've not heard any radio shows that do that for clips of other people speaking... they just say they're playing a clip and play it. Announcing what a clip is about, who's you're going to hear speaking, and then running with it seems good enough for the pros.

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