Scene Framing

[MountZionRyan]

At the most basic level Scene Framing is describing and setting up a scene. Traditionally this has been done by the GM.

However--as evidenced by the definition at Treasure Tables "A mechanic by which players exert narrative control over in-game events by describing and setting up scenes for the group"--there are games in which players can control scene framing.

I am not well versed in any of these games. Can you 1) name some of the games I should check out, 2)explain how this is facilitated mechanically and 3)how it plays out at the table?

Or is this simply a more obscure term for narrative control?

Thanks
_________________
"I'm thinking of growing a big
black mustache. I'm a traditionalist."
--Simon Tam

[oreso]

These are decent specific questions. I can think of four or so broadly different ways games allow players to set up scenes.

My Life with Master, Contenders, etc (at least how I've played them) give the player total control over scene framing, simply replacing the GM in this role, if the player chooses. The GM can step up to the plate if the players don't want to though. In these games there are only so many types of scenes to choose from and player simply picks one. This gives the player or GM a structure on which to hang a scene. For example, in My Life with Master, if the player wants a new order from the Master, then obviously the scene will include the Master (played by the GM) and the minion (played by the player). Other characters can be doled out to other players by the the GM or whoever, and the other players can simply chip in ideas and narration anyway, but it's the GM and player involved who set the stakes of any conflicts and do the bulk of the narration.

In Capes and Polaris, scene setting duty is rotated, since these games are GMless. Again, scene setting is flexible and anyone can chip in, but only one person is ultimately responsible. The way I do it in Capes is I ask everyone what character they want to be, and then I spin a scene that would logically include those characters. Another consideration would be to service the plot that is developing in the most interesting way. For example, if we've introduced alot of heroes, but they don't have a major villainous plot to foil yet, then I simply introduce a scene saying "Meanwhile, back at the Villains lair..." and we generate some more villains and hash it out through play by introducing characters and elements.

In Spirit of the Century and Dogs in the Vineyard, etc, its assumed that although the GM has the final say in framing a scene, as part of the game's basic resolution mechanics you can introduce elements. And for example, in Dogs in the Vineyard, since the players have total control over their characters and those characters are very authoritative in the setting, and there can never be a preplanned plot to follow, they can effectively frame scenes by saying "I going to meet Sister Anne in her house tonight" and the GM has to go with that.

In Unisystem Buffy and a million other games, players can spend a finite resource to modify a scene slightly and introduce new elements into it. This is basically making players pay for what the above games take for granted; the ability for anyone to chip in with ideas. I guess this allows for a more cohesive and prepared plot though.

[Mike Holmes]

I don't think that I would be out of line by suggesting that Universalis spawned several of the games mentioned (in terms of having set scene framing rules) and still has some of the most rigorous rules for scene-framing.

In that game, players bid for the right to frame the next scene, and this obligates them to set a location, a time for the scene, and to introduce one element to the scene to give it something to work with (often a character, but not neccessarily). Once the player doing the framing starts, he cannot be interrutped (mechanically) until he finishes adding that one element, and he can also continue to add to the scene on his turn after that point.

It's pretty generic, yes. But hopefully gives you an idea of a mechanical handling of such stuff.

Burning Empires has a much less generic, and much more specific set of mechanics for framing scenes. Including dividing scenes up into different types, the type being selected by the framers at the outset, and limited by things like how many of those scenes have been run.


Less mechanically speaking, "Scene Framing" refers to "Narrative Control" over the critical element of getting a scene started. Often in traditional play this is done very... well the positivist term would be subtly... but some might say haphazardly. That is, the assumption in much RPG play is that all events just flow from one to another... basically all play is equivalent in theory to one huge scene.

But practically speaking that's not the case. If you say:

"I'm going to go purchase a new sword to replace my broken one."

The GM will usually frame a new scene in this case. He could in theory do a slow transition:

"You leave the tavern, heading out into the street, where it's not too crowded. Do you want to go towards the smith district?"

But in practice it's usually something more like a segue:

"You head out across town, and you reach the smithing district, and see several shops to choose from. Which do you go in?"

Basically in this case what's happening is that the GM is moving past the point where there is no meaningful player interaction with the game, to a point where he thinks that fun interaction will begin.

From this POV, "Scene Framing" is simply skipping anything that we wouldn't want to have "On camera" in a movie, or any narrative that we wouldn't want to see in a book. We assume that your character occasionally has to heed the call of nature, but rarely do we ever actually see bathroom breaks played out in RPGs. It's just not what we came for.

So it's up to somebody to move the action to a time, place, and set of characters or things that the players are interested in moving around in that locale or otherwise interacting.

Very much this duty always exists in all RPGs. Again, in traditional games, it's just often sorta overlooked, and some people don't even realize that it's happening. But it is.

By focusing on Scene Framing, we can get a skill-set built that allows us to ensure that play is about entertaining things, and not fluff that players do not care about. That skill then, largely, is understanding what is entertaining and framing to that.

Games like Universalis, Capes, Polaris do this very simply by putting the power in the hands of the players. Assuming that they will know best what's interesting to them, and frame directly to what interests them. So, yes, it's the narrative power to frame scenes that traditionally resides with the GM, being given expressly here to the players.

Note that, while I like this sort of mechanic, I also like the traditional GM role of being scene-framer. And other games give support to the GM for being able to frame scenes well. For instance in Hero Quest, the character sheet usually has powerful "Flags" (notes that indicate what about playing the character interests the player), that a GM can look to in terms of framing a scene. Does the character have a relationship with a loved one? Perhaps the next scene should incorporate that character so we can check in on the current status of that relationship, and perhaps challenge it.

Flags are a sorta rudimentary method use in framing and "scenario design" when more powerful methods do not exist mechanically.

Note that credit for first explicitly framing scenes as part of a game process (which used the term scene) might go to the game Story Engine. Which also had "scene resolution" mechanics (which were really trying to specify conflict resolution).

Mike