Collaborative Storytelling Loop

Most RPGs tell a story of some kind. Some are deeper than others, but there is a story hiding under the cover of the mechanics somewhere. Since most RPGs are played in a group, this makes the storytelling collaborative. At least, it should be collaborative. If it’s not, then the person telling the story to the group may as well be sitting at a campfire and telling the others a ghost story. While that’s perfectly fine for entertainment purposes, that’s not the point of playing a role playing game.

To help everyone make their tales more collaborative, I’ve come up with the concept of a storytelling loop that I’ll explain below. While this loop might sound like hard and fast instructions, please don’t treat them as such. If the loop needs to be adjusted based on circumstances, do so. This is not an instruction manual for assembling a set of shelves or a desk. This is guidance via a framework to help you think more clearly about how things could flow.

Group Effort

Obviously, to collaborate you need a group. This means everyone in the group should be involved in the telling of the tales. Some people will shine at times while others fade to supporting roles. This is perfectly natural, but the GM (and other players) should be aware of when an individual shines too much or too brightly and refocus the attention on another person. This is called “spotlight management” and there are several other articles here on Gnome Stew that delve more deeply into this topic. Just search for that phrase, and you’ll find a wealth of information.

No One Side of the Screen is Responsible

As is implied by the above “group effort” section, the GM is not solely responsible for the storytelling loop. It’s a back-and-forth with handoffs and flowing between GM-provided narrative and information and the PCs responding to that new information.

Flow State

Even though what I’m going to present below implies a smooth handoff between GM and PCs, this is not always the case. The GM may have a PC do something that interrupts the loop or the PCs may latch onto something the GM has presented that breaks the flow. That’s perfectly fine. From my experience, however, what I’m outlining below is the typical flow for the storytelling elements that come into play.

Yes, And

To keep the flow going, don’t just agree with another player’s idea. Tack onto it. Add to it. Build upon what they’ve offered up and keep the story going.

No, But

If someone puts something out there and you (either as GM or player) don’t fully think it’ll fit into the current story that’s being told, don’t just hard stop the idea. Take the concept and redirect it with a “but” clause that gets it back into the flow state of the story.

The Storytelling Loop Framework

1. GM Introduces Scenario
2. Optional: PCs React to Scenario
3. GM Triggers Events
4. PCs React to Events
5. PCs Make Choices
6. PCs Take Actions
7. GM Reacts to PCs’ Actions
8. GM Triggers New Story Events
9. Repeat Steps 4 through 8

1) GM Introduces the Scenario

The start of any decent story introduces a time, place, maybe some NPCs, and a scenario that is unfolding (or has just occurred). This is the initial setup of the adventure where the PCs band together (if they’re not already together) to face a threat, goal, situation, enemy, or to set out toward a destination.

2) Optional: PCs React to Scenario

Once the scenario is established, the PCs might want to do some prep work. This could be divination, research, travel, acquiring provisions and equipment, talking to NPCs, formulating a plan, or coming up with ideas on what might come next. This doesn’t always happen, because the “GM Triggers Events” can sometimes happen immediately after the scenario is established. This is common in the “in media res” style of storytelling where the action hits close on the heels of the story’s introduction.

3) GM Triggers Events

The GM then sets up and triggers some events that impact the PCs. These events could be an attack, the start of a heist, a critical discovery, acquisition of a map, gaining new information, or witnessing something happening that the PCs want to aid or prevent. The key here is not what kind of event is triggered, but to ensure at least a few of the PCs have a motivation to interact with the event being presented. If a man is resisting arrest in front of the PCs, there might not be any motivation attached to stop the man or the authorities. However, if the man is a close friend of several of the PCs, they might want to at least interrogate the reason for the arrest, if not stop it. On the flip side, if the man is a dire enemy and appears to be close to escaping his arrest, the PCs will want to step in and ensure he doesn’t get away.

4) PCs React to Events

The event presented by the GM should cause some flavor of reaction in the PCs. It is preferable that this be an emotional reaction combined with a physical one. A mere physical response out of necessity is not as visceral or deep as actions taken because of an emotional attachment.

5) PCs Make Choices

The PCs must decide (sometimes quickly; sometimes methodically) on what their next actions will be in response to the presented event. The timeframe of how quickly the PCs must react will depend on the type of story being told and the urgency of the event put in front of them.

6) PCs Take Actions

Once the PCs have reacted and made some choices, they have to put their plans into action. This could be as straightforward as drawing steel against the orc raiders to save the kidnapped prince. If the prince was just discovered kidnapped and the trail has grown cold, then the PCs’ actions might involve an investigation of the crime scene, or tracking the kidnappers, or talking with witnesses to gather more information in order to find where the kidnappers took the missing prince.

The number of actions available to the PCs are countless, but should be guided and focused by the event in front of them. I call this a “creative compass.” What I mean by this, is that the GM should provide some hints or choice options to limit the amount of “analysis paralysis” the PCs will go through. If the PCs merely know “the prince is missing” then they don’t really have enough information to formulate an intelligent response. If the event is “the prince is missing and several people saw a squad of orcs carrying a bound child through the darkness at the edge of town to the north,” then the PCs can do a minor amount of investigation before delving into the wilderness to the north.

7) GM Reacts to the PCs’ Actions

Depending on what the PCs actions are, there are numerous effects they’ll have on the story. I’ve grouped these changes into the following buckets:

• Story arc change of direction
• Setting changes
• NPC changes/additions/losses
• Enemy changes/additions/losses
• Ally changes/additions/losses
• Consequences and Adverse Effects for the PCs
• Potential Rewards for the PCs
  • Treasure
  • Experience
  • Allies
  • Favors
  • Social Status

These changes to the story, I hope, are self explanatory. If someone out there wants me to delve deeper into these, I can do so in another article along these lines. Just drop a comment below and let me know.

8) GM Triggers New Story Events

As with step 3 above, the GM will introduce a new event based on what has changed in the story. These changes will be based on the outcome of the PCs’ actions. Instead of moving forward with a pre-written response to the action outcomes, the GM should adjust things as necessary to make sure the new story event aligns with what just happened. Sometimes, your pre-written event will work perfectly. Most of the time, GMs will have to make minor adjustments. There are rare cases, however, where the pre-written prep the GM has done will need to be massively reworked or thrown out.

9) Repeat the Process

Clearly, if the story has not come to a satisfactory conclusion (returning the kidnapped prince from the clutches of the orc raiders and back to the royal castle), the story must continue. Repeating steps four through eight will keep the flow going on the story. Once the story arc, character arc, or campaign arc has come to a conclusion, the GM should wrap things up with the PCs and not introduce a new event. If the GM does introduce a new event, this is an indication of a fresh story/campaign arc that is about to be told.

Addendum: Automated Triggers on a Timer

There are some external factors that can modify GM events or PC actions. Many of these run on a timer, but some may be pseudo-random. Examples of automated triggers are:

• Weather Changes
• NPC actions
• Enemy plans and actions
• Movement of celestial bodies
• Random encounters
• Random treasure

Conclusion

I hope this description of a collaborative storytelling loop helps you identify where you’re getting things right, and maybe areas for improvement. If nothing else, I hope this article gave you something to mentally chew on and apply in your role playing games.