The Storyteller’s Guide

Where there are stories, there are storytellers. Storytelling has existed since the earliest incarnations of human language and still retains a prominent foothold in modern culture even to this day.

While stories are often told to an audience, Mythmaker transforms storytelling into a conversation where the players and their created characters have a stake in the outcome. Together, the Storyteller and the players sit down at the table and make decisions on how the story unfolds. In other words, the Storyteller is not in charge of the story; the story is what happens at the table.

This section of the book is intended to act as a guide for Storytellers on how to create worlds, fashion adventures, and design obstacles for the game of Mythmaker. Do note that even though this book gives a framework on what to do, you do not need to follow it if you think there is a better way. It is your game, your rules. The goal in the end is to have fun.

Storytelling

As the Storyteller, you are the voice of the World. If the players and their characters interact with something, then it is your role to determine how the World responds whether that be through a character or fate. While this can seem daunting to new Storytellers, a good Storyteller only needs to do four things: Ask Questions, Reveal Challenges, Listen to the Players, and Keep Track of Time.

Ask Questions

One of the most powerful tools a Storyteller has at the table is the ability to ask questions. Role-playing games, when boiled down to their core, are just conversations where one side asks questions and the other side answers those questions with actions and dice rolls. If you can master the art of asking questions, you will be well on your way towards being an excellent Storyteller. Here are some of the kinds of questions you should ask as a Storyteller:

• Examining Questions help the players consider a situation and invite them to consider how their characters would respond to it. When the characters delve into underground ruins, who is leading the group? Who is providing torchlight? As the group enters town, what do the characters intend to do? Do some characters go to the tavern, or do others wander off and explore? Examining questions make the players think about how their characters might act in the context of their current environment.
• Probing Questions allow you to dig deeper into a character’s motives and allow players to express how their character feels in the moment. After spending a night in a damp and dismal dungeon, how do the characters feel as they huddle around a small fire for warmth? That drunken man just insulted your mother, how does that make you feel? The monster that killed your brother is turning to run, are you going to let them escape? You can use a character’s Natures to provide a deeper context to what is happening, which helps sustain the illusion of verisimilitude, that this world you’ve put before them is living and breathing.
• Leading Questions help guide a situation if the players are feeling at a loss over what to do next or how to go about overcoming a challenge set before them. A leading question might take the form of “A boulder blocks your way deeper into the dungeon, do you try to move it altogether or do you look for another way in?” or “A thief is running away with your coin purse! Do you chase them through the crowd, try to find a shortcut, or climb onto the roofs and trail them from above?” The players may decide to go with one of the options you have provided or take the information and come up with a plan of their own. Either way, the initiative is passed to the players in a manner easy for them to digest.
• Curious Questions simply let you explore details or actions that caught your attention or inspired curiosity. Good Storytellers are always curious about the players’ characters and by asking casual questions, you can leave room for the players to fill in pieces of your world with pieces of their own imagination. This is your character’s hometown so where do they like to eat? Where did you acquire that trinket in your backpack?

Reveal Challenges

Revealing Challenges is perhaps the defining role of a Storyteller. When the going gets tough, how tough does it get? When the players at your table state their intent, you simply need to ask yourself this one question: What is stopping the characters from performing a task or reaching a goal?

If nothing is stopping the players from taking an action, then they should be able to take it without hassle. Asking yourself this question also invites you to think about the current situation and ask questions about it.

When the ex-soldier declares that they want to draw their sword in a tavern full of people, you have the power to slow down time and reveal what consequences an action may bare upon the character. As the ex-soldier moves their hand to the hilt of their sword, you can reveal that doing so in a crowded place would inspire panic. Or perhaps their eyes catch the glints of blades from the other side of the room where three guards enjoying a drink see the character’s intent from afar.

This kind of questioning doesn’t just apply to the local situation, but also to the adventure you plan to set them on. If the dark lord follows through with their villainous scheme, then what challenges would that present? If the characters don’t make it in time to stop the young prince from being sacrificed, what happens then? These challenges don’t need to be told to the players directly, but hinting at them and building them up with clues along the way will encourage the players to be thinking about them and may even motivate them to take actions to investigate further.

Listen to the Players

The players themselves are the best resource you have for figuring out how to engage their characters. Listen to how they describe their character and their actions. By listening to the players, you will pick up on words, phrases, and ideas they use to interact with the world. It’s from these observations that you can make curious questions and put challenges and obstacles before the player that inspire their involvement with the game.

Do they engage with combat? Then that gives you a clue to add interesting creatures for them to fight or unique encounters to be in. Is the character after gold and power? Create opportunities for them to acquire them.

Your players also act as a gauge over how difficult your challenges are. If you know they’ve been spending a lot of resources and don’t have many left to spare, consider easing up on challenges or offer them opportunities to keep active in the game. Remember, while you are the Storyteller and may take an adversarial position at times, you should be on the player’s side. Without the players, there is no game.

Keep Track of Time

The game as it’s designed happens within broad Turns which can span anywhere between days or hours. As the Storyteller, part of your job is taking into account how much time passes. After four turns of daylight, the setting turns to night which can impose difficulties on the characters if they choose to continue their existing adventures.

But keeping track of time extends outside of Turns as well as you the Storyteller are the ultimate arbiter over how time flows. Turns are all tools that allow you to manipulate time and enhance the story. Keeping track of time also helps make the world feel like a living place. Plus by keeping track of time and putting importance on it, the players will understand its relevance to the game as well.

Good Habits

In addition to the four tasks listed above, there are also some generally good habits to work at to improve your standing as a Storyteller.

• Remember that you are on the player’s side. Being a Storyteller is about being master of the adventure and putting the characters that your players made to the test. By acting with integrity and respect for the time the players are devoting to the game, you will earn their trust.
• Recall that the story is what happens at the table. The players, by the nature of role-playing games, are driving agents in the story which means they are elements of narrative chaos. This means that the more you try to plan outcomes and force the players into making certain decisions, the more the players will resent the game.
• Offer insight and advice towards the players’ goals. As stated, you are on the players side. You want to see them succeed against all odds you throw at them. While you as Storyteller must keep some parts of the game secret, that doesn’t mean you can’t offer insight or ideas to the players as they plan things out. Maybe the players are overlooking a detail that would really help them in the current scene and need a reminder.
• If there’s a pause, present two options. Pauses and lulls will naturally occur as you play the game. Sometimes folks are tired from a long week of working or maybe they feel stuck on how to proceed. If this occurs, offer the players two options on how to achieve forward progress and then give them the floor to invent a third option if the other two don’t work.
• Remember that you hold all the cards and that your players cannot see them. As Storyteller, your intentions and your machinations are completely opaque to the players. They only have access to the few words that you give them so always look for opportunities to give them the information they need whether it's in the form of a Test, a wandering creature with the knowledge they need, or a hidden clue that they can readily find.
• Be curious and invested in the players. Your players and their characters are the stars of the show. Your world might have the richest of lore, the most intricate of magic systems, and the most diabolical political machinations ever seen. But the characters are why there is a game in the first place. If you aren’t interested in the characters and how they will interact with your world, then you are probably better off writing a novel.
• Record intriguing events. As stated, your players’ characters are the main characters. So when they make a curious move or collaborate in a scheme that could have rippling effects on later events, write it down! It shows the players that you are invested and it gives you inspiration to fall back on later in the game. If one of the characters robs a rich noble, how is that noble going to react? Maybe sometime down the road, the party finds themselves faced against thugs hired by the same noble. Or maybe a ruthless character performs a merciful deed and allows a bounty to escape. That escapee could become someone that provides important information to the party later on.
• Keep a list of random names handy. Knowing what one player might do during a given game is tricky but predicting the moves of three to even six players is an impossible task. Your players will ask you questions you might not know the answer to and one of the most commonly asked questions you will face as a Storyteller is “What is that character’s name”. If you don’t have the character’s name jotted down, having a list of random names nearby to quickly reference will save both face and time while making it seem as though you had an answer ready.
• Keep an idea bank. Ideas for your game can come from anywhere at any time which is why it’s important to record those sudden bursts of inspiration down on a piece of paper or upon your phone. When you find yourself in need of ideas, either when you’re planning the next adventure or are in need of something to put before the players, you’ll have an idea bank to fall back on.

Bad Habits

Just as there are good habits, there are also bad habits to acquire as the Storyteller. This section lists a few to be mindful of when playing the game.

• Use the word ‘No’ with care. No is a powerful word; It is absolute and often causes abrupt ends in conversation. There are of course exceptions to the rule but more often than not, there are better ways of signaling this to the players. Even if a player comes up with the most outlandish idea you have ever heard, offer them insight by putting it into the context of the situation. If a boulder blocks the path of the party and one character wants to punch through it, one way to respond might be “Okay. You can try to punch the boulder, but there’s a good chance it will have little effect and you may hurt your hand”.
• Don’t force rolls. You are the voice of the world, but you as Storyteller are only human. Instead of dictating what a player needs to roll, offer suggestions and explain your reasoning behind them. For example, if a player says their strong character wants to carry a heavy chest full of gold all the way back to town, you could respond with: “Okay, you have a strong character, but since you’re traveling a fair way, this sounds like a use of Body”.
• Don’t assume incompetence from the characters. Minor and Major Blunders are bound to happen but they are simply accidents and not a result of a character’s idiocy. Bear in mind that many actions require vigor to perform. By spending vigor and not gaining enough successes to overcome an obstacle, that alone is some measure of failure. So if a character falters, add a detail that might have caused the blunder. Perhaps the character’s attack caused them to slip and lose balance for a moment. Or maybe a Major Blunder takes the form of an unexpected gust of wind threatening to blow the character off the unstable rope bridge.
• Avoid getting trapped in trivial details. As a Storyteller, you control the passage of time. When playing the game, slow down time when you want the characters to focus and speed forward to avoid getting bogged in the details. Wallowing in minutia can grind a game to a snail’s crawl. Trimming away the fat creates a healthy pace where only the juicy bits are left behind. If it’s the character’s first time experiencing the minutia then it’s okay to drag them through the first time around, but keep it to a summary on repeating events.
• Don’t be afraid of rewarding the players. Adventures are harrowing experiences that test the limits of the characters and force them to take sometimes lethal risks. If the players have managed to overcome every difficulty you’ve presented them, don’t skimp when it’s time to give them their due. It doesn’t need to be material wealth either. If the players came across a secret of your world or of your campaign earlier than intended, then let them have it. It will change how they view the adventure and force you as the Storyteller to think about how the forces in your game will be altered as a result.

Starting the Game

The First Session

When you and your fellow players finally meet up for the first session, there are some details that should be addressed before people begin making their characters:

• The World. The first session of the game should establish the present world for your players and where exactly the game will be taking place. Is the game going to begin in a city? Does the game begin with a big cataclysmic event that causes ripples across society? Perhaps there is an ongoing war between two rivaling kingdoms that is happening in the background of the adventure.

  Establish the key details defining your world’s current state before the player characters enter and inevitably change it some way. It is advised that you come up with four to six Key Details for the start of the game.

• Expectations. The First Session is the perfect time to tell your players about your ideas for the campaign and what they can expect. If you don’t have anything concretely established, you can opt to petition the players for information and themes. Players will become much more invested if they feel they have a stake in a part of the world at large. You can also use Expectations to establish the themes of the game which the players can then use to build their characters.

  Hard and Soft Limits should also be discussed. First start by deciding what you are comfortable with in your game before bringing it up with the players. Not all players might be comfortable with the ideas and themes present in your game and the beginning of the game is the perfect time to address them. Let your players inform you of their Hard and Soft Limits. Hard Limits are things that a player is very much against while Soft Limits are ones that require extra care as they are sources of fear, anxiety, or discomfort.

  The purpose of the game is to have fun and setting these expectations early helps to ensure that everyone is on the same page.

• Character Relations. The First session can also serve as a good way to figure out how the characters are linked together. As Storyteller, you can either come to an agreement with the players or offer some options that link back to the key details of your world. If there was a recent war against the Dark Lord, then perhaps some of the characters are ex-soldiers who are looking for a new line of work.

  Another way of going about this is tying all of the characters to a group, guild, organization, order, or faction in the world. Going this route gives the players an immediate hook into your world and gives you a starting point for offering them adventures and quests to perform.

  Alternatively, you could offer the group a series of patrons or benefactors to get them started on the adventure. Each of these patrons should offer a different perspective into the campaign but they are not permanent and the players should feel at liberty to switch to another or find a new one if the situation calls for it.

• Reasons for Cooperation. Character creation in Mythmaker can lead to a wonderfully wide array of potential characters for your players to choose from. Even though you can have a party of exotic persons, frustration can arise if the expectations of the players are at odds with their character’s intentions. For this reason, it is wise to make characters that would have a clear reason to adventure with the rest of the party. Even if a character is the silent ranger who broods in the shade, sticking with the group provides them back-up in the face of danger and even a source of extra rations should the situation turn dire.

Once all of these details have been covered, you are ready to begin the adventure into the world of Mythmaker.