Narrative Point of View in Roleplaying Games

Every summer, I take a few weeks' break from roleplaying games and ponder the games I‘ve run the previous winter. This year, after some thinking, I figured I had become too dependent on images. After all, it is so easy nowadays to create pictures using AI, and I felt that my role as a narrator suffered because of it.

Instead of using my narrative voice and words to describe what the player characters see, I said:

You enter a tavern, and it looks like this.

Then, I showed the players an image generated by AI. So, I decided to stop doing this. The magic that lies in words was lost, I wasn‘t leveraging the players‘ imagination.

This winter, I am running a Dark Sun campaign using a slightly modified 5e ruleset. Dark Sun is one of my favorite settings; it‘s gritty, deadly, and brutal. And that‘s even withstanding the monsters found on Athas. The scorching sun, vast deserts, ruthless nature, and constant survival-of-the-fittest are perhaps not for everyone, but I like it.

I find the setting interesting, offering a myriad of places where the player characters can make their mark and become heroes. Whether they decide to topple a sorcerer-king, investigate long-lost ruins of the Green Age, or help out a slave tribe, there are so many plot hooks to follow. Not to mention that this setting is rather unique in the history of D&D.

I also decided last summer to explore the different types of a narrative‘s point of view in this campaign. This might be something that many game masters never consider, but it‘s worth exploring since it can drastically change how we experience narratives. I read through many different modules and figured that in most of them – almost everyone, to be fair – you can find three different types of points of view.

Objective second-person point of view

The most common point of view is the objective 2nd person view. Most modern D&D modules use this point of view, e.g. Curse of Strahd and Eve of Ruin. In this type of POV, the narrator only describes what the player characters can see, hear, or smell. The narrator never gives away what the non-player characters think or feel (except after using spells or other powers).

To a party of seasoned adventures such as yourself, what you see is but another dull tavern in another dull town in some nameless province. It is but another span of time between the challenges of true adventuring. (From D&D: Curse of Strahd)

Using this POV, the narrative voice addresses the player characters and tells them what they can sense but never gives away any information that they, the player characters, should not have. The narrator becomes a camera lens through which the players experience the narrative. This can even become tediously fact-based, thus making the narrative voice distant and almost cold.

Upright slabs are set into the walls of this large burial chamber. Each slab is carved with the faded likeness of a different robed human above indecipherable writing. One of these slabs is blank with a piece of paper stuck to it. (From D&D: Eve of Ruin )

Though objective POV is not used much in modern literature (save for news, perhaps, if one considers news a sort of literature), it was widely used in the Middle Ages. For example, most of the Sagas of the Icelanders are written using an objective 3rd person point of view.

Limited second-person point of view

A second-person POV is also common, where the narrator sees into the minds of the player characters and even takes control of them every now and then. This is a great tool to speed up the narrative, although players might feel railroaded if used too frequently.

You are still looking around for someone you know when you realize that someone is approaching you. She is naked, with no jewelry, but from the way the crowd parts around her you know that she is no slave. In fact, you are sure you should know her. She is smiling, friendly, and just before she reaches you, you remember her name: Tertia Julia Comitor, member of the Senex, and hostess of the party.(From Vampire the Requiem: Fall of the Camarilla) 

This POV offers the game master a chance to convey more information than the objective POV since, through the narrative voice, the GM can decide what the player characters know, feel, or even do. As in the example above, this can be done subtly and almost undetectable by the player characters, but sometimes the narrator takes charge and decides even how they have spent the day and what they‘ve seen or are doing.

It has been a long time since you noticed any movements or sounds. The life in the forest is swallowed by darkness and vegetation. You have followed the shore of a lake since midday, and for the first time, you can concentrate on the details of the forest and not just the constant trampling of your feet upon the uneven ground. Twilight has lowered itself like a lid upon Wildheart. Then, unexpectedly, you see them standing on the other side of the lake. It‘s a small company of four dwarves that quietly and calmly observe you. (From Trudvang Chronicles: Wildheart)

When using this POV, it is important to remember that the narrator limits their knowledge and ability to see into characters‘ minds to the player characters. They must still use spells, features, or powers to read other characters‘ minds.

Omniscient point of view

When using the omniscient point of view, the narrator gives the players glimpses of what is happening simultaneously or at a similar time but in other places in the narrative world. This is a great way to help the players feel more invested in the setting and understand its history, politics, or other details.

Standing before the massive viewports of the command bridge, a high-ranking Imperial officer looks out upon the damage his ship has sustained. His eyes slide slowly across the deep gashes and the twisted superstructure, resting momentarily upon a black scar that slices toward the hull. An explosion rips through the wounded ship from somewhere deep inside, throwing the bridge crew from side to side. But the officer stands firm before the viewport, oblivious to the discomfort of his men. (From WEG Star Wars: Starfall)

This POV allows the narrator to interject the player character‘s main story arc with side arcs, as in the example from Starfall, where the players, whose characters are trying to escape a ruined star destroyer, learn about what is happening in the ship‘s bridge.

This is perhaps the least used POV in roleplaying games, but it is a great asset to the game master‘s gallery. You can use it to build suspense, foreshadow events to come, and so on. Of course, you need to ensure that the players do not use this knowledge to benefit their player characters, but fortunately, most players know how to distinguish between what they know and what their characters know.

The Best POV!

The best POV is the one that suits your playing style. Most game masters I know tend to use both the objective and limited POV, even in the same narrative, i.e., in some parts of the narrative, they use objective POV while using limited POV in other parts.

I wanted to try out the Omniscient POV running the Dark Sun Campaign. I write a short Narrator‘s Injection between sessions, telling the players about events happening elsewhere on Athas. So far, the players have liked it, and it seems to help them get a better sense of the setting, its rich history, and their characters' roles.

Despite this being a tabletop game, I‘ve used Quest Portal for all my notes. I love keeping all my information in one place and sharing with the players the information they need when it becomes available to them. We have all our session notes, to which I add all boxed text and information about NPCs, places, and monsters in one place. The Narrator‘s Injections are notes I share with the players sometime between sessions, and it has been rewarding to see how much they like reading them.

Regardless of which POV you prefer, remember to enjoy being the narrator. The more you like the narrative, the likelier it is your players will as well.