How to run a KUP game #5 - Active narration
I have in mind a concept which is easy to explain with an example… Apologies in advance if I use this example to let you understand what is behind it.
In case of an unfriendly encounter, the GM's description of the situation should be as confusing as the opposing side is immediate and hostile. The more involved a subject is in the encounter, the less detail one can have because of the inability to seize the whole picture. In this sense, a PC engaged in hand-to-hand combat has less input related to the scene because it is completely focused on the facing opponent. A PC engaged at a distance (for ranged or magic attacks) will certainly have more details because of his position (and less stress than being in melee). The GM should follow this method in providing descriptions to the various players. In addition the GM should always look after the light and use it properly: illumination always plays heavily into the descriptions and situation.
The following approach can be envisaged for hostile encounters: a very bare-bones basic description centered only on what is in evidence which, in case of melee, is the nearest opponent (likely to engage).
The GM can decide, based on characters’ position, that some players may perceive some more details than others (typically those who are at a certain distance); this principle must also take into account lighting (so in a dimly lit environment those who are far from the center of the action see less even though they have greater "visual field"). Within this approach the GM may consider providing other information with the following criterion:
Characters with SOM greater than 7 can ask two questions to better understand the situation.
Characters with SOM greater than 4 may ask only one question.
Characters with SOM less than or equal to 4 may not address questions.
The GM must also find a subjective way to describe a scene to the players by conveying the emotions that the scene may give: for example, in a dungeon, characters enter a room. Based on the content of the room and the development in the scene that may ensue, the GM must weigh the description to make the players feel the emotions their characters feel. Continuing with the example in the room there is an ogre and a chest; the ogre approaches the characters menacingly (or so it seems). The GM has firstly to provide players with the information about the brightness (based on this not everything may be visible) and the creature (because its actions may turn out to be a potential danger). Beyond this meager information, the GM may initially avoid providing further details to set the tone of immediacy for the scene that is presented in front of the characters. If players want more information about the picture as a whole, they must ask for it because the GM only describes what the character's brain frames as a priority. Players can (or better, should) ask the GM for more information and he may use the approach to incrementally provide details depending on how the action develops (e.g., by applying the rule of the score of SOM). Back to the example, the GM then has described an environment with some brightness a potential enemy within the room and decides to indicate only in a second moment (and ideally to a character who is in the position to determine this detail) an object that might be of interest to the characters such as the chest (although the characters might be greedy, the chest is certainly not the priority at that time) or other information not ‘immediately interesting’ such as, for example, a table or a tapestry hanging on the wall. Information that completes the description of the environment is intended only for the moment when the characters have resolved the potential concern present in the room (the ogre).
This way of describing the scene to the players is absolutely subjective and each GM have to find the best solution according to his skills; it is advisable to avoid a meticulous description from the beginning of the entire environment with completely irrelevant details that may turn an encounter "boring" or taking away the proper tension that makes the situation exciting and interesting.