#RPGaDay2025 - 28 Suspense


The moment when an action is declared, the moment when the narrative suspends, when abilities are consulted, and when dice are rolled. It’s a split second in the game world, but time gets suspended in the real world outside. We don’t know what’s about to happen, and there’s a good chance that the system won’t be able to make a solid interpretation of events either and it will take the imagination of the players and the GM/Narrator to consolidate the flux into a new narrative path.

TTRPGs are a fluctuating balance between the mechanisms of play and the flow of the story. I’ve always found the tension of suspense unfolds moment by moment and scene by scene. But the moment of suspense that makes or breaks a game is always the moment when dice are about to give their result. The bit that makes or breaks this is the way the die roll is framed by the rules and the group of players. Is something good going to happen? Is something bad going to happen? is this roll going to be moment that the ongoing story hinges on? Hopefully not, because such an event can utterly shatter a game if it goes wrong… but the player’s don’t necessarily need to know that. They just need to feel the drama, and that’s all a part of the illusion of the game.

 

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