Storytelling for Vampire By Wassail Linear vs. Non-linear storytelling Let’s take a look at the difference between linear and non-linear storytelling by comparing the two.  Before I go to far, I should point out that all stories are, in the end, linear.  However, the difference is not in the product, but in the process.  If you as the storyteller know beforehand how the story is going to develop and where it will end if all goes well, then you will be employing linear storytelling.  If you don’t know or have only concepts and ideas, you will be employing non-linear storytelling. Linear storytelling A linear chronicle proceeds from one event from the next, with little opportunity for diversion; the players proceed from point A, to point B, to point C, and end at point D. Sprinkle with experience points. Linear chronicles are good for beginning storytellers and are especially well supported by the Vampire tools. You pre-script your scenes with the knowledge that when this scene is finished, the players will be progressing to the next pre-scripted scene you have. In this regard the tools really help, making transitions easy and performed at the click of a button. With a little work done beforehand - deciding on a flow of the story, the antagonists involved, the objects, actors props required, and saving the whole thing, the tools can make a Storyteller’s job very painless.  In effect, the ST can participate as an NPC and let the game run itself. Non-linear storytelling A non-linear chronicle is more like real life - you don’t always proceed logically from one event to the next.  For example, in your daily life you may have a variety of things that you need to do, like go to work, buy groceries, call your mother, but there are things that you want to do that you have to put off in favour of something else or because you need something first. A good, basic non-linear chronicle consists of a large plot containing smaller subplots.  On its face, one might say that it’s not much different from a linear chronicle - the difference is however that the story will not fall apart if one subplot is completed before another.  Most linear chronicles depend on a progression of events to end at a climax.  Skillfully led, players may not even be aware that they had no choice at all about the direction the story went.  However, cunning players will often present you with demands that defy the preset logic of your story and require you to enforce the direction of your plot through arbitrary measures.  Non-linear storytelling doesn’t necessarily mean that you let the players take control of the direction of the story, it just requires that you have to be quick-witted in dealing with unanticipated situations. A non-linear chronicle doesn’t mean it has no linear elements, just that it doesn’t force the players to follow an established direction.  If the players don’t want to attack the Sabbat because the prince told them, then if they can find a way to avoid it without repercussions, that’s just what happens.  In a non-linear setting, your job as a storyteller should not be to force the players into travelling a certain path, unless that’s what your players want.  If you’re uncomfortable with the plot of your chronicle changing based on the unexpected actions of your players, you may wish to stick with linear stories. To summarize: in a linear chronicle, the storyteller generally decides the direction of the plot with limited input from the players.  In a non-linear chronicle, the players decide the direction of the plot with cooperation and/or guidance from the storyteller.  The most liberal of non-linear storytelling would be a game in which the storyteller creates a hub and then asks the players, "What do you want to do?"  The players reveal their intentions and the storyteller would create a world to react to those intentions. The crisis comes when the players want to do something and you haven’t prepared for it.  Suddenly you have to whip up a subplot, a set of NPCs, and reasons for it all.  However, with a little advanced decision making, "new scene crisis" can be managed by some choices you make early on. Go to Storytelling Vampire Part 4