Narrative Devices
Basic Information
Narrative devices move the story or the plot forward.
List of Narrative Devices
- A Boy And His X
- Accidental Bid
- Action Prologue
- Adults Are Useless
- A God Am I
- Air Vent Escape
- Amnesiac Dissonance
- And Now You Know The Rest Of The Story
- Androcles Lion
- And Then I Said
- And Your Little Dog Too
- Apocalypse Not
- Arc Welding
- Arc Words
- Are You My Mummy
- Arranged Marriage
- As The Good Book Says
- Author Stand In
- Avengers Assemble
- Awesome Moment Of Crowning
- Awful Truth
- Battle Royale With Cheese
- Bavarian Fire Drill
- Bedsheet Ladder
- Belly Of The Whale
- Best For Last
- Better To Die Than Be Killed
- Blackmail
- Blessed With Suck
- Blitz Evacuees
- Bosom Buddies
- Bound And Gagged
- Boxing Lesson
- Boy Meets Girl
- Briar Patching
- Brown Note
- Burn The Witch
- Butterfly Of Doom
- Call Forward
- Call On Me
- Cant Stay Normal
- Cardboard Prison
- Carrying A Cake
- Cassandra Truth
- Celebrity Star
- Chain Of Deals
- Chair Reveal
- Clark Kenting
- Class Trip
- Cliff Hanger
- The Climax
- Climbing Climax
- Clingy MacGuffin
- Coincidental Broadcast
- Cold Turkeys Are Everywhere
- Complaining About Rescues They Dont Like
- Confessional
- Continuity Nod
- Continuity Cameo
- Contractual Gag
- Contrived Coincidence
- Convenient Eclipse
- Conveniently Common Kink
- Cool And Unusual Punishment
- The Coroner Doth Protest Too Much
- Cosmic Retcon
- Courtroom Antic
- Crashing Dreams
- Cross Over
- Crowd Song
- Crystal Ball Scheduling
- Cursed With Awesome
- Curse Is Foiled Again
- Cutting The Electronic Leash
- Darkened Building Shootout
- Darkness Equals Death
- Dead Man Walking
- Dead Person Conversation
- Dead Sidekick
- Decoy Getaway
- Depth Deception
- Detente Comrade (aka Eaten The MacGuffin)
- Deus Est Machina
- Deus Exit Machina
- Deus Ex Machina
- Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu
- Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead
- Diving Save
- Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
- Doomed Hometown
- Doorstop Baby
- Double Date
- Drama Bomb
- Dramatic Irony
- Dream Sequence
- Ducks In A Row
- Dungeon Bypass
- Dying Like Animals
- Dysfunction Junction
- Earth Shattering Kaboom
- Easily Forgiven
- Eat The Dog
- Eat The Evidence
- Either Or Prophecy
- Elves Vs Dwarves
- Empathic Weapon
- Empty Cop Threat
- Endangered Souffle
- Enforced Cold War
- Engagement Challenge
- Engineered Public Confession
- The Eternal Churchill
- Et Tu Brute
- Even The Dog Is Ashamed
- Everybodys Dead Dave
- Everyone Knows Morse
- Evil Phone
- Evil Plan
- Exact Eaves Dropping
- Exact Words
- Expansion Pack World
- Failed A Spot Check
- Failure Is The Only Option
- Fainting Seer
- Fake Defector
- Familiarity Breeds Contemplation
- Familicide
- Fascists Bed Time
- Faustian Rebellion
- Faux Death
- Fauxlosophic Narration
- Fauxshadow
- Fat Monica
- Feet Of Clay
- Fence Painting
- Fighting For Survival
- Fisher King
- Flying Dutchman
- Forbidden Fruit
- Forced Prize Fight
- Foreshadowing
- Framed Clue
- Framing The Guilty Party
- Freak Out
- Friend Or Idol Decision
- Friends All Along
- Frothy Mugs Of Water
- Future Badass
- Fur Against Fang
- Geodesic Cast
- George Jetson Job Security
- Getting Hot In Here
- Get Out Of Jail Free Card
- Go Among Mad People
- Going In Circles
- Golden Moment
- Golden Snitch
- Green Eggs And Ham
- Green Rooming
- Gust Of Wind
- Hannibal Lecture
- Harmful To Minors
- Haunted Headquarters
- He Had It Coming
- Heat Wave
- Heart Trauma
- Heel Realization
- Here We Go Again
- Hidden In Plain Sight
- High Turnover Rate
- Holding Out For A Hero
- Homage
- Hostage For MacGuffin
- Hostage Situation
- Hourglass Plot
- How Much Did You Hear
- Humans Are Bastards
- Human Resources
- Human Shield
- Humiliation Conga
- I Am He As You Are He
- I Am John Smith
- I Am One Of Those Too
- Identical Grandson
- Idiot Ball
- If Jesus Then Aliens
- I Hate You Vampire Dad
- I Just Want To Be Normal
- I Just Want To Be Special
- I'm A Humanitarian
- Imaginary Friend
- Imaginary Enemy
- Important Haircut
- Inconvenient Hippocratic Oath
- Informed Ability
- Insulted Awake
- Inn Between The Worlds
- Innocent Innuendo
- Instant Expert
- Intercontinuity Crossover
- Interrupted Suicide
- Invisible To Normals
- I Owe You My Life
- Ironic Echo
- Ironic Inversion
- Irrevocable Message
- It's All Junk
- It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time
- It's Probably Nothing
- It Was With You All Along
- Jacob Marley Warning
- Joker Jury
- Jury Of The Damned
- Keep The Reward
- Kent Brockman News
- Kicked Upstairs
- Knights And Knaves
- Lamaze Class
- Leave Him To Me
- Leave The Camera Running
- The Little Shop That Wasn't There Yesterday
- Living With The Villain
- Locking Mac Gyver In The Store Cupboard
- Look Ma No Plane
- Lowered Monster Difficulty
- Luke I Am Your Father
- Luke You Are My Father
- MacGuffin
- MacGuffin Delivery Service
- Magic Hat
- Magnetic Plot Device
- Man Hands
- The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
- Matchmaker Dot Com
- Medal Of Dishonor
- Melodramatic Pause
- Memento MacGuffin
- Mercy Lead
- Mind Rape
- Mineral MacGuffin
- Miracle Rally
- Mister Sandman Sequence
- Mistimed Revival
- Mood Whiplash
- Moses In The Bullrushes
- Mundane Solution
- Mushroom Samba
- Mutilation Interrogation
- The Mutiny
- Mythology Gag
- Name That Tune
- Near Death Experience
- Never Split The Party
- No Fourth Wall
- Noodle Incident
- Notable Non Sequitur
- Not A Date
- Not As You Know Them
- Not Cheating Unless You Get Caught
- Not Helping Your Case
- Not Important To This Episode Camp
- Not In Front Of The Parrot
- Not My Driver
- Not My Lucky Day
- Not What It Looks Like
- Obfuscating Stupidity
- Oblivious Adoption
- Oblivious Guilt Slinging
- An Offer You Cant Refuse
- Offhand Backhand
- Offing The Offspring
- Off To Boarding School
- Oh Cisco
- Okay Kenton
- Olaf's Hammer
- Ominous Multiple Screens
- One Degree Of Separation
- One Side Of The Story
- Only Smart People May Pass
- Orphans Plot Trinket
- Out Of Clothes Experience
- Overly Long Gag
- Padding
- Parental Favoritism
- The Parent Trap
- Party Scheduling Gambit
- Penultimate Outburst
- People Jars
- Perpetual Poverty
- Pick On Someone Your Own Species
- Planet Of The Apes Ending
- Playing Sick
- Plot Coupon
- Plot Technology
- Poisoned Chalice Switcheroo
- Police Are Useless
- Poor Communication Kills
- Portal Pool
- Porn Stash
- Posthumous Character
- Practical Voice Over
- Pseudo Crisis
- Puberty Superpower
- The Purge
- Put Me In Coach
- Rage Against The Mentor
- Rash Equilibrium
- Read The Freaking Manual
- Relationship Reboot
- Ripped From The Headlines
- Red Herring Twist
- Rescue Romance
- Ret Con
- Retroactive Precognition
- Rewarded As A Traitor Deserves
- Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
- Right Hand Versus Left Hand
- Road Show
- Rock Bottom
- Room Disservice
- Roy Jones Jr
- Rousing Speech
- The Sadistic Choice
- Sammy's Glass Eye
- Sarcasm Failure
- Sarcastic Confession
- Science Is Bad
- School Play
- Screaming Birth
- Screw Destiny
- Scully Syndrome
- Scylla And Charybdis
- Second Hand Storytelling
- Second Prize
- Secret Identity
- Secret Legacy
- Secret Test Of Character
- Seeking Sanctuary
- Sequel Reboot
- Serious Business
- Shape Shifting
- Short Cuts Make Long Delays
- Shower Of Angst
- Show Within A Show
- Silly Rabbit Idealism Is For Kids
- Sisyphus Vs Rock
- Slow Clap
- Slumber Party
- Smite Me Oh Mighty Smiter
- Snooping Little Kid
- Snowball Lie
- Something Wicked This Way Comes
- Sorkin Relationship Moment
- Sorry To Interrupt
- Speak Friend And Enter
- Speak Of The Devil
- Stuff Blowing Up
- Stuffed Into A Locker
- Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum
- Summoning Ritual
- Survived The Beginning
- Suspended Animation
- Sweet Polly Oliver
- Switched At Birth
- Sympathetic POV
- Talking In Bed
- Take A Third Option
- Take Over The World
- Tap On The Head
- Team Spirit
- Ted Baxter Close Up
- Temporary Blindness
- Temporary Love Interest
- Tempting Fate
- Ten Minutes In The Closet
- The Baby Trap
- The Not Secret
- There Is No Try
- The Thing That Would Not Leave
- Thirty Xanatos Pileup
- This Is Something Hes Got To Do Himself
- This Is Your Brain On Evil
- Three Act Structure
- Thwarted Escape
- Time Travel
- Tomato Surprise
- To The Pain
- Tongue Tied
- Tourist Trap
- Trap Door
- Transformation Ray
- Treasure Map
- Tunnel Of Avoidance
- Two Guys And A Girl
- Two Scenes One Dialogue
- Two Timer Date
- Uncle Herbie
- Un Confession
- Unintelligi Ball
- Unperson
- Unspoken Plan
- Victory Guided Amnesia
- Video Wills
- Villain Ball
- Villain Exit Stage Left
- Virus Misnomer
- Vision Quest
- Volleying Insults
- Wacky Wayside Tribe
- Waking Up At The Morgue
- We ARE Struggling Together
- We Really Do Care
- What Happened To The Mouse
- What's a Secret Four?
- What Year Is This?
- We Are Team Cannon Fodder
- We Come In Peace Shoot To Kill
- We Haven't Learned Anything Yet
- Wedding Day
- We Need To Get Proof
- Where Are They Now Epilogue
- Where It All Began
- Wild Teen Party
- The World Is Always Doomed
- Wrecked Weapon
- Write Back To The Future
- Written In Absence
- Xanatos Gambit
- Xanatos Roulette
- Yellow Sash Of Power
- You Are Grounded
- You Are With Me
- You Can't Fight Fate
- You Can't Win
- You Don't Want to Catch This
- You Killed My Father
- Zmelik
Sources
Bibliography
Game and Story Use
- If the players or player characters don't move the plot forward by themselves (and some do, bless them), the game master will have to do that by himself. Narrative devices are the basic building blocks for this.
page revision: 4, last edited: 05 Sep 2009 04:30