Hello fellow players / GMs / spectators!
Recently came into play with one of my players that they used the “Master of Shadows” talent. I thought about it, but couldn’t figure out how would I narrate this ability.
Have you encountered this problem? How do you narrate these strictly mechanical talents in play? Do you have any golden rule for it?
Please share your anecdotes and experiences regarding any kind of talent like this, not just the “Master of…” ones.
Generally, I’d just describe it as being the character’s skill and familiarity, possibly just them focusing extra hard on the task at hand.
For the Natural __ talents, I don’t narrate it at all. That’s a “behind the scenes” thing for my tastes. The result is what matters in the narrative as far as the Natural talents go.
If I don’t know better usually just ignore it.
Master of talents are tricky because they make the check easier so I could say the PC does it without breaking a sweat, but he does take 2 strain, so he does break a sweat
Well, it’s a form of skill mastery, so it’s less about not breaking a sweat and more about training themselves to have a better grasp of the ins and outs of their skill. Reducing the difficulty is “oh, I’ve done this song and dance a million times before, and I know there’s this one trick you can do to make it way easier.”
You’re expending Strain to make it easier. The “master” is trying really hard to take the time to not make any mistakes?
Personally I wouldn’t worry about narrating the Talent itself. It’s already making the following check easier, so that will inherently lend itself to how you narrate the end result of the Skill Check to be more badass than if they hadn’t used the Talent.
If you want to you could add a note like “You break a sweat” or “You feel things getting tense” to reflect the Strain cost. But in essence, let the skill check narration do the talking.
This and this! I like that mastering something still not make it less tiresome, just gives you better results. I can work with that.
@Sturn My problem is with that explanation, that it’s rather relentlessness or persistance than mastery or skill.
→ However I’m fully aware that talents shouldn’t be taken literally (just like specs), especially when it doesn’t fit the narrative, but I like to try 
Ever thought about changing the title instead to match what it does? “Relentless Shadow”