Who narrates PC action’s?
As a new GM I sometimes stumble into situations where I’m not sure what my role in narration is. I’ll explain a few situations that happened to me GMing for a few friends who are also new to TTRPG’s.
Player: “I swing my sword and chop off his leg so he can’t run”
- Is this not a called shot and is not allowed? Or is it the players job to tell me, the GM, what he does.
Player: “I cast magic missile and beam a hole through his chest”
-again do I say what happens as a result or does the player?
Now a situation where maybe I over narrated?
Player: “I jump over him and attack with my sword”
Me(GM): “you leap over BBEG in an impressive arc and take a stab at his weapon wielding shoulder as if it was an attempt to disarm him (no pun intended)
I suppose my question is, to what extent do players narrate what’s happening in the world, not only in combat but in any encounter, and what am I responsible for narrating? Is it as simple as letting it happen? Do I re-narrate? Any advice would be wonderful.
(Using the Shadowdark rule set if that makes any difference)
Edit: Thank you guys for giving me good insight on how to handle called shots and player narration. Going forward, I’m going to ask the table that unless I explicitly say that something is a killing blow, to only tell me what they aim to do and let me narrate the results of that goal.
I appreciate everyone’s help!