Look at this examples of the verbal tenses which are mostly used for narration:

For a completed past action: SIMPLE PAST: "With a flash of light, the children vanished".

For an incomplete past action: PAST CONTINUOUS: "Some of the knights were playing hurling and, as this was his favourite game, he hurried over to join in".

For a completed action BEFORE a time in the past: PAST PERFECT: "The other boys were furious that this young boy had joined their game uninvited and they attacked him".

For two completed past actions that happen one after the other: TWO SIMPLE PASTS: "The king saw that his children needed a mother, so he decided to marry again".

For two actions in the past with different duration (one of them happening while the other is still incomplete) : PAST CONTINUOUS (for the incomplete one) and SIMPLE PAST (for the complete one): "The noise disturbed the king who was playing chess".