|
The pacing of your game is important and should reflect the style of play you have chosen for your table. Finding a good compromise between social interactions and battle is always a struggle, especially if you have multiple players with different interests. Even beyond that, keeping from getting bogged down during battle or pushing through decision paralysis among the players is typically the responsibility of the GM. So how do we do this, how do we keep it moving?
Well, I don’t know. There are several tips and tricks many great GMs use, and some I try to implement myself, but there is no one-size-fits-all cure for this. It is very situational and dependent upon your players to accept whatever decision you may make in the moment to push the story forward. In some cases, require your players to take it upon themselves to help with this. Battle is the worst at “hurry up and wait” mentality. Players will check out between turns, then have to catch up with what is happening in order to make a decision about their actions. One way I try to mitigate this is to let the next player know their turn is coming up (they are on deck). This is especially helpful if you are running a large party as it allows the players to check out for a bit, but focus enough to catch up while watching the player before them. Often they decide what they will do during their turn as well. If you are a good narrative story teller, allowing a bit of time for descriptions of what happened can also be a way to get players more engaged during battle, but I’m not good at this and often just skip over any narration in battle. When the party gets stuck in a decision paralysis, pushing them forward can be tricky. Some players will appreciate a clearer directive or clarification of the goals. Others can be a bit more of a purist in that they want to come up with the ideas and will feel “railroaded” if the GM intervenes. On the flip side, if the GM just pushes forward with an encounter, or action, that causes the players to have to reassess, this can also create further issues. Players who are pushed too quickly can feel disjointed as they have not had the time to process or think through their actions or options. Most importantly, when you feel stuck in the story, whether through player inaction or inattentiveness, you must remember this is a game. We are all here to have fun playing pretend without running through the yard with sticks (I’m too old for that these days). AND, just like any board game, you can homebrew timers into the game for turns in battle or for the party to plan, but it does need to be accepted by all at the table.
0 Comments
Sometimes the hardest thing for a GM to do is true player engagement. They could have fun playing the game, but are they really invested? Do your players care about their characters and the NPCs around them? Are they concerned about the war that broke out in the neighboring kingdom? Or, are they just looking forward to “winning” the game?
One of the best ways I have found to truly get your players involved in the world you have created is to work their backstories. Do not just know it, but make it relevant to current events. Bring in their family, love interests, or even enemies to interact with the party, giving life to the names you are given in their backstories. If you are unsure how to do this, ask the player some simple questions.
Some players will want to be heavily involved in developing those NPCs, while others will let you run with your own ideas. Either way, it is fun to incorporate what has been developed into the game and watch how the player characters interact with these NPCs. Work through what these characters' lives are like and what they do between interactions with the players’ characters, and have it affect the events laid out. Ideally, these will not be one-and-done NPCs, nor will they be the random shop keeper. These characters will have individual personalities, goals, and possibly enemies of their own. Perhaps the players will want to aid in achieving their goals, or protect them from an enemy not yet their own. However you, as the GM, decide to incorporate these NPCs, be assured that once you do the world will become alive to your players. As I sit and wonder what to write about, I cannot help but think about stories. I’m in the middle of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writer’s Month), and I love writing novels. It is important to have story ideas, direction, plots, environment, etc. ready to go at the game table, but it is not the place to play out your own story. If you want a specific story, write a book.
I have taken some inspiration for my novels from previous adventures and scenarios played out at the game table. It could work the other way, but as a GM, you have to allow the players to make their own decisions. I know, I’ve mentioned guiding players into the plans you have prepared, but you should also be ready for whatever the outcome may be (or at least have a general idea). I play out potential scenes in my head, but they often end very differently at the table. Of course, this is usually in the players’ favor because my BBEGs just are not strong enough. But even in social encounters I either give too much information, or not enough for them to move onward. Then there is the other situation where the players are not putting together the pieces I’ve laid out for them (sometimes I think “I need a neon sign”), but I digress. Back to the matter at hand: pushing your own story. The number one thing to remember is to simply let the players do what they want to do. Do not give them dire consequences without warning, and do not thwart every decision they make until they find the one you want. This only brings frustration and breaks a bit of the trust I’ve talked about before. If you cannot give your players complete autonomy, then you must give them the illusion of it (and do NOT break that illusion for anything). As soon as the players know that you have fudged rolls, completely ignored rules, or adjusted things during a social encounter or battle, the illusion gets broken. The players begin to feel as though nothing they do matters, then you are back to square one…pushing your own story (at least that is how the players feel). I felt I needed to address this. During gameplay (usually as the player), I find myself allowing my mind to drift through things completely unrelated. This is particularly bad if I have major stressors in my life. Most of the time I can pull myself back into the game, but not always. How do I pull myself back, you ask?
Lists are great! If you have a “to do” list running through your head, write it down! Get it out and on paper, then set it aside to look at when you are finished. This can be anything simple like a grocery list, to events that need to find their way into your calendar. When was that concert scheduled? Write yourself a note to look it up later, it is not necessary to dig for it right now. Take notes! My mind wanders from one game to another often, as I am running 4 and playing in 4 others. (Don’t yell at me, only 4 are quite active, the rest are essentially play-by-post.) It is easy for me to shift into thinking about the next game I am involved in during the week. To prevent this, I will try to take notes (good luck deciphering them later though), get a glass of soda, or even a snack. Plan ahead! Battles can get boring, especially in a larger group. Instead of waiting for your turn, you can go ahead and lay out what your next turn will be like. Watch the battle unfold before you and adjust as others take their turns. This works really well if you are a spell caster. Keeping an eye out for where your party moves and who gets hit are essential to what spells will be most effective. If you fight with weapons, this works just as well. You’ll swing your weapon regardless if it is against monster A or B, just watch to see if the monsters within reach die before it gets to you and adjust as needed. Just remember that whatever helps you to stay focused on the game should not be a distraction for others. If fidgeting helps you, you may want to consider something that does not make noise (and leave those dice on the table). Need to have a plethora of things going at once, turn off the volume and be sure to hide the extra “things” so as not to draw attention to them. Finally, food for thought, if you find yourself asking the GM to repeat descriptions or asking “who’s left” during a battle, you may want to rethink your strategies for focus during the game (trust me when I say your GM will appreciate it). When entering into a new group, there are lots of reservations. I have joined several game groups where I do not know anyone (except my husband who joins me). It takes many weeks to become comfortable enough to begin enjoying the game. It is common to hear the suggestion to grab four friends, pick a GM and play, especially for those who cannot find a game group. This is because you are typically already comfortable with your friends.
Trust gets built over time. Some of the things that will encourage this are safety, encouragement, and consistency. The gaming table must cultivate all of these to create trust among all players, including the GM. As each of these increase, the players will begin to actually play their characters and the GM can experiment with new rules or scenarios, expanding the world through their creativity. Safety first. This is not only physical safety, but this is emotional as well. Everyone comes from different backgrounds, and to respect those experiences, it is important to have these conversations early (especially with unfamiliar players). Establishing good, clear boundaries will lay out what is acceptable and what would be a hard pass. Allowing players to experiment with their character’s abilities, or stretching them thematically (even if you have to bend the rules), encourages them to think outside the box. Anything is possible in the make-believe world that you are adventuring in. Do not stomp out anyone’s ideas or creativity simply because you think it may be “stupid” or “unproductive.” The more a player (or even the GM) gets berated about an idea, the more they will shut down and eventually stop contributing to the party. Being consistent in rulings and style of gameplay allows for predictability. This is not a bad thing. If you, as a GM, are predictable in how you will handle situations both in and out of game, it prevents situations that could become combative between players. If something has to change, like a ruling that unbalanced the game, talk about it before it comes up again, then be consistent with the outcome of that conversation. Building this trust between the players and the GM comes over time. Do not expect new players to get into character right away (or maybe never based on their personality and/or comfortability). Encourage the players who show the behaviors you’d like to see around the game table. |
AuthorJodie 
Archives
April 2025
Have a question you would like the GM to give her thoughts on?
|
RSS Feed