wandering minds want to know

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).