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May 2003
Ah, the month of May. Spring is in full force, the weather is beautiful, the days are getting longer, and a world of opportunity awaits us. Unless you're in the Southern Hemisphere, then it's Autumn instead of Spring, and the days are getting shorter instead of longer. The great outdoors beckon, meaning that indoor gaming sometimes takes a backseat to other recreations. Granted, you can take your gaming outdoors, although a collectible card game might blow away if you live in a breezy area. According to my kids, if it's Pokemon that blows away, it's no loss. If I even joke about giving my kids Pokemon cards, I receive a response that's caustic at best.
Not that card games are bad, mind you. Chris and AJ are raving about how much fun "Munchkin" is to play, and I was thrilled this past month to find that the "Groo the Wanderer" card game is back in print. We're planning an evening in the near future to sit down and play both games soon, and afterwards I'll be able to answer the question, "Did I err?" We'll just have to make sure we don't get any cheese dip on the cards. Until then, though, let me get on to this month's topic, which has to do with cooperating to keep game playing interesting.
As I've mentioned before, role-playing games are interactive storytelling. The Game Master sets up the scenario and keeps things on track, but the progress of the game/story is affected by the decisions, skills, and "roll of the dice" of the players. How the story plays out is a cooperative effort on the part of all the participants. Consequently, how interesting the story remains is also a cooperative effort on the part of all the participants. The Game Master can carefully craft an intricate scenario that should hold the players' interest for many hours, but if the players fail to fully involve themselves in it, it can still end up "boring". Likewise, a poorly crafted scenario can fail to capture the imagination of even the most enthusiastic players.
Here are some of the "pitfalls" that can "sabotage" a gaming session.
Minimal preparation. If the Game Master doesn't know what he or she is going to be doing, it's difficult to keep the action moving. Preparing a scenario for the session is a lot of work, and from what I've seen, even more so if it's done properly. This involves already knowing what the adventurers will be encountering on their journey, having the "stats" of said encounters readily available, and having an idea of how these people or creatures are going to interact with the players before the encounter happens. The game drags when the GM pauses to check the manuals for something interesting to come across.
Unrelated sidetracking. When participants in the gaming session begin to discuss something other than the current gaming session instead of participating in the game, the action slows to a crawl at best. While it's true that gaming is a social event, if socializing between some of the participants interrupts the gaming for all the participants, you're likely going to find less future interest in your gaming sessions. All participants should pay attention to what's happening, so that they're ready to "take their turn" when the time comes.
Exclusive action. Sometimes, during the game, it falls to one person's character to "handle something". While this is an integral part of the concept of "adventure parties", if it drags on too long, or the same character is called on too often, it leaves the other players feeling like excess baggage, or worse, bored. The GM and the involved player should make every effort to get through such situations in a quick and entertaining way, while getting the other players participating again as soon as practical. Standing back and watching someone else do everything isn't very fun, and tends to lead to the unrelated sidetracking previously discussed.
Assumptions. Assuming another participant in the game knows something or understands what you're doing can result in not only mistakes, but awkward moments and sometimes, hard feelings. It falls to the GM to tell the players where they're at and what they can see. It falls to the players to tell the GM what action they're going to take, what "modifiers" they might be using, and any other details important to the "task at hand". Don't assume your players know they've arrived at a destination just because they were headed there. Don't assume your GM knows you're using your "Sword of Orc Slaying" just because you have one and you're fighting orcs. Tell the story. Be clear on your details. Don't assume. None of us are clairvoyant.
"Newbie Confusion". This is one I've been guilty of much too often. This is the source of the game lags when it's my turn, and I end up spending a little too much time asking the GM questions about what my options are, and so on. Granted, this is part of the learning process of becoming an experienced gamer, but if such discussions between the new player and the GM drag on too long, it's still a "dead time" for the other players and can result in lost interest. The best solution to this is simply to spend a bit more time before the gaming session, getting an idea of what the character is capable of, ask the GM questions beforehand, and try to keep the "in game" questions to a minimum. Essentially, this is the "compliment" to the GM's preparation. Just as we expect the GM to prepare for the session, the players should also prepare for the session.
Being too serious. My final point here is one that we haven't had too much trouble with yet. If anything, we have the opposite problem, though I'd rather have that than being too serious. A participant, whether GM or player, who takes the game too seriously can ruin the fun for everyone. We have plenty of things in real life that demand serious attention, and one of the reasons most of us game is to escape the seriousness of real life for a while. It's OK to get silly in the game from time to time. It's OK for something to slip outside the "normal rules" once in a while. It's OK for your character to fail periodically. It's not only OK to laugh and say, "It's only a game!" when things go wrong, it's desirable to do so. When the session begins, you should be friends, and nothing should happen during the session to change that. Every session should be able to be described with " . . . and a good time was had by all."
It only takes one participant to ruin a gaming session for everyone. If everyone purposes to not be that one, then that description can be commonly applied.
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