Player Advice

Lead With Story

Inspiration / GM Advice, Player Advice / 2 comments

December 19, 2019

Publisher’s Choice Quality Stock Art © Rich Hershey / Fat Goblin Games

You can order The Demonplague, my level 1 – 20 fifth edition adventure, right now!

It’s time for a little player advice. I know! Most blogs (including this one) are all about those DM tips and tricks, but the players need love too. Why? Glad you asked!

Players Need to Build the Story Too

I’ve been playing RPGs longer than I’ve been doing most other things in life. In that time I’ve run games for many groups who expected me to do all or most of the story building as a GM. I lost track of the number of times I’ve had a person hand me an elaborated, twisty, turny backstory only to have that player sit back at the table and only interact with the game mechanically. You know what I mean. When players don’t engage with the game’s story as much and instead interact with a GM’s masterfully roleplayed NPCs as if they are pieces in a board game, saying things like, “Can I roll a Persuasion check to see if this lady will give me a deal on the plate armor?” No roleplaying on their end. Not even a counteroffer for the plate armor! The same thing happens as player characters explore (“Can I roll Investigation to see if this door is trapped?”) and as they battle (“I make an attack roll with my longsword”).

When players get bogged down in the mechanics instead of the story, it can be a drag on some games. No matter how hard a GM works to immerse players, most people can never be fully invested in a story unless they choose to be. If you’re playing a horror game and refuse to be scared, it won’t be much fun for you or the GM.

Even so, I understand why this happens. First roleplaying games often have a lot of rules. Players, especially new one, are concerned with getting those rules correct. Second, putting yourself out there is a difficult thing. The pressure of saying something funny or dramatic can get to people, so they use the rules as a crutch. To help get player’s heads out of the rulebook and be less anxious, I propose a simple mantra: Put the story first.

The examples above are easily remedied if players start with the story first and save the mechanics for last. You’ll remember not to cut right to the mechanics and say things like, “But my dear, Lady Ashsmoke, you and I both know the blacksmith down the street is selling plate armor for 100 gp less a suit. Now you are my father’s friend, so let’s say I pay 50 gp less than asking price… Can I roll a Persuasion check?” This method is far better for most games. What you say doesn’t always have to be dramatic or funny or get a reaction. Saying, “I take out a small knife from my thieves’ tools and carefully run it over the seems the door, checking for traps… Can I roll Investigation?” is better than straight up asking for a roll, even though the action itself is a bit mundane.

An even better method is to put the story first without ANY mechanics after it. Let the GM be the one to ask for a check or attack roll. This keeps you focused on the story and allows the GM to do their job as rules referee. Who among hasn’t asked to roll one skill only to have the GM rule it should actually be something else anyway?

But why is the story first method a good one?

It Benefits You

Putting the story first benefits you. Not only does making yourself a more willing participant in the story help immerse you into the narrative, you’re also more likely to automatically succeed at some tasks without a check. Make a great argument, and you won’t need to roll Persuasion. Describe your character disarming a trap in a careful, logical way, and the GM may rule that no dice need to be rolled. Story first is better for you in the story and mechanically!

Like all things, describing your actions is something you’ll get better at with practice. The more you do it, the easier it will become. If you struggle with roleplaying your actions, it benefits you to do so early and often so you become great at it in no time!

It Benefits Fellow Players

If you describe the way your character overcomes obstacles, not only does it immerse you into the story, it also helps bring the narrative to life for your fellow players. Each time you do this, it encourages them to engage with the narrative the same way, which increases YOUR immersion. Win-win!

Another benefit is that your fellow players will get to know your character better, and you theirs. By roleplaying out combat and task resolution, you’ll also be able to set each other up for amazing spotlight moments.

It Benefits the GM

By helping immerse yourself and the other players in the story, you help the GM in a huge way. Why do you think bennys are given out in so many RPGs for good roleplaying? It’s a thing we want to encourage. Plus when you roleplay well, GMs can set you up with better spotlight moments that the whole table will relish watching.

How DMs Can Reinforce

DMs, here are some easy ways for us to reinforce this behavior in players.

Have a chat with players. Tell them you want them to describe their actions and lead with story before asking to make a roll.
Lead by example and do this for your NPCs!
If you RPG allows it, reward players who lead with story by handing out bennys. If your RPG of choice doesn’t give something like FATE points or inspiration, you can likely create some little +1 tokens (or similar) without unbalancing your game!
If a player doesn’t describe their action and skips right to mechanics, don’t admonish them. Instead ask them, “What do you say to the blacksmith to persuade them to give you a deal?”

If you like what you’re reading please consider supporting me on Patreon, supporting me on Ko-fi, follow me on Twitter, like World Builder Blog on Facebook, check out my podcasts, find my products on the DMs Guild, tell your friends about the blog, and/or leave me a comment and let me know you think. Thanks!

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That GM Advice Also Applies to Players

Collaboration / Player Advice, world building, worldbuilding / 0 comments

January 3, 2019

Publisher’s Choice Quality Stock Art © Rich Hershey / Fat Goblin Games

You can order The Demonplague, my level 1 – 20 fifth edition adventure, right now!

There are many great podcasts, blogs, streams, and websites that offer incredible advice for game masters. Some of these pieces of advice, such as “be a fan of the player characters” or “share the story with your players,” come up over and over again because they are universally good tips that new GMs need to learn and of which old GMs need reminding. These old hat pieces of advice make help us run better games and our players have more fun.

People who are exclusively players don’t often hear these tidbits because they aren’t scouring the internet for ways to enhance their games. Some people who GM seem to forget these tips as players, thinking the advice is only for GMs as they zone out on their phones during a session.

Those same tips don’t just apply to the people running the game. They also apply to the players.

Share the Story

Just as GMs shouldn’t drag the players through a story only they want to tell, players should not drag other players through stories only they want to tell. If you want the group pursue a course of action and the rest of the party shakes their heads, think twice before doubling down on the decision. Share the spotlight and before/during/after sessions discuss how you feel about the story and where you want to drive it next together. A good discussion can resolve many game conflicts and get everyone what they want (and ensure a good time for all)!

Be a Fan of the (Other) Players

Just a GM should be excited to see the player characters succeed, you should be a super fan of your fellow player characters. Don’t just focus on your character’s story. Engage with every character’s story, set your friends up for incredible moments, and support them the same way you would in real life. Ask questions about each other’s pasts, hopes, fears, and desires. Learn each other’s strengths and weakness both mechanically and within the story. Surprise each other with gifts both material (“Here’s that magic sword you lost. I tracked down the ogre who stole it.”) and abstract (“Also the ogre who stole it is tied up out back if you want to take your vengeance.”). If you care about your friends’ characters as much as you care about your own, your enjoyment and engagement with the game increases exponentially.

When you’re a fan of the other player characters, it helps your own character grow in fun and unexpected ways. Think of any story with an awesome ensemble like Star Wars, Guardians of the Galaxy, Lord of the Rings, Firefly, Star Trek, Game of Thrones, etc. The characters in these stories grow because they care about and learn from each other. Han Solo goes from only caring about himself and Chewie to becoming a general in the rebel alliance because he gives a crap about Luke and Leia. You can see this kind of amazing character development in popular streaming series like Dice, Camera, Action and Critical Role. The waffle crew and Mighty Nein would not be who they are individually without the influences they’ve had on each other.

Interweave Backstories

Whether you begin a new campaign with a backstory or make it up as you go, weave your character’s origin together with at least some of the other player characters’ stories. This investment in each other pays off in spades. Imagine if instead of trying to convince the rest of the party to turn away from their main quest to hunt the murderer who killed your mentor, the entire group agreed to take a detour to hunt the killer… because you all had the same mentor!

Of course, not everything needs to be as dramatic as the example. Just growing up in the same farm town as friends is enough to make two characters bond and become champions of each other. Interweaving backstories helps define your relationship as a group, deepens everyone’s story, and enhances the fun times!

Yes, And…

Just as GMs are encouraged to accept player ideas, you should (for the most part) accept the ideas of other players. First is the “Yes,” which means hear others out and don’t force your own plan of action down their throats. The fun part of this comes with the “and …” which means build on the ideas of your fellow player characters. Do this and you create incredible schemes, unbeatable tactics, unbelievable Hail Marys, and hilarious failures you and your friends will remember for years to come.

Listen to the Players

A big piece of advice given to GMs is to listen to players then respond to their actions. In other words, don’t think about what’s going to happen next until you know what the players are going to do. The same goes for players listening to other players. Too many times in combat I’ve gotten into my own head thinking about where I should place my next fireball only burn my friends to a crisp because I wasn’t paying attention on their turns and didn’t notice they moved.

Listening to your fellow players doesn’t just make you a better combatant. It makes you better fans of each other! If you listen to your another player character as they awkwardly flirt with a bartender or whisper curses under their breath at an older sibling, it gives you a lot of great information to draw on later to help support that other character.

Engage Everyone

A final piece of universal GM advice is to “engage players who aren’t participating” by asking questions and allowing them to drive the story. Do the same especially with new players. Asking someone what they think or how they would approach a situation allows them to experience the game and drive the story. If you listen to these players after offering them the spotlight and are fans of them, soon they will engage with the story on all fronts and become a fan of your characters! Who doesn’t want more fans?

If you like what you’re reading please follow me on Twitter, like World Builder Blog on Facebook, check out my podcasts, find my products on the DMs Guild, tell your friends about the blog, and/or leave me a comment and let me know you think. Thanks!

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Accept the Premise

General / DnD, DnDBlog, Dread, Fate, Horror, New players, Phoenix Dawn Command, Player Advice, world building, worldbuilding / 0 comments

October 18, 2018

Hey guess what? You can preorder The Demonplague, my level 1 – 20 fifth edition adventure, right now! The prices are about to go up, so preorder now to get the best deal.

“I used to play D&D, but I left the group because there was one player who just drove me nuts.” “I like him as a person, but I cannot play RPGs with him.” “I can’t go back to that store again because of that player.” I hear countless statements like these. One bad player can ruin a game.

Sometimes people are just jerks and those people need to be asked to change their behavior or leave a group. But sometimes a good person can come into a game with different expectations than the rest of the group. Those different expectations cause friction and make the game less fun for everyone at the table. A lot of headaches can be avoided by setting expectations from the start about the game’s premise.

What is the Game’s Premise?

When you sit down to play or run a roleplaying game, ask yourself, “What is this game’s premise?” Every RPG ruleset, campaign setting, and adventure has a different set of expectations of its players. For instance, in D&D the idea of a party of diverse adventurers each with their own specialty working together to overcome challenges is at the core of the game. Whereas in a game like Dread the idea is to tell a suspenseful horror story in which death (or madness or some other terrible consequence) is likely to affect at least one (and probably more) player characters. In Fate the premise is one created at the table by the players and GM.

Once the broad premise of a game is established, all players should accept that premise. In D&D if the game’s premise is “the party works together to overcome challenges” then everyone is agreeing to cooperate and not be at odds every step of the way. In Dread everyone should buy-in to the horror of the game. If one player sits with their arms crossed decrying, “The monsters are lame and the GM isn’t scaring me enough,” the players who are immersed have that immersion broken.

Buying into the premise of the game you are playing is your responsibility as a player. The GM or other players in the game don’t need to immerse you in the reality of the game or entice you to be a team player. Come in ready to do those things. Expect the same of your fellow players. If everyone at the table does this, the entire group maximizes their enjoyment of the game. Premise acceptance is king in any RPG.

Play Characters That Fit the Premise

“But my character WOULD do that!” How often have you heard this phrase exclaimed at the table to justify behavior that just doesn’t feel fun at the table? Maybe it’s the rogue getting caught stabbing the fighter in the back for a quiver of +1 arrows, or maybe it’s the tortured brooding loner vigilante leaving the rest of the superhero group to go investigate a crime on their own. Whatever the case, it ruins everyone’s fun at the table when a player plays a character who doesn’t fit the premise of the game. If you find yourself making a character who is a jerk in a game that doesn’t call for the player characters being jerks to each other, crumple up that character sheet and start over! Likewise if you find yourself playing a morally good person in a game that calls for you to be jerk (like Jeff Stormer’s soon-to-be-published Mission: Accomplished!), you’re also playing the game in a way that will be disruptive to the group.

Communication!

Like many problems in at the table, you can solve and avoid premise problems by communicating. If you’re beginning a longer campaign with a group of players, it’s a great idea to have a session zero where you can discuss the game’s premise (among many other important issues like what content people prefer be avoided, the tone of your game, and character creation). If you’re running a one-shot game, then set up the premise quickly, by saying, “This is a game where your characters [DESCRIPTIVE ACTION] like [REFERENCE].” For D&D you might say something like, “This is a game where your characters work together to fight monsters and go on heroic quests like Lord of the Rings.” This shorthand sets everyone up for success.

If you’re a player in an unfamiliar game with no session zero, ask the GM what the game’s premise is in front of the other players. Get a conversation going to make sure everyone’s on the same page. If you have questions ask them. Don’t be afraid to ask outright, “Is this the kind of game where we work against each other?” or, “Is the expectation that everyone will be dead at the end of this adventure?” if those are the questions you are thinking. Odds are someone else has the same question.

Many RPGs have a premise and expectations of the player characters, but your group could choose to subvert them. In Phoenix Dawn Command, it is assumed all of the player characters are good heroes, but a group could change the rules to make them murderous villains plotting to take over the world. Even if you feel you know a game inside and out, it’s always good to ask about or share the premise with your group before running it to make sure there are no surprises.

When Should You Break the Premise

There are times in games you might momentarily break the premise for the sake of a good or interesting story. The most appropriate time to go against the premise of the game is when encouraged to do so by the GM and other players. For instance, in D&D you may be playing a character who has a flaw that they are terrified of spiders. If the GM puts giant spiders in the game and your character flees instead of helping the party battle the monsters, this breaking of the premise is not just acceptable, it was encouraged! You established with the group that your character is an arachnophobe and the GM has seized upon that fear to make an interesting story moment. When tempted into breaking the premise by the GM and your fellow players, feel free to take the bait, because that is someone else at the table telling you its ok to do so.

Another way to know when it’s a good time to momentarily break a game’s premise is during your chat about the game’s premise before playing. Ask if the premise is flexible or has any exceptions. This can be a difficult line to draw, so ask for or provide examples of when it might be ok to break the premise.

If you are unsure about it a moment being one where it is ok to break the game’s premise, pause and ask the folks around the table if they’d be cool with it. It might break the immersion, but better to get everyone’s opinion rather than making a call that could ruin the game for some folks.

Walking Away

Games are about having fun. If you find the premise of an RPG isn’t fun for you, then don’t play that game, campaign, or adventure (or don’t play with that group). Don’t try to make the game fit your idea of what’s fun, and don’t waste your or the group’s time. Find a game you love and play the heck out of it with people you love.

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Support the Spotlight as a Player

Collaboration / D&D, DnD, dungeons and dragons, Player Advice, world building, worldbuilding / 2 comments

August 31, 2017

A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog post about supporting the spotlight as a GM. Now it’s time to discuss supporting the spotlight as a player.

In that previous post, I defined what the spotlight is, which I’ll quote below:

What Is the Spotlight?

I’m sure for players who are old hat, they instantly understand what is meant by the term spotlight. In fact, if you’ve never played an RPG before, you can probably still figure it out based on context clues. Still, I think for the purposes of this blog post, it helps to define it.

The spotlight refers to the story’s focus at any given time, specifically a focus character. In other words, if your game’s story were a staged performance, it’s where the spotlight operator would be pointing the beam of light. In film terms, we might use a close-up metaphor. In an orchestra we might call it a solo. You get the idea. It’s a standout moment or a time to highlight a character in the story.

I’ve often seen spotlight moments referred to as a character’s “time to shine,” but I’m not sure this is entirely correct. The story can focus on a character’s failure or sadness and be just as dramatic and compelling for the player and story as a heroic moment. Spotlight moments should be more than just, “You were awesome at that and we knew you would be.” They should involve the player character being an active participant and driving the story of the scene. For instance, if the characters are caught in a Saw-style deathtrap and the rogue manages to reach her thieves’ tools and tries to disable the device, the spotlight is on them, whether they succeed or fail at disarming the trap. If they win the day, their friends are saved. If they lose, the story continues… and now the rogue feels responsible for the wizard’s missing arm or the cleric’s death.

In this post the big question is how can we, as players, support our fellow players’ characters when they are in the spotlight? There’s more to do than just sit quietly or zone out when someone else is the focus of the story!

Encourage

The first thing you can do when it is someone else’s turn in the spotlight: encourage them to take center stage and become the focus of the story. Not all players grab such moments with gusto because they’re afraid of stepping on the others’ toes. The same way you might push your friend to talk with a crush at a party to seize the moment, when the spotlight hits them (be it in the form of a villain their character is hunting, a long-lost family member, or a trap only they can disarm), tell that person to have at it. Give encouragement in character. “You’re the only who can do this,” “Have at it,” or, “I’ve got your back,” are cues for the person in the spotlight to grab the story by the horns.

Ask Questions

When another player’s character has a big moment, help them savor it by asking one or two questions in the voice of your character. Don’t make it an interview, but stay curious and engaged. If the rogue disarms a trap with a great roll of the dice, ask, “Whoa! How did you do that?” so the moment is more than just a d20 toss. The character in the spotlight can respond with the actual information of how they performed the task, or they can give a snarky answer like, “I’m just that good!”

If the character’s rival comes in and challenges them to a duel, ask, “Who in the Hells is this?” It gives that player a chance to do more than just wait for the GM to reveal the story. The player can respond in character to your questions and savor their moment in the spotlight while deepening the story.

Help Out

When someone else sings in the spotlight, be that person’s backup vocalist. Sure, your wizard could lay waste to the fighter’s mummy nemesis with a fireball spell, but why not let the fighter have the glory by using that spell slot to cast haste on the spotlight character? Buff spells are the easy example in combat, but non-spellcasting characters can knockdown and grapple enemies or hold off the minions while the personal enemies duel.

Of course, many spotlight moments happen outside of combat. You can still support players in other ways! Spells that make folks invisible or fly help them sneak around. Loan a friend a piece of equipment that might help them do their job. Stand behind them looking tough as they try to intimidate someone. Watch their back as they try to solve a puzzle which requires full concentration.

Note that many RPG systems have an action in which a player can simply aid a friend doing a task. Sometimes the bonuses granted from such an action stack. If you want to support someone in the spotlight, this is one of your best options, especially if everyone else in the party also aids the spotlight character.

Pay Attention and React

Perhaps the most important thing you can do when someone else is in the spotlight is to continue to pay attention and react as a member of the story’s audience. Don’t reach for your phone or click away from Roll20 to check on Facebook. Stay engaged and cheer for your friend. Applaud victories and sympathize with defeats. Respect begets respect and ensures your friends will pay attention when it’s your turn in the spotlight. Plus paying attention helps you enjoy the game more and get a deeper understanding of every character’s story.

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