General Player Principles for Better Play

[hawkeyefan]

I was reading the latest newsletter by comic writer and now RPG designer Kieron Gillen, and he was discussing gaming advice. It’s mostly comics related, but there’s a good chunk devoted to gaming. Here’s a link to his newsletter:

Kieron Gillen’s Newsletter

He mentions how most gaming advice is directed at GMs, so he came up with a list of best practices for players. This is meant to be (mostly) general advice applicable to any/all RPGs. Here’s his list below:

GENERAL PLAYER PRINCIPLES FOR BETTER PLAY

1) Make choices that support the table’s creative goals

If you’re playing a storygame, don’t treat it like a tactical wargame. If you’re playing a tactical wargame, don’t treat it like a storygame. If it’s bleak horror, don’t make jokes. If you’re in a camp cosy romp, don’t bring in horror. It also varies from moment to moment – if someone’s scene is sincere, don’t undercut it.

2) Be A Fan of The Other Characters

This is GM advice in almost all Powered By the Apocalypse games – for the GM to be a fan of the characters. It’s a good trait for a player to cultivate. Be actively excited and interested in the other characters’ triumphs and disasters. Cheer them on. Feel for them. Players being excited for other players always makes the game better. Players turning off until it’s their turn always makes it worse.

3) Be aware of the amount of spotlight time you’re taking

This is a hard one for fellow ADHD-ers, but have an awareness of who is speaking more and who is speaking less. A standard GM skill is moving spotlight time around to players who have had less time. Really good players do this too. Pass the ball.

4) Learn what rules apply to you, to smooth the game, not derail it.

To stress, this isn’t “come to the table knowing everything” but learning the rules that are relevant to your character along the way, especially if they are marginal (looking at you, Grappling and Alchemy rules). Doing otherwise adds to the facilitator’s cognitive load and hurts the game’s flow. The flip is being aware that knowing stuff isn’t an excuse to break the game’s flow with a rules debate either – that’s an extension of the third principle.

5) Make choices which support other characters’ reality

If someone’s playing a scary bastard, treat them like a scary bastard. If they’re meant to be the leader, have your character treat them like the leader , for better or worse. A fictional reality is shared, and you construct it together.

6) Ensure The Group Understands Who Your Character Is

This is the flip of the above – having a character conception that is clear enough that everyone gets who you are, what you want to do and how you want to do it. If you don’t, the table will be incapable of supporting your choices. This links to…

7) If asked a preference in a story game, a strong choice is almost always better than a middling choice.

Don’t equivocate. If asked “You’ve met this person before. How do you feel about him?” either “I love him” or “I hate him” is better than anything middling. The exception is if it’s something you’re really not interested in pursuing.

I think it’s a pretty solid list, so I figured I’d share it here to discuss, and to see what other bits of player advice people might suggest to add to the list.

What do you all think?

 

[pointofyou]

Those seem good to me. The ones in my circles run to "Take the game about as seriously as everyone else. Respect your fellow players and their characters. Don't be a wangrod." Keep the guidance short enough to repeat while standing on one foot I guess.

 

[Fenris-77]

That sounds like pretty sound general advice. That's pretty much how I want my players to play anyway.

 

[hawkeyefan]

That sounds like pretty sound general advice. That's pretty much how I want my players to play anyway.

Yeah, I thought it was a pretty solid list.

I think numbers 2 and 6 are ones that I’ve seen my group struggle with (which then also kind of impacts number 5), especially depending on the game.

I find that games that have a lot of player facing rules that govern things like alignment or ideals and similar, it makes the character less internal to the player. The other players are more likely to have a stronger sense of the character as a result.

Without those cues, oftentimes the character exists largely solely in the mind of the single player. That can make it harder for other players to give a crap about what happens to that character. As a result, you get a lot of “waiting for my turn” sentiments.

 

[payn]

If you dont want to play something dont sign up. Be polite, excuse yourself, and dont make a scene. If you think you can wing it, or worse, stomach it for sake of the group, its not going to work out. Being the odd man out sucks, but sometimes dems da breaks.

 

[pointofyou]

Yeah, I thought it was a pretty solid list.

I think numbers 2 and 6 are ones that I’ve seen my group struggle with (which then also kind of impacts number 5), especially depending on the game.

I find that games that have a lot of player facing rules that govern things like alignment or ideals and similar, it makes the character less internal to the player. The other players are more likely to have a stronger sense of the character as a result.

Without those cues, oftentimes the character exists largely solely in the mind of the single player. That can make it harder for other players to give a crap about what happens to that character. As a result, you get a lot of “waiting for my turn” sentiments.

I don't know that I've seen players ever not root for their fellow players if there weren't other table-chemistry problems. I do think players tend to overestimate how well the people at the table understand each other's characters.

 

[aco175]

I like it. Work together, don't hog the light and help the others have fun. Likely work in many situations. I might try it at my wife's side of the family Christmas party.

 

[Reynard]

I generally agree, but think it is the GM's job to control spotlight time.

 

[hawkeyefan]

I don't know that I've seen players ever not root for their fellow players if there weren't other table-chemistry problems. I do think players tend to overestimate how well the people at the table understand each other's characters.

I think it’s mostly a case of not knowing the character, and do being less able to care. Like in our D&D game, the players aren’t as invested in the other players’ characters because the focus of play isn’t about the characters themselves, but rather the location they’re exploring. There’s also less to the characters mechanically… class and alignment and race. Anything beyond that is up to the player to portray… but since the game is about exploring a dungeon, there aren’t many opportunities to meaningfully portray characters. So the overall effect is that there’s less focus on characters, and therefore less engagement in characters by the players.

Contrasted with some other games we’ve played recently, and it’s a significant difference. There are a few reasons that I can think of, and possibly more, but there’s a noticeable difference.

Never to the point of disfunction or anything like that. But noticeable.

I generally agree, but think it is the GM's job to control spotlight time.

I think it’s certainly something the GM has some sway over, but I also think it’s something to be aware of as a player.

 

[pointofyou]

I think it’s mostly a case of not knowing the character, and do being less able to care. Like in our D&D game, the players aren’t as invested in the other players’ characters because the focus of play isn’t about the characters themselves, but rather the location they’re exploring. There’s also less to the characters mechanically… class and alignment and race. Anything beyond that is up to the player to portray… but since the game is about exploring a dungeon, there aren’t many opportunities to meaningfully portray characters. So the overall effect is that there’s less focus on characters, and therefore less engagement in characters by the players.

Contrasted with some other games we’ve played recently, and it’s a significant difference. There are a few reasons that I can think of, and possibly more, but there’s a noticeable difference.

Never to the point of disfunction or anything like that. But noticeable.

Our D&D games are very much more about the characters than they are about whatever location they happen to be. That might be why the players pay more attention to everyone else's characters.

We tend to play all our TRPGs that way.