zedturtle
Jacob Rodgers
I think some folks are worried about spotlight hogs, more people are worried about folks being skipped over because they don't feel comfortable inserting themselves into the action.
Daggerheart General Thread [+]
- Thread starter overgeeked
- Start date
I think some folks are worried about spotlight hogs, more people are worried about folks being skipped over because they don't feel comfortable inserting themselves into the action.
Coming from the narrative game side of the house: it’s so much better to not be subtle. This was one of the biggest changes for me going from 5e to other games, and I wish I’d known about active spotlighting techniques years prior. If it’s a grabby situation that demands action (cinematic!), drop somebody in the spotlight with your core GM move of “ask questions and build on the answers.”
I was used to just kinda narrating a situation and sitting back and letting the group kinda back and forth and then spit something out, but it often felt a little either round robin-y OR just so obvious (ok, we poke around the desk). T-ing up a call to action, pivoting to a character (always IC!) and asking, “so what do you do?” is delightful. And then as the scene goes on I always have a little bit of my attention managing a clock of who has and hasn’t chimed in to do a little “ hey Yoris, what are you doing as the other two do X?” Sometimes it’s just a quick “watching for threats” and sometimes that player didn’t want to jump in or whatever.
Of course then you get to split parties and multiple scenes and such and spotlight management (and cutting on tension) becomes even more enjoyable.
SteveC
Doing the best imitation of myself
I have played a lot of games with this type of system. PbtA and Blades most commonly. And it was a problem with all but the very best GMs. Players who are the most vocal just do more. Quiet players do less. I don't think there is anything the more vocal players were doing wrong, but if you're an outgoing player, you tend to take the spotlight wrong.
You get the same issue in strictly roleplaying situations where there isn't any initiative order. I've found that when I'm playing, sometimes I could be the problem player until I specifically put in effort to get the less vocal players to get involved. And that's hard sometimes!
The initiative systems that most games have fix this issue and get everyone to be able to act and be a part of a combat. I'm not saying I wouldn't want to play a game like Daggerheart (far from it) but I have found that it taxes the GM. This is obviously just my experience but I've seen it in games that I've played at Cons with groups of people I've never met before and with my friends.
I guess I would expect players to not only advocate for themselves, but also work together intentionally to utilize all the tools the group as a whole has at their disposal.
SteveC
Doing the best imitation of myself
I agree with you 100%, and I think the Critical Role players will do a very good job of it. I've found that the RPG hobby has a lot of people who are quiet and introverted. They come to life when they are handed the spotlight. Having to advocate for themselves is rough. And for me, as someone who likes to talk (ahem, just ask my daughter about this...) I had to work to advocate for those other people, along with the GM. Once you start to think in those ways, it becomes easier, but I've found that when running a game like this, it makes me have to think about spotlight time when I am trying to run an exciting and compelling combat. And I found this to be one of the issues that is keeping my group from playing Daggerheart.
I suspect GMs will need to do this regardless, as spending Fear allows the GM to take the spotlight. So managing spotlight will be a key skill for running combats in Daggerheart, across both PCs and NPCs.
I think this will be one of those things people need to try out and see if it is fun for them or not.
Personally, I am really excited by this. Too many times a rigid initiative mechanism puts paid to cool PC actions. Just last Sunday in our D&D2024 game, my Druid was Wild Shaped into a Dire Wolf and could therefore render enemies prone. But the initiative order randomly resulted in the enemy going immediately after my PC, which meant when I put them prone they just stood up again on their action. Yes, we could mitigate against this a little by using held actions but we couldn’t get the full benefit from smart play using cool PC abilities (both mine and my party members attack sequences).
A more flexible flow to combat would allow me to easily buddy up with one of my team mates and we could do cool stuff together.
I’m usually a fan of good initiative systems. I really like Savage World’s initiative mechanism. But I suspect I am going to like this even more.
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I am inclined to NOT control spotlight for PCs -- particularly a solid group of players. It might be different running the game at a convention, but with my regular D&D nerds I would honestly expect them to be able to manage their own fun. I don't tell them what to do or how to play in D&D, and I would not expect to have to do so in DH even if the initiative "rules" are different.
BruceWright
Explorer
I ran "Sablewood Messengers" and now looking back I think I was taking the spotlight too often in combat, thinking I needed to whenever Fear was rolled.
I think I should actually think in action beats, and bank my Fear until I unleash something truly narrative-shifting.
I think I should actually think in action beats, and bank my Fear until I unleash something truly narrative-shifting.
My understanding is that you get the spotlight and get a point of fear as the GM if a players rolls with Fear on an action roll.
You don’t necessarily have to use the spotlight to attack the PCs, however. But you get to make a move as the GM so can push the scene in some way.
You don’t necessarily have to use the spotlight to attack the PCs, however. But you get to make a move as the GM so can push the scene in some way.
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