About spotlights

[Jon_Dahl]

Usually when we play RPGs we work as a group. Group of PCs adventure, kill enemies and take loot. Some do more, some do less for the group. The spotlight is never 100% equal for everyone.

How about if the adventure requires everyone to step forward and act while others wait? Everyone has their own turn in spotlight and others do nada.

I'm just thinking about this because I'd like to make a gladiatorial contest and I'd really want to make it 1 vs. 1 dueling instead of mass combats. This would however mean that everybody fights on their own turn and others wait in the audience/pens. I would think it's a fresh chance to the game, since they have always worked as a group. Now this would be different, at least...

 

[ExploderWizard]

Just be careful about how much real time each person takes to do thier thing.

What about setting up every match and run them all at the same time doing a round of combat for each player? That way each person gets to do something on thier own without a lot of downtime before getting to do anything.

 

[billd91]

I have had a PC or two fighting in the ring while others watched. I make sure to keep up with something for the spectators to do - other audience members to notice, bets to place, cheating to notice (or perform).

Another alternative is to run everybody's individual combat simultaneously. It would be a bit like running mass combat except that nobody could affect anybody else or take on their opponents. It would prevent PCs from intervening, cheating, side betting, etc that they might want to do though. Of course, if this is part of a huge tournament of sorts, it might make sense for them all to fight separately at the same time if they're all fighting on different fighting spaces (like the different courts at your typical Grand Slam tennis tournament).