After game debriefing

[Tinker Gnome]

My group usually does not do any sort of briefing or debriefing. We do discuss amongst each other about the game sometimes, but it is usually never in a formal manner. We have never had a TPK, so we have never had to go through any sort of conversation about one.

Oh, and I love your Blog Bullgrit.

 

[Lanefan]

With my crew, a situation like the Tomb one described above would leave them all laughing anyway (chances are they'd see one person disappear and think "Hey! That must go somewhere interesting. Let's follow!"), so there'd be little if any debriefing required. If they're taking that adventure seriously enough to be annoyed that they all died, you're probably running the wrong adventure to begin with.

Usually, in more mundane situations gone wrong, I don't have to ask what they were thinking because they're already asking each other: "Why did we do this?" is a commonly-heard utterance around here.

Lanefan

 

[Mark]

I have a mini debriefing after almost every game.

Me, too. A little bit right after the game but also by phone in the intervening week.

 

[Crothian]

We talk after each game some as we are winding down. We have a private messafe board we use through out the week. I usually give the DM more feedback this campaign since we carpool together and it's about a 25 minute drive to and from game so we usually talk about the game during that time.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Never had one as a DM, but I've been involved in a few as a player.

Personally, even if the DM comes across like he's saying "What were you idiots thinking?" the discussions have been valuable.

 

[fba827]

Thanks for the replies.

How would you approach this situation:How do you ask for specific answers without sounding judgemental or critical?

Bullgrit

How I normally do it ...

After every game session, we usually have a follow-up email with brief recap and XP (I don't like giving it out during the session in case I need to adjust some things with more time). So that email usually allows for an open door for people to send general comments.

However, I (personally) would never purposely ask specific questions.
I don't want someone to think i'm picking on them, and, really there shouldn't be a right or wrong choice in RPGs. If I start asking specific questions, I do have to worry about how the players will view it and I don't want them second guessing their free will to go right/left at every corridor (that's an exaggeration but just trying to illustrate an extreme of my point).


Having said that, how I would approach it (presuming no one decided to jump in on their own with comments) ...

1) While it is still fresh in minds but not immediately (so maybe a couple days later, but not a week later), I'd make sure no one was _upset_ so a general email question like "Is everyone okay with how things played out? Does someone feel that dm fiat should be introduced to alter what seemed to be the end?" (that type of thing -- note i don't ask about specific choices that were made, just making sure that no one is upset by the game's resolution and if there is a valid argument (i.e. some unfair ruling) that should be reversed.)

2) _Maybe_ after a while has passed and people are at the point where you think you can make passing comments/jokes about it, just toss it out there "just curious - in that campaign a month ago, why did you guys decide to jump off the cliff back then at the end?"

... but that's just my style and what i know of my particular set of players...


your style and the needs of your particular players may be different...

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Piratecat
I'll also ask them to suggest a plot hook for another player's character...

That's a fantastic idea! We often have homework assignments for NPCs, stories, etc. from our character's background but have never done it for another character. That's brilliant!

Like I said, I don't formally do any debriefing...but I do listen to table talk, both during and after the session.

Often, if you've done your job as a GM, you'll have piqued everyone's curiosity about where the campaign is going, and they'll openly speculate about it with each other...

(which I encourage)

And sometimes, those ideas are better than the ones you already wrote up. In my Superheroic 1900's campaign, the players' post-session table talk was responsible for at least 25% of the adventures I ran (either using their ideas or going counter to their guesses).

When somebody turns out to be "right," that just leads them to smugly continue to speculate. When they're surprised, they respect the plot twists even more.

Its a win-win.

 

[Ahnehnois]

I generally have written session reviews; narrative accounts of the session, with my thoughts below, and posted them on the group message boards for comment. Only once can I recall having what I described as a 'bad session', and I ranted a while before throwing the reasons up for discussion. Particularly for this sort of thing, I find a wait to let things cool down and the (relatively) cold objectivity of text help to avoid the emotional responses that come after a negative experience.

 

[evildmguy]

I do a review before the session starts so everyone can catch up, especially if anyone missed.

Then, I do critiques, as I call them, at the end of each session. I start so that I don't look like I am being defensive to anything the players say. I say what I thought was cool, what I thought could have been handled better (usually about myself but I will offer suggestions to players) and some ideas of where I see the campaign/adventure going so that the players can have their characters react to it.

Then I have each of the players go and give me their opinion. I ask for what they liked, didn't like, what they want to see have happen, and other ideas. I have been doing this long enough, though, that I think we are in a "rut" with it. I like some of the ideas here for what people are doing and plan to talk about them with the group! So, thanks!

edg

 

[Bullgrit]

I'm glad I asked here. I've been thinking that maybe I'm the only DM or Player who wants to have after-game-session discussions to talk about what happened (good and bad).

Oh, and I love your Blog Bullgrit.

Thanks a lot.

Bullgrit