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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The Monster" data-source="post: 5858521" data-attributes="member: 69516">The egg could likely do the trick. Good luck, keep us posted on how it goes.  I GM for a very large home group (typically 8-9 people at the table), and run at conventions. I'll roll with a lot of crosstalk/overtalk, but I always try to be alert for a problem like this, where a player seems overwhelmed or overrun by everyone else. The times I notice it most is with new players and 'girlfriend' players (the ones who are just trying it out becuase their SO cajoled them into it). When a player comes up on the initiative sequence, the most important thing at that moment is that player's talk - declarations, questions, et cetera. For overwhelmed/introverted players, I will simply ignore anything else going on at the moment, and wait for that player to respond. No notes, no die rolls, no 'oh, I forgot...' nothing. I'll even go so far as to take a minute to review the situation, offer options, and offer to answer any questions that player has.  I mentioned new and 'girlfirend' players, becuase I most often confront this kind of thing when the experienced player is telling the other what to do - or even telling me what the character will do. I make it a point to make space for that person to decide and declare things for themselves, and make it clear that what they say is what happens, not what anyone else says. No rudeness involved, just a steady gaze and focus from me. I think I've gotten a very good response: the decisions total newbies make can often be as creative and useful as an old hack's; and when they realize that what they do and say can make a real difference in how things happen - even though they don't know all the rules and cliches and in-jokes - they often get that spark in their eye that shows they've got a glimpse into what is so cool about RPGs. It's one of my favorite aspects of GMing.</blockquote>

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