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Message: <blockquote data-quote="woonga" data-source="post: 7225809" data-attributes="member: 6873789">I tend to feel the same way- as a DM you can feel when the players are all engaged, and feed off of that to make things better for the whole table. When I see that not happening, getting feedback on what I (as a DM) can do to fix my pacing or make things more exciting is always helpful. I've been able to improve a lot by players being really open about their preferences. But at the same time, there are times when it's easy to get a little tuned out as a player even if you aren't doing so to be inconsiderate, or if it's no fault of the DM. I keep our gaming table covered in a big roll of butcher paper and throw a bunch of markers out there each session. In the ~year I've been doing this with two separate groups, the number of players on their cell phones has dropped to almost zero (without me asking, though in most cases I'd still say it can't hurt to politely ask in a session zero that people avoid playing on phones during the session). Sure, sometimes it will look like the players have tuned out, but when we sit around for a few minutes after the session I get to see that they were doodling how they imagined the group's cleric looked when she was giving that ~5 minute monologue where you thought they weren't paying attention. Other times they're sketching the item they just found, drawing out maps of the area I'm describing, or (one awesome player) drawing some pretty amazing real-time comic breakdowns of the session.I think it's super important for players to be engaged, but this helped me learn that not having eyes on me non-stop as a DM doesn't mean they aren't engaged. Giving them something to do (besides phones) that channels creatively back into the session ended up being a really good solution for my group.</blockquote>

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