Best Player ideas

[BaldHero]

I want to know what DungeonMasters have experienced in their games that makes them grateful to have player X in their game.
I have a player that made tiny props to represent some minor magical items his character created, and thought this was just kewl. What are some of the ways players can help the game become more fun? Or interesting? Do they take on some of the workload of campaign design? Do they do some cartography? Paint minis? ideas?

 

[Caius]

we have this one player who is a skilled cartoonist and throughout the game draws up little cartoons of things that happen in our game.

we have one player who has a dragon as a character, a baby dragon mind you, who wanted hair, so for some strange but rather amusing reason they tied a goat to their head. Our cartoonist was quick to draw a visual except the goat made the dragon look like he had elvis hair

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

My players usually contribute very little. I mean, they are great at RPing but I can't say much for what they bring to the table most of the time. Oh, one time one of them brought a corkboard to keep track of initiative . . .

 

[wally]

I have a player that loves to draw player maps of the regions they adventure in. It is good for me because his maps look really good and then I can use them to know where they have been and what their points of interest are. If I want to add an area, I know where they haven't been or where I can put new things.

-wally

 

[Kemrain]

I helped my GM design our pantheon. I've had such a hand in the creative process that when my character starts BSing about the gods, it's fairly likley to become canon.

I also made the maps for our game. They're crude, but I spent about an hour on each, with pencil and colored pencil. My GM was pleased with them. I fear when we move to a new continent, though. Oy...

- Kemrain the Helpful.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

we have one player who has a dragon as a character, a baby dragon mind you, who wanted hair, so for some strange but rather amusing reason they tied a goat to their head. Our cartoonist was quick to draw a visual except the goat made the dragon look like he had elvis hair

Priceless.

I had a player in college that was a talented artist, and he'd do sketches of highlights from our campaigns. It really enhanced everyone's enjoyment of the game.

 

[The_Universe]

I love all my little players BEST OF ALL (except my wife, who I really love best of all).

But, to answer the intended question - there are a couple of stars when it comes to players that have really put something into the game world, and into the game itself. Two of my players are practically fanatics for game information, constantly challenging me to add more detail to the campaign, so that they can make it their own.

Another player has (occaisonally) statted out NPCs and villains for me - it's a job I can happily delegate to him since he has a terrible memory. As long as there's a couple of weeks between when he writes the character and when we play, he'll have forgotten everything he wrote!

They're a great group - a pleasure to pull through the ever-more complicated story.

None of my players are terribly artistic, but one of them is reasonable skilled with Dundjinni (which is nice).

 

[carrot]

I used to play with someone who did literal drawings of the jokes made at the gaming table. He would keep them as a record of the campaign. He had a disturbing idea of what a half-elf should look like... it was... messy...

 

[Chingerspy]

One guy in an old group told me he wanted to try GMing because I did such a great job at it and made it look fun. I guess a lot of GMs can make the "job" sound like a hassle. He did a good job with a homebrew DOOM (first) game.

Another guy (a very good friend of mine) used to game with me back in the old black with Easley Red Dragon box set days. He is an extremely talented artist or was back then who drew one picture per session and they were extremely high quality. Shame he's more interested in finance now.

Although I don't DM the game the Paladin character in our RTTTOEE game is amazing. Talk about getting into your character!

 

[Rel]

Our group is pretty great as far as this sort of thing goes. It probably helps a bit that our XP system gives (minor) rewards for those who contribute materially to the gaming environment. So we have a fairly constant influx of people contributing painted figures, maps, terrain features, spell templates, character journals, sheets for tracking treasure and experience points, etc.

It helps that a lot of these guys are into Warhammer Fantasy Battles so figures and terrain are also useful for that hobby.