As a DM, I have always asked players to describe their actions in the game. No free form, but describing the action when making the roll. For encouragement I will offer adjustments, experience, or other points. I find this a good way to keep the players focused and immersed and most of all pay attention. And I do like the story telling side where we can say what happened and not just "the character rolled a d20". I never expect a player to be an expert on a topic, but you don't need to be an expert for most things.
Right from the start I have always gotten the push back from the anti social players. The players that have below average social skills. They could not role play nearly any social interaction at all, but also would refuse to describe even an outline of doing so. I would not be asking for a ten minute role play of social interaction, just the description. How does your character want to get past the guard? You don't need to be a social expert an role play it out, you can just say "I try talking to him man to man and get him to agree to let me pass". Still few of this type of player would be willing to take such an action. Over the years and years, I have helped many people both in and out of the game with this...
A couple years ago, I started to get the video gamers. Players that play a lot of video games. And they brought with them an odd video game quirk. The quirk is to ignore the back ground world. Where the weaponless character runs into a room with swords hanging on all the walls, and they turn to fight the guards with their fists. Why? The player is so stuck on the video game idea that they can't grab stuff in the background. They can't use a nearby tree for firewood because they think they "can't" cut down the tree: because they are stuck in the idea that <whatever> video game they had recently played would not let them do it. This one is not so hard to 'de-program'.
Now, I can add another quirk...a generational one. A lot of younger people are coming to the game with a lot less real world experience. And I'm talking about things like not being able to build a fire. I ask a player Your character is in some woods, you need to make a fire, what do you do? I will just get a blank stare or worse a defensive attatue saying I should not be asking a player to describe that just to play a game. The real shock here, is a lot of players don't know a lot of this real world stuff. I come from another generation then this type of player. I was a scout, went camping, and for a lot of my early life we did have to do things the "hard way". By the time I was even ten, I had a huge amount of real life skills, not the least of was making a fire. Back in the day, when my mom would lock us kids out of the house(normal for the 80s), we had to cook our own food(because we would not be allowed back in the house until dark). My mom would make the uncooked breaded chicken strips(this is before chicken nuggets were invented), but leave them for us to cook. And that was as a young kid. Growing up you learn and do much more. Any player older then thirty or so, would have little problem describing doing things for real.
Anyone born in the last two decades or so though, has had a vastly different upbringing. They grew up in a very 'modern' setting, and that is before you add the Internet and Social Media. They have never had a reason to start a fire, for example, even just for 'fun'. So they are at a complete loss on how to even start doing most things.
So, how much description of actions do you ask for in your games? Do you encounter any of the above problems? Any ideas or solutions?
Right from the start I have always gotten the push back from the anti social players. The players that have below average social skills. They could not role play nearly any social interaction at all, but also would refuse to describe even an outline of doing so. I would not be asking for a ten minute role play of social interaction, just the description. How does your character want to get past the guard? You don't need to be a social expert an role play it out, you can just say "I try talking to him man to man and get him to agree to let me pass". Still few of this type of player would be willing to take such an action. Over the years and years, I have helped many people both in and out of the game with this...
A couple years ago, I started to get the video gamers. Players that play a lot of video games. And they brought with them an odd video game quirk. The quirk is to ignore the back ground world. Where the weaponless character runs into a room with swords hanging on all the walls, and they turn to fight the guards with their fists. Why? The player is so stuck on the video game idea that they can't grab stuff in the background. They can't use a nearby tree for firewood because they think they "can't" cut down the tree: because they are stuck in the idea that <whatever> video game they had recently played would not let them do it. This one is not so hard to 'de-program'.
Now, I can add another quirk...a generational one. A lot of younger people are coming to the game with a lot less real world experience. And I'm talking about things like not being able to build a fire. I ask a player Your character is in some woods, you need to make a fire, what do you do? I will just get a blank stare or worse a defensive attatue saying I should not be asking a player to describe that just to play a game. The real shock here, is a lot of players don't know a lot of this real world stuff. I come from another generation then this type of player. I was a scout, went camping, and for a lot of my early life we did have to do things the "hard way". By the time I was even ten, I had a huge amount of real life skills, not the least of was making a fire. Back in the day, when my mom would lock us kids out of the house(normal for the 80s), we had to cook our own food(because we would not be allowed back in the house until dark). My mom would make the uncooked breaded chicken strips(this is before chicken nuggets were invented), but leave them for us to cook. And that was as a young kid. Growing up you learn and do much more. Any player older then thirty or so, would have little problem describing doing things for real.
Anyone born in the last two decades or so though, has had a vastly different upbringing. They grew up in a very 'modern' setting, and that is before you add the Internet and Social Media. They have never had a reason to start a fire, for example, even just for 'fun'. So they are at a complete loss on how to even start doing most things.
So, how much description of actions do you ask for in your games? Do you encounter any of the above problems? Any ideas or solutions?
