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<blockquote data-quote="Mark CMG" data-source="post: 3114608" data-attributes="member: 10479">Watch out for this part -What might be true of Mike's players might not be true of your players.&nbsp; So, too, the part about things being &quot;player driven&quot; from my experience.&nbsp; I've run short games at lunchtimes before with a number of groups.One liked sitting outside with their lunches in the Summertime and rarely ever picked up the dice, preferring to play a game more character driven but less combat oriented.Another group enjoyed combat vicariously, mostly, through only two of the five players.&nbsp; The other three would whoop and cheer and deal with the mess left afterward but rarely participated in the actual combat.I had yet another group that seemed to be there for the story I was weaving more than anything else and only got involved when specifically prompted.&nbsp; This wasn't like a library storytime situation, really, as we did use D&amp;D rules to resolve everything and I even used whatever D&amp;D rules were available to randomize most of the story.There's a push from some quarters to move RPGing, particularly D&amp;D, more toward a straight combat game.&nbsp; I don't personally advocate that approach.Get the group together and be prepared early on to go in whatever direction the group wishes to go.&nbsp; This is a lot of work early on for the DM but ultimately worth it.&nbsp; If the group seems more or less rudderless,&nbsp; move them along yourself but try to give them a smattering of the various types of game play and see what they respond to most fervently.&nbsp; After a few sessions you'll discover what excited them most and can lean toward that but be careful not to abandon the rest as a well-rounded game will last while games that aren't well-rounded become boring more rapidly.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Mark CMG, post: 3114608, member: 10479"] Watch out for this part - What might be true of Mike's players might not be true of your players. So, too, the part about things being "player driven" from my experience. I've run short games at lunchtimes before with a number of groups. One liked sitting outside with their lunches in the Summertime and rarely ever picked up the dice, preferring to play a game more character driven but less combat oriented. Another group enjoyed combat vicariously, mostly, through only two of the five players. The other three would whoop and cheer and deal with the mess left afterward but rarely participated in the actual combat. I had yet another group that seemed to be there for the story I was weaving more than anything else and only got involved when specifically prompted. This wasn't like a library storytime situation, really, as we did use D&D rules to resolve everything and I even used whatever D&D rules were available to randomize most of the story. There's a push from some quarters to move RPGing, particularly D&D, more toward a straight combat game. I don't personally advocate that approach. Get the group together and be prepared early on to go in whatever direction the group wishes to go. This is a lot of work early on for the DM but ultimately worth it. If the group seems more or less rudderless, move them along yourself but try to give them a smattering of the various types of game play and see what they respond to most fervently. After a few sessions you'll discover what excited them most and can lean toward that but be careful not to abandon the rest as a well-rounded game will last while games that aren't well-rounded become boring more rapidly. [/QUOTE]

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