Grabbing Your Players' Attenion and Keeping It- How to do it?

[Chriskaballa]

My group, their behavior, and our conditions

Since it may help, I'll give a little more information about my group.

There are just three players, but in the beginning we had five. We lost two, picked up one, kicked out one, and finally picked up another one to get to our current player mix. There are 6 characters, since we decided to keep the old characters because I politely told them it would be a pain in the neck to get rid of them with something in line with the story just yet, other than pulling a stupid character kill that was completely out-of-game driven. The players agreed to run two characters each, in answer to my plea. (maybe it's this? The players, perhaps, may find it very difficult to handle 2 characters each, but they haven't told me anything.)

I am usually prepared and on time to gaming sessions. I take fifteen minutes before the game to set up my area and check notes and make last-minute corrections to things I will need. The players almost always take this time to do as I do, to look over notes on their characters and see what this character wants to do in-game today. Once this period is over we recap on last session's occurrences and then go straight into the game. Many stupid jokes about the game arise while we are playing that cause the game to grind to a halt, but I curb this by simply saying, "It does not exist in my world," and going back to the last player that had something useful to ask me, tell me, or talk about with me or another player.

Our gaming locations vary. When we go to the gaming store, the number of distractions is high- many other gamers are present and other games are going on around us. When we go to one of the players' houses or my house, there are usually few distractions, but there is the 'parent factor'- whenever a parent is present we have to stop what we are doing since there is frequent violence in the game, and because I have an excellent imagination, I describe it well. And then, there is our 30-minute dinner break we usually take in Hour 4.

If the game degrades to an argument/fight/OT talk/etc. then I just roll a bunch of dice to make noise (that's my warning signal) then raise my hand above my head and count down from three to zero. This usually shuts them up, but not for long.

Now, I don't wish to rid myself of the players, since they are my friends. I don't want to totally scrap the D&D game wither, since I have put about six months of work into it so far and the players have done a lot things to enhance the game, too. What's a young DM to do?

-Chris

 

[UD]

I DM to large groups (6 and 7). Let me tell you it is hard work kepping them all in line.

Tips:
Have regular 10 minute breaks (don't break up intense or fast action/rp'ing). I recomend once every 1.5-2 hours.

Make sure you split your attention around everyone equally (some people love being in the limelight, the bigger the group the more this hurts).

Don't focus plots or storys on a particular palyer.

Don't play in the game shop. When playing at home, sit around a table, close the door, and remove any distractions from the room (music, TV's, computers etc).

Never take away xp, give it to those who stay focused and do good rp.

Having a 'total rp session' is a good idea, where everything people say is in character. I do this occasionally when people get out of hand. (Villages reacting to a character who wants to 'pass the crisps'. "What are these 'crisps'?", "Out of my town, oh worshiper of Cyric, etc..." etc...

 

[Carnifex]

It could well have something to do with the players having to run two characters each... they'll probably find it much easier to focus on being in character if they only have to concentrate on roleplaying one PC rather than two, and they'll put more effort into that one character.

Alternatively, you could just beat them silly with reeds every time they step out of line

 

[Orco42]

Carnifex-

I've got the same problem with my group (8 players). I know the main problem in my game is the number of players.

In your case there should not be too much of a problem in roleplaying parts, with only 3 players. But the fights may be a little slow with 6 characters, more so if they are unfamilar with the ex-player's characters.

Try the time limit for actions and the in character session.

 

[spacecrime.com]

I'm going to "me too". I think the switching is a big part of the problem, and the first thing to do is to move out the extra characters as quickly as possible.

On the game store front, I've been playing some attention to the tendencies of some of our in-store locals to be distracted or distracting. In general I've kept a light hand on this, figuring that our GMs are pretty capable of handling themselves and that I shouldn't interfere unless things are obviously out of control.

I've been rethinking this lately. Some of the kids *are* distracting -- even and perhaps especially the ones who are friends but not in that particular game -- and I'm getting a feeling that it's very hard for GMs to assert themselves or even admit that they'd like me to step in.

What do you think, Chris? (And the rest of youse folks, of course.) In general, if you're running a game in a game store, would you prefer that the game store owner actively kept distracting people away from your game, or do you want us to stay out of the way and let you handle the problem yourself?

yours,

 

[Chriskaballa]

Bump

Still looking for more opinions. Bump!

-Chris

 

[reapersaurus]

OK.
Here;s an opinion, that has a question attached.

How young are you and your players?

Are you more mature than your players?

I would think it would be very hard to keep younger people's attentions if you're 'just' a peer to them, [age-ist comment] what with younger people's attention-spans nowadays. [/age-ist comment]

 

[Trevalon Moonleirion]

I keep a bull whip behind my DM screen...
LOL We usually play a very relaxed game, so getting way off topic is usually just dealt with by saying "hey, let's get back into the game."

 

[GnomeWorks]

My (old) group often fades into non-game conversation quickly after only a few sessions. The first session we play of a new campaign, they were all pumped up about playing (remember, we are all 14-17 year olds with nothing better to do ). But then, the second or third one into the campaign, they'd all be off in never-never land.

This happens in every single game we have ever played - with one exception. Even with my dad DMing, they got off track very easily. The one exception was at a boy scout camp (go figure - lots of distractions, and we actually manage to play a decent game), and we only got to play once for four hours, and it was with tiny 4d6.

Often, I would try to draw them into the storyline, reusing old enemies to get them into it. DIdn't work, they didn't care - all a bunch of hack'n'slashers. So I've pretty much given up DMing in person.

I decided to start DMing out here on the boards. Loads easier - you have all the time you need to consider what has been said, all the record keeping of what is going on is done for you, and you can play whenever you have the time.

That's just my two coppers, though.

 

[Chriskaballa]

In response to reapersaurus's question:

I am 13, soon to be 14, and my players are aged 15, 15, and 17. Despite the fact I am younger than them we are good friends, and have a positive attitude going into the game.

I am considered a "child genius" by some and I am mostly a logic/thinker kind of guy, so if any disputes arise in the group, in-game or out-of-game, they are put down quickly as I settle things fairly with no bias. (From my players' point of view, and mine, too.)

To Trevalon's comment:

I wish I had a group as calm as yours that would snap to attention with one mention of those words. Unfortunately, my group isn't like that. The bullwhip IS an excellent idea though.

And last but not least, GnomeWorks's comment.

This is my first game as a DM. I've been unfortunate enough as to only have two experiences as a player: once up to second level, and once only up to 1st. This may account for my inability to keep the players interested as we get higher and higher in level (they are 5th right now). I don't like DMing online. I've tried it once, and it is a pain for me as I can only type about 25 to 30 AWPM (adjusted words per minute). And accounting that I'm usually reading off a paper or module or whatever while typing, that slows me considerably.

Anyway, I thank you all for the help. I would like to see more comments if possible, so I can get more of an idea how to get the group on task and to listen to me so I don't have to raise my voice or repeat myself to get their attention.

-Chris