Help: my players aren't having fun...

[Magic Missile]

I ran a d20 modern game last night, and all seemed to go well... but afterwards it turned out that a few people weren't happy about how things were going.

As a GM, I'm fine running games, adjudicating the unexpected and so on, but I am not very good at handling players.

Last night there was a player who was supposed to be the team leader; sadly, no-one payed her much attention and people kept arguing with her. She wasn't very happy. Looking back, I didn't do an awful lot to help alelviate the situation...

Another player was forever telling me what he was doing and asking questions. Now, I love the kind of player... but the problem is the rest of the group tend to just sit there saying nothing until I prompt them. Because I have one player who takes a more active approach to the game than everyone else, I find I end up spending most of my time with him, and ignoring the other players.

Ever eager to become a better GM, I would appreciate some general or specific advice for this kind of situation. It is very important to me that the players all enjoy the game equally.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[kengar]

Last night there was a player who was supposed to be the team leader; sadly, no-one payed her much attention and people kept arguing with her. She wasn't very happy. Looking back, I didn't do an awful lot to help alelviate the situation...

It's not exactly your job to make the players "play nice" with each other, but if her character is supposed to be the leader (i.e. has an actual position of authority over the others -like military rank, etc.) then tell the other players they are hurting their XP awards for not roleplaying their rank properly. Do the same for her, if she's the "Sarge" then she should act like it.

Another player was forever telling me what he was doing and asking questions. Now, I love the kind of player... but the problem is the rest of the group tend to just sit there saying nothing until I prompt them. Because I have one player who takes a more active approach to the game than everyone else, I find I end up spending most of my time with him, and ignoring the other players.

Go ahead and prompt them. Go around the table and ask everyone what they are doing. Tell the "chatty" player you'll get back to him when it's his turn again. Be nice, but be clear he can't monopolize the table time and will have to wait from time to time.

 

[Gargoyle]

Sounds like you all need to sit down before your next game and discuss this stuff out in the open. Don't feel like it's all your fault; the players have to do their part to make the game fun.

Maybe they don't want a team leader. Maybe the one player who hogs all your attention needs to be told that by the other players. Maybe they don't want to play d20 Modern, or dislike the type of campaign you're running. Hash it out before things get out of hand. Don't think of it as "handling" the players...ask them to help you fix things and make sure everyone gets a voice.

Good luck.

 

[Pielorinho]

These are tough problems, inasmuch as they require player action, not just GM action.

Is the "team leader" assigned that role by a superior? If so, next session have the team leader report in. If she reports the insubordination of her subordinates, they should be royally chewed out by the group's superior officer.

But the leader should also be chewed out, for not maintaining discipline in the group. Give her some sort of means to assert her authority: she may have the power to demote her team members, or even have them arrested.

This, of course, causes its own set of problems: what if this group of players doesn't have fun taking orders? They might rebel against the enforced discipline, and this might throw the adventure completely off-track, disintegrating the group's cohesion.

As for the players who don't get involved, I have a couple of answers. First, some players like to take a back-seat role. If this is the case, and you've talked with them about it out-of-game, don't worry about it. Let 'em chill.

But if they want to be more involved, design storylines that center around their PCs.

Good luck!
Daniel

 

[Gargoyle]

Re: Re: Help: my players aren't having fun...

Go ahead and prompt them. Go around the table and ask everyone what they are doing. Tell the "chatty" player you'll get back to him when it's his turn again. Be nice, but be clear he can't monopolize the table time and will have to wait from time to time.

This is good advice. Despite what I said earlier, when actually running the game you DO need to "handle" the players as far as time, and making sure that people get equal time is part of your job.

 

[D'karr]

Shoot one player every hour until they comply with your demands...

Oops, wrong advice forum.

 

[Henry]

Shoot one player every hour until they comply with your demands...

Oops, wrong advice forum.

Now THAT's my kind of DM!

Seriously, ditto on Gargoyle's and kengar's advice. The important thing is to identify your players' needs from the game, and seek to meet them.