garbagetier
Villager
Man, I love this site. I'll respond to all in turn but overall, thanks so much for being awesome and supportive everyone. Bombing truly destroyed me.
We are all early to late middle aged. I know two of my players very, very well and can definitely have a heart to heart. A third player is a great guy, is definitely interested in playing sometimes, but is usually the first to get bored. I'd say we are good friends, we both enjoy hanging out, but this is one of his first tabletop rpgs.Yeah. Unless you are a bunch of teenagers... treat folks as if they were mature adults. If you have a problem, talk to them.
I recommend doing this in a non-accusative manner - "Hey, folks, I have noticed a pattern, and I was wondering if this is the way you want to play..."
Be ready to get some critique yourself, as you may have supported the behavior you've been seeing.
All good points. Two of them are definitely there to escape and relax, but the game is more "background Netflix" for them. Another player is a rabid animal eager and hungry to play. I love his passion and know how to keep him in check when he spotlight-steals.First, I think you’re being too hard on yourself. It’s great you want to improve your game, but keep in mind it’s just a game.
Second, there are a couple of things to parse out here. Are they bored? Or are the merely passive?
One could be passive or reactionary, but still be engaged. As mentioned above, some players play to escape and relax so being reactionary is their preferred mode (but they still enjoy playing). Boredom of course is more concerning.
Third, re encouragement to be more proactive, what system are you running, if I may ask? Some systems are designed to elicit a more proactive approach (FATE Core comes to mind).
You're right. I will do this.Honestly, talk to them about it.
Don’t try to trick them into being more engaged, talk to them. Ask them why they don’t engage more, and listen.
Holy crap I love this.Without knowing your table this'll be a complete shot in the dark, but there's a few things you-as-DM might want to try:
Encourage - or certainly don't discourage - inter-character relationships within the party. These can be romances, rivalries, friendships, whatever; as long as the characters are interacting with each other. To get this sort of thing started you could lob in an adventuring NPC for a while to stir the pot.
A more dramatic option might be to, one session when they're in downtime, sit back and say "Right - you lot are on your own tonight - all I'm going to do is react to what you give me, if I have to. Anything you say henceforth will be interpreted as if your characters said it, so get in character and talk to each other - get to know each other, decide what you're going to do next and how you're going to go about it, and that's what I'll run."
they're tired from work/school or because they prefer listening to the stories you tell.
Or, it could even be that they aren't enjoying the campaign enough to take any action.
I would start by speaking individually to your players and asking what they would like their characters to accomplish in-game. Perhaps they have interesting ideas but are unsure how to get from point A to point B and would benefit from a conversation with you on how to do that. You could even encourage them to write background stories for their characters which you would offer to treat as canon in your campaign, giving them an opportunity to "write the story together" as you say you would like. This wouldn't work for some players but for highly introverted people it would potentially be just the jump-start the campaign needs.
I am definitely asking this. Thanks so much.And last but not least, are there tangible improvements they would like you to make for future gaming sessions?
Good question.Is it possible however that you get more of a buzz from a extrovert group and actually your more introvert group are enjoying themselves just as much but you are not getting the same kicks from running?
Damn. That's a fantastic point. Work to their strengths. They love combat. I've brewed up a fun hybrid of systems and they have outloud exclaimed how much fun they have. Rather than force them to enjoy something they don't, feed them what they like. Cater the experience to the group's tastes rather than expect everyone to be all things.Heh. Yeah I would say either stick to type 1 players, or for type 2s run a simple dungeon bash campaign that doesn't require them to roleplay much or be proactive.
Yeah. I'm going to talk to them, cater their experience to what they enjoy (combat), and focus on strengthening my weaknesses.In addition to talking to them, I think it's important to develop a vision for your game and articulate that to the players before committing to a campaign. Then make sure they understand what you're going for and are bought into it.
In a plot-based adventure, it's a bit easier to be "passive." There's a storyline and you just follow it till the end. Often it's not about whether you'll get through it, but how. Maybe it's linear or there are some branches; otherwise, it's just going from start to finish. In that sort of scenario, the players can be more passive in my experience. The DM will present the plot points to engage with and the goal of the players and their characters is to follow the plot.
But if you're thinking of running a game wherein the action will be driven by the players rather than the plot such as in a sandbox style game, the game will tend to stall and be boring if the players don't set goals for their characters and get after it. If they are used to plot-based games, they might not know what to do in this situation and you end up with sessions like the one that is troubling you from time to time.
You may also want to review the incentives in your game for doing the sorts of things you would like to see. Are you using standard XP, milestone XP, story-based advancement? Where can they get treasure and what options do they have for spending it? By tying these things to the activities that will drive your game forward, you can use the players' desire to level up to keep things moving.
Finally, make sure that adventure is easy to find. Lots of games feature quirky, cagey NPCs that the players are supposed to interview to even find the adventure. This can get tedious and frustrating, particularly if the players are more passive. Session time is precious in my view so get to it as quickly as possible by making the routes to the action as straightforward as possible.