My first bad game session

[pjrake]

Sounds like a great music system. Especially with it being an M&M campaign. I tend toward the half-winging and half-planned game session. Could it be that you are focusing too much on non-story material (music, visuals, etc.) and not on the plot itself? Are your players bored with the current game genre and want to try something different?

I suggest having a pre-game open discussion with your players - how do they feel about the game? What would they change? Ask everyone to give 3 positive aspects of the game and 3 negative aspects. There's nothing wrong with a little game troubleshooting.

That aside, everyone has a bad session once in a while. Ask a few questions, but don't worry about it unless the problems persist.

The pre-game discussion sounds like a great idea! I tried something similar where I would email all the players and ask for post-game feedback, but only one player actually gets back to me. With the pre-game open discussion I have all of them already and we can go around the room and discuss what players thought. Maybe even ask them where they would like to take their characters.

I think you are right; I'm letting non-story materials affect the game. My biggest thing right now is dealing with a "game table" where I have all of my materials readily available. Maybe for the next session I should just have the basic materials: dice and notes (and rulebook, of course).

As I'm writing this, I realize there was something new to the last adventure which might have been the culprit: I bought a new table and used it exclusively for my GM materials. Looking back I'm realizing that this has "separated" me from the players and was too far away from them. And with the GM screen it made it seem I was even further away. Maybe that was the problem.

PJ

 

[devilbat]

I agree with everyone else. Slow sessions happen. Move on and don't be concerned unless it happens two or more times consecutively

 

[Arrgh! Mark!]

I would also agree. Slow sessions happen. I wouldn't blame the plot structure as such.


But if there was one thing that helped me as a DM, it was asking the players after the session exactly what they thought of it, what they didn't like, and how I could make it better. Little things like "I'd prefer more maps to understand where we are" and that sort of thing. Even on good sessions you ask what the session was like and get feedback. Don't rely on your own judgement only, as the only time the session is a blast is when everyone has a blast.

 

[pogre]

I too would ask foy players' input and I must acho everyone's sentyiment that this seems to be more of a fluke and nothing to be concerned about. Your style seems to mesh well with your players.