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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Henry" data-source="post: 5663822" data-attributes="member: 158">Instead of asking, "your character can't explore, interact, plot, discover, and fight using interesting tactics based on your current capabilities?" perhaps a better question would be, "what do you feel that you're doing now that's 'not cool?'"I'm still huge fan of <a href="http://e23.sjgames.com/item.html?id=SJG30-3009" target="_blank">Robin's Laws of good gamemastering</a> and one of the important questions to ask is, "is there anything I can identify that is easy to insert into the game session that will give each player their "emotional kick" that makes them feel like they've had a good session?"A comment like that, unsolicited, free of peer pressure, is pure gold in terms of genuine feedback that a GM can use to get that player more involved in their game. You sound like you get great feedback already, and players are enjoying themselves. However, it's always worth analyzing something like this, identify to yourself what the player is REALLY asking for in the statement, instead of what's on the surface. We can't do it for you -- you know your game better than anyone. If you can figure out what this really means for this player, you might be able to turn a good player into a fantastic one. Is it a case where he feels he doesn't have enough reinforcement to try something outside the hard mechanical rules for his PC? Does he not understand you're more willing to let him perform cool stunts than he sees? Is it just that he doesn't necessarily look for pure mechanical power, but just some form of status or recognition of prowess or wealth to reaffirm that his character is cool? Could there be missing a chance for him to "open a can of whip-ass" on a group of creatures and show how far his character has come from a 1st level Commoner? It's not often that it's as simple as "this player won't be happy until he has Fireball/Whirlwind Attack" -- many times, the levelling is a symbol for him or her having the rules backing to get into the type of gameplay they want to have instead of what they have now.Just my experience and input, anyway -- many times, giving the player that one chance to shine at their playstyle (Power Game, Method Actor, Specialist, Storyteller, etc.) makes them happier than a pig in mud for the rest of the session.</blockquote>

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