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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Haltherrion" data-source="post: 5388112" data-attributes="member: 18253">I agree. This in the end comes down to GM and play-group style. In an ideal case, the GM has done such a nice job setting up the world, both background and hooks, and the players are so proactive and engaged that the players drive the story without much impetus from the ref (beyond the setup which can be substantial). However, I say that if the players are staring at you looking for something to do, it is the GM's problem, not the player's problem. Should the players be more proactive? Possibly. Maybe the ref has done a bang-up job on the setting and they really ought to be finding something to do. Maybe your entire group of players are a bunch of unmotivated laggards. But in general when there is a choice between 3-5 people being in the wrong or one person being in the wrong, it's usually the one person. Individually people make mistakes, groups are actually pretty effective. So if all the players are 'stuck' it is more likely the ref needs to better set up the game, make better hooks, whatever than that all players are clueless. Even separate of the issue of where the burden lies, most refs are the "prime mover" for a gaming group. Most have invested a fair amount of time in the campaign. Most refs don't want their game to fall apart. If the campaign gets to a pause, rather than have it peter out or bounce around in aimless wandering that is likely to not entertain and therefore likely to cost you players, shouldn't you as the ref intervene to make sure your prized campaign succeeds? Seems like it is in the ref's best interest to act in this case rather than perhaps arguing with his players that they ought to be finding stuff to do. The latter sounds akin to the movie director who, after getting mostly bad reviews, is prone to arguing with the critics rather than learning from his experience and resolving to improve his movies. I've been on both sides of this and in my personal experience, my games improved tremendously once I took responsibility for game momentum. I like to think that I have done this by providing richer, clearer settings with clearer hooks but in the end if I got my hooks wrong and nothing clicked with the players, I'll step in and force something interesting rather than have my hard-to-schedule players sitting around staring at their navels.</blockquote>

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