![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerA few weeks ago I read a good blog in the roleplaying games blog Gnome Stew, entitled Entertainment is Key (Nov. 2023). It's about how roleplayers have different motivations to play and how a good game master (GM) strives to understand their goals to craft a playing experience that's entertaining for everyone. It got me thinking about the successes and failures of group entertainment in the games I've played and a few techniques that help tilt the game toward the former rather than the latter.
The first thing to recognize is that gamers do have different expectations of what to get out of the game. Some are looking for high fantasy storytelling, some are looking to crush every opponent, and some just want to play everything for laughs. I've seen games struggle and occasionally fail because the players want things that are too dissimilar.
The second thing to understand is that trying to stitch together a game around conflicting interests is not the way it has to be. You can elicit players’ ideas of enjoyment, align the game to them, and ensure they fit with each other. For me this is an indispensible part of Session Zero.
I’ve found many other GMs regard Session Zero merely as a chance to align on what game system we’ll play, what our character classes are, and check that we’ve constructed our characters per the rules. To me this is only part of Session Zero. The other critical part is aligning on how we have fun with the game and with each other.
One tip I have for fellow GMs is not to make “What’s your idea of fun?” an open ended question. That’s where you’ll get a lot of vague or confused answers. I recommend instead you start by outlining the broad strokes of how you’ve designed your game. Then invite the players to identify where, within that range, they find it most enjoyable to play.
For example, in the City of the Dead game I've been running recently I pointed out in our Session Zero that the game system I’d chosen is on the “crunchier” end of the spectrum (rules-heavy D&D) because working the rules and rolling dice to determine outcomes is fun for me— up to a certain point. Then I asked the players each to weigh in on how far they liked to take letting the mechanics determine the story vs. the story determine the story. We quickly reached a consensus on how we'd enjoy playing this game. Note, if I'd asked an open ended question I probably would have gotten 5 disparate answers, but by starting with an outline and asking the group to choose where the center is, we converged on a mutually satisfying answer much faster.
A second tip for fellow GMs is to believe what your players tell you but also not believe it. Watch how they act in the game to determine whether they’re really having fun! I’ve seen this repeatedly with respect to the question, “Do you like a combat heavy game vs. roleplaying heavy?”
Players so often tell me they want more roleplaying, more courtly intrigue, etc., versus hack-and-slash… yet repeatedly when I create role-playing heavy stories they lean away from engaging them, look bored, and grumble about how they’ve “done nothing” all session since there were no combats. So yes, definitely talk about what players want from the game up front, but keep an eye on where & how they're engaging as you go, too.
The first thing to recognize is that gamers do have different expectations of what to get out of the game. Some are looking for high fantasy storytelling, some are looking to crush every opponent, and some just want to play everything for laughs. I've seen games struggle and occasionally fail because the players want things that are too dissimilar.
The second thing to understand is that trying to stitch together a game around conflicting interests is not the way it has to be. You can elicit players’ ideas of enjoyment, align the game to them, and ensure they fit with each other. For me this is an indispensible part of Session Zero.
I’ve found many other GMs regard Session Zero merely as a chance to align on what game system we’ll play, what our character classes are, and check that we’ve constructed our characters per the rules. To me this is only part of Session Zero. The other critical part is aligning on how we have fun with the game and with each other.
One tip I have for fellow GMs is not to make “What’s your idea of fun?” an open ended question. That’s where you’ll get a lot of vague or confused answers. I recommend instead you start by outlining the broad strokes of how you’ve designed your game. Then invite the players to identify where, within that range, they find it most enjoyable to play.
For example, in the City of the Dead game I've been running recently I pointed out in our Session Zero that the game system I’d chosen is on the “crunchier” end of the spectrum (rules-heavy D&D) because working the rules and rolling dice to determine outcomes is fun for me— up to a certain point. Then I asked the players each to weigh in on how far they liked to take letting the mechanics determine the story vs. the story determine the story. We quickly reached a consensus on how we'd enjoy playing this game. Note, if I'd asked an open ended question I probably would have gotten 5 disparate answers, but by starting with an outline and asking the group to choose where the center is, we converged on a mutually satisfying answer much faster.
A second tip for fellow GMs is to believe what your players tell you but also not believe it. Watch how they act in the game to determine whether they’re really having fun! I’ve seen this repeatedly with respect to the question, “Do you like a combat heavy game vs. roleplaying heavy?”
Players so often tell me they want more roleplaying, more courtly intrigue, etc., versus hack-and-slash… yet repeatedly when I create role-playing heavy stories they lean away from engaging them, look bored, and grumble about how they’ve “done nothing” all session since there were no combats. So yes, definitely talk about what players want from the game up front, but keep an eye on where & how they're engaging as you go, too.
