Trick Question For You – All Players Count
Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0748
Trick Question For You – All Players Count
I had a great game on Friday. I’m a cleric for our Out of the Abyss campaign.
A player complimented me for thinking outside the box. As I only had 9 hit points at the time, I assume he meant the box was a coffin.
We all survived, fortunately, and found the stolen red dragon egg.
I got to musing afterward.
It’s important for every player to have fun at every game. Otherwise, what’s the point?
Part of making things fun is designing and tweaking adventures to suit the players.
For example, if the adventure has gnolls and a character is afraid of orcs, change the gnolls to orcs and let those foul creatures hound the party for awhile.
All Players Count
Here’s a trick question for you. If you have Bob, Yuan, Amy, Bjorn, and Alejandro in your group, how many players do you need to design for to have more fun at every game?
The answer is six. Bob + Yuan + Amy + Bjorn + Alejandro + YOU!
You’ve got to have fun as GM too. You are a player in the game just as much as those with character sheets.
And that must factor into your designs and plans.
Don’t just make encounters for the folks on the other side of the screen.
Also make encounters that explore your ideas.
Make things that get you experience with specific rules you haven’t refereed before.
Craft stuff as experiments to see how your group reacts.
Build NPCs, traps, and monsters to explore and learn what works well and what doesn’t in the interactive storytelling environment.
Pursue your inspirations. Reboot your campaign if you’re bored.
Do stuff so you have fun as well, over and above the joy of GMing. Consider yourself an equal player, and prepare fun for you too. Not having fun at every game? Please email me and tell me why. I’d like to help.