Season 6 Episode 19
Jan 4, 2012 14:56:02 GMT -8
Post by heavymetaljess on Jan 4, 2012 14:56:02 GMT -8
I definitely feel Joshua's pain. A play-by-post freeform roleplaying background has made it really difficult for me to find the right balance for my group. Some of my players are used to computer/console games. They run around trying to "complete the quest" as quickly as possible. The rest have a "Don't tell me what to do!" attitude.
I think as a starting GM it's easier to find a group with all the same background. If you're all from a freeform-type background you'll get in lots of acting. In my experience these players like fewer rules and restrictions. If you have a lot of computer/console gamers you'll have a lot of action. These players seem to rely on more the rules to guide their strategies (especially in combat) and like clear guidelines to help direct their attention to important things.
Example 1:
My first attempt at GMing was for our old group (a 1 shot adventure). It started with their characters at a tavern on a coast and I had an NPC hint at a job on a ship. One of the players (an “actor”) responded with "My character wouldn't go, but I can tell that's the adventure you have planned so I’ll just do it anyway." It was meant as a not-so-thinly-veiled insult telling me that he could see my tracks. I wasn’t about to build an entire sandbox for a game that would only last one weekend and I was pretty annoyed that he had expected that. A different player (an “action player”) told me after the game that he felt lost the whole game and that I didn’t give clear direction on how they were supposed to “finish the game.”
Example 2:
The above actor player used his blow gun to shoot a dart dipped in holy water at a ghoul so he didn’t have to get close. The action player used their sneak attack because that’s what his character sheet said he could do.
In our mixed background group we use rules-light 2nd Edition D&D. The actors can then have enough wiggle room to act in weird and wonderful ways and the action players have enough rules to help guide them through the game. I know a lot of people don't care for 2nd Edition D&D but you can view all of the core 2nd edition books online for free (http://www.coryj.net/CoreRule/) and use as many or as few of the rules as you want to customize the game to your players. I have used that website to make my own GM guide with just the rules we use organized in a way that makes sense to me in a binder. Works great for someone like me with a terrible memory for boring details – like the rules.
P.S. Most chainmail bikinis are lined to prevent nipping the nips.
I think as a starting GM it's easier to find a group with all the same background. If you're all from a freeform-type background you'll get in lots of acting. In my experience these players like fewer rules and restrictions. If you have a lot of computer/console gamers you'll have a lot of action. These players seem to rely on more the rules to guide their strategies (especially in combat) and like clear guidelines to help direct their attention to important things.
Example 1:
My first attempt at GMing was for our old group (a 1 shot adventure). It started with their characters at a tavern on a coast and I had an NPC hint at a job on a ship. One of the players (an “actor”) responded with "My character wouldn't go, but I can tell that's the adventure you have planned so I’ll just do it anyway." It was meant as a not-so-thinly-veiled insult telling me that he could see my tracks. I wasn’t about to build an entire sandbox for a game that would only last one weekend and I was pretty annoyed that he had expected that. A different player (an “action player”) told me after the game that he felt lost the whole game and that I didn’t give clear direction on how they were supposed to “finish the game.”
Example 2:
The above actor player used his blow gun to shoot a dart dipped in holy water at a ghoul so he didn’t have to get close. The action player used their sneak attack because that’s what his character sheet said he could do.
In our mixed background group we use rules-light 2nd Edition D&D. The actors can then have enough wiggle room to act in weird and wonderful ways and the action players have enough rules to help guide them through the game. I know a lot of people don't care for 2nd Edition D&D but you can view all of the core 2nd edition books online for free (http://www.coryj.net/CoreRule/) and use as many or as few of the rules as you want to customize the game to your players. I have used that website to make my own GM guide with just the rules we use organized in a way that makes sense to me in a binder. Works great for someone like me with a terrible memory for boring details – like the rules.
P.S. Most chainmail bikinis are lined to prevent nipping the nips.