Article - RPG player advice

[SirKicley]

Hey all on my D&D yahoo group, this link was passed around recently. It's a pretty darn good article (blog) giving some great advice to players - essentially on how to be a better player - how to be more forthcoming and active in the game, and how to be For many of us, most of it is rudimentary, but it's a good refresher course nonetheless. For others, it may have a few bits that really create an A-HA moment for them.

In the end, I have over 30 years experience with RPGs, and I have to say that collectively while this is not an exhaustive list of advice, it is a very good overview with much gaming philosophy goodness that I subscribe to myself, and would say I agree with 100% of what he says.

http://lookrobot.co.uk/2013/06/20/11-wa ... oleplayer/


(NOTE: the language is rated PG-13)


Robert

[Eluadin]

Robert,

Thanks for posting the link, and warning!

Picking up on two themes in there: "display your traits" and "my character wouldn't do that".

One way I coach my players on using Traits is to roll before narrating the action on their character's part. Then, use a Trait if one makes sense to explain why your roll was successful, or a failure.

Take "Determined" as an example. This Trait was dissected with exquisite detail in the old forum if memory serves me right. Can't Determined be used to pass every task or test as a simple success? I won't weigh in on that, but it can be used to explain failed rolls magnificently! A determined player-hero botches an Encounter, and in this process the Fellowship misses an important opportunity: "I know you doubt the letter of introduction our Hobbit has brought. But, if you look closely you'll see it's Bilbo's signature style." A pause ensues as the LM character narrows her eyes, "Please take a close look, this is too important to dismiss! Time is running out...!" Too determined to succeed often leads to failure. Roll first and use your traits to narrate why the roll resulted the way it did.

I like to think of myself as interesting and multi-faceted. As my wife is quick to point out, though, I really have a few traits that always surface when were out, or I'm at work. It's not so odd that when I'm in the rabbit burrow (we don't have dogs, but a lot of rabbits roam nearby), what got me there is often what makes sure the garbage gets tak'in out. Know what I mean?

LM encourage your players to roll first and talk after the result. Gives the opportunity to craft the narration around a trait: ADVANCEMENT POINTS!

The latter of the two points I mentioned from the read Robert linked us to fits right into ME: Take a lesson from Frodo when something good is called for that doesn't necessarily appear in line with our character; and take a queue from Boromir when something bad is required out of synch with the character (the latter might even make sense if players tend to lean away from the Will of the West in their play style).

“At last with an effort he spoke, and wondered to hear his own words, as if some other will was using his small voice.”

“He rose and passed his hand over his eyes, dashing away the tears. ‘What have I said?’ he cried. ‘What have I done? Frodo, Frodo!’ he called. ‘Come back! A madness took me, but it has passed. Come back!”

Excerpt From: J. R. R. Tolkien. “The Fellowship of the Rings.” HarperCollins Publishers.

[Osric]

Yeah, that's a good one. Thanks for sharing it, SirKicley.
Like you say, it's not necessarily personal epiphany material -- though it could have been for, ooh, about the first couple of decades I was gaming. But I did enjoy the writer's energy.

Sadly my group of equally long-in-the-tooth gamers also already know all this stuff intellectually, they just don't quite care enough to do anything about it. We have our good points but our dysfunctions are unlikely to respond to treatment, and we have to game within our limitations rather ever approaching the Ultimate Gaming Experience.

--Os.

[Osric]

[...]Take a lesson from Frodo when something good is called for that doesn't necessarily appear in line with our character; and take a queue from Boromir when something bad is required out of synch with the character (the latter might even make sense if players tend to lean away from the Will of the West in their play style).

“At last with an effort he spoke, and wondered to hear his own words, as if some other will was using his small voice.”

“He rose and passed his hand over his eyes, dashing away the tears. ‘What have I said?’ he cried. ‘What have I done? Frodo, Frodo!’ he called. ‘Come back! A madness took me, but it has passed. Come back!”

Nice. This can work well for the tone of the game, in giving a nod back to the sources that inspired us to be playing TOR in the first place. There's less narration at the table in my group, but I do retrospectively add such things into my writeups of the game, and my players don't seem to mind having cool stuff invented on their behalf (though it begins to stretch the definition of a writeup of 'Actual Play'...)

But having examined those sorts of moments in the books very closely, I've concluded that there's a lot more to them, and it's a goal of mine to work those concepts into the game, and even game mechanics, as much as possible.

The intervention of a higher power giving the free will of the character a little nudge in the right direction (to interpret it charitably) is probably not a common event. Things that happen to that one particular small hobbit are pivotal to the whole of the Great Author's vision for the unfolding of the history of Middle-earth, and yer average PC probably wouldn't really get such benevolent steers.
The Phial of Galadriel seems to put chapter and verse into the subconscious mind of the bearer -- in Quenya, no less! But the Phial itself can be identified as the direct source there. Or if not the Phial itself, then some action of Galadriel's at the point of bestowing it.
There is also the example of Gandalf watching over Frodo from afar, and possibly sending hints via ósanwë into his subconscious mind. When Frodo enters something approximating ósanwë space on the seat of Amon Hen, Gandalf is able to make himself heard directly in Frodo's waking mind, with his "Take off the Ring!"
Beyond Galadriel and Gandalf, Elrond, Círdan, and Celeborn and a small supporting cast of mighty Noldor seem likely to be the only ones capable of such. And that's a potentially a proper tangible benefit of spending an Undertaking to have such a figure for a Patron!

But not all unexpected insights are necessarily beamed in from an external source. All the Children of Eru have a 'higher self', their fëa, that is usually subconscious and best gets to express itself in dreams -- as is also true of ósanwë, to which the waking mind is not generally very receptive. So sometimes the will of the subconscious fëa may manage to make itself felt, without the character being conscious of the source of the insight.

My personal favourite is when a player says something that's true, without him necessarily realising it at the time. I stop whatever else is going on and focus in on that player, telling them something like "You don't know how you know, but your heart tells you that what you just said is true."

My theories aren't as well-formed on the temptings of the Shadow, but obviously all sorts of wrong thought and wrong actions can be attributed to the pull of dark motives. This is Arda Marred, and there is a seed of Melkor-Morgoth in anyone whose body is made of the tainted fabric of Middle-earth -- even before they've officially gained the first Flaw on their Shadow-weakness track.

Cheers,
--Os.

[SirKicley]

My personal favourite is when a player says something that's true, without him necessarily realising it at the time. I stop whatever else is going on and focus in on that player, telling them something like "You don't know how you know, but your heart tells you that what you just said is true."

I like this Osric! I like it a lot!

Robert

[Eluadin]

I have to agree with Robert on that one, Os, that is a stellar treatment of an unexpected knowing. Could be complimented by drawing their attention to a particular Trait as part of the unexpected knowing...? Another way to draw traits into the limelight and help players further identify with them in action.

Nice...!

[Yusei]

I'd really like to see the articles about gamemastery that the author mentions (or any other article you might know of), because I haven't found many that were helpful. The only one I can remember was John Wicks' "Play Dirty".

Regarding the actual article, I'm not overly fond of some of the advice.

First, the author seems to suggest that roleplaying between players is to be avoided if it negates actions. This is not a videogame, roleplaying is very fine, and sometimes both players rely on this. One of my PCs hates Hobbits, as part of his backstory. The player expects his character to learn over time that Hobbits are OK. Watching the other PCs trying to prevent him from slaughtering any hobbit he meets is both fun and an integral part of the story we're telling.

Second, "my character wouldn't do that" is actually a very good point to consider. My advice would be: if your character wouldn't do that, help the GM find a way to give a good reason to your character. Your character doesn't want to fight a big monster, but he has to in order for the story to move? Make some noise, so that the monster sees and attacks you. Hobbits don't go on adventures? Tooks sometimes do, and your hobbit has Took blood. Your character doesn't want to save the princess? Have him do something stupid, get arrested, and negociate your freedom in exchange for saving the princess. Be true to your character, but play with the GM and with the group.

And finally, my best session ever was when the players split in two groups, one trying to arrest the other for something they didn't do. It wasn't planned at all, and it required me to constantly switch between two rooms, but it was incredibly fun. Not to be abused, sure, but attacking characters is not attacking players, and it can be done, as long as everyone is having fun.