Tuesday, April 28, 2020

How I Roll - Is It Me?

I like to think every GM asks themselves that question at some point during their games. I know I do.

What brought this to mind was how my group doesn't seem to connect the dots I'm laying out for them. Therefore I have to ask myself "is it me?" or are the players not good at connecting dots.

Taking a step back and looking at the dots is difficult since I know what they are and where they're going. Trying to pretend I don't and reading them as they were presented to the players is difficult but possible to a certain extent. This also falls back into the question of plot hook vs railroading.

In this specific situation I'm going to say my players aren't very good at connecting the dots for medium to long range results. For short term they seem to be on the money. But they don't look at the larger picture. That means it's on me to adjust what I'm doing.

I have three choices that I can see.

1 - Nibbles

I can break the puzzles down into smaller nibbles that build on each previous encounter. This approach means there's still a decent chance they won't make necessary connections but I have more options for letting them roll for what their characters would know.

2 - Bigger Dots

Maybe I stop being subtle, make the dots much bigger, and put flaming arrows in the direction they go. That one feels like it's getting into railroading territory and I'm not sure how I feel about that.

3 - Abandon the Dots

This group may be one that doesn't play the long game, as it were. They may not pick up on wider implications of what they're doing until they get smacked in the face with them. Of course I'd have to mitigate how much of a smacking they get if they don't have a chance to see it coming.

These are options for each group. They're not something the GM can decide ahead of time. Unless Session Zero had the players flat out stating they didn't want to deal with the consequences of their actions or solving mysteries then it's going to come out in game. Even if they do say that there's always a chance they change their minds as the game evolves.

As the GM it's frustrating to me to see them struggle with what I think are basic connections. Even stepping back to try to see it from their perspective it seems basic. Or at least not that hard. There's enough bits and pieces that they should have picked up on some pretty obvious stuff in our last game. They didn't.

So what happens when the players aren't seeing where a storyline is going and they flub every roll that would allow the GM to give them insight? Good question. I wish I had a definitive answer. It would certainly make my life easier.

What I'm going to do is try to use NPCs to fill in some of the gaps. Once they get to town there's always a way to get information to them. I'm lucky that they're heading to one now. Otherwise I would have to drop some more encounters on them to give them more dots to try to connect. Or I would have to abandon that completely and make it less of a cohesive story than a series of short stories or an anthology.

The conclusion here is to try not to be too clever as the GM. We're at a huge advantage because we're the ones who know the intended storyline. It's easy for us to see connections because we created them. Talking it over with someone not in the game but who knows gaming can help a lot. Telling them the basics of what you've given the players can show whether or not you've done enough. Make sure you're not assuming too much and that you're running a game the players expect.

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