Authority Levels and the Gaming Table
Yesterday, I talked about comfortable authority levels, the general hierarchical positions to which people tend to find themselves drawn. But they aren’t just for characters; I’ve noticed that...
View ArticleExercise: As Someone Else
This one’s an idea I’ve toyed with on several occasions—once as a sort of RP team-building exercise, once as a theoretical experiment, once because I was bored. Like most of my exercises, it helps to...
View ArticleGMs Need Parameters Too!
The other day, I was working with one of my colleagues on an adventure design, and came up against a problem involving an encounter build—I had an image, he had some things he wanted out of it, we were...
View ArticleTo Order or not To Order?
For many people, taking turns is an integral part of the RPG experience. Battle has initiative order. Play-by-posts might have posting order. As it came up when one of my friends in the wiki...
View ArticleTake Back (Part of) the Limelight!
It was an accident, really. Maybe it was a long-established game and you were a new player. Or it was a new game, but you hadn’t had as much experience with the system as the others, or assumed a...
View ArticleFeelings and Proactivity
Not long ago, I found myself listening to the audiobook version of How We Decide, a book about how the brain makes its choices. There was one point within it in which it pointed out that while it’s...
View ArticleWorking Around “What Am I Doing Here?”
One of the perennial problems of playing in an RPG is the risk that you’re going to end up with That Character. The one who was a really cool concept originally, or who fits your style perfectly, or...
View ArticleThey Mean Well
I think this might be the most universal of traits for RPG parties that don’t fall into the Chaotic Klepto mode: they mean well. UZ referenced one a few comments ago. Ursula Vernon’s Livejournal...
View ArticleIsn’t That a Bit Too Much Power?
I’m not going to try to claim that the power fantasy isn’t an integral part of the RPG experience. The illusion of competence, lots of shiny effects with which one can attempt to butter-knife through...
View ArticleJust Because It’s Not Your Scene…
Into every game, a couple scenes that not everyone’s enjoying seem to fall. (Heck, even the enjoyment varies. Some people have characters who are into it but are dead bored themselves, or are enjoying...
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