From Jonathan Hardin, sojournersawake.com

If they’re having enjoyable, you then’re doing it proper.

With my Highlights & Hopes approach, I can instantly obtain suggestions on how my gamers outline enjoyable.

I collect these Highlights & Hopes proper after the sport whereas they’re nonetheless recent in everybody’s thoughts.

Definition

Highlights & Hopes is a post-session debriefing.

The GM goes across the desk and asks every participant to ship a spotlight of the sport, adopted by a hope for future classes.

Examples

Highlights

Highlights could be a second that made the participant snigger, an opportunity to congratulate one other participant on their intelligent pondering, or an opportunity to *ahem* let the GM know what an ideal job they did on designing the 5 Room Dungeon.

If my gamers wrestle for a spotlight second I ask them:

“What did you see within the sport that you just wish to see extra of sooner or later?”

Thanks, Jonathan, for that actually cool magic protect.

Hey Perry, I actually appreciated how your wizard Ignitus negotiated us out of that combat — you actually saved us alive.

Oh Sandy, I laughed so arduous when Roghan misplaced the horses. Actually, the most effective a part of the sport!

Hopes

Hopes are requests from gamers to permit them to take part within the improvement of the longer term classes.

Gamers may ask for shorter combats, an opportunity to disclose their character backstory, or a quest they wish to observe subsequent.

If a participant struggles with a solution, I’ll ask them:

“What do you would like was a spotlight of the sport?”

I like fight for certain, doing an ideal job, however I used to be questioning if we might stay up for an opportunity to parlay with the villain?

I might find it irresistible if we took the underworld mission.

I actually wish to see Sandy’s new character – can’t wait to fulfill them.

Warning

Typically a participant might need a criticism in regards to the sport system.

Hear the participant out and reply with, “I can see your level, let’s discover a method to fulfill these particular factors subsequent session.”

Additionally word {that a} participant may use this as a possibility for constructive criticism to the GM.

I’ve had it occur and it seems like an assault. Typically, persons are not taught learn how to ship criticism gracefully.

Quite than burning your marketing campaign down in anger, obtain this “spotlight” as proof your gamers care in regards to the final result of your sport.

Thank the crucial participant. Then let time be your good friend in processing the suggestions. After just a few days’ cooldown, you might be extra goal and reply to the unfavorable feedback in constructive trend to enhance your GMing.

Closing Thought

Most worth is achieved via full participation.

The extra usually I’ve my gamers take part within the sport, the extra invested they’re within the expertise and final result.

Highlights & Hopes brings your entire arduous work again to give attention to the gamers at your desk. Whereas I can be taught from different GMs and listen to from different gamers, utilizing this technique jogs my memory that crucial folks in my sport are the gamers.

Ideas From Roleplaying Ideas Sport Masters

Have a roleplaying tip you’d prefer to share? E-mail it to [email protected] – thanks!

Thought: NPC Updates

From RPT GM Jesse C Cohoon

Johnn,

Merry Christmas and Glad New Yr.

I simply did one thing neat for gamers of my play-by-post sport.

As a result of the gamers every have their very own pursuits and contacts, it’s nearly like operating a totally totally different sport for every of the PCs.

However because it’s not at all times simple (and even potential!) to get an opportunity to cowl all the pieces that’s happening with them, I believed it could be neat to provide a glimpse of what the NPCs have been doing after they weren’t interacting with the characters.

Earlier than I posted the knowledge, the gamers knew all the knowledge was out of character and must get the knowledge out of the NPCs by some means.

Right here’s a few questions that can assist your readers see if it could work for his or her video games:

• Are the NPCs recurring?
• Have they any emotional attachments to them?
• Is what they’re doing attention-grabbing, helpful, or related to the plot? Why is it attention-grabbing to the PC? What makes it helpful? How is it related?
• Does what they’re doing present character development?
• Will the PCs maintain the out-of-character info out of character?

Right here’s just a few examples of what I did:

• Legion, (a being that has 17 souls in a robotic shell) with their capacity to make stable illusions, has been asking contractors for quotes for a brand new constructing within the location the place the PCs discovered the Hoarfrost coffin.
• Jase has simply gotten a promotion within the police division. With that, he’s in a position to regulate issues behind the scenes with out being on the entrance strains a lot.
• One factor the division is investigating is a rise in violent crimes amongst individuals who’ve by no means had any felony file earlier than.
• Robert has gotten an undercover job at Omnicorp Pharma-medics division. They’re doing analysis on subsequent 12 months’s flu vaccine. He’s given studies that he’s involved concerning its security.

XP For Fixing Issues

From RPT GM Colubris

For me, it wasn’t milestone XP, it was problem-based XP that disincentivised shoot-first encounters.

An important half: We had a chat first.

I wasn’t having enjoyable with the murder-hobo fashion, however I wanted to verify I wouldn’t be destroying their enjoyable by altering it.

I wished barely extra nuanced & artistic play. They thought that will be enjoyable, however wished to maintain pretty easy morality with very clear dangerous guys they didn’t should really feel dangerous about killing.

We settled on a system the place not all XP might be reached by killing.

As an alternative, I award full XP for fixing an issue.

If killing issues solves the issue, so be it. If not, they get partial award:

50% for bypassing an issue

10% for failing to deal with the issue

The remainder of the XP is on the market in the event that they efficiently clear up the issue.

I additionally award double XP for artistic options, like killing no one and negotiating a peace between the uplifted wolves and the native shepherding group.

10% can be used for random encounters the place there is no such thing as a drawback to unravel:

“You see a bear within the distance.”

“We kill it”

“You now have a bear carcass & 120 XP. That’s 30 every.”

With this technique, it’s essential to inform them what they’re getting and why.

It feels good to get double reward for arduous work.

It feels dangerous to get partial reward for shoddy work.

The incentives match the fashion of play. Hope this helps!

Retaining Talkers & Smashers Engaged

From RPT GM Bronson

re: How To Deal with Hack & Slash and Plot-Breaking Character Powers

Hey Johnn,

I loved your electronic mail immediately that spoke somewhat bit on the Hack and Slash and thought I might need a few opinions and strategies that might be helpful.

The very first thing that I might encourage any DM who’s dealing with this case to do is to take inventory of their gamers.

Is Hack and Slash all that they need out of their time with you?

For some gamers, this chance to vent with out the specter of reprisal could also be precisely what they’re after and that’s OK.

There are many issues that we are able to do to make fight distinctive and interesting for these gamers.

However I believe the issue involves the desk when we’ve got a few gamers that “break up the social gathering” on this desire.

A pair simply wish to hack n slash via the nights entertaining fight sequences, whereas a pair want to flex their creativity via participating roleplay and plot improvement with out the specter of the homicide hobo edgelord killing that prisoner the roleplayers wish to interrogate.

So the true query I believe turns into, “How can we interact our Roleplayers throughout fight and the way can we interact or Hack-n-Slashers throughout roleplay?”

Listed below are a few issues I do to assist every of those teams.

Roleplayers Throughout Fight

My favourite factor to do for these gamers is have roleplay “voice strains” prepared and ready for them.

This offers roleplayers one thing to understand onto in the event that they do wish to take any non-combat actions.

Voice strains can take the type of particular bonus actions or reactions that I’ve programmed for the villain of the second.

For example, the evil Paladin Nu’min has led his henchman towards the social gathering. However throughout fight we wish to do issues that assist develop Nu’min’s character greater than “he hits you for 15 slashing injury”.

But when we are saying, “Nu’min the evil Paladin gazes upon you in righteous fury. ‘My blade will devour your blood in holy sacrament to Rakal!’ He hits you for 15 slashing injury.”

This immediately ramped up the roleplaying potential a counter quip about false righteousness.

Having 4-5 voice strains able to roll will make it simpler so that you can accommodate the roleplayer and possibly even progress the plot, all throughout that hack n slash fight.

Hack-n-Slasher Out Of Initiative

This participant simply needs to “DO SOMETHING! TOO MUCH TALK!”

So enable them alternatives to be heroic with out drawing their blade.

Earlier than you recognize it they are going to be LOOKING for tactics to be heroic with out drawing their blade.

For instance, I had a celebration assembly with their native fence, and the Barbarian was becoming bored because the excessive charisma gamers bantered with the shopkeeper.

Out of nowhere, “Barbarian what’s your passive notion?!…”

“Uh um uh 13.”

“You see an unattended child carriage rolling down the hill previous the store window! What do you do?!”

The fast and easy sequence of checks led to the Barbarian discovering a protracted and fulfilling facet plot with the only mom whose darling baby he rescued.

Tacky? maybe.

Did it work? Dang straight it did.

As a DM, we’ve got to facilitate alternatives for all gamers to get pleasure from what they like most in regards to the sport that you just play.

Wanna Roleplay?

Give them dynamic dialog and drama-filled fight.

Wanna smash? Give them the chance to be the hero in ways in which don’t contain them rolling initiative.

Talk about these sport grasp suggestions on this thread on the official Roleplaying Ideas group discussion board.