How do we craft a good experience for our players when they’re just voices in our ears and videos on our screens? After all, experience is more than the points that gets handed out at the of the session. I want to talk about the charisma-based skill challenges we face when our campaigns are digital—the soft skills, the social stuff.
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I love foisting eldritch artifacts or ancient magics onto their shoulders. I take glee in giving them influence within an important organization and seeing what they’ll do. It allows me to ask tough questions about how and when they use their great power responsibly (thanks, Uncle Ben). Plus, it gives my players the power to enact real change in the game – something all of us can sometimes feel powerless to do in our real lives. (My group’s go-to power fantasy is making the world a better place.)
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As the GM, you are your players’ eyes, ears, and other senses. The choices you make when describing your game literally build the way they perceive their characters’ world, and their perceptions of the world will determine their actions. When they latch onto the wrong thing, be it the goblin barkeep instead of the mysterious figure in the corner or the stale corner of bread instead of the bloody murder weapon, nine times out of 10, it’s a failure of description.
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Do you want to center your player characters’ backstories without making it seem like the whole world revolves around them? Do you want to create emotional bonds as strong as adamantine between not just the PCs and the NPCs but the players, too? Do you want to pull off an enemies-to-allies (or lovers if that’s your story of the game) arc without ham-fisting the heel-face turn? Well then, my friend, allow me to introduce you to a little trick in my toolbox…
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Leveling up isn’t just for PCs. Game masters can level up their GMing skills and abilities. To do that, we’re going to take a journey that begins with identifying our problem areas and ends with a plan to min/max the heck out of our GM-fu.
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There are a lot of similarities between hosting a dinner party and running a TTRPG session. I’m not just talking about the fact that both usually involve a shared meal between friends. There are other subtle social aspects, and examining one can tell us a lot about the other.
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I’m running a horrible campaign, and my...
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S.O.M.O. (so•mo) | noun: Scared of Missing Out....
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I don’t want to talk about Luke Skywalker...
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