The latest installment of Save My Game, DM Judgement, has some decent advice on the title topic (nitpicky players) — but the real gem is this:
“I developed a system of small name cards that I would hold in my hand as I talked with the class. I cycled through the deck as I asked questions to make sure that I kept everyone engaged, but I had to pay attention and make myself do it.”
Not only is this yet another use for index cards, but it sounds like an excellent way to make sure that you’re not ignoring your quieter players in favor of the chattier ones. Simple, intuitive and potentially quite useful.
I could probably use this but would modify it a bit. Instead of name on the cards I would probably put Class/Profession(whatever) and shuffle them. Then during the adventure, make an encouter suited for that class/prof. then shuffle, rinse, repeat.
I could definatly use this.
In my last (and now defunct) group, I had a Player who did not ever want to be “called on” or engaged in any way.
She reportedly enjoyed the games very much but did not want to talk, in character or out.
She would come to the games with her husband, who was great to play with but always fell asleep at games, about half way through.
This meant that to have Players who were awake and wanted to engage, we would have to wait for the other half of the group, who were always 2 to 3 hours late, every game.
Did I mention that the group is defunct? 😉
Still, my point is that GMs should try to be aware that different players might want different levels of engagement. Not everyone is comfortable under the spotlight. This does not mean they are not having fun.
Good point about different levels of engagement. Engagement doesn’t have to mean talking, though — it could just be making sure that the quiet player’s PC has a spotlight moment centered around their skills or abilities (along the lines of maikeru’s point), for example.
Re: gospog’s anti-engaged player.
I’m a fan of Robin’s Laws of Good Game Mastering, a short book of game mastering tips and techniques. One interesting part is his breakdown of gamer types. Of interest is that he identified one category that he labelled as “Casual Gamer”, which would seem to pretty much describe gospog’s player. Some people seem content to hang out with other people and not do much. So long as the player is really content with this (and not saying they’re content because they feel they need to), you can pretty much not worry about them.
Yeah, that is my old group. :/
But the wheel of karma has finally turned in my favor. My new group is amazing, and it is important to enage them all every session, if at all possible.
Good tips, thanks.
-Tom