Having a Better Game - Screentime and Roles

 Everyone wants a chance to shine though some people may find it embarrassing and best in small doses.  A lot of gamers are introverts or at best nerds and many of us weak on social skills.  So many gamers are not used to a lot of attention and can get flustered.

A game is a cooperative venture.

One way to insure screen time is niche protection - where everyone has a specific role and does it well. This works in some genres better than others, in many situations a generalist will be better and you should have some redundancy for important tasks.

Certain roles are cooperative and others tend towards solo play. This is important to consider when building your character as a solo role means your screen time is harder to share so you'll get les of it and at the expense of other players. That said sometimes those roles are essential!

Generally everyone should be capable at a cooperative task, typically combat. This kind of activity will be the bulk of most games and allow everyone to be involved.

Lets take a look at some typical roles...

• Detective: Gatherer of intel, essential in a mystery campaign.  Generally solo but they can work together or have others around as backup. Involves a lot of GM exposition or the player asking questions. Can be boring to watch and if that is the case try to speed it up. This goes for GMs too, dont make players roll dice for everything - that takes time. Also try to prepare ahead of time and send the player a note with what they found. I like multiple paragraphs with each one progressively better and based on margin of success. I just need to snip what they didnt get because of a bad roll and send it along. However, a simple die roll tends to be unsatisfying so add color like your writing a scene in a book.
• Face: Social activity is key to most campaigns success, at least a little part. If one player they can take up a LOT of time conversing so this is very tricky to run. Multiple characters able to participate in the same conversation, say a party or group interrogation or maybe a talker and an observer, NPC's can really make your campaign feel alive - think about your favorite fiction. Likely you appreciated good dialogue and its the same in game. I use notes to help me track NPC's and details about them. I tend to improvise and add details as the players interact, also recycle fun NPC's with some minor changes. The campaign in-joke of the stereotyped NPC can be a lot of fun too. This subject could be a supplement all by itself but you get the idea. The key is to make such interaction fun for everyone and not take too long on one person.  Also its a lot of work!
• Inventor/Enchanter: Supplies the party with gadgets and spends time in the lab or shop. A useful but often background role. Generally it is best left to a few die rolls and possible quests for materials. It doesn't have to be magical materials either, send others to deal with a shady tradesman or rummage through a scrapyard.
• Muscle: Combat is typical in most campaigns and generally a group activity. Its helpful to have different aspects of combat covered among the group so your able to handle most situations.
• Netrunner/Hacker: Usually a solo activity but depends on the setting and rules used. A simple die rol is rarely enough and things tend to be risky and contested so it usually needs to be played out. So try to make it fun to watch and not take too long. Be descriptive!
• Researcher: Pretty much same as detective but usually les interactive so its often not a good primary role. But the GM can add flair to what was discovered, the note thing from detective can be a treat for the player. Bonus points if you stick a few other plot hooks for later in the findings!
• Rigger/Driver: Usually just a go from here to there and a background thing.  But sometimes there is a chase scene, if so others usually present so give them something to do or react to. These guys can realy help the group get around but often its expensive so they suffer in other areas and this should be compensated somehow - usually screen time. Some occasional die rolls with an interesting scene like avoiding an accident, airplane landing on the road, etc. It doesn't have to be long or often just fun.
• Scientist: Kind of like the detective, the scientist is there to solve a puzzle or come up with a weird science solution. Be descriptive and fun but watch your audience for boredom.
• Scout: This guy often travels ahead of the party or sneaks into the camp. The more people sneaking around the harder it is to avoid notice so this tends to be a solo thing. An advantage here is the group is looking for information likely to be immediately useful and just before combat. Sometimes it can be part of an investigation or other thing though. Keep it short and hopefully exciting.  Try to avoid a lot of die rolls, they add tension so a few are good but too many and things odds of failure increase plus tension drops.

Managing Screen Time

This is a very very important thing for GMs to learn, but players should also keep this in mind and work at it as well.

The most important thing is to keep the entire group in mind and pay attention to them. If they start to get fidgety you should warp it up or change it up. Try to keep in mind this is a show and invoke things that inspire the imagination of everyone, not just the ones on screen. As a player your on screen and part of the show so make it a good one!

But don't be a ham, or glory hog.  Also watch out of character activity as its disruptive to the atmosphere. If you can roleplay it in an interesting manner, if you cant do that try to be brief so your not boring and hope your better next time. Sometimes were just not into it.

Also this is something that gets better with practice and work and the rewards are well worth it. Some of my best gaming memories are from such scenes, as player, GM, and observer.

Having a Better Game - Party & Player Dynamics

 Party make up has a huge impact on a campaign, but so does player make up.  Nothing is really right or wrong here but I review things to consider and take into account for better gaming.

Party Dynamics

The makeup of a given party is important. Everyone should have something to do that helps the party succeed at its goals and everyone have fun.

The most common thing that comes to mind here is niche protection.  The idea being that everyone has something that they are special at and can shine when its their turn.  However that need not always be the case!

Every character should meaningfully contribute to the party and its goals.  In most cases multiple skills or other abilities will be needed to achieve the goal, though you often want some redundancy. If combat is a thing everyone should be useful in combat, does not matter if your the best, but if you can help your contributing to the parties success -not sitting around bored. For mystery campaigns everyone should be able to gather information, and for social ones everyone should be able to converse without things always turning out bad.  Definitely try to avoid situations and builds where your character hurts the parties chances of success!

Some things are of so little use if multiple people can do them that such redundancies should be minimized, though typically you'll still want a little.  Wheelmen for example, one person able to get everyone around is usually plenty. But if they are unavailable backup transportation is useful.

Some roles work well with multiple people doing them, others one is plenty. This varies on the campaign focus so plan for that.

A good GM will anticipate party needs and help players build appropriate characters. Some players strongly prefer specific roles so others need to adapt for everyone to have fun, this is usually fine but works best with a group that knows each others preferences and has a mix of preferences.

Player Dynamics

Were all at the table to have fun! However different people have fun in different ways or doing different stuff. Communication and honesty is key here!

If you like to minimax or power game, be upfront about it so others dont find out later. Maybe that works in your group or maybe you need to find a different group.

Everyone likes a chance to shine, but some more than others and some prefer the background.

As a GM my preference has been 5 people; 2 leaders and the rest active but not really interested in leading they just want to do something. I prefer two leaders as GM because it saves me a lot of work and as the group debates and decides who to follow in a situation it gives me time to set things up or adapt to changing circumstances. Everyone needs to get along and once a decision is made fully support it for the good of the party. If it goes sideways you can playfully jibe the leader with an "I told you" or something bur be mindful if they are sensitive and easily frustrated or hurt.

A good GM and party leader will try to include everyone if at all possible, even a little time is often better than none at all and above all listen to everyone!  Also if your ideas are not used or your character fails at a task, dont take it hard or be resentful. This stuff happens, get better, adapt and work towards a happier group.  Everyone should have a good time, including you but dont be selfish about it and remember the other players also want to have fun.

Speaking of fun, remember people find different things fun! Some love to plan and work out all the details for a carefully thought out masterplan that wins the day. Others get bored with that and prefer to just charge in. Try to work it such that everyone is happy most of the time rather than one person happy all the time at the expense of others.

The best way to do this is good communication and observation, figure out what your fellow players prefer and try to set it up so they can do the things they like while you also get your fun.

Solo activity is usually more fun for the person doing than the people watching.  If your doing something alone try to be entertaining about it so the other can sit back and enjoy the show. And try to get it done expeditiously but not so fast you fail or dont have any fun, a good GM will help here but this is more an art than science and takes practice.  Also some people simply better at it than others! But if other people enjoy watching you work than the whole game is better for it.

Party leaders should take all the above into account and plan not just for a successful mission but people having fun at it. If your the leader give everyone a voice (even those who don't want it usually like being asked or acknowledged) and a job to do.

Group activity should be fun for everyone, be prepared when its your turn, ask for help if you need it, and try to be efficient for improved gameplay. But also try to be interesting! Dont just say I attack but describe the attack. Your an actor in a play or a character in a book and the rest of the table is the audience when its your turn - so put on a good show!  Just don't ham it up too much! Unless your playing TOON or its otherwise appropriate.

Having a Better Game - Crosstalk

 This is the first in what will be an irregular series.  The idea is tips to help make your gaming sessions better, every group has its own quirks and these will not fit everyone but I think are useful to at least consider and possibly try out if your group has these issues.

Crosstalk

Every group has this problem, but successful ones either accept and embrace it or learn how to curb it.\

RPG gaming is a social experience and people handle social activities in different ways. Crosstalk is when players talk over each other and is a distraction and can keep people from being heard.

This tends to be far worse online than in person.

In person you can see everyone and rely on visual cues to know when someone is about to start talking or when they are getting ready to stop. People usually inhale just before they start to speak and this can be observed.  Also we often make physical gestures as part of our communication and speaker and audience alike can use those as part of the conversation - typically a tone setting under current.

Online you might have video chat but everyone is smaller and less clear. Your seeing less of them and they are less distinct so physical queues are harder to pick up on. Worse, if the camera shifts to the speaker rather than a gallery view. Also your doing other stuff online such as looking at character sheets, maps, gaming apps, rulebooks, etc and these all tend to take focus away from the camera view.  So its much harder to tell when someone is about to speak or whether they are done talking or just catching their breath.

Online also has a bit of lag and some people have low bandwidth or poor audio setups that exacerbate the problem.

Essentially online conversations tend to be less interactive and more like a series or exchange of short speeches. This has a very different tone and flavor.

How to Address This?

• The larger the group the more it will happen, so manage group size.
• Use Right of Way: If someone is talking dont interrupt unless you really have to and that generally should just be the GM. If you think they are done because they paused for breath or whatever apologize with a word once you realize and let them continue.
• Dont Abuse Your Right of Way: While your talking no one else should be and they often have things to contribute as well.  So try to make your point quickly and dont hog the microphone.
• Sidetalk: In person, side conversations can be whispered with some distraction but depending on seating it can allow for multiple conversations around the table or room. Online, this isn't an option as if one person can hear you clearly than everyone can.
• When someone starts to talk over you they may not have realized you werent finished. Accept the apology and move on but be mindful that they had a thought they wanted to express or question they wanted to ask so give them the opportunity as soon as you can. One of the worst things you can do is be offended and go on a diatribe about it. If it happens often, discuss it later.
• The GM is there to run all the NPCs, describe the world, and basically run the game. This includes steering conversations as well as plot and should be an effective and fair moderator. Sometimes part of this can be delegated to a party leader though, effective party leaders can keep the game pace moving.
• Audio issues. Two people in the same room can create feedback as the microphones pick up both conversations and the people in the room seem to be talking twice. This can also happen with poor equipment (or set wrong) and if a player is not using headphones and the mic pics up the computer output and plays it back. These issues can be very annoying so fix them quickly. Headphones, directional mics, and good software (the latter is typically very expensive) can all resolve the issue.
• Background noise: A/C, family, pets, even noise from the street can all be picked up and broadcast. Adjusting microphone sensitivity will help, but sometimes you need to use the mute button. Be mindful of the noise from your end. This gets worse the more people have it - like a roomful of whispering.
• When its your turn to talk be ready. Pay attention to the combat or other activity and try to figure out what your going to do.  Sometimes things change right before its your turn and you have to adapt or even scrap your plan but most of the time you should be able to anticipate what your going to do.
• Know the rules: The longer you have played the game the easier this is, also a bunch of house rules can confuse the issue but try to learn the relevant rules well enough that you know your options.  Sometimes others may offer a suggestion, welcome the help even if you opt not to take it. If their are modifiers like range or lighting penalties try to figure them pout in advance so no one is waiting on you to do the math. Its ok if you need help (try private messaging sometimes it will help) and everyone was new sometime. However players who wont learn the basic rules or never ready when its their turn can be a pain. Think of a game like a play or movie and how much more enjoyable it is when the action flows smoothly rather than actors constantly using exposition or forgetting their lines.
• Talk in character and keep out of character talk to a minimum. This helps everyone be more immersed in the campaign and reduces crosstalk.  Though in character crosstalk is sometimes appropriate (like arguments, debate and interrupts such as "Watch out!"), out of character crosstalk rarely is.
• Be Ready!  This was addressed in Know The Rules but beyond that you should pay attention and be ready for your turn, even if it came up early. For example two characters may be having a conversation and suddenly ask your input. Not paying attention can be just as rude online as it is in person and will also slow the game down as everyone waits for you to catch up.
• Snacking:  Gaming is a social activity and often includes snacking. In person this can be a pizza break or bowl of chips but you should have food that can be shared. Online the kitchen is often close by and you may eat when not talking. Be mindful of the noise and use mute if your a noisy eater or have a sensitive mic. Also dont put that bag of chips next to the mic!

Not all of these will apply to your group and not all are as easily implemented. Plus even if everyone tries crosstalk WILL still happen, but if its dealt with gracefully and quickly your games should be better and more enjoyable.