I just thought it would be nice to share this inspirational take on role-playing by a friend of mine: i love what she has to say about supporting other players.
http://site.pelgranepress.com/index.php/playing-to-lift-making-characters-shine/
I just thought it would be nice to share this inspirational take on role-playing by a friend of mine: i love what…
I just thought it would be nice to share this inspirational take on role-playing by a friend of mine: i love what…
Love love love this! It’s very similar to the improv principle of “making your partners look good”! Flags play in to it well too.
Love love love this! It’s very similar to the improv principle of “making your partners look good”! Flags play in to it well too.
Eh… A lot of of the groups I’ve played this absolutely refused to do this kind of thing.
No matter how much GM is a fan of your character, other players don’t give a dime about it. Some even state, that “GM is forced to be a fan of player characters”. That never seemed to be the case from my point, but players usually were content in their own solipsistic worlds, rather than appreciating each other’s characters or play.
Sometimes, when player manages to play a character convincingly or charismatically (often by luck alone) enough the others would become the fans and get the ball rolling, but those cases were few and far between.
Consequently, those campaigns rarely endured.
Criticisms at characters were always fair, but rarely forgiving. It’s not every day, that your dumb stereotype character, space prince or Frankenstein’s feature creep monster is accepted and even celebrated, instead of being ridiculed and judged.
“Oh, another human fighter/elven wizard/brujah in trenchcoat with katana/whatever! %eyeroll%”
“So, you’re a dying ancient god, who lives through his last days as a mortal? Maybe you want bit more common background?”
“You’re a privileged, white knight noble, who throws money like candies, but have some dark and troubled past? That’s just boring wish fulfillment!”
Sighs. Maybe, next time?
Eh… A lot of of the groups I’ve played this absolutely refused to do this kind of thing.
No matter how much GM is a fan of your character, other players don’t give a dime about it. Some even state, that “GM is forced to be a fan of player characters”. That never seemed to be the case from my point, but players usually were content in their own solipsistic worlds, rather than appreciating each other’s characters or play.
Sometimes, when player manages to play a character convincingly or charismatically (often by luck alone) enough the others would become the fans and get the ball rolling, but those cases were few and far between.
Consequently, those campaigns rarely endured.
Criticisms at characters were always fair, but rarely forgiving. It’s not every day, that your dumb stereotype character, space prince or Frankenstein’s feature creep monster is accepted and even celebrated, instead of being ridiculed and judged.
“Oh, another human fighter/elven wizard/brujah in trenchcoat with katana/whatever! %eyeroll%”
“So, you’re a dying ancient god, who lives through his last days as a mortal? Maybe you want bit more common background?”
“You’re a privileged, white knight noble, who throws money like candies, but have some dark and troubled past? That’s just boring wish fulfillment!”
Sighs. Maybe, next time?
Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi I actually had some success with my son and his friends by giving out bennys for doing it.
I was just getting into FATE at the time and listening to a lot of podcasts about indie games. I made a super simple RPG and played it a lot with my son and his friends. Seeing the way they often tried to take the spotlight and do things alone, I adapted FATE points for the purpose of driving them together (it was partly inspired by a technique I read about from a famous basketball coach where players had to point to the last person who passed the ball before a basket was made). When they would call on help from another character or, in some way, set each other up to demonstrate their strengths, I would give the supporting player a little glass bead. When they got in a jam, they could trade the beads for a bonus. They really liked it and I think their play style changed as a result.
Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi I actually had some success with my son and his friends by giving out bennys for doing it.
I was just getting into FATE at the time and listening to a lot of podcasts about indie games. I made a super simple RPG and played it a lot with my son and his friends. Seeing the way they often tried to take the spotlight and do things alone, I adapted FATE points for the purpose of driving them together (it was partly inspired by a technique I read about from a famous basketball coach where players had to point to the last person who passed the ball before a basket was made). When they would call on help from another character or, in some way, set each other up to demonstrate their strengths, I would give the supporting player a little glass bead. When they got in a jam, they could trade the beads for a bonus. They really liked it and I think their play style changed as a result.
About 6 years ago played a very good board/role-playing game (sadly, stuck in Development hell, as far as I know) on Moscow’s Rolecon, where players gave each other Awesome Points. They took bennies from a common pool and rewarded each other for anything they’ve considered cool and awesome.
The game was turning into the one (two) actor play, as me and other player were going for more and more ridiculous feats of badassery (within presented rules, but really pushing the narrative power level of our characters from heroic fantasy straight into super-heroics. That guy went from trapsmith ranger to Squirell Boy and my elven wizard harpist became full-on Dragonball character, who electrocuted monsters left and right with strings and aged 1000 years in time skip, while other PCs time traveled).
Your technique sounds much better for group cohesion, honestly.
I should home rule it into my Fate games, somehow.
About 6 years ago played a very good board/role-playing game (sadly, stuck in Development hell, as far as I know) on Moscow’s Rolecon, where players gave each other Awesome Points. They took bennies from a common pool and rewarded each other for anything they’ve considered cool and awesome.
The game was turning into the one (two) actor play, as me and other player were going for more and more ridiculous feats of badassery (within presented rules, but really pushing the narrative power level of our characters from heroic fantasy straight into super-heroics. That guy went from trapsmith ranger to Squirell Boy and my elven wizard harpist became full-on Dragonball character, who electrocuted monsters left and right with strings and aged 1000 years in time skip, while other PCs time traveled).
Your technique sounds much better for group cohesion, honestly.
I should home rule it into my Fate games, somehow.