Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Got Game?

Perennially I will use the old blog to set a challenge, or at least question something. This time it's a bit of reflection on gameplay at the table. The question is quite simple. What ONE thing could you do to improve your roleplaying at the table?

Naturally, I'll kick off.

FOCUS

Thats what I lack sometimes. Its the ability to settle down and focus on the game. Its something that I have been absolutely atrocious at in the past. I recognised that in the early days of Pendragon I was the instigator of maybe 90% of the WoW-analogies and it had to stop because it was spoiling the game. Nowadays, its about getting into my gaming headspace and staying there, quickly. It sounds pretty easy but sometimes its just not. The act of actually sitting down, putting the chat aside and getting down to the gaming can sometimes be gargantuan to me. Now, some of you might be thinking that this 'invitation to play' is the realm of the GM but I would disagree. I think it is totally the responsibility of the player to come to the game ready and willing to play or to have the guts to 'fess up to the GM that they are not ready to play. We're all adults and we should be able to gather that focus amongst a group of friends. Once I get started and worked into a game, I'm absolutely fine and indeed, for me finishing is as hard as I just want to play on and on. But starting - thats proving more difficult.

(I'll add that this is doubly so for GMing. My willingness to do anything but start a game is sometimes startling. I want to, but its so much easier not to. Tired, lazy, jaded? I dunno. But this isn't about GMing - this is about play)

So come on - on reflection, what could YOU do better at the table to enhance your gameplay?

Neil

7 comments:

redben said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
redben said...

I'd like to be able to get in character more, to make each one distinctive and different. I know that short of being a method actor there's only so far you can go but I feel as if every character I play is pretty much the same.

As a GM and I'd to be able to improvise more and do things on the fly.

Anonymous said...

As a player it's about two things: actually being willing to play and making the most of every opportunity.

These are obviously related, as I've sometimes turned up and for various reasons I've not really been there. I've even done this when GM'ing, I wasn't fully mentally there during the second serial of Thrilling Takes (looking back it had some good stuff in, but I wasn't fully there).

I've certainly done this as a player, to the point of almost sitting out in some cases (despite being present).

This brings me to missed opportunities. To me gaming isn't about method acting. I try to make my character sound angry when he's angry and sad when he's sad, etc but that's the end of it. To me it's about opportunities: seeing them and taking them. It's seeing the opportunity for a great scene and taking it no matter where that comes from rather than missing it, or even worse, seeing it and just going mentally going 'hah, it doens't matter'.

So, as a player I could ensure I'm 'in the game more' and grasp those opportunities and run with them for the win.

Ian.

Anonymous said...

Curious, who was the first post and why did they delete it?

Ok, mine.

As a player I need to be more active. Sometimes I am too happy to just go with the flow rather than pushing the action myself.

As a GM, I have no faults, I wear the Viking Hat (tm) you miserable insignificant peons and if you dont like my prelaid railroad tracks well you can just bloody well fvck off!

Muhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Andrew

*ahem* Actually its preparation, whether too much which fails to incorporate the players goals or too little resulting in dubious off the cuff whinging it.

Magus said...

Two things for me really -
1. Try to be less of a 'know it all' especially with genre related issues - to let it ride for the fun of others.
2. Improve my frame of mind for gaming - some games espcially at character creation take me longer to get into than they should and I need to catch onto concepts quicker.

Matt Prowse said...

Mine, apart from having to actually get back to the UK to play.

I'd like to be able to get more into stuff outside the traditional fantasy genre - I have enjoyed al games we've played, but I'm always thinking more if it's medieval fantasy.

Anonymous said...

Well, hopefully 4e might manage that, it will still be fantasy but most definately not medieval.

A