I've been a bit inactive of late... something I hope to rectify rather than continue to put off... that being said, the post I wanted to focus on about changing the rules for your game just got pushed further back. My next gaming session is going to take place at the end of the month and it has had me reflecting about where the game is going and what should have been changed.
I discovered during the last session that I had made a blatant mistake. One that amateur DMs make in their games. I thought that I, as a seasoned DM, was not about to make such an error in my games... I was wrong. I know now that in the future, if I'm still running games (which I certainly hope I am) I'll probably make the same dumb mistake again. Perhaps though, I can deter you from making the same error.
Do NOT break your group into smaller groups and keep running the game. I can hear the objection already... "But why not? We do it all the time Tim." It is ok if your group goes their separate way occasionally (shopping for good in a town for instance), but when the group routinely gets split up during the course of an evening gaming session it can be quite immersion breaking, both for the players and for the GM.
My wife has found that she is having a hard time focusing and getting into character for this very reason. My current group has managed to be split into several small groups; off shoots of the primary group. The trouble is, I wrote the game to be this way. They are supposed to be guards in a town investigating a series of strange events that have been going on over the last 3 weeks (in game). The result is that they would end up looking into different aspects of the "case". What I didn't count on happening was the hour long intervals where I would focus on one of the small groups.
While you might be able to sustain bouncing from group to group for a time, it starts to get quite confusing pretty quickly. The story I wrote has plenty of twists worked into it that if the group catches forms a complete story. The trouble with broken up groups is that the pieces can be found out of order or not at all. But even more troubling than missing something is when your players are no longer able to focus on their characters.
When you lose the ability to immerse yourself in the game you spend less time in character than is healthy for the sake of the game. It puts cracks into an otherwise good story. It also encourages your players to turn their attention to other things. With technology becoming more and more common I've found that a large number of my players tote tablet computers with them, further breaking the game.
When the bulk of my player base is distracted by something else the drive for me to tell a story falls by the wayside. I'm hoping that I can conclude the current game and make way for a new one that will hold my players together as a group. If I can't finish it I may be forced to scrap the story in favor of making sure my group gets the best experience possible. It may also be time for me to enforce a 'disconnect' policy during games...
Take it from me. Don't split your group up so that the game focuses only on 2 or 3 people for extended periods of time if you want to maintain interest. It might happen occasionally in the grand scheme of things, but don't make it a habit, and don't write it into the game.
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It's amazing how fast division like that can drag a game down. It almost feel like you are being jarred in and out of character when focus switched between groups. We had this problems happen so often (without being planed) that we changed physically where we game. The physical separation of where we gamed (Two couches in an open room) created a physical barrier and caused a natural breakup between the group. We now game around a large table and while players go off on their own every now and then there is not that natural division that occurs (I'm sure Tim can vouch for this). With someone like me who runs "experimental" games and in different systems (plus I can't write a story like Tim can) I can't afford to have a division that may make things fall apart.
ReplyDeleteI like the analysis in this post. It's something I have struggled with in the past a great deal. I do however have to give kudos for giving it a try. Maybe with more work it could work, but I sure as heck won't try.
While I've enjoyed the current game quite a bit, I'll have to agree that the splitting of the group isn't the best. I'd rather be immersed from start to finish then in hour long intervels.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, while I loved listening to the story while I was away from the currently active group, I almost felt compelled to force myself not to listen as my character wouldn't know it. Metagaming can happen at an subconscious level whether it's by overcompensating for it or actively abusing it and thus I felt the best solution would be to not pay attention as much. Having a reason not to listen, however poor it was, certainly wasn't helping the situation for me.
I think it's important that a gaming group not split up in character. Small town split ups where you gather supplies or highly abstracted splits of the group are perfectly fine as they are in a somewhat accelerated time environment and aren't breaking the immersion. But certainly when it comes to the challenges a PC can face it really sucks when the group is split up and only a few can contribute.
So the thing I'm not sure too many people will agree with is follows. I think it's important not only as a DM to not split the group, but to remember that as a PC as well. I've found so often that the PCs like to do their own thing and that often requires them to go off alone. While that is probably realistic, sometimes you should do things for the fun of the group even if it contradicts roleplay. We are all there to have fun. While I don't think you should ever break apart from the personality of your character, I don't think you should break apart the group either. Adding an extra hour of "you" time to a D&D game is actually quite selfish, even if it makes sense for the character's personality to do so. I think it actually works best when you create personalities that will not split up from the group for various reasons.
Besides, in game it hardly ever works out like that. We often play the extremes of individuals and have rigid personalities when we should be a lot more fluid in the way we are. People in general like to be around other people. You can generally find a good reason not to split up from the party whether it's fear, companionship, or intelligence. The world of Saratta especially is a dangerous place. I'd think characters with any decent sense of adventuring would know not to split up at anytime. Splitting up can often mean death both IC and OOC. You don't split up because that Ogre, the Spiked Pit, or the Diplomat is a whole lot easier to succeed against with four of you then two. Dungeons and Dragons is a story that is woven together with character interactions and challenges. Don't ruin the interaction by not being with the rest of the party and don't ruin the challenges by not being there to aid in them.
I've probably ranted a bit much, but it honestly annoys me when the players choose to split up. I'll admit I didn't feel this during your campaign Tim, because it was intentional and pre-planned. It was also done to best I think it could have been handled for what it was. What would make get me a little mad is when we are about to go off on an adventure and two of the party members decide that they should instead go elsewhere and do something else. Or when we are in the middle of an adventure and they decide to split up for whatever reason. Not only does it ruin the players experience, a DM should not have to plan the challenges a split up party will face in addition to a fully formed party. Creating challenges and stories as a DM is hard enough... we don't need to make it nine times more difficult.