Greetings gamers from all systems, places and timelines.
2020 was definitely a year to remember. Because of all of the insanity that befell the world, like so many others, I found myself with serious time on my hands. Time which, for me, turned into an opportunity for some equally serious gaming.
From all of this time spent both running and playing games, it provided me with a degree of D&D-related clarity. There are three observations I would like to share with you now, so we can continue refining both the quality of our games and styles as players going into 2021 and beyond.
Here’s Part 3, wrapping up our series looking back at 2020. Part 2, on Wasting Game Time, ran last week, and Part 1, on Character Death, appeared the week before.
Why Do Players Leave Games?
There is no substitution for either a good story or knowing the audience it will be presented to, because they are equally important. With that, some players might just want to end their characters.
Here I go again leading off with a statement that belongs in a master’s class of stating the obvious, but hear me out. If telling a good story tailored to your audience is such a widely accepted practice, then why do movies with huge budgets and lots of well-known Hollywood talent get “meh” receptions? If you are a fan of superhero movies, then you probably are extremely well-acquainted with this agony.
Now, I’m not talking about a character who finishes their story arc by slaying the dragon, saving the kingdom and riding off into the sunset. What I am talking about is when you have a player who tells you they’re done with their character or they’re leaving the campaign altogether.
Regardless of the reason they’re leaving, it’s usually as much of a fun-filled conversation as 2020 was packed with great memories.
However, Master Yoda and Obi-Wan both lost students, and even the best DMs lose players. While there could be literally hundreds of reasons someone leaves a game, I would like to focus on three of the biggest, and ways they can hopefully be avoided.
1. Are We There Yet?
So what defines a good story, you might ask? In terms of running a campaign, it should be one the players enjoy being a part of, with a decent amount of depth (but not so much that you need a 3’ x 5’ flow chart to explain all of the open quests and subplots).
If players don’t enjoy the story’s nature or the environment of the campaign, you already have two strikes against you. You then run the risk of being seven sessions in and one of your players asks the table, “why are we doing this?”
If they are confused about an aspect of the story, that’s one thing. However, if it’s because they couldn’t care a rat’s snot about the main quest, then you don’t need to check the map because you already know you’re up Shit’s Creek. Likewise, the story cannot be ridiculously simple because, if no one is worried about missing something, then what’s the point of investigating or exploring it?
2. Great Expectations
The problem is, sometimes a good story or campaign idea may not go over well with your group, at least in terms of their expectations. For example, if the players are looking for a gaming experience similar to Game of Thrones and find themselves playing in one inspired by the Lord of the Rings, that could leave them bored out of their minds. Likewise, if a group is looking for a game filled with high adventure and instead has one based on court/political intrigue, that could be extremely frustrating for all parties involved. (And trust me when I say not every group wants an adventure at sea!)
In these cases, communication is king. On the podcast, we’ve talked about the importance of a session zero, where the DM pitches some game ideas they’re interested in running and the players choose. While this method isn’t fool-proof, it seems to give everyone the best shot at knowing what they’re signing up for. So, before you go off on a tangent and design a five-chapter grand story, touch base with your players and make sure they are down with playing in the Underdark for the next 11 sessions.
3. The (Never)ending Story
The story can, and should, be subject to change; at least to some extent. By this I mean, even if player expectations were discussed beforehand, it doesn’t mean an undefined amount of sessions later that the group won’t want to take a break from the main quest or at least the primary environment of the campaign setting.
If this happens in your campaign, my best advice is to roll with it.
While it’s perfectly understandable as the DM that you would want to keep the party on the rails of the plot train, you may run the risk of coming across as “not listening to feedback.” There are plenty of times when your players may not be happy with how some aspects of the game are going, but they never voice these concerns. Then, seemingly, out of nowhere they drop out of the group for one reason or the other.
This is where I would like to draw a distinct difference between objectively listening to feedback and just simply giving the players whatever they want like you suddenly turned into a wish-granting djinn. Some of the best feedback I have ever received in both my gaming and professional career wasn’t necessarily positive, but it was honest.
Now, if your campaign is set in the Icewind Dale region and one or more of the players would like to see the rest of the world (maybe a part of it with less frostbite), then that should be on the table. You may have written into the story that the party is trying to stop a horrible dracolich from destroying that region. Here I advise not being afraid to table some ideas and allow the players to come back to them when they are ready. Work the transition into your story with something to the effect of: The party is traveling south in search of powerful magic so that one day they can return and destroy the dracolich. Let them run some quests to build up their powers and upgrade their equipment for a while and periodically supply them with rumors about what the horrible dracolich is up to so the quest isn’t forgotten.
Final Thoughts
Communicate with your party as much as possible and remain open-minded about their reactions to your story. As the DM, you have more power than any creature in print but, ironically, you cannot read the minds of your players.
If your party isn’t thrilled with your story, ask what you can do to make it better. If they are enjoying it, ask what they would like to see more of. And if one or more of the stories in your campaigns was outright loved by your players, never drink your own Kool-Aid, because it will stop you from continually learning and growing as a DM.