Greetings gamers from all systems, places and timelines.
If you’ve run even a few games in any RPG system, you know that your players will have vastly different roleplay styles. And one of the greatest examples of this is that some players want to be involved in every scene of the game, while others are comfortable taking a more relaxed position and allowing things to unfold. While neither style of play is necessarily better, the problem it creates is that some players will get far more than their share of airtime while others can be nearly invisible.
Ideally, you want all of your players getting the most from their gaming experience instead of just one or two players stealing the show. Rather than trying to coach several of your players to be more involved, there are ways you can adapt how your game runs to accomplish this painlessly.
This is why we’ve composed a list of tips to get all of your players more involved in the game without it feeling forced. If done well, these will help your party not only function as a more effective team but perhaps enjoy the game itself even more.
1. Track the Actions During the Round by Initiative Order Outside of Combat
Some parties may not need this, but it ensures everyone takes action during key scenes. Otherwise, some players, without even realizing it, might be double- and triple-dipping in the turn rotation. This can especially happen if your game is online, where you can miss the normally obvious visual queues from your players.
Now, I wouldn’t use the turn tracker in every roleplay situation. However, if an encounter is being handled as roleplay, like negotiating with a key NPC, it will give everyone an opportunity to weigh in. Additionally, when the characters can see when it’s their turn to chime in, you won’t have half the table trying to take an action, ask a question or make a statement all at once.
2. Skill Challenges Are Your Friend
Skill challenges can be introduced in two different ways to promote player engagement: One solid method is to provide your players who are more reserved with skill challenges that directly relate to their characters. For example, if you have a druid in the party, make sure to float them a chance to gain some useful information from a nature check. If they succeed, consider giving them more knowledge from the success than a character who’s not proficient in that skill but happened to roll a 19.
The second way we use is group skill checks. These are a little unorthodox, but they’ve been successful because everyone at the table must play a part to complete the challenge. One more commonly used method is when the party is traveling in a taxing environment, like a desert or up a frozen mountain. If the party is properly prepared for the journey, there is no need to make the checks too hard, but a little bit of threat must be present. Something does need to happen when two party members absolutely bomb their athletics checks while climbing up Avalanche Mountain because the other party members can roll well enough to still succeed.
3. Use Your Player’s Backstories – Remember They Gave You Free Material
Having a session surrounding one of the characters’ backstory is a great way to put them out in front but still keep everyone in the group involved. For instance, you could write an encounter or adventure for each player based on their backstory. And while this adventure is about one particular character, they won’t be able to wrap things up without a little help from their friends.
After each backstory game, that character will have a new degree of depth that hopefully makes the party dynamic stronger. Because nothing builds in-game friendships like helping the rogue track down the masked mercenary dressed all in black who killed her parents.
4. Time Is on Your Side
When putting together an encounter ranging from easy to difficult, consider how it will affect the flow of the game. An easy encounter should be short but give the characters a chance to try some new abilities or showcase just how awesome they are. A hard encounter will raise the higher stakes and eat up the game clock because epic battles typically aren’t over in two rounds. The trick is to understand what the majority of your table wants in terms of combat in gaming.
If they are a group that appreciates roleplaying more than fighting, then combats should be more infrequent but meaningful. While a group who thinks their party is just a giant saw mowing down adversaries will probably be annoyed when someone is taking more than 10 real-life minutes shopping. If the party is split on this, then just do your best to strike a balance between the two so everyone walks away happy.
5. Story Developments Need to Maintain Player Investment
While this might be a no-brainer, two problems with this occur more often than not: The first is when characters get sucked into a series of events that, by the DM’s estimation, they should find super exciting but they really aren’t the players’ first choice. So, before you roll out a prophecy that it’s the party’s destiny to save the kingdom, maybe you should get a read on whether they are ready to step away from an ordinary life of freelance dungeon crawling.
On the other hand, overly complex plot changes may lose some of your party if they hinge on finer details. Sure, you could go back and explain when certain things were said, but that’s like trying to explain to someone why the Marvel endgame movie was awesome if they never caught who Thanos is or what the infinity stones are.
6. What Does Your Table Think?
Player feedback is never a bad thing as long as it’s fair and reasonable, so don’t be afraid to check in with your crew to hear what they think. They very well may have an observation or an idea for a plotline that never crossed your mind. Player input is a lot like utilizing their backstory because it can be used to both inspire and sculpt your game world. It’s when players give you a sparse backstory, or they say “I don’t know” when you ask what can be done to improve things, that you need to do some heavy lifting.
Final Thoughts
Having everyone at the table involved while following the storylines and still having fun sounds a little like the beginning of a word problem, but it doesn’t need to be complicated. Just make sure you’re providing a structure where all of the game’s actors can play a part they will hopefully enjoy. Value everyone’s story and creative input, and use that as a resource when designing a game that will be fun for all parties concerned.