I got a nice compliment last night by a friend in our Back 2 Basics campaign. I had asked him to follow up with his son about what the son found interesting and fun in our sessions. His son, age 8ish, is being introduced to RPGs through this campaign and I was looking for some feedback. Anyway, the compliment was that the son liked the stories I told when we played.
I said thank you for the compliment, but have been chewing on it all morning. I'm glad that he's having fun, but he's not getting the buy-in. He's creating the story as well. This is his story. Maybe this is a concept that is too big to tackle at that age or maybe I just need to be more straight forward and say that "Hey guys, this is your story!" I'll let you know how it goes.
Follow Your Bliss,
JJ
This is a concept that a lot of older players don't get either, so yeah, it may need to be stated outright.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm thinking beginning of next session doing a little bit of chatting with the group. This week was really hectic with it being the first session in weeks and the kids were all wound up. It didn't help that some of the older players kept walking out of the room to check the score on some football game. Seeing as we were in their house I didn't feel comfortable telling him to knock it off.
ReplyDeleteThere is this fine line between lots of chaotic fun and too strict and focused. I need to find a better balance with my group.
Thanks for posting Daniel.
I don't think it has to be a problem. The GM is often responsible for the lion's share of the storytelling, being in charge of the plot, every character but the PCs and even the results of PC actions.
ReplyDeleteI think a player of any age can compliment their GM's storytelling skills even if their character is participating in that story. Even if it's THEIR story, the GM is still telling it (or parts of it).
True, but I want to give credit where credit is due. The players are responsible for the what their characters do, I want them to appreciate their participation. Especially at a young age, it may be hard to play with so many adults (we have an even split of adults to kids).
ReplyDeleteI'm chalking this up to me trying to stay in tune with what the players want. The boy's father and I were very surprised that his first response was not "I love fighting the monsters."
Maybe what I'm trying to do is blend old school and new school gaming.