Knowing Your Players
So as much as getting paid to blog about role playing games would be awesome, I’m sad to say that it isn’t so and I have, like most of you, a day-job. Mine unfortunately comes with certain rules and regulations, one being that I must move every few years. I don’t exactly get to decide when, nor do I know how long I’ll be at my next location for, so as a result many of my plans as a Game Master never see fruition, but it does constantly keep me on my toes, expands my network of contacts, and lets me play with a myriad of different types of gamers. Different kinds of gamers want different things though, so if we can figure out what they want exactly, or at least what’s tasty to their brain-palate, we can craft something that will catch and hold with them.
Whether your campaign is yet to start, falling apart, or rhythmically moving along, I think that it’s safe to say it’s dramatically important to know your players. Now, I don’t mean just a handshake and a howdy-do (unless you’re at a convention, which is a different beast entirely), but I mean really, honestly, getting to know the guys and gals you’re gonna be regularly rolling dice and talking about cyborgs , elves, moral dilemmas, and basic math with.
To try and delve a bit deeper into my friend’s brains than most mortal men would dare, I’ve developed a brief, but open-ended questionnaire, which reads as follows:
The Not-Magical Questionnaire for getting to know new people you are going to game with:
- What are some of your favorite movies?
- What are some of your favorite TV series?
- What are some of your favorite books or other things to read?
- What are some of your favorite pastimes?
- Give me three words or phrases that describe you.
Advanced players:
- What is your preferred or default game system?
- Would you describe yourself as a story-centric, game-centric, role play-centric, or other style of gamer?
- What are your preferred gaming genres?
- What three elements make a good game session?
- What kind of characters do you normally play?
- What do you expect from a good GM?
Now, my questionnaire isn’t some magical Vulcan mind-meld, and it’s taken some work. Even then, you may find some of your compatriots have taste which just either doesn’t blend or cross over with your own, or are into things that you’ve never even heard of.
I’m still trying to figure out what “kitten sniffing” and “bacon muffling” are.
Now, if you’re new to this whole “Game Mastering” bit, one of the first things you may or may not know already is that everyone has their own individual style of gaming, and yes indeed there are people who can lump and categorize you into slots and boxes (a great example is Robin D. Law’s Player Types), which is alright if you’ve got the mind for it. I do, but I think that individuals bring their own unique flair to their box, and sometimes jump from one to the next or wear several different boxes at once, but really that’s a whole other topic.
Besides, I’m not comfortable talking about my box flair.
So “Kimberly” might be all action. Blood and glory are her mainstay and if a character can’t kick some ass she’s not gonna roll it up, while “Billy” might like to solve puzzles, and figure out the traps and riddles you’ve so carefully lain in place to trick the party, so all his characters have brains and perception abilities that make detectives look like dumb asses. “Jason,” on the other hand, is a big ham actor, who wants to RP every social encounter. Numbers to him are vague guidelines, but he’s an avid reader who gets caught up in plots easily, maybe he’s even caught some foreshadowing that you’ve thrown in, or expected a particular twist. See how each one approaches the game differently with their habits and amazing giant dinosaur super-sentai mecha?
Besides habits and favorite ways of playing, players also bring a lot more to your table: expectations to say the least. Also, think about what each of those three players likes: brutal action, brain-twisting puzzles, and heavy acting skills are all things that you may or may not be good at, but all things your players are gonna want in the game. No pressure though, those are all things you have already.
Whatever kind of party make up your game has, expect to have to switch between at least two or three different aspects of the game to keep everybody happy. If you’ve got two Kimberlys and a Jason, try to throw an NPC at the party that Jason can talk to while the Kimberlys just maul things, because combat isn’t gonna do it for him, just like a room full of cyphers and puzzles would make Kimberly chew her own arm off in a Billy-Billy-Kimberly setup.
But the question is, during your first game, in a new town, with a new group, how are you gonna know that you need to include a combat, a puzzle, and a role-play scenario to keep everybody happy? What if you’re party is two Kimberlys and a Jason? Or three Jasons and a Chad? You don’t even know Chad by introduction, do you? What if it’s the first time Chad’s played, ever? Even old friends you’ve played with for a long time may be harboring secret desires for certain gameplay, or preferred character types you’re unfamiliar with.
Now, the trick with using my quiz, is to look at the test subject’s answers, and find the common links between them. With one friend of mine, I noted that in all of the movies he’d chosen, the main character had the odds stacked completely against them. I mean, no fuckin’ hope, Shawshank-ain’t-got-shit-on-this stacked against them, even the societies the main characters lived in were completely against them. That same friend also listed a chunk of paranormal and science fiction television series, and listed that out-side-the-box problem solving was a personal trait, and he thought purposeful drama was an important genre. So for this friend, I’d more than likely want to run a game of World of Darkness or Call of Cthulu, with him playing a mortal character, and I wouldn’t pull any punches with dice. Stakes would be high, but so would the rewards.
With my Significant Other (who only did the first half of the survey), I noticed all her novels included horror monsters, all her movies included a strong family theme with personal betrayal, and all her favorite TV shows included a lot of drama. So considering that, I’m probably gonna be gearing up for a game of Monster Hearts or Monsters and Other Childish Things in the near future.
Like I mentioned, the questionnaire isn’t perfect. It has a BIG flaw in that it requires the user to have a semi-thorough and comprehensive knowledge of pop-culture and/or media. Two of my friends listed the New Yorker among their favorite things to read, which I’ve never picked up an issue of until now, and I had no idea how to categorize “America’s Got Talent” for a TV show. Still though, I’ve been really pleasantly surprised by some answers. A friend I would have SWORN was a gamist math-fiend described himself as story-centric, and listed his favorite setting as including anything “post-medieval and pre-modern”, so I’m probably gonna run a gaslight romance or wild west story sometime for him. By that same measure, I’d never have thought another friend was so into mind-twisting psych stuff, and I’ve always thought he’d been pretty satisfied with my games, but now I know I’ve got to bring something more to the table.
I wouldn’t have found any of this out though had I not taken the time and effort to sit down with my friends and share a talk or two, a few laughs or even a game of cards. Be friendly, keep an open mind, and remember that as soon as you think you know someone, keep looking. There’s a lot more to them than meets the eye.
Ok, that last line was just so I could reference Transformers.
