Personal Peeve as a Player
If my character is about to have a success of some sort in the game world and the GM decides to cut that moment short by having something beyond the players’ control interrupt the scene it ticks me off.
That is not good GMing, and it is not good story telling either. What it is is cutting the player off in order to retain control. If you are the type of GM who does this sort of thing learn a new trick. It might work in movies, television, and novels to cut some important moment short with an explosion or car crash but it does not work in an RPG.
Give the player the moment that they have earned. If the character is going to fail let it happen by way of the dice. Do not interrupt the moment though, because all you have done is cheated the player. Maybe you did not cheat via the rules, but that is what makes it even worse.
You will have cheated the player by betraying his or her trust that you will be a fair judge of the game. Cutting a player’s moment short proves that you cannot judge when to let the players move the story along and when to narrate the plot yourself.
If you cannot give the player their moment in the spotlight do not take the role of GM. You are not ready for it, because good GMs give each player a moment to be the star of the show.
Bad GM’s hog that spotlight for themselves.
Sooo, had a bad game play experience recently? Or are you just conjuring up a bad memory? 😉 I can’t say that’s happened to me but I can empathise.
The way I see it, the GM is playing out of turn. Even if the rules don’t explicitly state it (which they should), if your turn is currently in play then you should get the payoff. A GM interrupting you like that is like interrupting your opponent’s move in chess. No fair.
So as a game designer, you gotta wonder, “how can rules support a fair turn sequence?” And I’m not referring to combat initiative, but making sure all players at the table get their fair share of spotlight moments.
Kevin Richey – That is a good point. The GM is acting out of turn, but is that something that you address via rules or through discussion? I would favor discussion over rules, but that is just my preference.
I think discussion is a great option (assuming your GM and players aren’t morons). So you talk and come to an agreement that allows players their spotlight moments. See, there? You just made a rule. It’s not written in the book, but it’s still a rule (or at least a guideline) that your group agrees to follow.
Hypothetically (cause I’m not actually designing a game right now), if I found a cool way to solve this pet peeve in my game, I would put it into the rules so anyone who plays my game can benefit.
I’m currently running Mouse Guard which very explicitly separates GM and players’ turns. In the GM’s turn, my story gets the spotlight. Then in the players’ turn, they take the spotlight. It works quite well.
Kevin Richey – I would not say that you have made a rule, but instead you have an understanding. We gamers tend to believe that the rules will save us from all bad moments (or at least the right rules will).
I disagree. Rules are a starting point for groups. Communication and discussion will take a group’s sessions beyond playing a game and into the realm of a shared story with some moments that are played out as a game.
I am going to develop this idea further into a future article. Thanks for the inspiration!