Mix’n Match

I think everyone in gaming has met the munchkin gamer, the loveable (OK, sometimes tolerable) gamer in the group who meets every challenge, cerebral or physical or social, with a big gun/sword/claw/whatever. That guy whose characters are calculated for maximum damage at minimum risk. Ahhh, yes, the munchkin.

I’ve read volumes of text of “curing” the munchkin gamer, as if something was wrong with him. GMs specify that their games are not for Power Gamers, not allowing characters to have stats too high to preempt even the possibility of having a munchkin in the midst…power gaming is so very out of vogue in the gaming world. We don’t ROLLplay, we ROLEplay is the cry. The poor power gamer has to resort to MUD-ing or video games or actual world conquest to fulfill his needs…As a GM who’s been at it for about 12 years now, let me say that I think this is a folly on the behalf of the gaming community. I think that anyone who is committed to the partaking in this gaming medium should be welcomed. I’ve gamed with all types, and the one thing I’ve learned is that it really does take all types to make a good gaming session run.

RPGs have two parts that are equally important - the RP (roleplaying) and the G (gaming). Without either, you really should be doing something else. Nothing frustrates me as a GM more than players who are only concerned with minutiae and roleplaying every little last ounce of detail, no matter how boring (“No, Mr. Snade. I must insist that you lower your offer to ten nuyen for this silverware.”). Or, conversely, the gamer who wants everything translated into gamespeak (GM: “Her eyes are a soft, watery blue. The long flow of her black hair eases into the sensuous curves of her body, which is adorned with a silk red dress that is almost see-through….” Player: “What’s her Charisma rating?”) and tends to miss every detail thrown at him. Gaming groups that I’ve participated in that were focused entirely on the roleplay seemed to me rather contrived, trying to force that feeling that occurs every once in awhile, that of a great session that leaves everyone in the room changed in some small way. And munchkinism I find to be too much mindless accounting. The groups I’ve been with that have had mixes of these two sides of the RPG coin were the most fun, by far. People played with their respective styles and learned a lot from each other. Moderation here is the key.

But what if a mix and match of the two basic types of gamer aren’t enough for you? What if you desire a player who contributes to the roleplaying as well as the game qua game? How does one acquire a group of people who are serious about the gaming and rule mechanics of a game (without being obsessed) and who enjoy roleplaying? If you want a group of balanced players, then you should first acknowledge that most adept players are not born that way. Most need a teacher of some sorts to help them learn more about the medium, to help them exploit its potential. Why do people seem to expect good players to simply levitate towards them? As a GM, if you have a preferred way of play, it is your job to teach and to provide examples of your style. If you are not prepared to do this, you leave the enjoyability of your gaming experience in the hands of fate (who tends to be rather whimsical). I’ll give you an example of what I mean.

When I GM, I get an idea into my head, sketch a few NPC stats and backgrounds, and improvise the rest. I offer jobs to players, but they are not required nor compelled to take them. I’ll merely let them do whatever they want. They make their own goals, and I make mine for NPCs that I make and sometimes they collide. I’ve found that the best stories are made after the fact, not beforehand then run through. Soooo much more interesting things happen, and the story tends to feel a little less forced or linear.

This is how I run a game. I won’t tell you how many blank expressions it’s garnered me from players over the years. Why the zombie stares? Because these people don’t play that way. A lot of people play with a more linear “decision-tree” style of gaming, with flexibility added on. I don’t find any problem with this, but it’s not how I play. So when I get these blank looks, I have to acknowledge this and either give up on a group that seemed as if they would never understand how I play (which has happened) or teach them and guide them along with how I run things (this happens much more often than the former option). The results are almost unanimously enjoyable for me, and, I believe, the players as well.

How do you teach someone to roleplay different? I’ll share my methods (I encourage anyone who has differing methods to share them with me. It might be possible to get a list of methods together and post them up somewhere). This is what I call the Q&Q method: Questions and (yet more) Questions.

First, you need to look at what you would like to see PCs do in a roleplaying sense, and then in a gaming sense. How detailed should a character start out? How much attention in detail should be paid to appearance? Do you want them to adopt a particular voice to the character? Should they spend most of the game in character? Are the PCs going to be self-motivated? How much of the system are they required to know? How much rules interaction will they have?

Once you’ve done that, look at what you tend to do as a GM: Do you use linear or freeform scenarios? Do you go into detail during downtime, or do you move the action quick from scene to scene? Are you looking for a fast paced game or slow paced game? Do you set the mood with simply words or do you use props? Do you describe with words alone or do you use visual aids? What visual aids do you use? How extensively are they used? Do you stress character action or character dialogue? Do you want to know a character’s thought or a character’s action? How much of the world do you allow the players to see—what you have prepared or anything they want, going off the top of your head?

With your answers to these questions, you can compare the two sets and see if how you GM is conducive to what you want your playing atmosphere to be like. It seems logical that a GM would do instinctively that which he sees as contributing to his preferred play style, but I think you might be surprised at the reality: a lot of GMs (myself included) pick up “bad habits” or non-productive methods through what they have learned from watching others or what they feel a GM “should” do.

The next question you have to ask and answer is how you will change your style (this, I find is the lengthiest part of the process, consisting of quite a bit of trial and error and experimentation—it’s also one of the most fun because of this). Maybe you should use more props if you are trying for intense calculative sessions where each movement is important to a player’s survival. Maybe you should use no props if you want a talking-heads type game where dialogue and character mannerisms are the most important thing. As was mentioned earlier, this will probably take a while to iron out. Be patient.

After you’ve answered the above questions, you get to talk to the players. It is usually best with a new group that you’re involved with, rather than switching everything on the fly for an established group. Basically, you tell the assembled group of players what type of things you like to do as a GM. Telling players how you expect them to play is rather obnoxious, as well as not being very efficient. But I’ve found players quite receptive of examples of things you’ve done or want—things that are important to you as a gamemaster. Sometimes it gets a player really excited to be playing with you. Other times it weeds out a player who doesn’t want to try a different style of gaming than what he’s used to. Either of the aforementioned situations are good things. When you tell people how to GM, they begin to take cues on how they will be playing, and a lot of your work will be done at this point.

The next thing you have to do is play and be patient. In my experience, it usually takes players a few sessions to learn how to adapt to a new style of playing. When someone does something that is out of style for your game, don’t (I repeat: DON’T) chastise them or punish their character for it. Besides being in bad taste, it also loses you players and (worst of all) respectability as a GM. And really, it’s just too much of a pain in the rear to do—it’s a lot simpler to just offer extra choices or prod the player with some more questions (“what do you attack with? how are you wielding it? where are you aiming?”). For rules mechanic and other gaming world knowledge, give characters info ahead of time (an order of magnitude more convenient than in-game explaining). Let them read important sourcebooks and the main rules they need to know so that PCs are aware of what they can and can’t do from a rules perspective.

Inevitably you will find, as I have, that the blank stares become ones of acknowledgement, that the questions are all related to what is at hand and not how to resist damage. And before you know it, you will be convening for your weekly sessions with the group that you’ve always wanted to run.