Tag: what makes a good player

What Makes a Good Player? with Emily Vitori

Hello everyone!

Today I have an interview with Emily Vitori for the What Makes a Good Player? feature. I hope you enjoy it!

—

What do you try to do most often while playing games to enhance your experience and the experience of others?

When gaming with friends, I like to draw portraits of all of the characters in our group as a gift, and also to help us visualize our characters in our heads when we play them. I also usually take all of the game notes and at the end of the campaign I will turn them into a cohesive story and send copies of it to everyone involved.

This is the group portrait for our last Scion campaign (click) and the campaign itself turned into a story with more than 40 chapters (click).


Do you use any specific play techniques (narrative tools, improv tools, etc.) in your play sessions?

Hmmn… I’ll sometimes draw some of the scenes we’ve acted out, and we always use miniatures and detailed maps whenever possible, but other than that… can’t think of anything unique. I had one experience as a GM and realized I didn’t have it in me to heard cats like that so I tend to just be a player in the group lol.

How often do you like to game, and what is most comfortable for you to maintain good energy in games?
When I was able to game face to face, it was one session a week usually. As we all get older and our schedules get busier, however, we’ve turned to play by post gaming online and it tends to be whenever people are available for a few minutes to make a post throughout the day. As long as the posts keep moving daily, the energy is maintained… but sometimes when someone doesn’t keep up for a few days it can really but the brakes on a good campaign. 
What kind of games do you feel you are most comfortable with and enjoy the most?
I’ve played my share of fantasy and sci-fi game systems over the years and love Cyberpunk, but the one I am most comfortable with is the old tried and true D&D 3.5. The fantasy worlds of D&D have been a staple of my life since childhood, so every time I play it’s like digging out your favorite book or watching your favorite TV show.
Can you share a special experience in a game where you felt like you did a good job playing your part in the overall story and game? 
Katya the Tiefling Alienist/Witch was with a group on the run from everything from Devils and Demons to Githyanki and we made our way to this incredibly out-of the way bar on the outskirts of Hell.
Katya had this fun trait where her alignment changed every morning (yay Alienist) and that day…. she was evil.
When we went to the bar, she used her Chameleon Ring to slip away from the group and went to each “restroom area” where she used her drawing skills to create a WANTED poster for the leader of their group. 
When she came back to the table she just sat and waited… and watched in barely concealed glee as everyone in the bar started looking at our table and the paranoia of the rest of the group grew exponentially because they really had no idea what I did (managed to IM my plan to the DM). >:D
—

Thanks so much to Emily for participating in the What Makes a Good Player? feature!

This post was supported by the community on patreon.com/briecs.

What Makes a Good Player? with Johannes Oppermann

In today’s What Makes a Good Player? feature we have an interview with Johannes Oppermann! Check it out below.

—

What do you try to do most often while playing games to enhance your experience and the experience of others?

As a player I listen for opportunities, for creative gifts that other players offer me, and then pounce and expand on them. I play generously and offer back gifts about my character that they can then expand on. I love to improvise and make up setting details on the spot, even when I’m not the GM. Also, I try to help out other players when they’re at a loss for next steps or when they’re confused about rules or expectations. 
Do you use any specific play techniques (narrative tools, improv tools, etc.) in your play sessions?
This is for sit-down, tabletop games, where I can take notes during the game. I play differently in LARPs, which I’ve just recently discovered.

Some techniques I’ve learned from story games I try to use in every game I play. They work both in traditional roleplaying with a GM (like in PbtA games or Fate), or in story games, where narrative control is more evenly distributed. Techniques I use regularly are: Asking loaded questions (stolen from PbtA games), cutting and framing scenes (from Fate and Microscope), and transparent minds / inner monologue (also from Microscope, and from With great Power).

Also, I use introductory scenes and epilogues per character as framing for a game session, to give every session a feeling of closure. During the game session I try and use re-incorporation heavily to help me conclude a story arc by the end of the night. I use index cards (like Fate aspects) to note down important story elements. I pace myself to not add any new elements after half the session has passed and conclude at least half of the story elements that were introduced on the table by the session’s end. 

How often do you like to game, and what is most comfortable for you to maintain good energy in games?
I like to game at least once a week, and twice a week when I’m not too busy at work. I game online on the Gauntlet where there’s all the cool indie stuff you could want, but sadly mostly on US evenings, which is in the middle of the night for me. I have founded a regular story games meetup in Vienna with my friend Daniel which has suffered badly from his moving to another part of the country and my discovering LARPs, so I need to split my time.

I maintain good energy in a game when I feel involved in the action and when I feel excitement from the group. This happens when the spotlight is shared well and when there is mutual giving and taking of cues and actions. Enthusiasm and improvisation beats preparation any day at my table. Also, I feel very strongly about creating a safe and inclusive space at my tables. I founded the meetup group to meet other gamers and to bring new people into the hobby, specifically women who I feel are under-represented. I feel most alive when there’s enthusiasm at the table when we conclude a session and when people love the experience and commit to come back for more. 

What kind of games do you feel you are most comfortable with and enjoy the most?
Two types:

a) story games of all kinds that distribute narrative control in interesting ways and that have an element of story built into the rules. I gravitate towards GM-less games but I’ll try anything once. I also lean towards one-shots as opposed to campaign games, just because of the scheduling hell that seems to come with every single group that needs commitment to a campaign game.

b) parlor LARPs and Nordic scenarios with a small group of players, 2-5 hours of game time and a strong theme, premise and elegant mechanics.

I enjoy myself the most when a concluding story is told and we get to see conflict, character change and emotional impact. 
Can you share a special experience in a game where you felt like you did a good job playing your part in the overall story and game?
There is this one game I still remember fondly. It was a campaign for two players and the GM, played with my best friends, over a few years of real life time and many years of game time, on a game world of our own creation. I was playing a high elf psychic vampire mage and my friend a merchant prince vampire. Our characters valued each other’s personalities and accomplishments, but despised each other’s affiliation. We had to cooperate to keep lethal threats from ourselves and the city, but also had scenes of deep alienation. There was enough time to deeply develop both characters.

The moment I’m talking about was the campaign’s very climax and conclusion, when it became clear that my friend’s character was hell-bent on bringing my character’s mortal enemy and thief of his soul, a dark god of shadow and revenge, back into his world, by donning a possessed armor and offering up his body. Just before that happened, my character decided to summon lightning from the sky and destroy his enemy and friend together.

I’m telling this because for me it felt like the completely right decision. It did have an impact for our friendship, though. We were both very invested in our characters, but I felt that the story was told to its end. My friend, on the other hand, resented me for “backstabbing”, and in the epipogue his character’s ghost took it out on my character’s eldest son, kidnapping him and turning him into a vampire. I was totally okay with that – revenge was a strong theme in this story for me.

What I’m saying is that this incident taught me about characters. Characters are only real within a story. Outside of that story, they’re just empty husks. My friend wanted to keep their character’s husk for later reuse (he never did reuse it, and never does with other characters). I wanted to play mine to the hilt and have them succeed or die trying. And I loved every minute of it.
—

Thank you so much to Johannes for participating in the feature! I hope you all enjoyed reading!

This post was supported by the community on patreon.com/briecs.

What Makes a Good Player? with Ariana Ramos

Hello all!

In this new feature, What Makes a Good Player?, I’ll be covering the experience and practices of good players nominated by their fellows and GMs. All of the players were asked the same questions, but it’s interesting to see where those vary. 

The first interviewee is Ariana Ramos!


—

What do you try to do most often while playing games to enhance your experience and the experience of others?

This varies from game to game and also the frequency of how much I’ve played it. If it’s a brand new game, I will go with a class/skin I am excited for after maybe figuring out the setting the GM is aiming for and trying to get a feel for the players. A lot of times when new players come into play I will play more of the aggressive player or the one who tries to push others by taking the lead or prodding them into action, and this is more or less to let them know it’s okay to jump up with ideas. Other times I tend to like playing the outsiders, the characters that for some reason don’t belong but at the end don’t seem to care and continue with the challenge despite all odds stacked up against them. I also like making sure that the relationships/bonds characters have with do mean something beyond what is written and explore them as much as possible.

Do you use any specific play techniques (narrative tools, improv tools, etc.) in your play sessions?
A lot of improv, I try to use ‘yes and’ as much as possible in the game to give a good flow between players. My significant other and I listen to a lot of improv comedy, so that’s been a huge inspiration in where it’s okay to let games become silly or strange. I also do listen to music and secretly have themes for characters or try to shape their backgrounds in my head. Say the GM will make an item of great importance to my character I will ask myself why beyond just it being a thing of power, what sentimental value does it hold? All characters should have a drive, a reason to be there no matter how silly or small it may seem to someone who isn’t them it’s something that motivates them to continue.

How often do you like to game, and what is most comfortable for you to maintain good energy in games?
It depends on what’s going on in my real life. I’ve got two to three games per weekend or spread out during the month. I’ve had one game every other week or now I have a game every weekend, it’s knowing I am gaming with good people, and I can ultimately be myself. I only did Con gaming last year, and so far I was relatively lucky that I didn’t feel uncomfortable during my two visits to Origins. I have had uncomfortable situations over hangouts with people arguing over rules, forcing relationships or just being rude in general. You have to know when to cut your loses because gaming is supposed to be fun although it can be used as a learning and therapy tool. I never force myself to game with people I feel uncomfortable with, and I’ve learned to listen to myself in case feelings do come up and approach it calmly as possible. I also make sure that if by chance we’re touching hard themes that do come up that the other players are fine because although the X-card does exist when you have a personal relationship with someone, the automatic response is to laugh off any awkwardness that could harbor into bigger feelings. Just make sure people are okay, give it time and be open to conversations.

Also play games you’re excited for. Try new things!

What kind of games do you feel you are most comfortable with and enjoy the most?
I feel like every game is a good game with a good GM and good people. I don’t enjoy games that are solid combat, but I also am not a fan of games that are pure emotion. I do play a lot of Apocalypse World hacks because it’s the quickest system I can get into but there have been games I thought ‘no, thank you’ but have surprised me because the GM had an amazing way of sucking me in. I love world building with the players at hand; I love the feel of something being ours and it’s something we’re all exploring together.

Can you share a special experience in a game where you felt like you did a good job playing your part in the overall story and game?
There are so many. From my Flame Princess mourning the loss of her Dead Knight and in that pure platonic love and not romantic. I think my favorite was we were playing FATE in a joky horror setting with kids going to camp. This was my second time playing ‘Heather Sweets aka Sweets’ who is still one of my favorite characters and the GM had said someone had intercepted her care packages from her parents, and so she was out of candy. In a complete meltdown, I had my character laying on the floor claiming her parents didn’t love her anymore as I was trying not to laugh it made me sound like I was sobbing as I was asking for just one piece of candy. In the game, the monster is Big Foot, after having stolen some candy and shared it with a camper my character needs sugar to run fast to get away and so I reach for my friend’s hand and LICK IT to get some sugar off of it.

—


Thanks so much to Ariana for agreeing to the interview and for sharing her experiences! I hope all of my readers find the interview enjoyable and useful, and hope you like those that come along soon!

This post was supported by the community on patreon.com/briecs.

What Makes a Good Player?

As most people know, I am rarely a game master in tabletop games. More often than not, I play games exclusively as a player, and sometimes I even just spectate! To me, players are just as essential to the games as the designers and the GMs, for a number of reasons. Here’s a bit about that!

This post marks the start of a new series on Thoughty called What Makes a Good Player? where I’m interviewing gamers nominated by GMs and fellow players for being known as good players who help make games more enjoyable for everyone at the table. This series will run through December, with weekly posts on Wednesdays, 10AM Eastern. This series is also funded in part by my patrons at Patreon.com/briecs, where your support is very welcome and appreciated!

I really loved reading the interview responses from players about their style and preferences, and what’s important to them as a player. I hope through the interviews, you’ll learn more about what some people enjoy as players, how players can behave to enhance gameplay, and a few new things about the people you might know, or might get to know!

For me, tabletop games without players are not really a thing! You can have GM lonely fun creating worlds that aren’t played in, but the moment a GM starts participating in the mechanical reactions to the world, they become a player, too. Designers are often inherently players, testing their own game against itself, and telling stories that the final players also have the chance to retell in their own ways.

While I’m sure there have been endless posts from sites around the world talking about player skill, I didn’t want to talk as much about skill in this series. I wanted to see how players interact, what they thin is important, and what they get out of playing, because I think that what we get out of games reflects back on what we put into them.

The questions I posed to the interviewees are:

What do you try to do most often while playing games to enhance your experience and the experience of others?

This question is to get an idea of what the players think they do that influence the game. It’s very interesting reading the responses when you start asking how players think they influence other players, because we have pretty subjective concepts of how we change the scene.

Do you use any specific play techniques (narrative tools, improv tools, etc.) in your play sessions?

I wanted to see how many players are using formal tools, if any of them have unique tools or habits, and if they can see the direct impact of those or not. You’ll see in the responses how many people referenced improv tools, which is something I may expand upon soon.

How often do you like to game, and what is most comfortable for you to maintain good energy in games?

Behind every good player is a good night’s sleep. Even the most amped up player can burn out if they’re playing more games than they can handle time- and energy-wise, and it can impact play. I wanted to see what kind of schedules most players find comfortable for having a good time playing without burnout.

What kind of games do you feel you are most comfortable with and enjoy the most?

If we’re talking about good players, we’d be missing important information if we didn’t ask what they play that they’re so good at, and see whether they think their enjoyment or their interaction with others is negatively impacted by specific games.

Can you share a special experience in a game where you felt like you did a good job playing your part in the overall story and game?

Finally, I wanted to give the players a chance to share their stories (a major part of the point of this blog) and to see what experiences modeled their subjective concepts of doing a good job, and I think it was a really fascinating read for every one of these interviews. The players really have a lot of thought put into their own play and enjoyment!
With all of this in mind, I hope that you’ll all enjoy this new series on Thoughty. Remember to check out the Patreon to support the series if you’re interested or drop a few bucks in the Paypal.me/thoughty tip jar if you like what you see. Let’s play!

This post is an unpaid post announcement in preparation for a series of blog posts supported by the community on patreon.com/briecs. Tell your friends!

If you’d like to be interviewed for Thoughty, or have a project featured, email contactbriecs@gmail.com.