A ROLE-PLAYING GAME FEATURE
Boredom
by Kim Eastland
Boredom is one of the deadliest enemies
of the role-playing game. Players
may simply avoid games or GMs
that bore them, but it's a different
matter for a GM. After months of
preparation, playing, and development
of the world and the player characters,
he notices (if he's lucky)
that the games are bogging down,
and the players beginning to yawn or
not show up at all. More often than
not, this is a turning point in a campaign
and determines whether a
"world" succeeds or not.
For a struggling gamemaster the
first and most important step to rectifying
the problem is to quickly identify
the problem. If you're the GM,
take an honest look at your campaign
and yourself as its guiding force. You
could ask the players for their advice,
but they may not be any more
enlightened on the problem than you
are. You may also be opening yourself
up for further problems if the players
interpret your questions as a sign of
weakness or lack of control over the
campaign.
It might help to identify the most
common causes of a boring campaign.
The following is a list, in no
particular order, of some factors that
can help to make a campaign a real
"yawner."
A good ref doesn't need to
memorize all the rules, but he
should know where they can
be located.
1. Impossible odds. Is your campaign
geared for levels higher than your player
characters' abilities? There's nothing
more frustrating than getting creamed
time after time. Try adjusting the monsters,
magic, etc., down so the party has a
fighting chance.
2. Monty Haul worlds. This is the exact
opposite of the Impossible Odds problem.
Are your monsters, magic, etc., geared
too low for the party? Trashing tribes of
orcs or squads of robotic mercenaries may
be fun occasionally but grows dull
quickly. The GM should also keep track
of magical or technological items given to
party members. Don't be too niggardly in
supplies and treasure or you may unfairly
tip the balance in favor of the non-player
characters, but don't splurge on goodies
either. One of the worst worlds I adventured
in was one of the richest (you could
buy anything for a price, artifacts and
all). Remember, once you start escalating
in power it's very difficult to stop. The
inability to balance items, skills, and
power has led to the destruction of
innumerable campaigns.
3. Long-winded GMs. Many GMs will
spend long hours developing a campaign
or a module for play. Every room or landscape
is writtne down to the most minute
detail. When the party happens into that
area, he feels compelled to share his
visions with them -- in glowing detail --
whethere they want them or not. The
players aren't allowed to take quick peeks
or briefly scan an area -- frustrating to
say the least. Make sure you don't swamp
your players with poetry.
4. Unprepared GMs. The antithesis of
the over-prepared referee is one who is
constantly winging it because he feels no
pre-game work is necessary on his part.
This can give the game a feeling of vertigo,
and generally deprives the players of
something to sink their teeth into; the
"world" often lacks a sense of reality. A
good ref doesn't need to memorize all the
rules, but he should know where they can
be located. You may wish to divide your
world by geographic location into modules
for the sake of playing areas, so you
are never caught unprepared.
5. Random Encounters GM. This concept
is closely associated with the ill-prepared
gamemaster. Do you roll up the
targeted area and encounters randomly?
This can give your dungeon, space station,
or crime headquarters all the logic of
a chaotic roulette wheel.
6. Map-crazed GMs or players. No
game should be constantly bogged down
by mapping. Worst of all are "creative"
building plans that are full of curly-q's,
weird angles, or just generally Rubic-Cubic
in design. Mapping is an aid to
adventuring and should be simple and
quick; it is not an end unto itself.
7. Overly creative GMs. This one may
come as a bit of surprise. How can any
referee be overly creative? To begin with,
one has to look at the nature of RPGs and
the desires of the RPG players. The average
player wants ot gain knowledge of his
character's world. This is very difficult if
the referee is constantly pitching curve
balls at him. The vast majority of RPGs
on the market are well-balanced and
designed for repeated use. Orcs, robots,
and gunmen are usually balanced and
included for continual use, not a one-shot
appearance. Players really don't care for
campaigns where they constantly get
jumped by unknown monsters or old
familiars who behave inconsistently. SOme
innovation is fun, constant unknowns are
just plain chaotic.
8. The "stuck-in-a-rut" campaign.
Possiblythe most common cause of boredom
is the once entertaining campaign
that now goes nowhere. Reasons for this
may include: the GM has little time for
developing his campaign and a sort of
"comfortable" pattern (boredom) sets in
among the GM and players after innumerable
adventures into the same old
dungeon, city, or against the opposition;
PCs have reached a plateau on a
particular quest; or just a general lack of
innovation. If ignored by the GM, players
will start drifting off in search of new
and exciting experiences, even though the
potential was in the existing setting to
progress further, but the players were not
enticed to. Do you like doing the same old
thing day after day, whether it's going to
work, school, or whatever? Of course not!
The answer to this problem is a new
"mind-set" ; refocus your attention and
campaign from time to time on unusual
experiences, locales, missions, and
the like.
Whether you're a player or GM, you
can benefit from defining a few key
concepts:
Fairness: A referee's job is not to punish
the players or to hand them the world on
a silver platter. His job is to see that they
get a fair break in the campaign world.
Logic: A referee's game world should
have some logic and consistency in it that
the players depend on.
Movement: Keep the adventue, and the
campaign, moving. Extensive mapping,
shopping trips, etc., should be discouraged.
It's up to the GM to keep the
players awake.
Preparation: The referee is responsible
for information on most "normal" topics
should the players have questions concerning
the world. He needn't always
have it memorized, but he should know
where to find it quickly.
Innovation: The key to a long-lasting
campaign is to keep it interesting,
inspired, and imaginative. This can be
supplied by researching areas that pertain
to the game.
Balance: A referee's most difficult task is
balancing the different aspects of a role-playing
game. This can only be accomplished
by being sensitive to all of the
aforementioned topics.
The key to solving many of the above
situations is research. Although research
as a concept is an entirely different subject (and article following
this one), if you
expose yourself to new ideas for inspiration
and imagination, your game will also
become more inspired and imaginative,
which can prevent the players and GM
from becoming bored.