Everyone wants to be awesome, to find that moment of perfect cool. Maybe the exact style of awesome varies from person to person but make no mistake about this, each player that comes to your table, from the min-maxers to the esoteric actors, wants their character to do or be something cool, or interesting, or powerful, or great, or… You get the idea. While most of the work for this lies in the players’ hands, don’t underestimate how important it is for the GM to facilitate the moments of awesome.
Now, some of you might be asking what should be expected of a GM to make the PCs awesome. After all, shouldn’t a character’s cool factor fall into the player’s hands or at least in their dice rolls? The GM sets up the world and its NPCs, so the player is in control of what their character does in the game. This is true to a certain degree, but sidesteps the fact that nothing happens in a vacuum. When the characters DO things, the world should react. That’s where the GM comes in.
Do something cool. Do a barrel roll!
Whether the player has a spectacularly awesome success or an abysmal failure, the GM frames how the result affects the world around the character. This allows the GM a multitude of opportunities to help show how that character shines. Was it a social situation? Describe the positive reaction of the NPCs. Was it a feat of dexterity? Point out to the other PCs how astounding that move was. Was it a combat roll? Share the look of fear in the enemy’s eyes as the blow lands. Was it a strange device that they needed to activate? Describe the magnitude of the accomplishment as they finally get it doing what they need. All GMs have to do this to a certain degree to keep the game moving forward, but I’ve seen far too many that give their players a lackluster reaction to moments where the characters could shine.
If you’re not used to giving a bit of panache or flare to PCs’ moments of epicness, it can be a bit intimidating to start, but I’ll let you in on a secret: a little bit of this goes a long way. Players are often very good at building up who their characters are in their head, so they only need a little bit of affirmation from the GM and the other players to carry them through. Throw each player in your game a couple of moments each session where their character shines and you’ll have them hooked. This works for both the experienced, outgoing player that already likes narrating how amazing their character is, all the way to the shy, newer player that is still hesitant about speaking up. In fact, several times I’ve had a shy player come up to me after a game and thank me for an awesome time when I wasn’t even sure they were enjoying themselves. Just a couple moments calling out how their actions were affecting the world was enough to make them feel good about the game.
Each player may have a different idea of what awesome is for their character, so it is important to have at least a vague understanding of what they’re looking for. Some players want to kick ass in combat while others may just want their character to stand out in some way. In a recent convention game, I had a player who was perfectly content to spend most of the game describing how eccentric and absurd their character was. This wasn’t exactly helping the game move along, but he wasn’t doing it in a way that hindered the game either. He seemed to be having fun in his purple-sky world, so I just reinforced how successful he was at some of the strange things his character was doing. It all came full circle at the climax of the game when his absurdity actually saved a couple of other characters. You don’t want to encourage behavior that detracts from the game for the rest of the players, but it’s okay when players thrive on different things in the game.
Most good GMs know to do this on an almost instinctive level, but for the rest of us it’s worth taking a look at how we help the players and their characters fit into the game. After all, everyone wants to be awesome. Let’s see how you can help them get there.
Great Article! I usually avoid describing players’ actions, preferring they do it, but your points about showing how NPCs REACT to their actions will be getting incorporated.
This is a terrific companion piece to your “Number One Fan” article. Would love to hear any more suggestions you have in this vein (how to make the players feel like stars). Thanks for these!
It’s a tricky line to walk, but I enjoy making characters awesome in my descriptions–or at least flattering them. Failures are often due to competent foes and difficult challenges, rather than pratfalls, unless they’ve established their character’s comedic training already.
I remember the first time I asked a player to describe how he was engaging a charging orc with his sword. “But I don’t know anything about fencing or swordfighting,” he lamented. “That’s okay, what do you think the character would do in this situation,” I prompted.
The guy thought about it, and said, “Well, I guess I drop to one knee and swing across his belt-line.”
The orc had won reaction/initiative and swung first, I said, “Your sudden move downward startles him, and his sword barely dings against your helm. Roll your hit.” The guy hit and did max damage – and he announces to the entire table that he gutted the orc as it rushes past him.
The problem was that the orc had a couple of hit points left… I thought about it, and I made comment about innards becoming “outards” and the table erupted in cheers.
I learned this valuable lesson that day. Now I _ALWAYS_ ask the player to describe their actions.
Great article!
I always try to give each character a moment in the spotlight each session. Usually it’s something that’s within their area of strength– whether it be combat, stealth, negotiation, or other skill– though sometimes it’s a surprising success in an area they’re not recognized as brilliant at. And sometimes, on rare occasion, it’s for a conspicuous failure. Be careful spotlighting those as you don’t want the players to think you’re picking on them.
One thing I’ve noticed in giving each character spotlight time is that most players are not good at narrating how awesome their characters are. They’ve certainly got an image in their heads; they’re just not good at verbalizing it. Few of us are orators or writers. So, as a GM who is fairly talented at oration, I ask each player first to narrate their own success. If their description is vivid and suitable heroic, great! If not, I volunteer to “punch it up” for them. Players have remembered some of the scenes I’ve narrated more than a decade later.
nothing much to add other than I agree!
Great advice – I find this is a great way to engage everyone at the table. The more anyone describes their actions and the results with gusto and flair, it seems to get everyone doing it. Little prompts and nudges just get the ball rolling.