Player Responsibility

This may be due to the players I have, but I don't think so; I think it's due to video games and the increasing tendency for tabletop RPG to mimic them. Players have more responsibility in, and to, a game than just creating characters and waiting for the GM to throw things at them.

Characters should have goals and aspirations, even if you are more a wargamer than a roleplayer. Games like D&D have goals built-in, but characters should have more on their minds than just improving their skills set - doesn't everybody? Finding new spells, learning new skills, even locating magical weapons or something trite like that serve as great in-game goals.

These goals give the GM a direction - an idea of what the players expect and what s/he should be thinking about when designing the game. One of my players mentioned that he likes rolling dice, but not necessarily just for combat - something that I hadn't even been thinking about while working on the game. That lead to me adding more skills checks and designing encounters in which dice rolls were needed, even though there wasn't any combat.

As a GM, I know there are situations outside of combat that require dice rolling, I just wasn't thinking about dice rolling specifically. Once he said that, my mind opened-up to new encounter ideas and directions for upcoming sessions.

Backstories are another important element of fundamental roleplay gaming. While there is nothing wrong with using low levels and initial sessions to create a character, characters should not just "appear" on the adventuring landscape without any sort of history whatsoever.

Also, players are required to maintain their character sheets. This doesn't just mean keeping them updated, but also readable. If you have shit handwriting, you need to have someone else help you or use a computer to write-out your sheet and information. There's absolutely no excuse for an adult with poor penmanship - that's a joke. A tabletop roleplaying gamer with poor penmanship? Honestly, seriously, inexcusable. That's like a radio DJ with a bad voice.

All the players in a troupe have responsibilities, but too many players think their job ends once their character is created.

© C Harris Lynn, 2011