Quote:
Originally Posted by whswhs
I've heard this interpretation from Kromm, also, and I'm afraid it's one I completely disagree with. If I held an rpg session, and people sat around eating and drinking and chatting and no actual roleplaying too place, I would consider it a failure and wouldn't do it again.
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Yes, I agree with this. To the extent that I tend to get moody and irritable if I feel like gaming time is being significantly wasted. On the other hand the rules that Malinka lists are just as valid for having a good rp session as a dinner party:
- If people don't treat it as a social obligation, then you can't really expect to start at particular time, or even have consistent attendance. So schedule games in advance, and expect players to RSVP.
- If people in your game hate each other, it's going to detract from everyone's enjoyment of the game. Keep this in mind when assembling a group for a campaign.
- If people need to leave in the middle of the game session to get food or beverages, that takes time away from gaming. So plan on meals and snacks, or request player's bring their own.
- If you try to game somewhere that's uncomfortable or distracting this will prevent players from focusing on the game. So make sure your gaming area is quiet and comfortable.
- If everybody shows up ready to game and you aren't prepared, then you aren't going to be able to sustain interest in the game session. Make sure you are ready to run a game, when game-day comes.
If you invite me to game, and there's no game, I'm going to get pretty upset. Gaming is my primary form of relaxation, and even though I'm pretty extroverted, I also have ADHD and crave structured activities. Dinner parties and formless hangouts just leave me wanting to do something not boring instead.
I was at a party, not long ago, where there were supposed to be boardgames, but most of the people didn't apparently agree, so I ended up playing no games even though I kept trying to start some. There's not much that's more frustrating than that.