- Pronouns
- He/Him
GrapeFlavDragons
Evil
So I've attended my first event in the hunt chain, and while I've not lost the motivation to stop participating in the future, there seemed to be little thought towards the players participating. It shattered desire to continue for many that got involved, rather than promote it. This is not to berate the efforts of the event team, but rather my thoughts on moving forward.
Within a Dungeons and Dragons game (or similar tabletop), a campaign is a culmination of encounters between players and the Dungeon Master toward a goal. Ideally players are challenged and engaged by the encounters with their characters in the narrative propelled by their motivations to endeavour forward with momentum. Whether the motivation be personal, such as chasing treasure, or through stakes created by the Dungeon Master that the players invest in: the players accomplish something that will help them progress the plot. Story progression is remarked on accomplishment, and this brings forward that players would feel accomplished through story progression.
The movement of a plot dependant on story relies on tying encounters into a sequence, where X affects Y, moving towards Z. This narrative dependance is called stakes, defined as "personal interest or involvement". This promotes the idea that the first encounter will set players up for the second encounter, and that it will influence the overall goal and end to the campaign. A party that defeats a monster finds the details of where they must go next, or what sort of threat they have encountered, etc. The details of the upcoming propel the party toward it, as it the goal is now familiar to them. An encounter without stakes does not feel like an achievement, but just an encounter. Creating multiple encounters without stakes is akin to telling a story with multiple inciting incidents and no rising action.
A stark motivator towards many players of tabletop games is the belief that they/their character will benefit moving forward, be it information on the plot, tangible rewards, or the growth of their character through experience (in both the metagame and personal sense). A character gains from the encounter, preparing them for the next, or bracing them for worse. This is a boon to the character, and a motivator to the players in the party. Regardless of the goals and nature of the character, a player is pursuing the greatening of their character for the future. Being prepared for the next encounter, better equipped, wiser, or stronger all refer to this. It serves as the pay-off for rising action as the party moves toward the climax.
Impeding players and the party can vary in extremes to gauge interest, but a net gain should be the result of every encounter (unless the entire party is killed). The term net gain is to refer to what the party earns despite being impeded. A character's death can lead to the party understanding the nature of the encounter, or a sacrifice for others to survive, or for no reason at all, so long as the remaining party are still motivated toward the next encounter. The weight of death, resurrection, and injury brings tension to add to the stakes when handled perfectly, but losing that perfect balance means there is either no tension due to lack of threat (entering a level 1 encounter at level 10), or no tension due to lack of ability (entering a level 10 encounter at level 1).
The satisfaction of the party in a campaign is often affected by the momentum of the story they are helping to tell. Their ability to finish an encounter and look forward to the next is what makes a story engaging, and moves them to be involved. A Dungeon Master that can balance these traits in their storytelling is what players seek because they feel involved in the construction story, rather than reading or writing one themselves. The conclusion of the campaign as such is much more satisfying, because it feels earned as the party meets their goal.
Within a Dungeons and Dragons game (or similar tabletop), a campaign is a culmination of encounters between players and the Dungeon Master toward a goal. Ideally players are challenged and engaged by the encounters with their characters in the narrative propelled by their motivations to endeavour forward with momentum. Whether the motivation be personal, such as chasing treasure, or through stakes created by the Dungeon Master that the players invest in: the players accomplish something that will help them progress the plot. Story progression is remarked on accomplishment, and this brings forward that players would feel accomplished through story progression.
The movement of a plot dependant on story relies on tying encounters into a sequence, where X affects Y, moving towards Z. This narrative dependance is called stakes, defined as "personal interest or involvement". This promotes the idea that the first encounter will set players up for the second encounter, and that it will influence the overall goal and end to the campaign. A party that defeats a monster finds the details of where they must go next, or what sort of threat they have encountered, etc. The details of the upcoming propel the party toward it, as it the goal is now familiar to them. An encounter without stakes does not feel like an achievement, but just an encounter. Creating multiple encounters without stakes is akin to telling a story with multiple inciting incidents and no rising action.
A stark motivator towards many players of tabletop games is the belief that they/their character will benefit moving forward, be it information on the plot, tangible rewards, or the growth of their character through experience (in both the metagame and personal sense). A character gains from the encounter, preparing them for the next, or bracing them for worse. This is a boon to the character, and a motivator to the players in the party. Regardless of the goals and nature of the character, a player is pursuing the greatening of their character for the future. Being prepared for the next encounter, better equipped, wiser, or stronger all refer to this. It serves as the pay-off for rising action as the party moves toward the climax.
Impeding players and the party can vary in extremes to gauge interest, but a net gain should be the result of every encounter (unless the entire party is killed). The term net gain is to refer to what the party earns despite being impeded. A character's death can lead to the party understanding the nature of the encounter, or a sacrifice for others to survive, or for no reason at all, so long as the remaining party are still motivated toward the next encounter. The weight of death, resurrection, and injury brings tension to add to the stakes when handled perfectly, but losing that perfect balance means there is either no tension due to lack of threat (entering a level 1 encounter at level 10), or no tension due to lack of ability (entering a level 10 encounter at level 1).
The satisfaction of the party in a campaign is often affected by the momentum of the story they are helping to tell. Their ability to finish an encounter and look forward to the next is what makes a story engaging, and moves them to be involved. A Dungeon Master that can balance these traits in their storytelling is what players seek because they feel involved in the construction story, rather than reading or writing one themselves. The conclusion of the campaign as such is much more satisfying, because it feels earned as the party meets their goal.