Whether you are a player or a DM, you will eventually have a complaint about your group.
Maybe your DM is railroading you. Or he is trying to kill your party (the TPK knuckle tattoos were the first clue).
Perhaps your players love to derail your perfectly crafted story arc by fixating on a complete rando NPC. Or they constantly run off into the waiting arms of danger claiming it’s just them “playing their character.”
I need to tell you something (Don’t skip this part because it may just save your game and your sanity):
The goal of the game is to have fun.
There, I said it. I know what you might be thinking, “Duh, I know that.”
I’m glad you agree, so let me say it a different way: If you’re not having fun, you’re doing something wrong. A mentor of mine used to say that all the time, and it has always helped me evaluate what’s happening when things get hard. After all, maybe with the min/maxing, 1,000 word back stories and carefully drawn dungeons, you have lost sight of the goal. So what do you do?
Try this. At your next gaming session start by saying something like this, especially if you are the DM :
“Our goal today is to have fun. Fun for everyone. We are going to tell this story together. I have an infinite world at my disposal, and you as the players have infinite choice. This game only works if we find a away to mesh them together. I’m not your enemy; I just run them. I will give you epic moments that will make you feel awesome, but you have to make epic choices that make the whole party feel awesome.”
What you say can even be simpler than that, but what you are trying to convey and remind everyone collectively is that we all have to work together to make a great story, and you can’t do that if you don't consider the people at your table.
I hope this helps you push the fun and rock your table this weekend.
May the dice be ever in your favor,
Jason
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