Dear Apathy: Make My Players Act

Each week we answer a question from our loyal audience. Our question for this week is:

Dear Apathy,

My style is to have a very detailed setting, but not to develop an overarching storyline. I like to plant a few seeds and see where the characters go with them. This approach is exciting when players run with it, but they often do not.

So I actually want the players to hijack the story. That is when I have the most fun, because everything becomes unpredictable.

–David, The Internet

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Dear Apathy: My Players Just Hijacked my Campaign

Each week we answer a question from our loyal audience. Our question for this week is:

Dear Apathy,

My players have just hijacked a ship because they could. They seem to be thinking, “Save the world? F That! I want a boat!” After I’m done head-desking, what do I do?

–Jay Becker, Seattle, WA

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Dear Apathy: Irrelevant Conversation

Each week we answer a question from our loyal audience. Our question for this week is:

Dear Apathy,

I love the group I play in, but one of my fellow player’s can’t go five minutes without interrupting the game with irrelevant conversation. Short of duct tape and a sock, what can I do to get him to stop derailing us?

–Just a Gamer, Eugene, OR

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Dear Apathy: Remembering Details

Each week we answer a question from our loyal audience. Our question for this week is:

Dear Apathy,

My Game Master only runs the game every other week at best. We enjoy the game, but we regularly forget details that turn out to be important later. How can I better remember important details, and what advice can I give my GM so that his stuff is more memorable?

–Brain Fart in San Francisco, CA
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Dear Apathy: How do I Intergrate a New Player?

Each week we answer a question from our loyal audience. Our question for this week is:

Dear Apathy,

After running a game for several months and getting my players deeply involved with my story, I had another player join my game. They seemed very interested in playing but had a difficult time really integrating with the party. While they are trying, I am having trouble getting them as involved as the other players. We have now been playing with the new player for several months, and things don’t seem to be getting better! Anytime old NPC’s come back, foreshadowing is explained, or long running plots are averted, the player doesn’t get any of the references and totally disconnects from the game, no matter how many times we explain it to them.

Thanks,

–Failure to Adapt, Integrate or Live Up to Reasonable Expectations, Halifax , NS

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Dear Apathy: Hiatus from Gaming

Each week we answer a question from our loyal audience. Our question for this week is:

Dear Apathy,

My players and I are getting burned out on my campaign right now. We don’t want to end it, but we feel the need for a break. I’m afraid that my group will drift off and that we will never get back to the game? How do I go on hiatus without destroying the game?

–Burninated in Kent, WA

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Dear Apathy: Laptop Problems

Each week we answer a question from our loyal audience. Our question for this week is:

Dear Apathy,

We often use laptops at the gaming table for tracking information and secret communications. For a while it was working well, but now some of my players keep letting the laptops distract them. How do I remove the distraction without getting rid of the computers?

Thanks,

–Ready to Drop Rocks, Bismarck, ND

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