Campaign Information Overload
In their latest installment of Save My Game, the folks at Wizards look at a difficult topic, campaign detail.
I know first hand the perils of this very topic. As a GM, I find myself building campaign settings with an immense amount of detail, everything from cities and towns to NPCs to multiple plot lines (I just love planting plot seeds). The problem that occurs at that point is that all that detail becomes the roadblock to having fun.
And let’s face it, when it’s no longer fun, no one wants to play.
The article at Wizards gives some very valid points regarding how to handle this, and I think there are two important takeaways here:
- Communication – this is an issue with not only gaming groups but also in most other group settings. You need to talk about what’s going on. Ask for help, whether it’s a hint from the GM on what to do next or a recap. The important thing to keep in mind is that there are egos involved, and your GM has invested a lot of his time and energy into the campaign, so use a little tact and be sure to point out the things you do like not just the issues you see.
- Use your character – something often forgotten about as players. The character you play has knowledge that as a player you don’t, ask for an intuition check to get some help. You could also simply ask, “I can’t seem to remember, what is the custom here?” Asking that way gets you the information you need and also helps to validate the GM’s work (always a good thing).
Finally, if you are a GM, remember that that your players may not want to delve as deeply into your world as you may have when you built it. If your players really don’t want to know why the price of tea is changing (it’s due to the third cousin to the king’s second wife getting married to a green-eyed bride), that’s okay, and if for some reason they ever need to know, you’ll have that information for them. Give your players the level of detail they need to enjoy the game, slip in a little something extra once in a while, and remember to enjoy the game.
After all, isn’t that why we play the game? To have fun.
May your dice roll well.