I had a very rewarding game session last Saturday. My group plays 1st ed. AD&D.
Highlights
- Witnessed an unprompted shift to a more selfless, strategy-based approach by a risk-aversive power gamer.
- Used scene framing to fast forward through mundane sim exploration.
- Was able to free my mind to react to player probing by hooking them in. (Mainly because I forced myself to read the module through to the end, visualizing each potential scene.)
- Freely spun 2 scenes as character exploration of situation. What was most notable is how each player had something to add.
- Gave a brief promotion of 3 indie games I picked up at the Forge. Now they're talking about running a game of Sorcerer after this module is finished. Which is great, because Mike Holmes is right: I need to catch up. And if my group wants to lead the way, that's even better.
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I wanted to mention an underlying dynamic I've noticed that I feel helps to contribute to the well being of our group. One of our players shared a video of a sports event he participated in before we got started. Another player and I had an e-mail argument in which he said some insulting things; my response was to apologize and wait. He warmed up a little slowly that night, but shortly later, he was leading the interaction.
And when a player wiled away his boredom while focus shifted to others, I was laughing instead of irritated since he was reading that Sorcerer manual I bought:)