Breaks

[Mike Holmes]

On 2001-12-06 14:22, Ron Edwards wrote:
Sometimes, I just say, "Let's take a break," and we chill out for a while, and talk about movies or sex or RPG publishing or whatever.

My mind does a lot of back-burner processing, and then when we get going the new connections and what-have-you are all in place.

Seems like breaks are a good idea in general, though I remember in my earlier days never wanting to stop playing.

All:

Do you take breaks in your games? Are they scheduled, pre-planned, or are they spontaneous? Do you wait for a certain kind of action, or is it juist by the clock? How often do you take them on average? Do they seem to help the GM, players, both? What do you do/allow during breaks?

This also relates to play length. How do you decide how long to play? Is it based on time available, or do you consider pacing, prep, or any other factors?

For me these things have all usually been very informal, and breaks were usually only for meals, or when I was stuck as the GM. May have to rethink that.

Mike

[mahoux]

Criminy, sometimes my group should be asked "let's stop talking about sex or music or X and maybe play the RPG we were supposed to be playing."

We aren't always that bad but socializing does tend to get in the way of advancing a game.

[Epoch]

We don't take formal breaks, but sometimes conversation does wander into unrelated activity.  Then, after a while, someone will say, "ANYWAY, so Bob of the Hill People throws an axe at the orc" (or whatever).

They aren't very long, these interruptions.  Maybe ten minutes at the most.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi there,

Contrary to the stern standards of some role-players (and texts), I don't get any utility out of a "nose to the grindstone" approach. I have found that the intensity and focus of role-playing tends to be AIDED, not STALLED, by an ongoing or intermittent "out of game chat." One of our Little Fears session was played more or less concurrently with a very intense discussion of adult (I use the word loosely) relationships. My Hero Wars sessions tend to be more focused, but events during play often prompt discussions of other things, then we turn back to play-stuff, in the very way that Mike (Epoch) describes. Again, I think the overall effect is to enhance rather than to derail.

Hmmm ... am I over-stating this? Maybe a little. On occasion, I'll say, "Back to reality," which is code for "Focus on the role-playing," but I have to admit that I'm one of the worst culprits, as player or GM, for spinning into these extra-level discussions. Most of the time, anyway, I do think that the "enhancement" effect is occurring, and so calls for focus are unnecessary.

Best,
Ron

[joshua neff]

My group tends to be similar to mahoux's (must be a KC thang), although lately we've been more diligent about focusing on the game over digressions, rather than the other way 'round.

But I was thinking the other day of running a session with "commercial breaks"--cutting right at a tense moment & letting the players blow off some steam & digress, while I go over my notes & get prepped for the next bit of story. Which would really be more for my benefit than the players, because over the course of a session, I tend to start to lose my focus & my rhythm. Having a couple of short breaks during the session in which I could refocus would, I think, be a big help.

[Mike Holmes]

Huh. So far nobody takes formal breaks. Not even for meals? Or do you not play through meal times?

[Epoch]

We play over mealtime.  In general, when the pizza or whatever comes, we grind to a ragged stop, talk for a bit, and then get back going, just like any other break.  I eat faster than pretty much anyone, so, when I GM, I often start things back up with some player who looks like he's largely done eating, before everyone else is.

(Amber, of course, is good for this kind of thing since I've, in ten sessions, never once had all of the PC's in the same place.)

[Editted in note:

I tend to imagine that the players do some side discussion of things when they don't have spotlight, too.  I don't really know, because I'm sufficiently run ragged during a standard play session that I don't have any attention to focus on people not in the spotlight.]

[ This Message was edited by: Epoch on 2001-12-06 16:21 ]

[Marco]

We break for meals--usually out ("let's pack up and go to Dennys" (24 hour diner) ). Does help re-charge.

-Marco

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

Both of my current groups are pretty oriented toward food as part of the role-playing get-together. In one of them, a player (the hostess) is a fabulous cook and always has some delicacy going. We treat it a lot like Mike (Epoch) does, although sometimes it's more like a real break. In the other, we always order out as the first act of getting together, and play is usually under way by the time the food gets there. We stop, chow down, probably get into one of our "auxiliary" discussions as I described above, and play resumes eventually.

In both groups, beverages get fetched or doled out during play. That can be a break too, depending on what they are: soda in the first case, wine or anything else more formal in the second. (There is something very satisfying about drinking good wine and playing a really wrenching session of Hero Wars.)

What's interesting is that even with all this secondary conversation, the breaks, and food, a typical session in either group gets a HUGE amount of role-playing accomplished, with all the characters, tons of events, tons of resolution, and so on. In other words, and maybe I'm repeating myself about this, the "just being together" side of it all tends to reinforce the role-playing rather than detract from it.

Best,
Ron

[joshua neff]

We usually eat meals before we start playing--pretty much an "every person for his or her self" thing. I generally grab some take out on my way to the host's place & chow down as we gab about whatever (movies we saw that week, old friends we ran into, significant traumas or triumphs, etc) before we get down to playing. Sometimes someone will bring some snack foods which we'll eat while we play. But usually we don't have any formal breaks.

[Ben Morgan]

Lately (read: the last two years or so), we've been playing late Friday nights (starting at like 10 or 11). Food is not really an issue, there are the ever-present snack-type things.

However, the great majority of the group are habitual coffee drinkers (it was unanimously decided that my friend Ed is Like Unto A God for bringing his "Too-Much-Coffee Man" mug to the games), I am actually the sad minority who has to limit his caffeine intake to things like Pepsi, or preferably, Bawls (I can't stand the taste of coffee. Sue me). It's sort of an unwritten rule that a break occurs whenever the coffee pot gets empty, and we have to make more, with little mini-breaks occurring in between when someone's cup is empty and they can't excuse themselves from the action (ie: they're in the current scene).


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[ This Message was edited by: Amazing Kreskin on 2001-12-06 18:04 ]

[hardcoremoose]

Socializing has always been a big part of my rp'ing experience.  For a while I thought it was just the gang of guys I hung out with.  

But I've recently hooked up with this new group, ya' see, headed by this really intense dude some of you might know, and guess what?  We still shoot the shit, breaking the roleplaying to discuss whatever comes to mind.  We have the formal pizza break, which usually occurs within the first hour of the game or so.  From that point on, we're usually pretty good about things, mostly limiting ourselves to brief side comments or whatever.

This last weeek though...ommigod.  We had a serious case of silliness going on and almost none of us could shut up.  It's a shame too, as it was the first session of Eloran's experimental Mage game and he was throwing alot of good material at us.  I knew we had lost it when one of our cohorts started singing "Dancing Queen" in response to a lame disco joke I made at what should have been a fairly suspenseful moment in the game.

Point being, maybe we should have taken a more formal break at some point during the session.  It was ovious we had stuff we wanted to talk about outside of the game, and maybe a break would've gotten that out of our systems.

Then again, Tom does have a pretty good singing voice.  :smile:  

- Scott

[Mytholder]

I usually try to synchronise real-world breaks with in-game breaks. Never stop in the middle of a scene etc. I also try to bring in the real-world food/coffee when the PCs have also just stopped to eat.

[Mike Holmes]

What do you think of the possibilty of breaks as part of a game's design. As I mentioned, the Primeval guys have found a perfect place in their game's play to have breaks. In InSpectres, you could schedule a break right before heading out to the field or at one of the other structured points. Does this idea appeal? Or should it be left informal?

The subject of predefined length of play has been discussed previously, and, of course, is a primary feature of the game SOAP. Do you see more potential for this sort of RL influencing mechanic? Or are they just obnoxious?

Mike

[Mike Holmes]

So I'm looking through Nathan's new game up in the design forum, and what do I find but a paragraph that says that if players have a dispute they should take a break first. One example or breaks in the rules, and a pretty good idea.

Mike