I have recently been suffering some players who constantly need to wander off, speak on the mobile, go for a smoke etc or sit there but when their turn comes around they clearly havent been paying attention. I am looking for ideas to reward attentive players who sit their dutifully waiting for their turn.
An ideas is
- if you state what you character will do pretty much immediately you get a token-- once you have 3 tokens they automatically cash in for a) healing 1 hp/level or b) roll damage twice take the best c) get extra movement (5-10') d) a magic potion or scroll gets a couple of levels upgrade or something similar.
I am not looking for big rewards, I want tiny ones- but not exp or treasure and not stuff that builds up over time.
has anyone else tried something like this?
We just leave their character standing there. If their turn comes up and they are not there they get skipped. The character still gets whatever defenses it has up, but other than that it just sits there in a daze until the player comes back.
We just leave their character standing there. If their turn comes up and they are not there they get skipped. The character still gets whatever defenses it has up, but other than that it just sits there in a daze until the player comes back.
I'm always hovering around the table.. but it not far from the door, where I'll puff on my cigar.. we leave the door open and smoke anyways. kid in the apartment is why, we keep it flowing out the door. and the smokers sit by the door to let us step out temporarily and still listen in, or so we can sit and let blow the smoke outside.
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We just leave their character standing there. If their turn comes up and they are not there they get skipped. The character still gets whatever defenses it has up, but other than that it just sits there in a daze until the player comes back.
This is what I did. It only took one session of it to get everyone to pay attention to the game.
I like the token idea but you'll have to be careful or your players may rely on it like a crutch. Likewise I can see some players expecting to get a token for paying attention but not getting one and then proceeding to get upset about it.
We just leave their character standing there. If their turn comes up and they are not there they get skipped. The character still gets whatever defenses it has up, but other than that it just sits there in a daze until the player comes back.This is what I did. It only took one session of it to get everyone to pay attention to the game.
I like the token idea but you'll have to be careful or your players may rely on it like a crutch. Likewise I can see some players expecting to get a token for paying attention but not getting one and then proceeding to get upset about it.
I have tried this but the problem is that it can punish everyone & people tend to wander off etc more when their character isnt in danger (but someone else's might be). The thing that bugs me the most is when some attentive character gets hammered becasue someone else isnt paying attention. Maybe I need to have the bad guy change it's target
When I play I only break from the table immediately after my turn, and if it is for a smoke (we smoke outside as most in the group dont smoke) I give another player instructions.
I get the crutch thing and you are correct- any reward system is viewed almost as a right.
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I have tried this but the problem is that it can punish everyone & people tend to wander off etc more when their character isnt in danger (but someone else's might be). The thing that bugs me the most is when some attentive character gets hammered becasue someone else isnt paying attention. Maybe I need to have the bad guy change it's target
I actually had problems with this when I tried the aforementioned method. It actually caused the players that did stick around the table to get on the guy who left all the time's case. That was what got him to sit still, not so much my taking his actions for him as the other players telling him to pay attention. Perhaps you should get your group together and tell them that what they're doing is disrupting play?
When I play I only break from the table immediately after my turn, and if it is for a smoke (we smoke outside as most in the group dont smoke) I give another player instructions.
When I used to play in my dining room this was perfectly fine (the door was nearby) as it didn't cause too much of a stir but since then I've moved the game to my basement. One way I've found of curbing the wandering player is to have a small (five or so) minute break every so often (typically after battles and whatnot); this gives the players to get up, amble around a bit and get the blood flowing, and it gives anyone who has to use the restroom or get a smoke plenty of time to do so without feeling pressured.
Your mileage may vary, of course. ;)
Maybe I need to have the bad guy change it's target
I support this. If the character is going to be made to just stand around in-game because it's player is absent, then it would make sense the enemy would notice the doofus lawling absently and attack him. That should get them to pay more attention to the game and simultaneously reduce the risk of something bad happening to the players who actually pay attention.
I think anything but discussing your frustration with your players is doomed to failure. The adaptation of new rules to encourage the behavior you want out of your group could easily be misinterpreted. Better to skip that and any other issues that may arise and get to the heart of the matter. It will make it easier for your players to live to the spirit of the law rather than the letter of the law.
I'd definitely discuss the issue with the players so they know why you're putting new rules into place, but I'd recommend just going on the basis that if you're not paying attention, your character hesitates or stands there in a daze, and misses their chance to act.
As another option, one GM I play with used a little hourglass when he was running Red Hand of Doom to keep players' turns from bogging down into book-checking and debating of possible actions.
It never bothered me though -- I was playing the fighter, and it doesn't take that long for a gleeful shout of "I charge!"
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I also encourage discussing it with your group. Make them aware that phones, whinging, smoking at inappropriate times etc. is antisocial and detracts from other players' senses of immersion and quite frankly, wastes their time.
That being said, one idea for the tokens (if you decide to go that route anyway) is that they provide a cumulative initiative bonus of +1 per 5 tokens or so. Reward the player being on the ball with their PC being a little more on the ball. This seems like it could be the least harmful way and also help lure the attention of smokers/cellhogs back to the table, as in my experience, the types who get distracted easily love to go as close to top of the order as possible. Other "rewards" may lead to munchkinism and almost have the opposite effect of what you seem to intend, if previous experience serves me right.
Make it clear they are just temporary and cannot be saved between sessions. In time you can do away with it once people realize that the timely flow of combat is a reward in its own right.
I used to do the "skip" trick but sometimes the other players needed the missing player to take action... and so the waited for him and refused to taka action, and I couldn't just skip all players who wanted to wait... So we ended up waiting more than skipping... I haven't found a solution for this so far
I haven't found a solution for this so far
Assuming you have spoken with your players and dealt with any larger issues, how about “Standing Orders” or one of the others players or the GM states the actions of the PC everyone is waiting on?
Assuming you have spoken with your players and dealt with any larger issues, how about “Standing Orders” or one of the others players or the GM states the actions of the PC everyone is waiting on?
Jeps, we have spoken. And the "solution" was to stop playing for a while (aorund 8 months now...) Half of the players were missing the game night most of the time, an when they were at the table they were dealing with other stuff or so stressed that they brought the problems to the table. And the other half got affected by these player's problems. So the solution was to call it off while things sttle down.
I've learned that rewarding the regular attentive players isn't good for this generates a bit of bickering among players and when I tried to take those away, the rewarded players started complaining. We tried to follow a rule that if someone left the table he needed to assign anothe player to his/her character or "leave it out" for the time he/she was away. This worked out so so, since the "wait for the player" option still poped out quite often.
I hope I can get back to gaming soon but not without addressing this issue first and finding a proper solution. Darn players! can't game with them or with out them! :D