GM advice needed


Advice


I have a large gaming group, when everyone shows we've got 8 bodies crowded around my table. I've always thought I did a good job keeping the game moving with so many players and giving people time to let their character's shine.

We're about to wrap up the Skull and Shackles adventure path, and I've been looking for inspiration to do something new. I've settled on an urban game revolving around the underworld in Council of Thieves. I've pitched the game to my players and I've got enough who have bought in that I'm starting the planning stages of what I hope to be a very sandbox/open world game.

Here's where the problem comes in, when I asked what classes my players would like to play I got a bunch of varied choices which was great and then I had one player say, "I want to play a main character this time and not one of the Amazing Friends." I asked him to explain what he meant by this and he provided a few examples of how in previous games different characters seemed to take the spotlight for long stretches of the game. This player enjoys playing mostly martial characters, he's played an assassin, a fighter and a fighter/witch in the last 3 games, none of which are overly social or have much in the way of a character voice.

I'm the type of GM who always wants to improve his game, and make sure everyone at the table is having a good time. However, this has thrown a wrench into my creative gears because the guy had some good points. I try not to let one player dominate the table time, and give everyone a chance to voice their opinion on options, but I'm also very likely to let someone run with an idea if they come up with something great.

How do I make someone who's felt relegated to a supporting character feel more included in a new game?


An old GM I had that took turns with our main GM had a rather novel idea. The party was basically on a long trip via caravan and boat to another objective. The main GM had passed onto her to handle this with whatever she wanted.

She elected to do five main encounters during the trip. Each one focused on one of the characters, their backstory, and abilities. No one felt jealous or bad since everyone got their chance to shine. Even now, like a decade later I recall it as one of my better gaming moments and definitely most memorable because she had taken the time to read over the character and what they were about and built it into the story. At least for that one session, the spotlight was on you and you were the main character. The guy with the plan and the abilities that just so happened to be able to fix the situation.

Speaking honestly, this was in my early days and my characters didn't have a lot of backstory and personality to them, but after the session for my character I started moving toward including those details more because it was so much fun.


Alerons advice is sound and I agree.
It might also be helpful to examine your playing style to see if you put more than normal emphasis on out of combat. Maybe the player has felt ignored for a time.
I know that I, as a storyteller, put a bigger focus on skills than the game assumes. But I also tell my players about this before we start.

That being said, I can't help myself wondering if this isn't nessicarily your problem.
Pathfinder is a colabarative game, we play, as a group, together.
If your player wants to be the "main protagonist", he should start up his computer.
...Or try to get a 1on 1 game going, I guess.

I have also noticed that some players have a tendency to shy away from social situations if their social stats and skills aren't overpowered/awesome/good enough, following th philosophy that if you can't win automaticly, there is no point in trying.
That is also not your problem.
To quote fight club:" you decide your own level of involvment"

-LO


Thanks to you both. When the player brought this to my attention I suggested maybe he play a bard in the next game, my thought was a lot of social skills, combined with being a bit of a facilitator would make him feel like the man with the plan.

Our game has moved a bit toward the social side of things as the table has aged, but there's still a lot of combat. Mostly these days I've just been leaving the door open to whatever people can come up with. If there's a credible reason the bad guys can be given not to fight to the death, most times they'll take it.

The first session of this next game I'm planning on calling all the PCs together and having a BBEG let them all know she's aware of their secret and if they don't do what she wants she'll expose them. I think I'll let each of them describe how she reveals their secret so I can get them putting in details into their characters at the very beginning.

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