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View Full Version : How to attract players [GM Guide] (Your help needed)



Kaww
2011-02-02, 07:56 AM
The point

The point of this guide is to answer a common question that appears on these boards several times each month. The question is how to attract players and/or prevent them from leaving the game. Also the point might be, for me, that it's ether this or study nuclear physics. And we all know anything is better than studying...

Short version: Don't be a jerk. Talk to people. Have fun. Make sure your interests and expectations are within a medium range (100ft + 10ft/lvl) with those of your players.

Long version:



Index

Finding players (Before the game starts)
Running a campaign (Good luck pulling that off)
Recruitment during the campaign (Uncle Lothar wants you)
Ending a campaign (What now)


Recruitment (aka. before the game starts)


Figure out what you want: What are your expectations. What do you want the game to look like (system, theme, sources allowed etc.). What kind of people/players you wish to hangout with. You have to know this before you proceed.

Start small: Roleplaying games are a group activity, so you need a group. One player and a GM, while technically a group, do not have enough people. Two players and a GM is an acceptable start. If you are doing your job well you will expand your group rather quickly. Try starting with friends, or at least good acquaintances.

Be realistic: Don't call more people than you can handle. Four appears to be the optimal number of players. I personally prefer five. This way it's more likely to have all party roles covered. If your group is smaller than four you should be fine, even if they all have ADD.

Where to find: People that may enjoy this activity are commonly known as nerds, geeks etc. Start with people that you find fit this description. People that enjoy playing games like "Risk", "A Game of Thrones", "Warhammer" and similar will likely give it a shot. Also people that enjoy acting and are members of drama clubs might give it a try. Talk to members of martial art classes (it's highly unlikely that they will beat you up, since most of us are pacifists anyhow).

Talk to people prior to inviting them: As a GM your job will be to figure out what makes your player's characters AND YOUR PLAYERS tick. This is usually an easy job, it's also the cause of many GMs nightmares (The flaming/astral projecting kind). The main thing about talking with potential players is to find out:

-What they want out of the game

-How they want to make it happen

-How far they are willing to go

-How much free time they have

-Are they team players

-Are they sane (you would be surprised to know how often people fail at this one)

-Add to the list whatever you find important

Have standards: If there is anything from the previous list you don't like or you find fishy DO NOT INVITE THESE PEOPLE TO YOUR GAME. People you do invite will appreciate this and thus your games will be more enjoyable for them.

Talking, part 2: You should talk with the people you selected to be your players, prior to campaign start. Have them agree on who is playing what. This is not a contract tho. They may change their minds, builds etc during the game. Make sure any changes are known to all and that all are ok with the said changes. If you find the party lacking a certain crucial element you should provide one in a form of an NPC with scores/abilities that are by far worse than if s/he were a PC.

A friendly chat: Ask your players if they know people that would play. This makes you invest smaller amounts of time and effort in recruitment.

Rules or how I will mess with you: Make sure all rules are well known to all participants. I have a yahoo group, with an adequate campaign name, there I upload a PDF with a list of rules. Don't come up with them as you go along. This confuses and irritates people. If you are going to ignore established game rules make sure your house rules are well known to your players before the campaign starts. One of my rules is for all players to read The polite player's guide, found on these boards.

Your role: You are the world, in game arbiter and that's it. You are not their nanny. You are not there to settle their OoG disputes. It is not your job, unless you want to, to feed them. I personally enjoy cooking, so I don't mind doing it when I have access to a kitchen.

Neutrality: The fact that your best friend/GF/cousin are playing doesn't matter much in game. As the arbiter you must not have favorites. Right or wrong doesn't matter, if it follows the rules you instituted. Every action has it's consequence. If a character wants to kill the king, has a death attack and the king fails his throw the king died. The character will be executed and that's it.

Character making: A tough one. You oversee it. See to it that no player stands out powerwise. Make them know that if they try to make any illegal builds they will suffer for it. Most people aren't jerks, so this is an easy job. Make sure they know what you allow and what you don't.

This is far from over, but I would appreciate feedback on this section. Also I would greatly appreciate if you told me if where I have made grammar/style mistakes.

Kaww
2011-02-02, 07:57 AM
Playing the game (aka Good luck...)

There is a number of guides with a subject of being a good GM. This (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=76474) is a good one. I have no intention to go into the details, explaining what you should do to be a good GM. Besides from my experience people prefer evil, non abusive GMs.

I assume you have no difficulty being an adequate and competent GM.


The where problem:

During the game you will encounter several logistical problems. Mainly the "where to play" problem. I have played at college - in classrooms that weren't used that day, in other people's homes, in my home, in the open areas parks/woods/beach. In other words you can play almost anywhere. You should note that how you play is affected by where you play.

Empty classroom: If you take the professor's seat you have even higher authority if that blows your skirt up. I sat with my players. I don't use a GMscreen, so I didn't mind the fact that I had a player sitting next to me. This location has several issues. In my country the classrooms with computers and fancy chairs are locked. The lack of computers is not a big deal. We use laptops anyhow. The lack of comfortable chairs is a bit of a problem. Not an awfully big problem. Overall - if I don't manage to find another place to game the faculty building is open Monday to Saturday, Sunday you have to show papers that state that you are a student there. Tough luck for my group. Not comfy, should be avoided if not necessary.



University Mess Hall: One of the mess halls at my university was somewhat multifuncitonal: people would not long serve lunch there, but also come and sit at tables to read, study or do projects. We gamed in here quite a lot, was reasonably comfortable, easy access to food, refreshments and toilets. downsides were it was pretty crowded and somewhat noisy at times.


My home: When my sister gives me the green light - the best place to play. When GMing I give myself a role of the host*, no matter where we play. This is partially because I feel responsible* for the people that are there. I am feeling more comfortable being a host in my house than anywhere else, in fact I'm used to it. In your house you can prepare the atmosphere for the game. Creepy music, lighting, heat - anything you can think of. If you want your players not to be sure if they are cold/hot/sweating because of the things happening to their characters or because or the RL conditions there is no place like home to provide you with this freedom. All in all - it leaves a good, comfortable impression on your players.

Second best - other player's home: Not as good as your place. You have less freedom and, at least I think, because of this you have less control. Still you are likely to find comfortable chairs, easy access to the bathroom, fridge etc. than at faculty/college/school. All in all - it leaves a good, comfortable impression on your players.

Park: My players LOVED it. Loved could be written in Size 7 and it wouldn't express how some of them felt about it. Last summer I ran 3-5 sessions outside and with a portable freezer and similar accessories it was really pleasant. We were even caught in a storm/downpour once and it didn't matter since we were protected by a CR 20 Gazebo (MM1 pg. 57). I packed the sheets and we eyeballed the stats when an encounter happened. Not that comfortable, but the sun and fresh air do wonders. If you have 13+ hours of sunlight and more or less favorable weather you should try it out. Left great impressions on my players.

Gaming clubs: Have never RPed here. I played card games, go and similar, but no RP. Too many people talking at the same time you are. People you don't know listening... Not my cup of tea.

*NOTE: This is my mental issue, not how it's supposed to work.


Time problems:

Schedule: You should have one. Every other Saturday of the month, or something like that. It is more likely for you to have people free for RP when they know that they shouldn't make appointments for a particular day. Or have a universal rule. In my group we know that we are all free only on weekends. One week in advance we see if xx day is OK for all of us. Also there are online calendars that you may use and share as a group. I found it helped me.

Gaming hours: I can't say anything general. Only my observations, both as a DM and a player. People need time to talk to each other. The first half an hour/hour of most sessions is lost to this chat. Then the period when people get into character follows. This is gaming, but during this period people sometimes make odd choices, metagame etc. This is another hour, it is best to pass it with an encounter, treasure search and similar nonsense. The rest of the time is gaming. You should give people some breaks, time to eat, bathroom breaks and to stretch their legs. This follows no particular rule and is up to you to notice when their attention is dropping, stomachs growl... My sessions last anywhere between 8 and 15 hours. The play time ranges between 6 and 14.
I can't say I will not run games that last less than 5 hours. But if I lose two hours to non game things I'd rather just grab a beer with my friends and chat with them for five hours. That or play preferans.

Gaming time: When the real session starts people should know that that is gaming time. No texting, video games and similar nonsense. You should settle this within the rules. If you find yourself in a situation in which this is an issue talk to your players. If this doesn't work find a way to deal with it. Again, if people are not jerks this will not be an issue.

The break: It is important to know how long the breaks should be between sessions. Sometimes a good break is just a night of sleep. Some times it's a month. How to know this? The simplest answer is intuition. There are no rules, only guidelines. If the session ended with a " You start of a long voyage..." you can make a longer break here if you need it. If the session ended with "You open the door and see a large fiend staring at you ready to jump." the sooner you continue the game the better. Generally if there is dungeoncrawl in process don't make the breaks too long. If it's a peaceful part you can feel free to do this. Don't try to make the sessions end in the manner tv shows do. Even tho this is storytelling people are usually annoyed by "You hang of the edge of a cliff, see you in two months." This is an important thing, because misjudgment here may be the difference between creating a tense atmosphere and people forgetting what happened/losing interest.



Logistics: This is both under Time and Where so it deserves a special mention. If you have several locations available you should chose a place. Try to have the game hosted on a location that is the most practical/time effective for most people. Time needed to get from my home to one of my player's home is three hours, to another ~ two hours. Our optimal location takes all three of us a bit over hour and a half to get to. Losing three hours of gaming just to commute? Not acceptable, if not necessary.



Food

Why? I know I said this is not your job, but this falls under your rules and deserves a special mention. People don't think a lot about RP when they are hungry. Concentration drops, people think less about the game, they don't listen as carefully as they would... Many problems can be prevented with food. No matter which system you adopt you should stick to it or change it as a group.

Every man for himself: As it says - everyone has his/her own provisions and that's it. Clara pacta boni amici, and trust me the Romans knew what they were talking about.

Cash pool: One person buys whatever the group as a group eats and drinks. They bring the check and everyone pitches in to pay for the munchies. We use this system when my GF or/and I cook. If you do this make sure to know of any allergies your players have!!! You don't want to Host a murder...

Everybody brings something: This is the system I approve the most. I usually eat peanuts, which I buy, drink lots of water and bring something for the rest of them. Fruits are always nice tho... When we don't have access to the kitchen this suffices. Allergies, again.

Order food: Order a pizza, chines, lasagna or whatever. This is the easiest way to handle this if you have any problems. Or if you want to play Garfield or something...

If cooking: Be sure not to prepare meals that will make your players sleepy. More info via Google - this is not a cooking class.

In the end: The important thing is to have players that are not thinking about food. Happy, if possible. Also not dieing of allergic reactions, take this seriously.


In game problems

Cheating: This is your call. You should, probably, tell your players how you feel about this. If this is a major issue for you should cover it in the rules. Everybody rolls in a box, on their own turn, no grabbing the die to have a better look... You know how this works. Important thing is to set the rules BEFORE the game starts. This way nobody feels discriminated and there is no finger pointing.

Obscure source: If a player comes up with nth party supplement and says I want to play this you shouldn't just say no. Ask what kind of build, what can it do etc. After this you read whatever s/he brought to you. Then you Google for similar builds and if you are still not sure ask on a forum. After finishing these steps you make your verdict. Don't just say no without even reading the description.

A fight: Stay neutral, unless somebody is verbally abusive OoC. When somebody crosses the line you go ether with three strike rule or just a plain old kick. Again, this should be mentioned in the rules section. Most people are not jerks and you are unlikely to have to deal with this. Still happens tho...

Arguments: If you get frustrated by something a player is doing ask them to stop it. Don't be critical. Remind people that you play the game, that you want to have fun and that they are spoiling it for you. You should never threat your players with anything, but you should warn them of consequences of their actions. Tone with which you speak is important here, so if you are upset leave it for later or send the complaint with your arguments via email or text message.

Player leaving: What to do with the character? If it's a plot important character s/he should stay there as a DMPC in RP situations and as a group controlled NPC rest of the time. If the character is not plot important let her/him go somewhere, settle down, become a plot hook. Sky and your imagination are your limits here.

Boundaries Respect them and don't push people to do/see/hear things they find repulsive. All in all just don't be a jerk.

Player feedback: Yep, that's right - more talking. Let the inconsiderate bastards players know that they can't hurt your feelings with their comments. Ask for feedback; mostly if something upset them and if they really loved something. If your players have an arachnophobia don't show them pictures of spiders every session. Even tho it might be fun for you. If they enjoy to brawl in inns give them brawls and use them as hooks.

Kickin' Your job. If problems happen you decide who leaves or stays. This particular problem deserves a thread of it's own. You shouldn't be afraid to use this. DO NOT THREATEN with kicking. You can have a rule about it or whatnot, but no threatening. If it comes to it you ether kick the player mid session or you leave, if in their home. Empty threats hurt your authority. Since you hardly have any real authority over the said jerk's person's life you shouldn't damage the little you have with the GM title.

EDITED: Added gaming hours and argument paragraphs.

Kaww
2011-02-02, 07:58 AM
Another day and this still beats nuclear physics...


Recruitment during the campaign

(Uncle Lothar wants you)

After the previous post being a digression, sort of, I'm getting back to the original subject. One thing tho - where and how often you game and how you supply food during the game influences how players experience your game. And don't you forget it.

Why do it? You have to plan ahead. Even if you didn't start with only two players you are going to need more choices for the next game. People move away, get married, have kids... You may think your current group is as solid as a rock - but it isn't. Life happens to all of us and the game is still just a game.



How to do it



Talk #3: You can freely tell your friends that you're running a RP game for several people and that you all enjoy it. DO NOT LIE. Some of them might be interested, you would be surprised. If they are interested go to Demo if not tough luck.

Demo: If you had your friends look for potential players, and they found some people that are interested AND you talked to them AND you think they are ok, you can invite them to a session as spectators. Not as players, but as observers. You should give them some NPCs to play - merchants, innkeepers, town guards etc. In combat you should give them the "I full attack or I move and attack" monsters. This is all just to see how they interact with the group. It's your choice whether or not to invite them, but you should ask your players how they feel about the person in question.
Numbers: I suggest you do not invite more than two spectators to a single session. Make sure that they know that if they are bored they are free to leave. And that it's bad manners to talk while other people are talking...

Splitting the party: This falls under demo section, but with slight modifications. If you have several people interested in trying to play your game you could split up the party for a session or two. Only do this if the split is natural and if you know that in a few sessions they will all be adventuring together again. This is also a good way to force the player interaction. Since one group shouldn't know what the other group did. Don't mess with this unless you know what you are doing.

Also this may provide someone who's interested in playing, but too busy, with an occasional game.

New players: God bless them! They can make you laugh until you cry. Their ideas and suggestions are sometimes so insane and fun... Don't act as if they are stupid because they don't understand things. But make them learn the rules. You shouldn't do their bookkeeping. You are to correct them, tell them where they can find the rules. If you have new and veteran players in the same group both veterans and you have to be patient.

Mixing: Integrating new players in campaigns that are already running is tough. Not just the story aspect. Some people are shy, intimidated by groups of unknown people. Some walk in and behave like they had known each other their whole lives. You can't control this and you do not have any influence over people OoG. Shy people have to deal with it. Nobody hates them and it's not your job to make them more communicative*. Remember that, it's funny how often there are stories of GMs that forget this simple rule.

Your players: You can't control this one. If your players enjoy your sessions they will talk about it with their friends. Even a person that doesn't game, with their friend talking about it with so much emotions, might give it a shot. Also if you have seasoned players they, most likely, have friends that game and that may be interested in your game. This requires your players to be satisfied with the game.

*NOTE: I did notice that RP helps shy people become less shy.

Kaww
2011-02-02, 07:59 AM
Campaign ending (What next)

Well this got a separate section on account of it being a natural point to start playing with different players.

Numbers: Select a number of players you wish to participate in the next campaign. Hopefully you will have the desired number of potential players = X. Now Invite X-1 people. Why - because you still have one person that might want to play if somebody drops the game. You have room for new recruits if you find they might make a great addition. And you can always have a player that's an ace up your sleeve.

The list: First of make a list of people who you would like to invite. Sort the list by priorities. Ask people one by one. DO NOT be insulted if they refuse, as I said life happens. Maybe they don't have time, have other priorities or they don't like you or the previous game you ran. Do not have anybody's feelings hurt, again this is only a game.

One shots: If you are not sure which people you want to invite have one or more one shot games. You can notice the group chemistry rather easily. If they click they are good to go if they are bickering it saves on troubles later. If you or they enjoy the game started you can make it a campaign.

Uninviting people: Yes, it is tough, yes you have to do it. If you are in the extraordinary situation of having 4+ extra players that you find to your liking run two campaigns or run the same one twice (never did this one) and ask them not to talk to each other what they are doing. Also you could play a game with them as a player under another GM.

Basic: Read and apply the Recruitment (aka. before the game starts) section to the new campaign.

For my previous campaign March 2010. I had 4 players to start with. Kicked one, had three new recruits, of which one dropped. The campaign now awaits it's closure - some 4 sessions remaining. For the one I started in December 2010. I had 15-20 people interested in playing in my campaign. I invited four, since I designed the campaign for five.

Greenish
2011-02-02, 09:38 AM
Remember that you attract more flies with vinegar than with honey.

rakkoon
2011-02-02, 09:42 AM
Looking forward to the rest, keep it coming :smallsmile:

Kaww
2011-02-02, 12:35 PM
I would appreciate input on where you played and rate it in comfort and how much you liked the environment/atmosphere.

Also session durations and the amount of necessary breaks.

TheCountAlucard
2011-02-02, 01:40 PM
I would appreciate input on where you played and rate it in comfort and how much you liked the environment/atmosphere.I gotta agree, school buildings make for decent accomodations when nobody's house is available. :smallsmile: We had our Exalted game in this study room in the campus center, brought our own snacks and drinks. Only troublesome bit was we had no control over the building's climate control. :smalltongue:

Your or a player's house is also a very good option - just remember to follow any rules the host sets down and be considerate of others. :smallamused:

Also session durations and the amount of necessary breaks.That will always vary from group to group - some will game from 4 p.m. to 4 a.m. (I know my gaming group did a few times) with players taking the time to go to the bathroom whenever they feel like it and their character isn't doing anything noteworthy, while others will only game for three or four hours, with a ten-minute break every hour. My personal preferences? I like a long game, with a decent-sized break somewhere in the middle to let the GM refresh himself and give everyone a chance to grab a bite to eat, chat, pop out for some fresh air, et cetera... still, don't make the break too long, or they might just decide to stop for the night. If they start watching Batman, that's a bad sign. :smalltongue:

Kaww
2011-02-03, 03:44 AM
From the view count I'd say that a few people read this.

Don't you have any remarks/suggestions/ideas?

If you do please post them. It makes my job easier...

LordBlades
2011-02-03, 04:51 AM
First of all, I think this guide is a very good guide idea :smallsmile:
Lots of useful advice.

Regarding your questions: I've gamed in quite a lot of places(rating from worst to best):

-Classrooms at university; pretty bad experience; here most classrooms have fixed desks and chairs, so actually sitting in a position where you could face your fellow players and DM was a bit difficult.

-University Mess Hall. One of the mess halls at my university was somewhat multifuncitonal: people would not long serve lunch there, but also come and sit at tables to read, study or do projects. We gamed in here quite a lot, was reasonably comfortable, easy access to food, refreshments and toilets. downsides were it was pretty crowded and somewhat noisy at times.

-At somebody's place. ATM we have 2 places where we usually game (the homes of 2 friends) and they provide pretty much all the necessary conditions: enough space, computer access, nearby stores, ability to cook or order food whenever we feel like it, etc. One quite important aspect: make sure the place in the house where you game is, if possible, out of the way of the other people living there. In one of the houses we usually game, the only room where there is a big enough table so we can all sit around is the dining room, which also connects the kitchen and backyard to the rest of the house. At times, there is quite some traffic in the area, and it's distracting

-Outside. The guy with the crowded house from above also has a pretty nice place with a table and a couple of benches in the garden. I really like it there, provided the weather is fair.

rakkoon
2011-02-03, 04:56 AM
Our rule was that the GM bought the adventure books he wanted to play and the rest brought the snacks. Only break was for dinner.

Kaww
2011-02-07, 04:56 PM
Change log:

Added the campaign ending part.

Edited: playing the game - added an assumption I noticed I missed and added Kickin'

________________________________________________
Will be edited further when I have the time.

Kaww
2011-02-25, 05:43 AM
Added "Be realistic" and "Splitting the party".

DiBastet
2011-02-25, 12:50 PM
I guess you already adressed it, but in some dungeon magazine articles, Monte Cook himself wrote about where to play. he mentions about the overall enjoyment and heaven that is not only playing in your house but also in a specific room only for rpg or for related tasks.

Of course, he mentions it's a dream that not all can acomplish, since it's quite hard to have a room only for this, but I tell you all that this has been a dream of mine since I was 16, and now with 24, with my wife and my own house, I'm proud to say I have this rpg-only room. And Monte's right, as always. It's some kind of sanctuary, when people enter the room they enter to speak about rpg. We do some relaxing time when people come, before we go the Rpg Room, and then when we enter it's really more or lesse leaving the real world behind. All the stupid talk becomes stupid talk about rpg. There I can change the light, sound, positioning, everything, and they already told me the place seems a little "sacred", since it's the room's sole purpose, and not some kind of impromptu room. Of course, we have a dresser with the player's pajamas, books, spare dice, rpg decoration etc, and since I'm on my house, my wife is a player and I like to cook, I really play Host, but even if you don't have space for all this, I reccomend the room.

If you can have a RPG Room on your house, then go for it. As a DM you'll never, ever, regret it!

Kaww
2011-02-25, 01:56 PM
I never read it. I'm impressed that you have a RPG room. That is so cool! I think I would still prefer a gazebo, but during the winter that sounds phenomenal. As said I'm in awe. Do you mind if I quote some parts of your post?

Sine
2011-02-25, 02:43 PM
I'd like to add that, when it comes to attracting players and character creation, more is almost invariably better. D&D is the most popular rpg because there are so many options. So while it's understandable if you're not a fan of say, psionics or Tome of Battle or whatever, try not to hold a grudge. Because unless your players are brand spanking new to rpgs, chances are good that some of them have favorite classes or races that can't be found in the PHB.

It's a known fact that though 57% of DMs prefer lovingly crafted detail-filled campaign worlds, 89% of players want to just pick from the game's eleven jillion options to make their characters. Yes, these statistics were made up on the spot, but it doesn't make them any less true.

And being open-minded can make your campaign that much cooler. For example, mine has a very uniquely inhabited moon because I had to find a place for the tinker gnomes that one player wanted. (Because where else are those little buggers and their warforged creations going to live?)

So, aside from balance concerns, be as permissive as you can with character options. If you have balance concerns, it often helps to run it by the forum.

Kaww
2011-02-25, 02:59 PM
I'd like to add that, when it comes to attracting players and character creation, more is almost invariably better. D&D is the most popular rpg because there are so many options. So while it's understandable if you're not a fan of say, psionics or Tome of Battle or whatever, try not to hold a grudge. Because unless your players are brand spanking new to rpgs, chances are good that some of them have favorite classes or races that can't be found in the PHB.

I thought I had this covered in "In game problems" the "Obscure source" part of it.

Personally in the last six months I learned how to play just about all classes published in ToM, ToB, MoI, XPH. One player wanted to start using ToB and I was caught with my pants down. I said OK, you can use it - the fighter got something nice. But also I decided to learn how to play the non-basic classes. Some of them are really fun and fluffy.

PetterTomBos
2011-02-25, 03:58 PM
I guess you already adressed it, but in some dungeon magazine articles, Monte Cook himself wrote about where to play. he mentions about the overall enjoyment and heaven that is not only playing in your house but also in a specific room only for rpg or for related tasks.

Of course, he mentions it's a dream that not all can acomplish, since it's quite hard to have a room only for this, but I tell you all that this has been a dream of mine since I was 16, and now with 24, with my wife and my own house, I'm proud to say I have this rpg-only room. And Monte's right, as always. It's some kind of sanctuary, when people enter the room they enter to speak about rpg. We do some relaxing time when people come, before we go the Rpg Room, and then when we enter it's really more or lesse leaving the real world behind. All the stupid talk becomes stupid talk about rpg. There I can change the light, sound, positioning, everything, and they already told me the place seems a little "sacred", since it's the room's sole purpose, and not some kind of impromptu room. Of course, we have a dresser with the player's pajamas, books, spare dice, rpg decoration etc, and since I'm on my house, my wife is a player and I like to cook, I really play Host, but even if you don't have space for all this, I reccomend the room.

If you can have a RPG Room on your house, then go for it. As a DM you'll never, ever, regret it!

I'm dreaming of a gaming-room as well! Tho I think it would be more of an all purpose "RPG and boardgame" room.

And a DM's comfy chair! Amigosh, the DM's comfy chair! :D