Cicciograna
2020-10-08, 07:09 AM
Hello people! While browsing this forum, I read many times that a good DM should be able to always engage their players: everybody should always have something to do, because otherwise players might get bored.
What prompted me to write this was reading a sequence of posts about how to handle scouting - and the intrinsic split of the party that sending a lone scout implies. Some suggested to keep the action short, so that the scout can join again the party and nobody will get bored; or that in any case, the focus should be on the group, rather than on the single.
Personally I think that overdoing this might be counterproductive. It might be just me, but sometimes I enjoy being able to just sit back, relax and see how the story unfolds. In other words, I think having to focus on the group at all costs might work for some player, but it's not a panacea for good DM'ing, as some seem to imply: dead time has its perks, it's not necessarily a bad thing in and by itself.
Am I wrong in thinking that having to ALWAYS put the accent on the group is too forced? Maybe it could be helpful to ask to players, beforehand, if they would enjoy being consistently engaged, or if they can accept, from time to time, to take the back seat?
What prompted me to write this was reading a sequence of posts about how to handle scouting - and the intrinsic split of the party that sending a lone scout implies. Some suggested to keep the action short, so that the scout can join again the party and nobody will get bored; or that in any case, the focus should be on the group, rather than on the single.
Personally I think that overdoing this might be counterproductive. It might be just me, but sometimes I enjoy being able to just sit back, relax and see how the story unfolds. In other words, I think having to focus on the group at all costs might work for some player, but it's not a panacea for good DM'ing, as some seem to imply: dead time has its perks, it's not necessarily a bad thing in and by itself.
Am I wrong in thinking that having to ALWAYS put the accent on the group is too forced? Maybe it could be helpful to ask to players, beforehand, if they would enjoy being consistently engaged, or if they can accept, from time to time, to take the back seat?