Catch Your Hare

We’re so close to the end, it’s scary. Anyway.

So far, I’ve described playing with others as co-operative. Here’s the dark side.

Don’t play nicely. Misbehave. Screw with the GM and other players. Do this nicely, but do it. When you’re well-behaved, you’re conventional: when you break the rules, you improve the game.

Recently, I played Runequest, and wasn’t enjoying it. An hour in, a dragon flew towards us, ready for a fight. I rolled to attack and missed. I decided to misbehave.

“I wave my arms and shout,” I tell the GM. “I want it to fly at me.” He looks surprised, so I check: “Is that OK? I don’t want to mess up the game.”

“Sure.” he says, and the dragon flies at me, which pleases the players who were avoiding the fight. We roll and, miraculously but wonderfully, I knock the dragon unconscious. It ploughs into the sand.

Screw with other players, too.

In a dull Vampire LARP, two other players approached me. They were playing Mormons and attempted to convert me.

For half an hour, they screwed with my character’s head, sending him mad. Playing that mad character was much more fun.

Try misbehaving in games. It’s fun to misbehave and fun to be messed with. If you’re saying “Screw that, let’s do this”, at least once per game, you’re doing it right.

That was an exhausting weekend, but the book is now laid out. It’s looking rather beautiful, too. I’ve ordered a test copy from Lulu to see how it looks, then I’ll have another run through the text, and then it’ll be ready to publish.

Meanwhile, back to the grindstone. We’re talking about working together. So I’ll finish off the positive side, by talking about trust.

Trust the other players. Trust they’re good; trust they like you; trust they’re looking out for you. 

Force yourself to trust them…and here’s the crucial point…even if you can’t. Force yourself to like them, even if you don’t. Trust they’re good, even if they’re bad.

Because it’s not to do with them, it’s to do with how you play. If you’re mistrustful, you’ll play carefully and conservatively. Instead, force yourself to trust the others (whether or not you can actually trust them) and you’ll take risks.

It’s a mental attitude thing. You can always find something you like/trust/appreciate about the guy opposite you. Look for those things and remind yourself of them. If you do, you’ll play better with him.

Recently, at a convention game, I was irritated by the gamer opposite me. He was loud, forthright and insisted on playing a particular character.

I forced myself to trust him. I reminded myself of things I liked about him: his ideas were good; he appeared to be listening; he wasn’t a wallflower.

At one point, I wanted to eavesdrop on his character, but wasn’t sure whether he’d appreciate me messing with him. I asked, nicely. He said yes. The scene was superb.

When the game finished, I still didn’t like him. But I could appreciate things I did like about him: and, so, I could play with him.

Often, we try to make games fun for ourselves. Instead, concentrate on making them fun for someone else. Work out what the guy opposite enjoys and give it to him.

As a GM, this is particularly important. If a player takes every gun he can carry, give him something to shoot. If another player tries to investigate, asking questions in dark alleys, give her answers.

As a player, do the same. If the player opposite is looking for a murderer, assist him. If another player is looking for conspiracies, conspire against her.

Be aware of social cues. If someone’s eyes light up atn combat, throw monsters at him. But look for negatives: if a player looks disinterested when you start a fight, drop it.

Ask what other players like. At the start of games, trying asking “What kind of things do you like in games?”. In the middle, try “How’s it going? Anything else you want?”.

Note that Giving The Other Guy A Good Time is related to Building On Ideas. However, the first is about the player, while the second is about the story.

Quick update.

The book’s nearly done. I’m very happy with it. As I go through the old posts, I keep thinking of new sections to write, so there’s lots of new stuff in there. I’m rewriting the old posts, too, so they’re more coherent.

Here’s the cover again, mainly because I like it.

It’ll be available in a month or so: certainly before Christmas.

Meanwhile, in case you wonder, I’ve hidden some of the old posts, as an underhanded way of getting people to buy the book. About a third of them are still viewable so that, if you browse back, you’ll get a sense of the whole thing.