Five Ways to Get More Action - In Your Game Sessions!

It’s Saturday night. The snacks are out, the players are there, the GM is ready.

It is that time that many of us look forward to all week – Game Time [no, not the Superbowl. not this time].

So why aren’t you gaming? Or why aren’t you getting all the action you crave from your game sessions. The truth may be simpler, and easier to correct, than you think.

Maybe you don’t deserve better.

So here are a handful of simple ideas that can help you get more happening in your average gaming session, and do your part to increase the fun for everyone.

1. Be On Time!

OK, everybody has things they have to do. I get that. And unusual situations come up. I am talking about consistent tardiness. Gaming is something you want to do, right? SO, be there on time. If you can’t make that time, especially on a regular basis, renegotiate the start time, or the day. Or, rearrange your day so that you can make it. It is considerate of others, who manage to attend promptly. AND it means you get more gaming done. Win - Win.

2. Know your stuff

Understand the basics of the rules you play by. If you are playing a game regularly, don’t rely on the GM’s copy of the book. Buy it! Buy it second hand, or in pdf, or even at full price and feel good about feeding a game-designer’s kids for a day. If your character uses a subset of those rules [be it a magic system, a set of special moves, Feats, whatever] know them cold or have the reference material. I have a player who is not great with rule systems. She makes extensive, effective play aids for herself. And she isn’t afraid to ask rule questions [often via email, between sessions, where she is not slowing play] to clarify issues. It helps everyone at the table get more done. It also has the other benefit of making her more confident of what her character can do. Which means she can spend more of her play time doing the parts that are more important to her, without worrying about stalling the session.

3. Stay Focused

When cool stuff is happening: Stay In-Game. A tense battle or negotiation is not the time for cross-table talk, cell phone use, or what you think are subtle whispers and snickers. Obviously, we game with our friends and we want to socialize with them. But that is not the time. There will be breaks in the action: everybody need a bathroom break, or wants some more pop and chips. On that note, consider scheduling regular breaks for those activities, between scenes of play. Then if people want to chat, they can do it while that is happening, or at least when they get back to the table, and not disrupt the flow of the game.

This is also not the time to dispute a rule, or a GM ruling on one. Do you really want to spend minutes fighting over how much you can carry, or whether you can run, jump, land on the dragon's back, sneak attack, jump off and roll into the shadows in a single round? Let it go, do cool stuff, get your Shiny Time [tm, see #5] rinse, repeat.

4. Work Together

Even though you have the perfect solution to the issue at hand, wait your turn. Rather than talk over or across other players or the GM, work together. Most games have some system to order character action. Player talk should follow a similar rhythm. This is not to say that conversation has to be absolutely controlled. Every group has a tolerance level for this activity. But keeping the chaos contained means the GM doesn’t have to listen to all the players at once, like the teacher of a kindergarten class. Trust me, if you can avoid giving the GM a migraine, the session will go better for everyone, and you get more action. 

5. Help Each Other Shine

A friend, fellow GM and regular player in my games, coined the phrase [lifted from an expression in the Firefly TV show] of Shiny Time. Every player, and every character, should get some – ideally, every session. That takes coordination and consideration from everybody at the table. So if someone else has a moment in the spotlight, don’t horn in and try to take the glory of their Shiny Time for you own. Let them enjoy it! And if you have an opportunity – help them shine brighter by supporting their action, instead of jumping in with a big one of your own. So if you are playing the fighter, let the rogue have the perfect backstab moment on the Big Bad, even providing the anvil on which the boss is hammering in order to set it up. You may have already gotten a shiny moment when you survived its all out assault the previous round. Or you might get it next round when you keep the wounded adversary from fleeing.

The corollary is also important. When it is your time to shine, don’t try to monopolize or prolong it. Let others in, especially as supporters of your Shiny Time. But also don’t try and drag your Shiny out in to a extended solo encounter with the GM. Take your moment, then let the camera pass to another character. If you do, you begin to establish some trust between the players, which will usually lead to reciprocation of the same from them. If everybody is getting their Shiny Time, and others are consistently supporting those moments, both in character and with player action - or just as importantly sometimes – inaction, you all get to have more fun.