[RPG] How to deal with high speed, blunt action declaration outside of combat

gm-techniquesroleplaying

Here's an example from a one-on-one playtest I've had, to better illustrate my question:

My rogue player got a minor quest from a blacksmith to retreve an item. He instructs her that the road to the location is to the west. I had an encounter planned on the path halfway through, but she ended up saying something like this:

Rogue: Ok, I go there.

GM: Wait, ok, hold on, so you set off on the vaguely stone-paved path towards the [location]. The blizzard seems to be getting worse and worse, and around halfway there you see a couple of giant rats on the road. They are unaware of your presence.

What I wanted was a slower, step-by-step description of her actions to allow it to set in better, something along the lines of

Rogue: I shake the blacksmith's hand and let him know I'll be on it as soon as possible. Once I'm sure all of my equipment is in order, I set out on the stone path to the ruins.

GM: Great. Despite the blizzard worsening, it's all pretty uneventful until (etc.)

How can I encourage this kind of patience and roleplay? Here's why I think it'd improve our games:

  • game pace is more fluid
  • combat doesn't take up all the spotlight
  • players become more immersed and comfortable with the setting
  • encourages players to take some of the weight of creating and describing the world around them
  • provides many opportunities for more potential hooks and investment with NPCs, who are now people that shake hands and show gratefulness, rather than just be quest dispensers

I am sure that my players are interested in this change. I showed one of them this question just now (the rogue, actually) and she responded very positively. She likes the idea a lot, and she suggested that the habit is because they have "fast travel, do things, fast travel" as their default gaming mode, since they've played video games all their lives and tabletop RPGs only with me a couple times. (Makes sense, really.)

She said she'll try to be the "spark" and spread it to the others too. I would still find it very useful to know how to handle and respond to this kind of fast declaration when it happens, though.

Best Answer

Take charge, respectfully

Treat your players' action declarations as statements of intent rather than a completed part of the narrative. Feel free to slow things down to insert details and intermediate steps when needed. What they are doing isn't always a problem. When a player says:

"Ok, I go there."

...treat what they said as:

"Ok, I intend to go there."

You don't need to scold the player for jumping the gun, just narrate the next thing that's important to your story.

Player: "Ok, I go there."

GM: "Great. You set off on the vaguely stone-paved path towards..."

Sometimes, there won't be anything in the middle and "going there" is a reasonable shortcut to the next part of the story.

Skipping to the Good Stuff

Your players can't read minds, and don't know that you have some cool encounter planned for halfway through the journey. From what they know, getting to the destination is the next short-term goal they have, and the endpoint holds the next thing worth stopping for. It's natural for them to set their sights there, and try to do it directly. We normally skip over things like eating, sleeping, and an uneventful walk down a familiar street.

When there's something worth stopping for, it's the GM's turn to say so. Don't worry about asking people to "hold on". Confidently narrate the next thing you want to focus on, and the player(s) will follow along with your story. If they don't, then they are trying to jump ahead and away from you, and you can tell them directly that things don't work that way.

Shortcutting Out of a Scene

You're in the middle of talking to the blacksmith. He describes a mission. After the description, the player says "Ok, I go there."

The problem here isn't that they skipped the mid-travel encounter. The problem is that they abruptly and prematurely ended a scene that you were roleplaying through with them. It makes the narrative feel choppy and disconnected.

It can be OK to short-cut through some of the details to wrap the scene up quickly, but only after the purpose of the scene has been resolved. The purpose of this scene was to tell the Rogue about the mission, and have her agree (or not, it's up to her) to do it. Think of a book or a movie. A scene might cut after the hero says "I'm the man for the job", because we can skip the details of him having more smalltalk with the smith and walking out of the shop. The scene won't normally cut immediately after the mission is described, because it feels unresolved.

When a player cuts ahead like this, you should ask them to wait or slow down a little. They should know better. With practice, they eventually will.

Blacksmith: "...and bring the rune stone back to me. I'll pay you $300."

Player: "Ok, I go there."

GM: "Wait, what? The blacksmith has asked something of you, and made an offer. What do you say to him?"

Point out the incongruity ("Wait, what?"), and then put the player back into the important part of the narrative.

Related Topic