Campaign Problems
As the campaign proceeds, certain problems may appear. Here are some traps to watch out for.
Bad feelings between player characters |
| Even though your players
are getting along fine outside the game, their characters may regard
each other with cool hatred. Perhaps one has vowed to protect all life,
whereas another is ready to kill any criminal. These two have to get on
one another's nerves. In the comics, this friction can
produce deeper characterization and interesting rivalries. It can in
your game, too ... if that is to everyone's taste. Take care that other
players don't become uncomfortable with the fractious pair, and keep the
combatants from stabbing one another in the back. That's hardly heroic!
A certain amount of squabbling is entertaining. But carried too far, it can drive the group apart. If you prefer not to risk this, make sure your PCs are all on the same wavelength about important campaign issues before play begins. These "ground rule" issues include: Whether and when to kill; Relations with law enforcement officials; And whether PCs should trust one another with their secret identities. |
New players |
| Great! That is, as long as the newcomers know the campaign's ground rules: ways to behave, power level, overall goals, and how to uphold the team's reputation. It's hard to make sure a new player isn't going to do something rash and cause permanent disaster. |
Too many players |
| Some GMs, who struggle to
find enough interested parties to put together a play session, would
love to have this problem. But having too many players is far worse than
having too few.
The problems: the GM can't keep track of everybody's actions; players don't get into the spotlight often enough; and to challenge the larger and more powerful PC group, bad guys have to be still more powerful and that makes adventures deadlier for individual PCs. In gming a game, the maxim is not "The more, the better," but "Everything in moderation." Aim for an optimum group of four to six players. If you have many more than this, consider splitting off the group into two separate campaigns. |
Changing direction |
| After you have run all the adventures you can think of, you may want to rejuvenate the campaign by shifting its scene, premise, or goals. This is fine, but talk to your players first. If a player enjoys playing a wealthy industrialist in the Financial District, he or she may not enjoy being flung back in time to 18th-century Haiti or into a post-holocaust future. If the players object strongly to your proposed change, think it over. If they don't object, but don't think their characters belong in the new campaign, let them create new PCs. Or ask them to play NPCs in your adventures until the campaign returns to the earlier mode. Remember, players just want to have fun. |
| GM's Guide | Character Types | Telling Stories |
| Story Resolution | Goals | Villains' motives and methods |
| Adventure Hooks | NPCs | Dilemmas |
| Deathtraps | Preparing Campaigns | Running the Campaign |
| Bad GMing |