Encouraging Player Involvement Outside ‘Their Turn’
Anthony Sheets:
A group I've played D&D on and off with for years started running into this issue. As the game became more focused on character goals there were times when players would be entirely uninvolved in the current scene. We ended up borrowing an idea from Paranoia of all games. We assigned a certain number of points (akin to perversity points) at the start of each game session that could be spent to increase or decrease the difficulty of checks or any roll. The amount of points used was public (We used poker chips) but the intent behind the points was written privately for the DM. This worked well with our group, though we did have quite a bit of characters whose motivations were at odds with each other. It kept interest in the scene even when the player wasn't involved as they waited for the best time to push things in the direction they wanted the scene to go.
Falc:
How about going all the way and allowing the spectators to set all difficulties? I mean, in quite a few games/systems that's a judgment call on the GM's behalf anyway, so why not just replace that with a consensus from all players present, current protagonist excluded?
Eero Tuovinen:
That's largely how Matrix games and Zombie Cinema work, incidentally. Works just fine.
Brimshack:
I don't have anything to say for cases where the other PCs aren't around, but I have thought a lot about how to keep everyone focused during other people's turns while all the characters are in play. My ideas on this are actually included in my own game, so I'm going to shamelessly describe the relevant rules in WOH, then make suggestions for possible adaptation.
Players in my own game (Worlds of Hurt) stay focused on the other players' actions throughout the game session, much more so than either the 1st or 3.5 edition D&D games I used to run. I put the difference down to 2 things:
1) Specific tactics figure more highly in WOH than character skills and the most effective skills are tied to specific tactics. So, there are fewer cases where a player might say; "Oh look 6 Ogres. I can kill 1 and a half of them a round, they will average 20% of my HP in the first round, with proportionate decreases in the following rounds etc. So, It will take me 4 rounds to kill them, and I will need a heal sometime in round 3, just to be safe, round 4 if the rolls work." No, even a bad-ass will be overwhelmed if she fights alone. So, the actions of the other characters matter, a LOT. Since what you do will change depending on what the other characters do, players are more likely to keep focused on the flow of battle, hoping for optimum conditions and monitoring things that will change their actions.
Generalizable Lesson? Enhance situational benefits (at least in combat games) so players will rely less on inherent ability and more on good tactics. When players realize their actions will depend on those of the other players they will be less inclined to doze off while waiting for their own turn.
2) I have very specific mechanisms for aiding other characters, and they specifically allow for helping on another player's turn. Any character standing within 1" of another character may aid her. This means spending a limited resource (1 point off an allotment of "persuasion effects" and going on hold (thus activating later on their next turn and losing 1 when doing so). The Aiding character then adds half her own bonus (rounded high) on the relevant roll to the player making that roll. This basic approach is enhanced in several ways.
A) A character may add affinity bonuses whenever she shares a trait with the character she is helping. (Elves, for example, possess the traits; "Enigmatic, Fair, and Wise." If a beautiful human is helping an elf, she may declare an affinity bonus based on "Fair." She thus spends another allotment for the Affinity and raises the bonus she provides by 3. (So, it pays for players to get to know each other's characters, because they want to know who they can help and who can help them. Learning about each other thus becomes part of the role-play challenge with a pay-off in combat.
B) Greater Magic (this resurrection as opposed to healing) always requires an assistant and the assistant must always certain qualifications, so spell casting characters must often recruit other characters to make their big spells work. There are other things that make greater magic a cooperative enterprise. Often every player is involved in the planning of a major spell, and often they all contribute in one form or another.
C) Some special abilities, careers, etc. enhance the helping system and some provide parallel means of helping each other. At least thee of the most popular character builds are essentially helping builds.
i) The Shieldman (really, this is how you keep your spell-casters alive; they use his defence bonus when rolling against melee or missile attacks).
ii) The Flanking Specialist with Generous Flanker. He gets extra bonuses for teaming up on an enemy and he gives really good bonuses to his ally when doing the same.
iii) The Inuli: This is a PC Kindred that specializes in helping in any manner possible. She gets extra bonuses for spreading the love around.
Generalizable Lesson? Incorporate a generous helping mechanism with a meaningful cost. For D&D for example, perhaps you go with a similar helping rule, but you decide how much of a bonus it generates. What's the penalty, perhaps a move action on the next turn, or maybe just a -4 on all die rolls until the end of their next turn (because now they have to rush a bit). Affinity rules could be established for alignment and/or creature types, maybe even base classes, common feats, etc.
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