E is for Engagement

[over the course of the month of April, I shall be posting a topic for each letter of the alphabet, sequentially, every day of the week except Sunday. Our topic for the month is Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: how to approach it, how to run it, how to enjoy a system that deserves to be played NOW, nearly 50 years after its inception. Consider this a 'crash course' in the subject]

E is for Engagement…that thing that all Dungeon Masters seek from their players.

Truly, engagement is what DMs hope for whenever we sit down to run a game of AD&D. We are not looking for praise and appreciation…those things are nice to hear, of course, but the fact is we would put in the time and effort of DMing regardless of whether or not anyone appreciates the work we do. How many times has our work gone unappreciated? And yet we continue to come back to the table and sit in the DM’s chair…gluttons for punishment, huh?

No, praise and thanks and compliments are NOT the reason DMs do what they do. And if it is, their career as a “Dungeon Master” is likely to be short-lived and full of frustration (players tend to be a fickle and unappreciative bunch). No, we create to create…we run for the thrill of it. Compliments, thankfully, are not our sustenance.

And from our players, engagement is our aim.

An engaged player is one whose attention is focused on the game at hand; an engaged player is one whose interest is held by the action at the table. The true measure of a DM’s quality is not the number of players who sit down to their table…as I’ve pointed out before, there are far more individuals willing to be players than DMs. No, the true measure of a DM’s quality is whether or not players RETURN to the DM’s table.

Can you engage your players? Can you hold their interest? Can you keep them fully “bought in” to the game you’re running? Or would they rather stack dice and scroll Instagram on their phone?

Lack of engagement is a common enough complaint in Reddit’s hallowed halls. “I catch my on-line players playing video games when I’m trying to get through my villain’s monologue” is something I’ve read more times (back when I was still reading Reddit) than I ever imagined I’d read. But while it’s simple enough to insist on only running games OFF-line (as I heartily suggest), even face-to-face DMs may find the attention of their players drifting. How to keep it?

Because keep it you must. As already explained, every AD&D Dungeon Master is running a campaign...not just finite story arcs, but an entire world, constantly developing, constantly being adjusted, modified, added to. While such world building is its own “fun” in and of itself, the input we receive from the players who participate in the campaign help the thing to evolve in leaps and bounds. A DM is, after all, only one human with billions of possible ideas. When you add other humans, each with their own billions of ideas, the rate of growth and richness of depth increase exponentially. Players help DMs to explore their own potential. We learn more in dynamic interaction with others than we do in solitude. 

And so, we want players. And for those players to stick around, they need to be engaged. Interest has to be held; interest has to be STOKED. There must be something for the players to engage with, so that their attention, their focus, can be LOCKED to the game. So that they say that playing in a DM’s campaign is a higher priority on Saturday night (or whenever) than any number of entertainments they might otherwise pursue.

And AD&D does this in a far simpler way than the poor cousin that is “modern day” D&D. The current brand of D&D…the “5.5” edition…would have people believe that to hold players’ interest, you must be an ENTERTAINER. You must be a STORYTELLER. You must have amazing NPCs with funny voices and accents that interact with players and create DRAMA. That you must learn to SAY YES to the players, succumbing to every wild hair they get. That you must allow players to SUCCEED and BE HEROES and have their SPOTLIGHT MOMENTS and give each of them their own STORY ARC, praising applauding them if only for rolling a high number on a random dice roll. Feed your players’ narcissism, their individual egos. Dance for them like a performing monkey. Dance monkey! Dance!

This is not the way of AD&D. AD&D provides clear objectives of play based on its premise: the players are adventurers, treasure seekers in a dangerous world. It has systems in place that reward meeting that objective (players earn experience “points” for finding treasure) and the game, when run properly, is challenging enough that players will need to learn to lean on each other, to rely on each other, to cooperate with each other, in order to survive. In order to WIN; in order to NOT LOSE.

How does the AD&D Dungeon Master keep their players engaged? By running the game in this way. By using the rules and systems of the game and by respecting the game’s premise. We do not spend half a  game session focused on a shopping excursion in the local town or village. We do not craft monologues for our NPCs, nor even extensive, flowery introductions and excessive description of encounter areas; it is common knowledge that long 'box text' causes players' attention to drift.

The best way to hold players' attention is to force them to interact with the rules of the game. Calling for a die roll, a saving throw, a D6 roll for initiative or surprise...these things force players to sit up and take notice. Providing players with decision=making questions ("left or right?" "descend the stairs or not?" "attack or give quarter?") and meaningful choices not only force players to engage, but help them establish their own agency.  Not "what do you want to do?" which, untethered from context or situation, tends to cause paralysis but instead an array of possibilities that must be weighed by the players. Risk versus reward.

To be engaged, players must feel that not only do they matter, but that their decisions and their actions matter. That is, that they are consequential. As DMs, the way we address the players, the choices we give them, the die rolls we call for, and the results we describe...not just flowery narration, but the actual nuts-n-bolts consequences...contributes immensely to whether or not players feel their actions, their choices, their die rolls, their very lives (as players of the game) have any importance at all. 

The DM as group leader and facilitator can shape the dynamics of the table by their approach to the players in their charge. Not every player is created "equal;" those with more knowledge and more game experience are going to have far more impact than the newer members of the group...and those at the table will know this, instinctively...but that doesn't mean the newbies have "nothing" to offer. DMs can still present newbies with options, and request their decisions, explaining (when needed) the risks associated with those actions. They are still required to make die rolls; they still absorb damage (hit points) and expend resources (spells, arrows, torches and oil, etc.) that contribute to the overall party situation and success. Point these out to the group in total, reinforcing the notion that everyone has value!

While this may seem somewhat like modern D&D's admonitions to "share the spotlight" among the players, I'm advocating for nothing of the sort. There is no call to creativity being placed on individuals, no request for improvisational grandstanding, no demand for backstories, story arcs, or drama, and certainly no judgment on whether or not individuals are "role-playing" good or even enough. What I am doing is running a game and allowing the rules of the game to carry the day, putting the systems and procedures firmly in front of the players' noses and giving them the choice: play or die. Learn or burn. Each to their own measure, of course (another reason it's good to start new players with 1st level characters and give them challenges commensurate to their ability), but enough that they have something to chew without choking.

Do this, and they'll come back for more.