When I’m DMing, everything in this post makes sense to me. Players need to come to the table prepared, aware, and ready to play my game. They need to give up their distractions, their stress, their own interests, in favor of the greater good of the game. My game.
When I’m playing Dungeons and Dragons, it’s quite the opposite. I find that I can’t seem to keep a straight face half of the time; I find myself giggling about the various mechanical idiosyncrasies of the game; I find myself being bored and fidgeting when someone else has the spotlight .
It’s sort of like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde .
So, it occurs to me that somehow I’ve got to shore up the incongruity. I’ve got to figure out how to get these two participants together. The condescending DM and the distractable player can’t live in the same body. But, what’s the solution?
I’m not certain, but I think I have an idea. I think, maybe, it’s all about empathy; remembering while I’m playing how frustrating is to be a DM when players are off point; remembering what I’m Dungeon Master how easy it is to get off point .
Now I’m not saying this is going to be easy, and I’m not saying it’s going to be fun. Empathy has never been one of my strong points.
This requires me to put aside some of my cynicism. It requires me to focus, both as player and as Dungeon Master, on my friends at the table. Most of all, it requires a little bit of humility on my part.
Humility has never been one of my strong points, either.
So, beginning today, I’ve turned over a new leaf. Like they do in Alcoholics Anonymous, I’m going to seek forgiveness for past sins. To the players in my Colona game, (Greg D., Donna, Kelly, Doc, and Bob D.) I ask forgiveness for making you use those “Out Of Character” signs so long ago. To my DMs (Randy, Greg T., Scott, Angie and Phil), I apologizing for cutting up and generally being off task whenever I have been at one of your tables. I’m sure there will be more apologies to follow, but I’m not nearly humble enough to think of them right now.
