Add Some Grit to Your Game

One trap I've seen quite a few GMs fall into that I try my best to avoid is having your players feel as though they can get away with anything without serious repercussions. Of course, there are some game systems and genres that lend themselves to this sort of thing and they can be fun; however, most games are crafted and run with the hope that the players will get excited about the game and even feel some anticipation if not actual fear for their characters from time to time. If the GM is bringing in a deux ex machina every time the characters get into some kind of trouble not only are they unlikely to take even the most dire circumstances seriously but they are also quite likely to lose interest in the game. Who is really interested in playing a game where your character is untouchable?

This isn't limited to combat situations, social interactions and other whatnot can also bring up these issues. So, even if a GM is relatively even-handed with combat situations, if the players know that they will get whatever information they require from some NPC or another regardless of how they act or how poorly they roll then interactions become something far less than thrilling--more of a task that has to be performed to further the plot line in lieu of something enjoyable. Imagine if a noblewoman NPC never got offended by the uncouth tribesman in front of her asking her about some religious artifact her family holds even though the tribesman constantly spits and is wearing barely tanned skins for clothing. How ridiculous is that? That sort of thing happens with relative frequency in games. Perhaps it is only a bit of information and the GM doesn't want to deal with it; perhaps s/he doesn't want to restrict a particular player because they chose a class that doesn't fit in a situation very well; maybe the GM didn't consider that the PCs may fail to get the information from an NPC. Whatever the case is, by not dealing with the very real issues surrounding social interactions the GM is really taking something away from the players by doing this. One of the best ways to facilitate character depth is to have them fail from time to time. Of course, don't overdo this.

It is one thing to have a PC fail every so often and quite another to hamstring them and their character concept by constantly throwing up roadblocks or having whatever they are trying fail. One example of this that I was on the receiving end of was when I was playing a character who I developed as a con artist. I would think about a great way to con someone throughout the week and implement it sometime during the game when it was appropriate. Some were decent ideas, others were long shots and two of them I think should have been almost fool-proof. However, regardless of how I worked them into the game or how naive my NPC mark appeared to be, my cons never worked. Throughout the entirety of that game not one of my ideas worked out. The GM just wouldn't have the NPCs fall for it or some kind of event would happen to make it fail. A frustrating situation to say the least for a character approved by the GM beforehand and designed to do that very kind of thing. I'm fairly certain that particular GM fell into the me-vs-them kind of thinking, but I'll deal with that little pitfall sometime down the line.

So, how then do we GMs add grit to our games to keep them exciting without going overboard? Well, as I eluded to earlier, there are two different aspects to this: combat and social interactions. I dealt quite a bit with combat in my last post--Give Players What They Want--and will deal with it more in depth in a future post as well; however, the essence of it is to make combat exciting by keeping character death a very real threat. Does this mean you should never save characters? Of course not, we're GMs, cheating is in the job description. However, you should never save characters if it would be obvious you are doing so nor should you always save them. In the last game I was running in the very first session the sorceress in the party decided to light a room on fire while trying to make their escape. Of course, a fight ensued with the fire constantly spreading and the party trying desperately to get out of the room prior to getting burned to a crisp. They had to climb a very short distance to get to safety and I made it pretty easy to do as I didn't mind them all getting singed a bit while fighting but I didn't want to kill anyone off the first session. It was a pretty safe situation really being the people attacking were weak and the way to safety was easy to access; however, as sometimes happens in games, the fates were against one of the party. The fighter was rolling horribly and couldn't make the really low roll required to get the heck out of the way of the fire even after five attempts. He died still trying to climb up. In that situation I couldn't really save him even if I had wanted to. I told them what roll they needed (I often do this when it doesn't need to by a mystery just to keep the pace of the game up) and when he couldn't roll it it would have been painfully obvious that the GM saved him...let players know this even once and you've lost credibility. Not that I really mind a player dying every now and then; like the red shirts from Star Trek, it makes the players realize that I will not shy away from character death. Of course, I'm not out to get the characters either.

Social interactions are a bit more tricky. Death isn't usually a possibility when simply talking to some NPCs (though sometimes it is) so that isn't a viable threat. However, there are still repercussions to actions even when talking to people. The tribesman from the first example could have easily ended up stewing in jail for a while or, at the very least, being thrown out of the estate. Even those without any kind of political sway will still refuse to talk with PCs if they aren't treated with respect. Try to keep the outward appearance and history of the characters in mind when they interact with NPCs as well. If a warlock tries to speak with people who know he is a warlock, regardless of the different kinds of pacts in D&D, they may be viewed with a healthy dose of suspicion. Barbarians, tribesmen, savages and such are likely to be viewed as uncouth and uncivilized by pretty much everyone in a city environment so aren't likely to get much out of people except snide remarks. Also, if the game system has something like appearance or charisma, play it up. If a character with a low social score starts talking to someone have the NPC seem obviously uncomfortable or uninterested.

Remember, there is no fun in being untouchable, so make your players decidedly uncomfortable in situations and bring in some repercussions for failing.