Meguey Baker, you said
“make the character’s lives interesting to you“
a few hours ago and I have a question.
Does this +Be a fan of the characters mean that in a not so small way, the players are there to entertain me as the MC? My job is to get them to do things that are interesting to me?
That is the 180° on “GM is responsible that everyone else has fun”. I wonder if this can get too railroady if seen to an extreme.
I think what you mean is “make the characters life interesting for everybody at the table including you”. That means that I need to get the Chopper into situations the Maestro’D’s player will find interesting and the other way around.
#overthinking
yeah I think you are #overthinking i do not see this being 180 from GM is responsible that everyone else has fun to me they seem to be operating on different axes.
WITH THE GINORMOUS FUCKING CAVEAT HERE:
THAT YOU HAVE A REAL CONVERSATION ABOUT WHAT THE FUCK YOU ARE ALL GOING TO BE DOING TOGETHER.
If one of you wants wish fulfillment fantasy, another wants grotty human horror, another wants cinematic set pieces that would make George Miller proud then you are not going to have success with these two impetuses. Hell you may need to look at playing several different games to better serve those expectations
But If you do have that conversation and from that reach consensus. Then “The GM is responsible that everyone else has fun” and “Make the characters lives interesting to you” would largely run in parallell.
“GM is responsible that everyone else has fun” isn’t in the book.
Nor is the GM responsible for pandering to the players fantasy wish fulfilment.
I wouldn’t say it’s the players job to entertain the MC, but it is the MC’s job to look at everything and everyone and think “what is interesting here and how do I want to build on that?” and that won’t always be the obvious thing to the players, or what they would choose if that was their job.
The MC is (or should be) responsible for balancing “interesting” with “fun”. I regularly have one player who’s idea of fun is to play the MC or the other players. Naturally everyone else takes exception to this. I didn’t like the way Burning Wheel allowed players to gang up and bully other players with the explicit sanction of the rules. In my mind the MC must have the agency to be able to stop things like that.
I am entertained when the players come up with a novel solution or some interesting in character byplay.
I think being a fan of the characters means be enthusiastic about the role of the characters in the game. Get them all involved and into cool situations a fan of the characters would like to see them dealing with. Don’t try to be strictly neutral or impartial, because that’s impossible in an RPG because you set up or interpret every situation the characters get into.