DM Guidelines VI

From a DM email to players. Something all DMs would do well to consider and communicate to their groups.

There are peculiarities that can arise because of the way we post. I, as the DM, kick things off with the DM post, then you guys respond. Generally, I assume that events transpire in the order you responded. However, I think you've probably noticed that I will take dramatic license, and sometimes move a particular action up or down in the order if I think it will build the drama of the DM post.

More than that, though, the order of posting can sometimes affect how "the group" makes decisions. To use a completely frivolous example, suppose you are asked, as a group, if you want ice cream or sponge cake for dessert. The first person who posts says, "oh, ice cream of course." The second person agrees, and begins talking about flavors of ice cream. The third and fourth person start describing how they eat the ice cream when it arrives, and by the time the poor seventh person gets to post, the decision is all but made.

This will happen, at some point, in our game.

You also get the opposite extreme. The first person to post, aware that he's the first, doesn't want to commit the entire group, so he posts "oh, they're both nice." The second person agrees; the third and fourth person talk about the decorations on the room. By the time the seventh person gets to post, he's afraid to commit because everybody else has been so nice, and the DM is left wondering why a simple freakin' question is now going to take two days' worth of posting to resolve.

This, too, will happen in our game.

Both are inevitable results of the posting structure, and--to an extent--it simply cannot be helped. There are some things we can all do to help head them off.

First, I as the DM shouldn't ask "the group" for a group decision too often. And I try not to. To return to the frivolous example above, I could just as easily make it a per-person choice of dessert rather than the entire group. From time to time, though, I do need to know what you're going to do next.

If the first example seems to be happening to you, understand that it is never too late. Your character can jump in with "hang on, now; let's not rule out the sponge cake so quickly!" And people who have posted that they are already eating ice cream may have to backtrack a little. :) It is also useful to understand that, no matter how frustrated you may feel that the decision seems made already, nobody is cutting you out of the loop on purpose. It is caused by how we post, and by people getting carried away with their enthusiasm. The last person to post does get to have input, and that input does have to be considered. It's only fair.

On the other hand, if the "no decision" version seems to be happening, don't be afraid to be the first one to express an opinion. After all, those who already posted may not have any strong feelings one way or the other, or they may feel that their character really wouldn't care about the answer.

Bottom line: if your opinion has been asked for, it's okay to respond with it--whether yours is the first post of the day, or the last, or somewhere in between.

Kathy Ice