thread: 2006-03-08 : Between-session Activity
On 2006-03-08, ffilz wrote:
I think there are non-GMs who enjoy between session activity, but I also think that a lot of them are making up for unsatisfactory play (the common "make up characters between sessions" bit).
Various forms of writing up the session are productive between session activities that non-GMs can participate in. But I wouldn't ever make a game design dependent on that.
And I guess I see your point. Building such activity into the design is flawed. If you can't manage your character updates in a reasonable amount of time at the beginning or end of a game session, your design is going to fail for a lot of people.
Character generation is a tricky one. It isn't really play, and certainly benefits from being done as a group (in session), but it can also be a pain when a new character is needed in the middle of the game. It can also be a pain if it takes too long (we've just spent two sessions on chargen for Burning Wheel, and we're still not 100% done, we're like 95% done). My Dogs play experience was tarnished somewhat by the need to do chargen for a new player.
Thinking about that, it seems that between session thought activity is almost required for most games I've played. Is that reasonable to expect that players come to the table having thought about the game, or at least having thought activity that might play into the game (here I'm thinking, for example, that reading a book or seeing a movie feeds the imagination and is valuable to the play experience - even if one doesn't think of the book or movie in game terms at all)?
Frank
