It would be rude to say that I expect anything from the players in my Marvel Heroic RPG campaign. Running this game is a dream of mine, for as large and as wide-ranging a story as I can conduct, and it’s my great pleasure and honor that anyone would give their time and effort to tell it with me. That there’s anybody willing to go along with this leaves me in their debt. And the players in the campaign so far have been polite, giving, and able (for the most part, save for those who flaked out without warning or explanation -- the bane of these online games but unavoidable, I suppose), and I appreciate the good behavior. Though if I could be allowed my wish(es) for certain behaviors, and if it’s all the same to the players (who don’t have to be encouraged any certain way), there are things I would request:
Taking a turn on time is already an obligation. I’ve stated clearly that turns must be taken within 48 hours, and that is less from my impatience and more to keep the game going and make it fair to everyone playing. No one should be expected to sit around waiting for the next person to get it together and post. I don’t expect turns to be taken right away, since sometimes that’s even faster than I can keep up with, but within a couple days seems fair. If you can’t keep up with that then we need to have a conversation. Patience has a limit. That said, if it really was necessary for someone to take longer, and they are still committed to the game, we could work something out. (And this is often not an issue, since usually if someone takes longer than a few days to make a post they’ve usually flaked out. Though there have been plenty of times when I’ve only been able to come on to RPOL once a week, so I have plenty of forgiveness, as long as the player in question is still in there somewhere and willing to move before much longer.)
Active players are the greatest contribution to a game. Passive players irk me. Not quite infuriating, but they also probably don’t realize how difficult they’re being in being so non-active. Making any post can be positive, and the game should be open enough that anyone can do what they like, but posting just to post with nothing to contribute is frustrating. Many players are passive -- reacting to what happens to them instead of taking part in adding something -- and even just a few active players can make a difference. But a post consisting of interior dialogue and no action -- “Captain Marvel silently clenches her fists and quietly thinks, I wish I would do something, and stands there instead” -- adds nothing to the scene, enough that it just becomes noise, an obligatory post just to say it's a post. It could be better just to leave it blank and not take up the space since nothing is happening anyway. This does not mean that every action has to have a dice pool -- there are plenty of actions that don’t necessitate rolling dice that can be effective. Any post with a hero doing something can be them actually doing something. It’s just that a post where absolutely nothing happens is a waste. It takes the same energy to contribute an action or at least some dialogue that can move the story along, at the very least from the personal level of that individual hero. Internal dialogue could just as easily be external dialogue expressed aloud (since the players have access to the post, the characters could as well). The minimal character quirks this reveals could pay great dividends through action or, better yet, interaction. Superheroes don’t sit around thinking about things -- they jump in and take action. There is no reason in the world why Wolverine would try to leave a scene when there’s a scrap going on. More often than not, it’s a qualification for a superhero to throw caution to the wind and leap in with both feet. It’s one of the funnest things about superheroes. It ought to be here as well.
Often, players may explain what is going on with their characters, but those characters never express that in the story so that the others characters are privy to what they’re thinking. The story isn’t a conversation with the Watcher -- it’s a shared conversation with everyone else. Also it becomes telling, not showing, one of the most primitive and deadly poisons in writing. Consider this guideline: take the internal monologue and make it external. If it doesn’t sound right, modify it so it can be part of a dialogue. The information can be just as useful, and the way it’s conveyed can be a part of interaction, as well as an expression of the character.
Along those same lines, more dialogue always helps. This is a contribution that moves the story along, similar in weight to action. In researching improv groups, I’ve found the “Yes, And...” function that is their lifeblood. According to https://www.thoughtco.com/yes-and-improv-game-2713213, “the game ‘Yes, And’ forces actors to avoid rejecting other cast members' ideas, and, instead, to find a way to go with the flow. … In an improv situation, actors are required to accept their fellow actors' ideas and build on them.” Each player can acknowledge and accept what has just happened and encourage the next player to continue with it and add their own. It’s the same process in this game, that we take what has happened and next each hero adds to it. If each player is only concerned with what they’re posting, or, even worse, solely introspection, the scene slows if not grinds to a halt. No need to wait for the Watcher to throw in the next threat to roll dice against. It’s not likely I will reject anything a player suggests or throws in (as of this writing, in this campaign I still haven’t). If it’s a problem then I/we can write around it, but even a derailment could lead to some interesting places. At the very least, the hero can at least react to what has just happened, instead of drawing inward and thinking about what they think about it. Just stating dialogue can be an action, and it can draw out participation, information, or character development, from themselves and from the other characters, as well as add color to the story, reveal something about the hero speaking, and give the next hero an opening and encouragement to add their own note to the Scene. Character interaction can be the most exciting thing in a role-playing game and it is often lost with insular players (who may function better IRL, but here they can do anything so you might think they would be a little bolder). Admittedly, hero-to-hero interaction can be lost playing online, when not sitting around a table like a traditional game, but it’s still possible, no matter how challenging (and may even provide more opportunities for action). Again, it’s just as easy to post a spoken word than it is to leave the quotation marks from it. (As Watcher, I often work around this by letting NPCs act as if they’re reading the players’ thoughts.)
Paying attention to what is going on is often an assumption but it’s not always what anyone is doing. Again, with passive players (who are also usually just being lazy), often just check in to see what is going on with their character and they react -- usually a dice pool if they can get away with something so mechanical -- and assume that’s their obligation. Of course a lot of the nuance and story details are lost when they don’t bother with the bigger picture so story details aren’t followed, which drags the game down. I can’t make everyone follow what’s going on, but it’s my hope that they’re interested enough in the greater story and not just their character that they’d want to keep up. As for not reading what is going on with anyone else because you don’t want your hero to be privy to story details they shouldn't know -- trust me, you, as a player, and as an extension to you, your hero, will not have access to that information, purposely if necessary. What you know and don’t know is carefully calculated. If there’s a question over what the player knows vs. what a hero knows (i.e., stuff from the comics), contact me.
Helping create a conflict, even with another hero, always helps. It’s a given that every hero wants to take down the villains, but even riling another hero can create some internal conflict that could lead to a great scene, even in the sub-plots. Not everyone gets along, IRL or in a story, and all heroes aren’t best friends. A minor disagreement could lead to an argument, which could lead to a rich interpersonal relationship that could be much more interesting than everyone getting along. Since very few players know each other personally here (if any), there tends to be an over-sensitivity to not step on toes or run afoul of other players, even though the opposite could more easily be true, since no one knows each other and can handle consequences as they wish. But players are often demure in telling anyone what to do, or for making even minor assumptions about another hero, which means there’s a lot of standing around waiting for someone to punch back. It’s not often so much that no one wants to follow directions, it’s often that there aren’t directions given. (Though I would certainly beware of following the will of NPCs. Non-player characters are there to help the Watcher keep his plans on track, which usually means trouble for the heroes.) There’s no reason that heroes can’t give orders or that other heroes will follow them (or refuse to). It’s part of interaction, and in a story with a team, someone needs to give direction and others need to take it (or not; or even two leaders, which could lead to its own tangent). This is a game environment where no one knows each other -- no one can take it personally if a player is a little forward in making demands of another. It’s a story we’re writing together, and mostly anonymously. Worse-case scenario, we dial it back. But that’s a worthy risk for creating some sparks between heroes (which can also lead to some rich conflict). (And much of the same could be said if there was a romantic relationship that happened between heroes. Really, these could be like any interpersonal relationships that any people have.)
Along those lines, frequent questions in posts can help. This could be the hero asking a question directly, either to another hero or an NPC, eliciting an answer and continuing an interaction. This could be the rare time an inner monologue could have some use, even if it’s But what does it all mean? (though anything said before that can probably be discarded). A question can infer that the player understands what’s going on, and even if it’s a rhetorical question, could be a sign for the Watcher that the player can see the path they’re on since they’re considering the next step after knowing where they are or have been. Or just the opposite, that the player is actually in the dark about what is going on, and they’re expressing that in a question that can draw out information for everyone. The Watcher can also frequently ask questions, to give the players a challenge to provide an answer (even if it’s just to keep things rolling).
To sum up, you could even use a check-list for including elements in your post that would greatly help out the Watcher and the story/game. You could help by including at least one of these in every post:
* Speak, to someone else. An internal monologue doesn’t push anything forward.
* A question. Even if you’re encapsulating something you’re not clear on or a direction for where you’d like to go. Something that could also have an answer in the form of a reaction.
* A prompt for another player. Even if it’s just noticing something about another hero. Your mantra: “Yes. And?”
* Keep it in present-tense (“Captain Marvel stands there uselessly”). I usually write in present-tense and it all flows better when the posts do the same. This might just be a Watcher-pet-peeve, but it’s a time when I will pull rank to firmly request it.
* Stephen King will tell you to cut out adverbs. I don’t agree, but I’d love to discuss this (even better it somehow gets into the narration of the game).
* More exclamation marks! This is a superhero story! Every sentence should end with an exclamation mark! And action to earn it! (Read the ‘80s Secret Wars for an example.)
