The Horror
In the interest of learning something from my failures, I think it's worth examining where my action horror sessions have gone horribly awry. Take a deep breath…
Too Many Players: I've learned that six players is too many. Five is even tough, especially when they split up. It's difficult for me to keep them all engaged, especially if I'm dealing with a freeform scenario where I'm not sure I can get everyone back in the action quickly. Sometimes I pull it off, but a lot of times I don't and one player waits for something interesting to happen to him. Oddly, this seems to happen to Caprice the most, who is fond of going off on his own. There's no easy way around this one. When the fit hits the shan, I try to have the action force them back together, but that doesn't always work. I'm happy just to have players, so hopefully they'll be patient with me.
Crappy Props: Like every Keeper, I love props. But sometimes I'm a victim of my own creativity. I've created audio props that were inaudible, so now I'm sure to provide transcripts so the players can read along. I've created written treatises that were too long, so now I just provide summaries. And sometimes I just need to admit that props are unnecessary.
Bored Players: It's easy to keep action heroes busy and easy to know when they're not. They're happiest when they're shooting or punching things and twiddling their thumbs in the mean time. But for the arcane guy who deals with musty tomes, the element of the supernatural is a big help. And for the computer hackers, no access to a computer tends to make them useless. Mind you, they still have some utility, but once every couple of sessions Archive or Guppy has nothing to do and it shows in the doodles on their character sheets. I try to provide a hook for each character to glom onto, but that's not always possible.
Too Much Stick, Not Enough Carrot: Especially in Cthulhu scenarios, fighting the big bad monster is not really an option. There are ways to defeat it, but they are almost always plot-device actions, not die rolling. As a result, it's important that the Keeper make it clear as to how the players can be successful. If not, they tend to give up, or get stuck in a rut doing the same thing over and over. If I need to metagame by telling the players they should do something, I failed to provide sufficient in-game clues. That's why Call of Cthulhu has Idea rolls.
Overwhelming Odds: Sometimes, players like to win. That's why mooks are a good idea, because it strokes the egos of players who just want to beat stuff up. I throw in the occasional terrorist or cultist to keep the players motivated and let them feel like they are actually badasses. Because, though they're infinitesimally small specks compared to Cthulhu, those little specks have egos too.
Fuzzy Resources: Agents have a lot of resources, limited at times by only the player's imagination. Particularly creative players or those who are familiar with psychological tactics can do a lot (just read the Anarchist's Cookbook for ideas). But sometimes, my players aren't clear on what to do or what resources they have available, because they're just not that familiar with government agencies. The Wealth check roll in d20 Modern is a simple analogue for requesting things, but even then the players can be overwhelmed by the sheer diversity of what they can ask for. I try to spell it out for them, but on at least two occasions they discussed what equipment they would need to defeat a particular foe, and then FORGOT TO ACTUALLY ASK FOR IT.
Bending Reality 'til it Breaks: Especially when it comes to messing with time and space, my players can get aggravated quickly. In one particular scenario that played fast and furious with the timeline and parallel dimensions, Jeremy threw up his hands and decided nothing mattered anymore. There's a real danger that the players will start to think their characters are hallucinating or insane if things get too freaky. Since then I've tried to only tweak reality rather than snap it in half – Hammer sending himself a package from the future seemed to be the right way to go about it.
Relying on Miniatures Too Much: I've drawn maps and plotted out miniatures for the characters to use, only to discover that they're fighting in open terrain. Nobody cares how many squares they've moved. If they're at close range (and most combats are at close range because it's an ambush) then the details can easily be handwaved. Sometimes, miniatures just slow things down. On the other hand…
Not Using Miniatures Enough: On more than one occasion the players couldn't get a handle on where things were in a room and it required me drawing out a map. I've since become paranoid about this issue and insist on having a map of every room where I think conflict might happen. In the heat of a firefight, anything could be used as a weapon or a shield, and it just slows things down if I need to make something up. This is where miniatures are a lifesaver.
Although there are some factors that are out of my control (inconsistent player attendance is a constant source of frustration), I'll keep striving to find the perfect mix of props, plot devices, and role-playing so we can have a game that rivals the Convergence scenario.
Lesson Learned: Everybody has bad games. The way to make them better is to learn from your mistakes.
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