Last year, during the 2016 Election, I began developing plans for a play-by-post US Senate political simulation. My goal was to create a political scenario that would be educational and fun, the focus would be on agricultural and trade policy issues with an emphasis on basic Senate procedures and tactics.

I'll admit this was perhaps not the most exciting pitch. I had about 12 people who expressed interest, but signs were I only had 6 people ready to play. That wasn't enough people to make it work so I tabled the idea and considered ways I could repackage the idea to make it more appealing. This is something I've learned the hard way over the years - if a pitch isn't generating the necessary amount of energy and interest, then drop it. Many GMs mistakenly push their 'dream game' on reluctant players and it never ends well. Try to figure out why your excitement for the idea isn't being picked up by your players. Figure out the problem and make adjustments to your pitch.

Now I knew the main problems with my idea. First, the 2016 Election was making everyone edgy. Second, the basic pitch sounded boring, I mean really boring, who is truly excited about US Senate procedure? If I wanted something removed from US politics and dynamic I could do a scenario based on a country with a parliament that shares legislative and executive functions, like the United Kingdom. The problem is that the ultimate reason for this game was to help teach people how the US federal government truly operates, plus briefing players on foreign parliamentary procedure and political parties would be too much of an information overload.

Then I pitched a new scenario - the US Government in 2066! Get rid of the Democratic and Republican Parties while shifting contemporary issues to something more sci-fi. This would provide distance from real world politics and let things be more imaginative for the players, who I would work with in creating the United States of 2066. If there was enough interest I could expand the game to include part of the Executive Branch and the House of Representatives. There was a lot more interest in this idea, now I had about 20 actual players who were excited about the scenario.

These types of scenarios can take months to design and I have learned to make sure there is interest before you put in the time. Now I had interest so I started casually working on it with the intention of launching in December or January.

Then Donald Trump was elected President. At first the players were excited about how this could be used to give the game a more dystopian twist for 2066, but within a few weeks the interest of the players had plummeted. Real worlds concerns about the Trump Administration sapped any enthusiasm they had for the scenario. I had a few players privately express to me they had real doubts the United States would still exist in 2066. I rechecked with my players to assess current interest levels and it was even worse than my original pitch, I only had 2 players who were still enthused about the idea. Therefore, I tabled the scenario and all signs are this idea is dead for the foreseeable future.

Sometimes real world factors are going to impact your game; don't fight this, just accept where you and your players are emotionally and mentally. You shouldn't be judging or trying to convince your players that their reaction is invalid, just accept it, even if that means you have to drop an idea, session, or an entire campaign. A necessity for being an effective GM is to create a safe environment, an emotionally safe place where your players are comfortable enough to roleplay and take chances.

I've been GMing for over 25 years and have found that most of the real world factors that disrupt games are personal, i.e., when someone is dealing with a issue that they bring into the game. That's not what today's article is about; I'm talking here about the big events that affect everyone at the table. I would imagine nearly every GM who ran a game within a month of September 11th found that game to be particularly jarring. I was running both D&D and Star Wars campaigns at the time and the PCs were engaged in brutal plundering or guerrilla campaigns. I cancelled the closest sessions but when we resumed these were very uncomfortable sessions a few weeks after September 11th. This is perhaps unavoidable as most RPGs are violent and cinematic, meaning we gloss over reality for a 'better' narrative form. When real world events force players out of their bubble it makes them to look a little too clearly at what they are doing in their tabletop games.

So what should GMs do when something big in the real world is impacting what happens at the table?

You might need to make adjustments to your game. Sometimes you will need to cancel a session or change an adventure depending upon the situation. One of my sources for adventure ideas is the news. I will take current news and twist them around for my adventure. I remember once using a forming hurricane as an inspiration to a superhero adventure, then that real hurricane made landfall and people died. I shelved that adventure idea, using it eventually well after hurricane season was over. It was just not appropriate at that time.

There will be times when your players need to talk; this may be true with personal or big events. I have found that jumping into an adventure with players who are preoccupied will mean they will be distracted throughout, while spending 20-40 minutes talking beforehand will get it out of their systems and allow them to focus on the game at hand.

At the end of the day, your players are at the least your guests and more likely your friends. Even if you are really cynical if your players are focused then your game will be better. Be aware of big events and how they might be affecting your group, don't be dismissive of these sentiments even if you don't share them. GMs are leaders and that means you have to concerned about the mental state of your group, if nothing else then to make your games run more smoothly.

That's good enough for this month.