Advice on GM Style for One-on-One Dialog

[Neith]

First of all, a question on pronunciation from a previous thread that never got answered: is it "genlock" as the 'g' in "again", or as in "gem"?

Now for my actual question. This will include pretty significant SPOILERS to any players of the Quickstart Guide adventure, "An Arl's Ransom" so turn away now if you intend on playing it.

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I'm planning on running the adventure next weekend for a group of players who are new to PnP gaming. I myself and am also somewhat new, and while I was preparing I started thinking about how best to present the scene where Alenka attempts to persuade the less moral members of the party to join her in the ransom plot. I began to entertain the idea of perhaps actually splitting up the players, maybe taking each one of them aside or into another room and RPing the exchange between their PC and Alenka.

I'd like some feedback from other GMs on this. Is that a good idea? I think it would add a new, fun, and different level of gameplay (since the players are all new anyway and by that point in the adventure they will have gotten used to just sitting down at the kitchen table and playing). It would test their OOC vs in-character roleplaying, and to see how they would handle the situation. But maybe I'm wrong? I suppose it would also test the same should they all be present during the "secret" dialog between each of their characters and Alenka. Another method I thought of was staying at the table and maybe passing notes to the players. I just don't have the experience to know how to properly handle the situation.

How did some of you handle that scene when you ran the adventure, or how would you go about a similar sort of secret-communication type situation?

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I'm really looking forward to finally getting to play this game!

[Crazydwarf]

I think its a hard G as in gem.
But I'm Swedish so I may be wrong, I can't really recall anyone reffering to the subspecies of Darkspawn in the CRPG, only the in Codexes.

On the topic of secrecy:
Keeping players out of the loop as their PC's are kept out of the loop seems like a good idea at first.
It means they cannot metagame, and suprises are suprising to the players and their PC's both.

However having used this technique for years, I have observed it has a severe drawback.
Time not spent with the GM quickly gets boring, the last player to get some GM time will be really bored, and so will the first player, while he waits for everyone else to finish up after him.
This can easely snowball aswell when the players start keeping secrets from eachother, soon they will be spend more time waiting for the GM than acctually playing.

If you choose to employ this tactic, do so sparingly and with care, make sure there is something for the waiting players to do that is atleast somewhat connected with the game, if they start playing nintendo or read comics they might loose focus and mood.

Passing notes works better, but it will alert the players that something is going on with the reciving players PC.

[Ghostdanser]

Crazydwarf is giving you some pretty good advice...I'll add in my two cents (which with the current value of the US Dollar probably means something in the negative change range).

Generally speaking, splitting up a party for individual scenes isn't a good idea and should be avoided when possible. Idle players are bored players. That said...it's necessary on occassion to have split scenes...so the best way to handle them depends on what you are trying to accomplish.

Notes work well if the information isn't complicated and can easily be written down without taking too much time. My rule of thumb on this is...if it would take you longer to write the note that conveys the message, than it would take to pull the player aside, then pull the player aside. It takes time to write notes, the longer it takes to write the note, the more likely you are to lose your focus on the scene.

Pulling people aside is okay for short conversations...key word SHORT. Try not to pull a player aside for longer than 5 minutes...say 10 minutes max. You need to keep the other players from getting bored and you don't want the players to feel like you are playing favorites by focusing too much on one character.

One trick I learned over the years is to try to pace the game so that I have one-on-one scenes ready to occur at the end of a session...so I can keep one player late for a bit...catch another one or two between game sessions to handle their characters...and have a player show up early to handle their scene. You don't want to inconvenience the players, but if you aren't messing up their schedules you can get the majority of the one-on-ones completed before the start of the new session.

The only way to get the correct balance that works for you is to just dive in and do it. My first few game sessions were disasters, and lord knows I have made just about every mistake possible in my 30 years of gaming. But I try never to make the same mistake twice...everyone has to develop their own style...and my style seems to be 'screw it up to learn what not to do.'

[Crazydwarf]

A good thing about notes though is that you may be able to prepare them in advance.
Having entire conversations going back and fourth the PC and NPC by note and you might aswell take the player aside instead.

One trick I learned over the years is to try to pace the game so that I have one-on-one scenes ready to occur at the end of a session...so I can keep one player late for a bit...catch another one or two between game sessions to handle their characters...and have a player show up early to handle their scene. You don't want to inconvenience the players, but if you aren't messing up their schedules you can get the majority of the one-on-ones completed before the start of the new session.

That's pertty clever, and in this wonderous time of technology there is e-mail and texting and chatrooms etc.
We had none of that when I was a kid, we had to walk uphill in the snow to talk to our GM's *grumble grumble*
Nowadays when we play we just keep it wide open, and just assume all players will act accordingly to their PC's knowledge.

[Ghostdanser]

That's pertty clever, and in this wonderous time of technology there is e-mail and texting and chatrooms etc.
We had none of that when I was a kid, we had to walk uphill in the snow to talk to our GM's *grumble grumble*
Nowadays when we play we just keep it wide open, and just assume all players will act accordingly to their PC's knowledge.

You and me both...I think it was a about a year or so after I started pnp gaming that I got my first computer...a brand spankin' new Commodore VIC-20 (20 for the whopping 20k of RAM). As for walking uphill in the snow...you left out the part where it was barefoot and uphill both ways...at least that's what I've heard. My first AD&D game was on Okinawa, not alot of snow...but we did have five typhoons that year, if memory serves me correctly...so wading through knee deep water in hurricane winds uphill both ways IS a possibility for me.

[shonuff]

First of all, a question on pronunciation from a previous thread that never got answered: is it "genlock" as the 'g' in "again", or as in "gem"?

I've seen and heard both, and iirc in-game. But I may be mistaken.

As for one-on-one dialog, I've always found it OK, especially with larger groups. Secrets from each other can keep the game more interesting for everyone (emphasis on "can"). Larger groups can proceed to plan and entertain each other without whoever is getting the DM conversation.

Depends on the group, though.

[Elfie]

I actually do a mix of several different methods depending on the situation.

• Passing Notes - I very frequently print out notes ahead of time for things that are only going to be discovered by one or two people based on an ability test. They can reveal this information to the group or not as they see fit. If the note requires a response, I never expect it to be more than one or two words. One thing I've learned to be careful about with notes is that very often, the player chooses to keep this information to themself. Don't use note passing for plot-critical information. Just tell them in front of everyone. Even if the character never reveals the information, at least the players have gotten to enjoy that part of the story.
• Via Email - This is probably the second most frequent method I make use of. This is for in-depth one-on-one conversations with NPCs or major events that happen out of sight of other characters. Particularly if those conversations or events are of a private nature.
• At the table in front of everyone - If someone wants to go do something private in the middle of a session, it happens in front of the other players. All my players are pretty good at separating what they know from what their character knows. There's a rare time when a player will be like "I wanna go have a conversation with XYZ NPC, but can we handle it later via email?" Unless I think the outcome of that conversation will dramatically affect the rest of the session, I'm always happy to let them do that.
• Stepping away from the table for a private conversation - I have only done this ONE time and it was because a guest player had some questions about the NPC I gave her to control. I never do this with my main group, because as other people said, it leaves the rest of the players with nothing to do.

When I ran the Arl's Ransom adventure and Alenka approached some of the PCs with her offer, I did it in front of everyone. People were perfectly fine with knowing things their characters didn't know. A huge benefit is that when she moved on to her second target, the player had already heard the sales pitch and had therefore had a few minutes to think of the best way to play her character's response.