In a convention game, time is limited. How do I help each player have a chance to be in the spotlight?
John Barth explained that everyone is the hero of their own story. Your players want their character to be a hero too. You can make that happen by giving their character the spotlight. Not only do they need a chance to be the center of attention, but they also need to shine while there. The narrative needs to provide them and their character the chance to be the driving force of one part of the story. Below is a list of 20 ways to put your player characters in the spotlight.
- An NPC calls their name
As the characters go about their everyday actions in the town, one of them hears their name called by an NPC. It might be someone they know or it might be a stranger. Either way, the NPC needs the character to do something or to say something.
- Focus on the game lore that a player knows
If you have a player who is already familiar with the game and its setting, you can learn about their level of familiarity during your game opening. Later in the game, if you get to a place that the player knows, you can ask the player to share their knowledge. By sharing their knowledge as a description of a place or people, they are introducing information to all the characters, and the fact that their character knows it will no longer be considered metagaming. Additionally, for a brief period, the player gets to be the expert which is a great spotlight for them as well.
Of course, giving the reins of your game over to a stranger can sometimes be perilous. Their vision of the world might differ from yours. Their description might be wrong altogether. However, all is not lost. One way to approach those discrepancies is by using an “it appeared that . . .” sentence. For example, you might say, “At first glance, it appeared that all of the town guards wore the White Stag insignia. However, as you get a closer look, you see they are wearing the insignia of the Blue Boar.” This allows you to save a little face for the player. To top it off, you might even add some intrigue by saying: “Your character might wonder why the insignia changed.”
- Ask them a question about their character
As the party enters a scene, describe it to them. Then ask how an individual with their particular background would respond to such a place. It could be a positive reaction or a negative one. That is up to the player. Either way, it shines the spotlight on them. It might also provide information that you can use later in the game.
- Foreshadow a future scene using a physical object representing a person in their background
As you read or write a character’s background, take notes of major NPCs. Not just their names, but also a few characteristics or items that might be tied to that NPC. Then during the game, you can bring up that object and point out that the character knows of it. This then gives you an opportunity to interact with that player about how their character responds to the presence of this object, which obviously belongs to someone they know.
- Trigger a character’s fear or hatred
Many characters have fears or hatreds. It’s time to use those in your game. It doesn’t have to be a major scene, rather you can just have their hated thing enter into the scene. Now give them a chance to interact or to react with that hatred. You can do the same thing with their fears.
- An NPC admires their skill
A common way that I have given players the spotlight in the past is to give them a chance to use a favorite skill during an encounter. This suggestion takes that idea a step further. As the character is performing their skill check, you can have NPCs enter the scene. As players succeed or fail in their skill rolls, the NPCs will begin to make comments about what they are seeing. Give the players a chance to respond to the positive or negative evaluations coming from the audience.
- Separate them from the party
Much has been said about not splitting the party in role-playing games but you may want to do it on purpose. Powered by the Apocalypse games use this trick as one of the GM Moves. In other games, you might use it when a player rolls poorly. Either way, you separate one character from the others. Once again, you will want to keep this brief because you don’t want a side quest to derail your con game. However, this is a good way to spotlight a character as they make decisions that will help them get back to their party.
- An NPC highlights a character arc change
If your pre-generated characters have goals, then you can reward the players as they seek to achieve those goals. Just have a familiar NPC enter the scene and make a comment on how they’ve noticed that the player has changed or that their behavior has changed.
- Call back to something they did earlier in the game
If a player had a particularly good success at an action (or a particularly miserable failure), you may want to have a later scene that is reminiscent of that one. Then you can hearken back to the original experience and let them bask in the light of what happened earlier.
- Give them a title
As characters do memorable things in the presence of NPCs, you can turn the description of those actions into titles for their characters. For example, if you have a character attempting to escape a bar of angry patrons and they throw a tray of drinks to slow down their attacker, it might be time for a title. The next time the character enters a tavern in that town, you might have a patron refer to the character as “mug flinger.” This can be used as an affectionate term one of derision.
- An NPC focuses on their dress or speech
Your player characters enter a store. The proprietor, hoping to make a sale, notices the way that the player dresses or speaks and then begins to ask questions in hopes of making the character more comfortable in the store. Sure, the shop owner is trying to make a sale, but you have just created a scene about that character. Alternatively, perhaps their style of clothing indicates the character’s background, and shop keeper has some history with that group. Other people who might make such observations are ship captains, innkeepers, market sellers, and just about anyone who wants to make some money from them.
- Send them after a MacGuffin
We’re not talking about a mini-quest here. Instead, you could just be sending them to the next room to pick up an item and bring it back. The player can then show how their character reacts to being made an errand-runner.
- Call on them in turn
This is not a flashy tip but it will help you to make sure that every player gets a chance to be in the spotlight. After you describe a new location, go around the table and ask each player what it is that their character is going to do. Then give them a chance to interact with something in the room. It is a common tip but it is very effective.
- Name some object or place after them
This tip makes me think of Jaynestown from the television show Firefly. An entire town has begun to hero-worship one of the characters and even erect a statue in his honor. You do not need to go that far. Instead, a local innkeeper could name one of their food specials after a character. Alternatively, one of the smaller parts of town (where a character often frequents) might be given a nickname by some of the NPCs who interact with that character.
- Break something of theirs but provide a way to fix it
This tip is not talking about breaking an important or sentimental item that the character may have (although I guess that is also a possibility). Rather this tip suggests that you have some of their mundane equipment breaks but that there is a place in the nearby town where it can be fixed. Alternatively, If your character has some crafting skills, you might give them an opportunity to repair their own equipment.
- Introduce an unexpected but powerful ally
This tip combines a couple of earlier tips: have an NPC call the character’s name and have an NPC comment on a character’s skill. Now have both of those things done by a powerful stranger, who has an interest in the character’s skills. Perhaps they have a job for the character to do. This is a good opportunity for a little role-play between the character and the NPC. This could provide an opportunity for a social encounter and maybe a skill check.
- Tell them that a new location looks familiar (they have been there before)
When your party enters a room in a dungeon or an ancient place, explain to one character that the place looks familiar and that they feel like have been there before. This might tie into their background and then you can have them explain why.
Another option is to say the same thing but in a place that seems unlikely that they have been to before. It will definitely add a level of intrigue. They might ask you when their character been there and you could respond that it’s just a feeling. The character does not remember when it was that they had been there. This is a short spotlight but it allows other players to recognize that this character has a little more depth than what they might be seeing on the outside.
- Ask them to describe an object in a scene
Players can be given a chance to describe things that show up in the game. These might be mundane things like meals or drinks at a tavern. They may also be given a chance to describe what a mural in a castle looks like, especially when the castle is owned by people with the same background as the character. This will help them to have a chance to explain a little bit more of their background and to feel more connected to the game lore.
- Force a split-second decision
A common question asked by GMs is “What do you want to do?” In this scenario, give the player two choices and then start a twenty-second timer. The player has until the end of the timer to make a decision or something negative will happen.
- Make something mentioned in their background available for trade
Remember that a list of objects and people you created from a character’s background? Have that item show up for sale at the market that the characters are walking through. That should provide for an interesting investigation.
Conclusion
Players want their characters to have the spotlight occasionally but roleplaying games are a team activity. Still, you can give them that spotlight by pulling in a piece of their background or utilizing a skill that they excel at. The spotlight can be positive or negative, but in either case the player will have a chance to be the most important person in the game even if only for a few minutes.
