I was thinking about the scale of player cautiousness today. On one end, you have players who check every door for traps, and plan endlessly for every known mission or encounter. On the other end, you have players who either think they're invincible, or at least, their characters believe this. They never plan, never check. "Enemy there. We go now. Bash." In general, either end of the spectrum is injurious to good gameplay.
Players who are overly cautions can bog the game down in inaction. They can also slow the momentum of story to a point where the story loses all of its emotional force, which is essentially to say that there is no story. For what is story without emotional force, but a meaningless formula?
Players who are overly gung-ho make the game less interesting. They live and die by a hasty sword (often the latter if the GM is being fair). They don't take time for creative solutions, or to think through a problem from different angles. If they're stuck, they often simply wait for the GM to proffer "the" solution.
So, how should the good GM handle these challenges?
For the cautious players, you can add in time-senstive factors. I've often half-shouted, "You don't have time to hash this out! That bomb is about to blow! What do you do?" Plus, making players think on their feet gives the game a sense of immediacy and immersion that is not there if players are allowed to mull over things more intellectually (which sometimes, I admit, has its place in RPG, but not all the time). You can also provide harsh consequences for when players do dawdle too long.
For the players too brash, I suggest creating encounters that punish this behavior. This had been my problem recently, when I took the group through a trap-ridden encounter. At the beginning of the session, they were blundering full-steam into every trap. By the end, they had almost become the over-cautious group. It was a gradual transition, and a fascinating one to witness. I think that one session made a big difference in player forethought for our group. Or maybe I give myself too much credit. It won't be the first time.
Players who are overly cautions can bog the game down in inaction. They can also slow the momentum of story to a point where the story loses all of its emotional force, which is essentially to say that there is no story. For what is story without emotional force, but a meaningless formula?
Players who are overly gung-ho make the game less interesting. They live and die by a hasty sword (often the latter if the GM is being fair). They don't take time for creative solutions, or to think through a problem from different angles. If they're stuck, they often simply wait for the GM to proffer "the" solution.
So, how should the good GM handle these challenges?
For the cautious players, you can add in time-senstive factors. I've often half-shouted, "You don't have time to hash this out! That bomb is about to blow! What do you do?" Plus, making players think on their feet gives the game a sense of immediacy and immersion that is not there if players are allowed to mull over things more intellectually (which sometimes, I admit, has its place in RPG, but not all the time). You can also provide harsh consequences for when players do dawdle too long.
For the players too brash, I suggest creating encounters that punish this behavior. This had been my problem recently, when I took the group through a trap-ridden encounter. At the beginning of the session, they were blundering full-steam into every trap. By the end, they had almost become the over-cautious group. It was a gradual transition, and a fascinating one to witness. I think that one session made a big difference in player forethought for our group. Or maybe I give myself too much credit. It won't be the first time.
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