ndh

nonbinary transfemme anarchist

  • she/they

Never dare hope for good fortune when playing against loaded dice
But dare to flip the tables of the carnies who rigged the game

~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Aspiring pro wrestler looking for training, a queer fantasy author and gamedev hobbyest.

Ask me about wrestling, narrative games and tabletop RPGs.


dawnbreak
@dawnbreak

Thinking about how as a quieter and more soft-spoken player a very useful tool to have at the table is a polite indicator I'd like to speak. The X card carries a lot of negative connotations, an indicator that something has gone wrong, but I think it'd be great if more books formalised raising your hand or another indicator for wanting to speak when others are doing so, without having to talk over them or cut in inappropriately. I often get frustrated when I try to say something but have to start several times since someone either (unintentionally) speaks over me or doesn't hear me so I have yo repeat myself several times. I just think it'd be neat if there was a tool in games that was like "Oh, hey, I'd like the spotlight for a moment please".


You must log in to comment.

in reply to @dawnbreak's post:

Talking stick good actually.

But fr, I'm totally with you on this. I feel like this has fallen to the GM (I've heard this in conversations about Apocalypse Worlds PCs) but I think it's worth making a best practice issue for a table (here meaning a group of players) to internalize in some capacity. I know in VTT talking over each other is a huge issue that is a part of the means of communication often only being voice, and that people do sometimes zone out when they're not part of the conversation; I wonder if these are things games need to approach as tools or can be incorporated into artifacts we already have, such as principles or agendas.

Yeah! I've definitely seen some games tell you to share the spotlight with others as a PC, but that usually relies on you having a great grasp on social cues and being able to tell when someone wants to speak, whereas wanting the spotlight is left as more a passive role in the equation til it gets passed to you by whoever has it.

When running games in discord I ask players to comment in the shared chat when they'd like to take the floor next. People don't always remember, but it's really helpful when you have a mix of bold and quiet players. an emoji like a raised hand can be a really easy signal. I think if I ran a game in person these days I might get players to literally raise a hand.