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The 1 Thing You Should NEVER Ask Your Players
A few years ago, I was fortunate to be part of a kick-ass campaign. It was based uponThe Temple of Elemental Evil, an AD&D adventure so adventurous it needed be labeled as being a ‘Supermodule.’ Even discounting the 128 page size, the scope and scale of T1-4 (which later spawned an equally badass sequel written by Monte Cook) with its various antagonists, was mythic. Our DM, who I’ll call Dan, ran it with the 3.0 ruleset so we could play an Old School classic in a New School edition.
While converting ToEE was impressive, Dan’s real achievement was running the dungeon in such a way that it felt as a fully functional ecosystem. He made the entire Temple seem as if it was truly alive- with both their initial reaction and then later the active anticipation of our party. In short, Dan’s bad guys constantly evolved which for us as players was a paradigm shift in how bad guys were run. But there was 1 thing Dan really didn’t do well, and that was how he solicited feedback.
Last time, in d10 Things You Must Do Between Campaigns, I talked about some critical things all DMs should do when transitioning campaigns. These (7) tips will both help successfully end the current game while sufficiently prepping for the new one. And 1 of those tips was to Review How the Campaign Went which is to say, you need to get feedback from your players regarding your DMing skills. Honest feedback. Which in many ways is like a boss asking to hear how he’s doing from his employees: the boss is almost always told what they want to hear. Let’s look at how that kind of useless (even counterproductive) feedback happens.
At the end of every ToEE session, Dan would inevitable speak those words we knew were coming, and dreaded hearing. “Well guys, did you have fun tonight?” Putting on our best forced smiles, everyone’s answer was always the same: “Yeah man, of course.” Now, the majority of nights this truly was the case and therefore an honest answer. But when it wasn’t, when the game lacked a certain something or simply wasn’t up to par, our DM never knew any better. Because what he was asking was akin to being asked, “Was it good for you too?” By that I mean there’s only one smart answer. In the Nine Hells, there’s only one safe answer to both of those questions. So we always had fun, even when we didn’t.
What should Dan have been asking? What should YOU be asking? Its actually quite simple, and with apologies to Matt who left a comment on this piece’s predecessor, doesn’t require a player survey to happen. There are 2 key things that you seek: “What did you guys like?” and “What would you guys like to see done differently?” The former tells you those things that you need to keep doing. The answers will provide some much-needed encouragement. And these answers about what is positive with your DMing will (gradually) help your players feel comfortable enough to answer the followup query.
Which are those things that you need to do better. Those things you should improve upon. Put bluntly, those things you have to fix. However the phrasing of this is crucial. You don’t want your question to come out as, “What didn’t you guys like?” Because that immediately puts the players on the defensive. Which is why ‘differently’ is a great word since gamers let their imagination run rampant so they can easily relate to the possibility of differences rather than negatives.
Ask these 2 key things at the end of every session (preferably via email/forum to not put anyone on the spot), politely push for specifics, act on what you learn, and your DMing will soon level up. Your player may even honestly be able to say that they had fun. ‘ToEE’ next time.
- [... A few years ago, I was fortunate to be part of a kick-ass campaign. It was based upon The Temple of Elemental Evil, an AD&D adventure so adventurous it needed ...]
- [... A few years ago, I was fortunate to be part of a kick-ass campaign. It was based upon The Temple of Elemental Evil, an AD&D adventure so adventurous it needed ...]
- [... A few years ago, I was fortunate to be part of a kick-ass campaign. It was based upon The Temple of Elemental Evil, an AD&D adventure so adventurous it needed ...]
Hawke 
Hanks 
me copying another players character. i am no longer playing with them.
I ask these very questions at the end of each session… I request a Likes & Dislikes note/sheet handed in from each player. Sometimes its just one word, some times its a sentence & on the occasion its a paragraph. Quick easy and a little bit less painfull, as each person can answer without pointing fingers. I get the information I need to adjust the game and they get to tell me in a way that is comfortable for us. Try it sometime…