I have to give a nod to the Sons of Kryos. Their shows are always inspirational.

In this new era of collaborative storytelling GMs rely on players to help build the story and carry the narrative. This requires the players be more informed than they may be used to. Collaborative players need to know a lot more of the stories their characters are in. This makes many old school GMs uncomfortable. Some players aren’t ready for this responsibility either. Let me illustrate:

If you suss out what your game master is up to what do you do?

a)      Metagame it. Smash the clock, kill the bad guy, do whatever you can to ruin the bad guys plan as quickly as possible.

b)      I’m smarter than you. Play along sticking to character knowledge for the most but just happening to be in the right place at the right time when the drek hits the fan, possibly with a ‘I see this coming’ comment.

c)      Break the game. Loudly denounce the GM for a fraud, and an incompetent. Expose his simple plot and site the source material that was his inspiration.(This actually ahppened to me once.)

d)      Make the most of it. Take the opportunity to use your player knowledge to make your PC walk heedless into danger, leave something critical behind, listen to the wrong people, or in some other way make life more interesting for your character.

In the classic era of D&D the answer was always (a). After all the DM was doing the best to destroy you and you had to fight back with whatever you could. Nowadays I see a lot more (b)s, but I wish I saw more (d)s. The modern storytelling systems require players who can think that way. From discussing story arcs with players to running cut scenes mid game, the modern player should have a better grasp on the story his character is involved in. That way when it comes time to spend a Fate Chit or a Yum Yum he is prepared to do so.

A lot of people play their RPGs with their heads down as well. They don’t want the responsibility of contributing so they make sure to pay as little attention as possible when their characters are not directly involved and even when they are they don’t dwell on the DMs words. Sometimes this can be forgiven if the action is mundane, like shopping, or long and tedious, like a 2 hour matrix run (all mechanics, no role playing). But if the action is at all related to furthering the story than all the players should be paying attention and ready to contribute if the opportunity arises. I’ve heard one player state that his favorite moments at the game table are when he is in the middle of a one on one dramatic scene and the entire table is so engaged that they are hanging on every word. Many times we can see a cool tangent for our fellow players to go off on that would be overlooked by them and the GM. This only works if the players all have a good grasp of who the characters are and what is going on. Secrets will exist between characters but they aren’t necessary between players. For example, if one character is planning to take over his friend’s throne, the players can talk about the best way to do that or even try to talk the player out of it if it would be too disruptive to current story arcs. Or even set it up so that it happens in conjunction with the current arcs increasing the complexity of the story. Since all such contributions are subject to GM approval it’s important to try to keep things in tune with the overall story.

All of this is dependent on a level of maturity and trust amongst the players. They have to be willing to sacrifice the total control of their characters, just as the GM is required to give up some control of the game. Players have to have the maturity to accept that when another player suggest some hardship for their character that it is not an attack on them. It’s not even an attack on their character but it is a why to make the story we are telling a more interesting one. If you don’t have this level of trust, or if all the players aren’t looking to play the same type of game, then this type of cooperative storytelling will fail. It just takes one person working at cross purposes of the story (not one character working at cross purposes of the party, which can work out fine) to throw of the whole game. So make sure you are all willing to play this way at the start. You can always tell a good suggestion because it begins with “Wouldn’t it be cool if…?”

Remember this: the only wrong way to play is to not have fun. I’m not saying that all of you should be playing this way. I am just saying that this is a new way to play that I find fascinating. If you think you have a group of players who can handle it, give it a try. And if you want a good example of players who adjust well to this kind of system, go listen to the Rollmonkeys. Their role playing sessions are a lot of fun. They play a lot of these modern games and they are learning most of them as they go.