#RPGaDAY2021 Not believing it, but I rolled yet another '4'...starting to think Roll20 isn't randomizing properly. At any rate that makes today's topic 'Engage'.
I guess with that prompt the question is how do you engage a player if you're running things, and what is it that engages you as a participant. I think the answer will vary for everyone, but for me whether I'm running the game or playing in it--and I really should practice what I preach more often--explaining the lore in too much detail is a recipe to lose engagement.
As and example I'll tell you a bit about a short 5E campaign I was able to play in a couple of months ago. Now, the DM didn't go into too much detail with the set-up just stating that we were in a party traveling through the woods to a town and that we soon found ourselves right in the middle of a murder investigation. Bam! we're hooked, and the rest of the campaign was just the party solving the murder. No need to know where we were in Faerun or if we were even there at all. No need to know which forest we came from or where to find the town on the map or its geopolitical situation as it wasn't that kind of campaign.
From a player's perspective--and this was a random Roll 20 pick up game BTW--I didn't need to write pages of backstory for my girl. In the creation phase, I mentioned that the generic town we were visiting happened to be my character's former hometown, and the DM just ran with that. My girl knew far more than I did as a player and certainly more than the other characters, but it all worked out wonderfully and details about the characters and even the town did emerge as we played It was one of the best experiences I've had bar none--but especially good for a random online deal.
So, my opinion keep the player engaged by giving them the steak and not focusing so much time on the sizzle.
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