RPGaDay #3: Engage

For #RPGaDay 2019, the third word prompt is #Engage.  

     The first thing I can think of with this word is #StarTrektheNextGeneration with Captain Picard telling Data to Engage.

      The next thing I think of is the pattern of the RPGaDay board. Why is this the first red colored day? How is that different than the blue colored days? Then you realize that the difference in the pattern is red is the Saturdays and Sundays of the month of August. 

      Engaging the players is important and not just at the game table. For my games, engagement comes in the form of a Facebook group dedicated to the game, a Facebook messenger group, and of course the recaps in addition to the game sessions themselves. In a less busier time of my life, we'd often discuss the game both before and after sessions, but that has not been an option lately. The Facebook group is a way to have links up to all the recaps for quick reference and the messenger group keeps players up to date on game session and time scheduling with occasional off-topics. The recaps can be entertaining but also serve an excellent purpose for looking up what happened last time. Which is less important in a weekly game but very important when you have a nine month baby/infant gap like #Returnto50Fathoms had!
       In other games, there have been different styles to the recaps. Like From the Vault E-Dawns were done in the form of an e-zine and in those days we had a Yahoo! Geocities! Group rather than Facebook for the game and even a whole website called Earthdawn 7 Sands which was full of campaign information (all of which is defunct today). Several others were done from in character viewpoints which were easier with NPCs around that were more frequent in #Earthdawn. More recently they have taken more of a GM overview form.
      I also add other layers of engagement to games such as letters and even a ballad in the latest 50 Fathoms which goes all the way back to Earthdawn with such details. Handouts like that are a very important way to make an imaginary world feel more real. In #SavageWorlds we tend to use action cards that fit the game theme, character sheets unique to the game, adventure cards specific to the game setting with a tailored list of the core ones, Bennies if we can (like in #Deadlands we did but I just don't have 30 dollars around for 40 50 Fathoms Bennies even if they are just so cool), and I try to make the world pop visually on the tabletop with maps and minis from #DramaScape, #GreyMatterGames, #PinnacleEntertainmentGroup, #Wizkids, #WizardsoftheCoast, and more. Every little detail adds to the verisimilitude and makes the game seem more real, engaging the players more and more into that world.