Sidebar
I'm a firm believer that virtually any character can work in a campaign. Lots of folks like making hard-to-kill barbarian lords, ultra brilliant mages, and rogues with outrageous amounts of dexterity. A lot of the times, players get bogged down in the stats and don't focus on the character itself. A beefed up warrior can hack his way through a dungeon, sure. But it might be more interesting to see how a quirky warrior with a common strength rating and a broken sword would approach the Caves of Doom. That's a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point. Character development is what makes the difference between roll-playing and role-playing. So one of the things I do as a GM is to try and keep guys focused on their character, not their stats. One of the methods I use to do this is through what I call sidebars.
I'm a firm believer that virtually any character can work in a campaign. Lots of folks like making hard-to-kill barbarian lords, ultra brilliant mages, and rogues with outrageous amounts of dexterity. A lot of the times, players get bogged down in the stats and don't focus on the character itself. A beefed up warrior can hack his way through a dungeon, sure. But
it might be more interesting to see how a quirky warrior with a common strength rating and a broken sword would approach the Caves of Doom. That's a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point. Character development is what makes the difference between roll-playing and role-playing. So one of the things I do as a GM is to try and keep guys focused on their character,
not their stats. One of the methods I use to do this is through what I call sidebars.
Initially, character development is up to the player. Danny Boy makes a half-orc assassin who's on the run for having killed the wrong target. Rather than slaying the boss's mistress, he accidentally kills the boss's daughter. It's an easy mistake to have made; they were both trollops. Anyway, Danny has now laid down some back story for his half-orc, Sonny. While on the run, Sonny gets involved with a crazy wizard and they go explore a bunch of caves and take it upon themselves to save the kingdom of Taltia from dark forces.
After a few games have been run, Danny starts to get a feel for how Sonny should be played. He's amoral and not too sociable and, as a result, doesn't have many friends and doesn't always get involved with all the banter. But, he's more intelligent than he appears and has a keen eye for detail. Danny wants to keep Sonny true to character, but he also wants more
involvement in the Game Proper. What to do?
For cases like this, I implement the sidebar. A sidebar can be anything that helps get a player/character more involved in the Game Proper. It can be a quick aside while the guy that plays the crazy wizard is in the bathroom. It can be an email Danny reads before coming to the Game. It can be a note passed to him during Game play. It can even be a quick
narrative about Sonny and his past. A sidebar can be anything.
Here's an example. Sonny was involved with a gang of adventurers who were getting prepped on exploring some ruins in the middle of a harsh desert. One of the NPC's had been growing more and more disturbed as a result of his exposure to a strong, psychic menace. Sonny, being the observant type, noticed this and became concerned about it. Everyone else, however, was
more concerned with counting the torches and getting the watch rotation sorted out. We closed down shop for the night, and everybody went home. But the next day I sent Danny an email which established a run-in Sonny had with this disturbed NPC. We traded a series of emails, back and forth, and worked out a conversation Sonny had with this crazy NPC. When everybody got back together the next week, Sonny took the other PC's aside and explained he'd discovered some of the troubles that plague their NPC buddy. But Sonny being Sonny, he didn't relay the entire story.
This little sidebar accomplished a few things. One, it gave Danny a chance to play Sonny in a behind-the-scenes manner. This worked well for Danny/Sonny because Sonny is a behind-the-scenes kind of guy. Second, a rapport was developed between this particular NPC and Sonny. For the next few adventures, they stuck close together and watched each other's backs, moreso
than they would have had they not had their little one-on-one. They even took the opportunity to scoff at some of the other adventurers -- and some of the players started to scratch their head and wonder why Sonny and this NPC were so close. Third, it gave Danny and I a chance to flesh out more of Sonny's character without having to interrupt the process of the Game
Proper. We could have taken 15 minutes and made everybody watch us chit-chat back and forth, but we did it "off-camera" and without interrupting the game flow. Furthermore, we got to do it without casually stating "Sonny gets to know him better and you become friends." We actually had the conversation, we actually worked on the character, and we added an extra layer to the game that made it more enjoyable for Danny and myself. And it was indirectly fun for others too. Like I said, they started to wonder about Danny and this NPC and a few suspicions got aroused. If this had been a DVD, this would have been something included in the special features menu.
That's what sidebars do: they give a little extra depth to the game that hopefully makes it more enjoyable. I often use emails to enact sidebars, but there are other approaches. Like I said, you can pass a note to the player during the game. If I'm introducing a new player/PC to an on-going game, I often type up a sheet of notes for the player to reference -- that way, they're not coming in completely cold (unless they want to) and they'll be able to hold their own with existing players regarding legends, lore, history, politics, and Bahamut's Top Ten Most Wanted. When we meet Lando in Empire, he already
knows some things; because Lucas had already given him a list of notes to act off of, follow? Sometimes I use sidebars for narratives to describe "off-camera" events. For example, my players recently had to abandon one of their fellows when fleeing a prison. Two weeks (in terms of game time) after the jailbreak, while the players are enjoying dinner, I described a scene where they realize their buddy (call him Kyuzo) is still rotting in jail under the hellish tortures of their old foe. Suddenly, they drop their forks, bow their heads, and realize maybe their dinner isn't so great after all. That's a sidebar.
Sidebars can be useful tidbits to enrich your games by simply giving your players a little something extra to do. They should be used, but with reason. It wouldn't be fair to have the gang camp out at night, but take Player X on a series of 10 sidebar games and have him return to camp the next morning with 3 more levels of XP than before. You don't want your
sidebars to get too complicated, either. If Player X does go roaming at night (for argument's sake, let's say he doesn't need to sleep), you don't want him to get so wrapped up in a sidebar adventure that it becomes impossible for him to return to the camp by morning. And, you dont' want to start so many sidebars that you can't keep up with them. Sidebars shouldn't radically favor any given character nor should they introduce dramatic changes to the story. They're tidbits. Extras. Cookies.
My main goal with sidebars is to get players more interested in their characters and not their stats. If a player is having trouble getting his character to work, throw a few sidebars at him to get him more involved with his character. Take him on a quick tour of the Green Griffon Inn. Have him explore a simple crypt that has a strange stone in it -- maybe this stone
will become important three campaigns down the road. Have a message delivered to him that has something to do with his mysterious past. Describe a strange dream he might have had, a dream that might foreshadow a direction in which the game will go. Describe a street fight he witnesses between two goblins so he'll have a better idea of the goblin mind-set.
Character development is predominately in the hands of the players. Game masters can only do so much to help their players develop their characters. Major events and character points can be addressed during the main game, but sometimes you have to work on the subtleties, the finer details. There are several different approaches you take, and the sidebar is one of them.
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Nicely said, Rogue.
We do the same thing, but we call it In-Character Chat (ICC). This can be any conversation between characters via email, IM or whatever (as long as the DM gets a copy of the transcript, so he knows what's going on). It can also be between a PC and an NPC, much like the sidebars you described in your piece.
From a DM's standpoint, you're right: it helps to build character development without taking precious game-time away from the group as a whole. The ICC we have had between PCs also helps to keep interest up between sessions (since we're lucky to meet once per month!).
The only caveat we have is that all ICC must be from the PC's perspective, using his/her knowledge of events, not the player's.
.... and also a good way to give the players information that they might not have had, either because someone didn't write something down, or another player couldn't make it for the session, etc...
I've done his on several occasions, just as a matter of convenience, but I wasn't sure if it was something I should keep doing. I've had players who are very upset when they aren't in on something; even if their characters shouldn't know, they want to be a part of the conspiracy.
I do it anyway. =)
RG, keep up the good work.
Obviously a useful tool, but I don't use it much. I'm not sure why.
Note it can be overdone. When I adventure I like to be part of a tight knit group that has good internal communication. Too much intrigue and mystery drives me nuts. As do DM's that are addicted to intrigue for its own sake. I remember one DM I had, He introduced so many sideplots that we never achieved closure on any issu
Hey RG - good article.
Lots of thoughtmeat, well presented, and it's outlining a concept that may be new to a lot of gamemasters out there, and is applicable to every game system.
Well done.
Good article Rogue.
I used to run a WoD game and we did a lot of sidebar-ing. With a floating group of players in a campaign over a long period of time, including millenia in-game and over 7 years real time, it was an effective and efficient way of building/maintaining interest, fleshing out character pasts and continued character development as well as allowing for ageless characters to "do their own thing" without disrupting the main foci of the game. A lot of sidebar-ing sessions brought out some really interesting plot arcs and story ideas that I would often work into the weave of the whole piece.
Mohammed said :
"When I adventure I like to be part of a tight knit group that has good internal communication. Too much intrigue and mystery drives me nuts. As do DM's that are addicted to intrigue for its own sake. I remember one DM I had, He introduced so many sideplots that we never achieved closure on any issue."
Mo, I can definitely feel where you're coming from with your desire for tight knit communication and frustration at the overabundance of sideplots. It's a fine balancing act to inject just enough information/development without taking it too far and seriously sidetracking a player and their character. I played in a game where a GM would take at least 3 players aside every session for about 10 minutes each. By the end, we'd get frustrated with all the stop-starting, frustrated with all the unnecessary intrigue and characters would be needlessly paranoid. This GM went so far as to take a player aside just to tell them a bar maid winked at them - no real story point, no intention on making it more than a casual roll in the hay, just some "heavy handed sidebar-ing" for the GM's desire on increasing paranoia in a game that didn't need any more.
Sidebar-ing worked really well for the game that I shared with my players and I'll definitely consider using it for my next game (hopefully without crossing "that line" ).
Good article RG.
We’ve done our own versions as well.
Time out
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Before a major battle or in an obvious lull, we try to take a minute or two to say something in character. Not a long speech – just something in character.
Public Sidebar
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Information to which only one character is party, but which is told to the whole group. Typically this would be information that is unimportant plotwise, but which provides some atmosphere everyone can enjoy (ie the barmaid winking). It can also be important information which a PC would tell the party anyway, saving time on the recap. If, as DM, I sense there might be a specific reason a character might want to withhold information, I will. I’ve noticed that some players tend to withhold a lot of information on “private” sidebars – usually with no apparent benefit.
Blue-booking
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*Brief* accounts of ‘tween game events or flashbacks shared on email usually among the entire party. They provide color and context, giving depth and connection to the characters. I prefer that everyone gets to see them in the party- in the same sense – you get to know the people you travel with after a while. Some of them have taken script form. Sometimes it’s with players interacting with NPCs. I like them especially because I can be more precise and I can more effectively draw the scene with the exact details I want in it.
We use blue-booking to contextualize the characters and to flesh out the setting – NOT for players to introduce major new plot points that will have a major impact on the story. Brevity is very important, especially with multiple players.
As a DM, I also use it as a kind of “fast editing” to get the group as close as possible to the point where we can begin “the action” for the next live session.
I've yet to see RG write less than a very interesting article. Keep writing, I'll keep reading :)
Good stuff, RG. I am a big proponent of the sidebar as a player, particularly because I know there are aspects of the plot that might appeal to me very much that aren't really everyone's cup of tea. It gives all of us a chance to focus on the areas that we're most interested in, privately, without taking away the 'fun time' from the others around the table. If done in person with the GM just before the session, it's also a great way to get into character so I can hit the ground running. Not the primary benefit, by any means, but a nice side benefit.
I used to play in a game where we meet for face-to-face play once a month, but used a mailing list and email to fill in the gaps. One notable
example was when my character received an invitation to address a public meeting. I spent some considerable time working out my speech, just as my character would have, and posted it on the list. The other party members had all been invited to attend, and accepted the offer, so they all got to "hear" the speech. It worked well in email with a mailing list, but would have been difficult to do off-the-cuff in the middle of a game. This event was a stirling example of a side-bar, since it developed my character and his interaction with the others, but didn't materially effect game play.
This is very similar to a concept introduced in the old DC Heroes game - Subplots. Currently the game is published under the name Blood of Heroes by Pulsar Games, but if you can find an old copy of DCH the section on running subplots is good supplemental info on how to run "sidebars".
I've actually been using a somewhat similar system (that I borrowed from a LARP I play) for the Planescape 3E conversion game I'm running. Adventures are considered to run about once a week, and in between the players have a free week to take care of shopping, crafting, sideplots, research, and anything else that doesn't need to be in an actual session. I take care of the offweek stuff via email, and it's helped to flesh out a number of the PCs as well as allow a lot of background information and subplots to work.
To add my voice to the chorus: This is your best article to date, RG. Well done. And thanks for giving us something new to read!
Thanks for the kind works, folks.
Mo's right...sidebars can be overdone. And you can certainly interject too much intrigue through them.
A few years ago...I had about 6 sidebar threads going through emails to 6 different folks and nearly went insane...it was a situation where spies were being ferreted out in the city of Phlan (from Forgotten Realms fame). I nearly went insane.
These days, I try to keep them more down-to-earth. Recently, we had an ice storm and my weekly crew was not able to assemble except for one person. We did a sidebar game where this player obtained all the supplies they would need for their journey (luckily, this coincided with some player down-time where they were resting at an inn, getting ready for a trek). He also picked up some local lore that wasn't essential to the plot, but gave enough extra data to make the bad guys more menacing.
I got my first sidebar taste when I was 15. I had moved to a new area and found some new friends to game with. They were GURPS guys and I was new to GURPS...so, while that night's GM was getting stuff ready, one of the player's took me on an introductory adventure to get me acquainted with the GURPS rules set and also gave me an actual reason to have shown up in the town.
I liked this idea and have been developing it ever since.