I have been playing D&D very consistently for over six years. I have spent most of that time on both sides of the Dungeon Master screen. Having experience on both sides of the screen will open up players to new ideas that they may have never thought of before.
Starting out as a player gave me instant enjoyment. I got to explore new worlds and meet incredible characters that made me never want to level the table. For months, I was cruising through cities, investigating crimes, and bringing justice to evil doers. I was having so much fun, until something felt flat. Angelo Lustra, the Warlock Aasimar, became a background character. This was a difficult fact to understand. Afterall, Angelo was the captain of a pirate ship and has had many successful raids and adventures under his command.
I was still having fun, so I did not think too much of it. It did keep nagging at me, though, week after week. I decided to message my DM at the time and ask them if they had any advice. They told me, “Be more proactive with Angelo’s story”. I did not understand at first. I thought I was telling his story through the adventures I was going on with the other players and characters. It took me a while before I thought I was starting to understand.
I had to miss a game session for whatever reason. I was still reading all the messages in Discord to try and get a hint about what is going on. Selfishly, I thought, “No one is talking about me”. Then it clicked. Angelo was a side character. If he left, someone would just take his position as captain and the story would move on. He would just be a memory for the other characters to reminisce about when thinking of different times. I couldn’t let Angelo fade into the night. He had to be remembered for more than just one recurring joke
I had to do this carefully. I did not want to take the spotlight of other characters’ big moments. I had to choose the right opportunities for Angelo to shine. It took some time but I slowly figured out where Angelo fit in the puzzle, interweaving his own goals within the bigger picture of the campaign.
On the other side of the screen, I have to find out how to make multiple characters work inside my story. Characters that are not mine to control. I had to figure out how to make every character feel important and part of a living world. My first attempts were a disaster at the start. I thought it would be a good idea to give every character their own slice of the world for everyone to explore. Everything from someone’s home town to an old mansion that used to belong to a character’s family that had long been abandoned. I thought everyone was enjoying themselves until I saw the looks on their faces. The look of, “When it is going to be my turn to shine”. To make matters even worse, I unintentionally took more time focusing on some characters than others.
The story had taken a turn when the characters made their way to a village that nobody had any connection to. There was no longer a focus on individual characters, but now a focus on how they can all work together to get out there faster. No character wanted to be there any longer than they had to. So I started adding situations when they could rely on each other to get quests completed faster. The characters naturally started feeling more important to the story and not just another background npc that just rolls dice when I ask them to.
My next few attempts at running a campaign have gotten much better. I intentionally leave a few details vague so players and characters can explore their personalities more in the scenarios I put them in. I have been able to practice the fine art of overlapping and integrating character personalities and backstories into an already established and living world.This makes everything feel a little more natural and entertaining for everyone involved.
Making every character in a story important and impactful in a story plot is difficult. One wrong turn, one wrong decision can derail a character so quickly that it could raise the question of why they were even there in the first place. The last thing that I have to be aware of at all times is, just because I bond with one character more than another, does not mean that they are less important. A reader or player can form a strong connection to that other character and I do not want to do them a disservice by forgetting their favorite characters and not give them the proper attention that they deserve.