I had wanted to run Don't Rest Your Head for a long while, and was lucky enough that two of my friends were interested in it as well. So after yet another D&D campaign breaking down (lack of social contract and differing expectations, though that's for another post), I decided that this forced break was a perfect opportunity to try something new. I eagerly got up early one day to buy the necessary dice, and eventually got a three-man game (including myself) going.
Now, one thing that DRYH has is the focus of characters not being on stats and numbers, but on background and personality. And it basically forces the players to create their character's opening scene. Having only played games where backgrounds and clear personality profiles are optional, this turned out to be a huge blessing for me as a GM. It enabled the players to tell me what adventure they wanted, who the main antagonists were, and what they hoped to achieve.
Using this information, I was able to basically pull three hours of adventure out of my ass. I had plenty of material to work with, but that was not the only thing that helped. The players truly participated. After telling them that they could and should narrate check outcomes themselves, they got into it and had great fun making up crazy things. There wasn't a lot of horror left, as my lack of experience running horror games made the whole thing turn into a cinematic action game, but there was much fun to be had. It was not the best adventure ever, but it was entertaining, and the players liked it a lot. It probably helped that they knew what I was doing.
I'm a GM who likes to improvise, so there are two things to learn from this session - use systems that require player flags, and encourage player participation. Now that I know what to look out for, and how to encourage players, I do hope that any future sessions will be just as fun.
Qi
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