Share and Share Alike: 3WDs Top Tips For Dealing With D&D Players Who Won’t Share The Spotlight

3 Wise DMs

Sharing. It’s one of the first skills that we have to learn

as kids and, as anyone who has gamed for long enough, some kids never quite

learned how to do it. Our longtime listener, Jim Laubacker, posed a question

regarding how to best deal with players that won’t share the spotlight. As a

bonus, Jim is also trying to balance a group that is a hybrid of in-person and virtual

players!

In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave discuss the ways in

which they’ve adjusted to turn the dominant and passive players weaknesses at

the table into strengths. Additionally, they delve more into the difficulties

they’ve experienced in running hybrid games and some tips and tricks with

dealing with a very new issue in TTRPGs.

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1:33 Our listener question – How to deal with players that

won’t share the spotlight with a bonus wrinkle… the group in question is a

hybrid of in-person AND virtual.

3:05 Players that are so excited that they want to be

involved in every scene.

4:44 The very heavy lift when dealing with a hybrid table of

part in-person, part virtual.

10:36 The difference between players who are actors and

those who are audience members.

15:45 The player that is involved with Every. Single.

Activity. And my example that pushes DM Tony’s buttons about spell components

and wizards…

21:00 Narrative side scenes: an easy way to give every

player their spotlight.

25:45 Review the characters in your session prep: Find the

spots in the session for their moments.

28:00 There’s no “I” in team (think Avengers over Indiana

Jones) and how sharing the spotlight can keep the campaign together instead of ending.

35:50 Curating your group and turning player weaknesses into

strengths.

37:37 Giving players a “power position” to balance out the

dominant players(s) – the birth of Little One.

43:02 The spectrum of passive vs. dominant players – kind of

like railroads vs. sandboxes.

46:20 Final Thoughts.