How to Make Your Game More Immersive for Your Players

 Maybe you've been playing TTRPGs for a while now, you're comfortable planning the adventures and running the game, but you feel like something is missing. Maybe you feel like your vision of the adventure isn't coming through to your players. Maybe you notice your players ask a lot of clarifying questions. Maybe you've been watching some great streamers and want your game to be as engaging. 

Well, this post is all about how to make your game more immersive for players. An immersive game is one that brings maximum engagement and makes your players feel like they are truly living the adventure. If you're wondering whether your game is an immersive game, you can ask yourself a few questions.

1. How clearly could your players describe your current scene back to you? If you feel like they would return little detail than they are probably not feeling like they're in that location. 

2. Would your players describe NPC's personality or demeanor more based on their own imagination or a clear description they are all sharing? Interactions like this should be shared so everyone can feed off each other. If everyone is imagining their own idea based on a general expectation it takes away from that immersive feeling. 

3. How many times in the game have I given a clear detailed description with imagery? In my experience, GMs drop description here and there, but it can be sparse and off the cuff. We can all use more practice. 

4. How much effort do I put into Role Play? Here's a big one. As the GM you set the expectation for your players on whether everyone will distantly tell what their characters do or if they will play their characters actions. It all starts with the GM. 

So, now that I've identified things to improve, let's talk about how you actually make your game more immersive. Most of it comes down to our preparation. Running a game is difficult and there is already so much to plan, so it's understandable when just put enough together to get by. If you want to shine in this area though, you'll have to put some extra effort in. The first place you want to spend some extra time is on descriptions of all important locations, of every time a triggering event happens, and with each important NPC. 

Locations: Here I'm referring towns they start in or come into, important buildings, caves, or dungeons they enter, and even the wilderness where they spend any time. You should already have many of these locations planned, so take an extra step to write an "intro" for each location. The more important the location the more a detailed description is needed. 

Triggering Events: What I mean by this is if you planned for undead to suddenly rise in the middle of town or for a ship to crash in the mountains your players are traveling then you need to have a prepared description of these events. Don't wing these types of situations, because these can really engage the player!

NPC's: If you've planned an NPC before the game started, especially if they're important to the plot, then you should have a rich description of that NPC and be prepared to role play them. 

Right off the bat, by planning these quality descriptions you've stepped up your level of immersion. The next step is to use more RP with your NPCs. Even GMs are still nervous about really diving into a character or looking foolish. That's understandable. This is about practice, practice, practice! 

How to improve your RP as a GM: 

1. Avoid using these words and phrases: "like, kinda, as if, ya know how, etc." These phrases are used to skip RPing what they're actually doing. Take them through it. 

2. Keep yourself in character and do the best you can!

3. In addition to doing the dialogue for NPCs, include descriptions of their movements, facial expressions, or other actions. Here you can use Metaphors, simile, and imagery. This takes practice to incorporate.  

4. When planning your NPC, check out my post on how to quickly make a well-rounded NPC. 

Now, we've talked about the two most obvious ways to make our game more immersive, but there are a few other things we need to mention. 

- Dispersing detailed description throughout the game as players progress. This is often forgot about after players start pushing into an area we've already given a general description for, but it's important to keep the description going. Just like in a novel you read, you want to keep engaging the player's 5 senses. It's also good to have short descriptions ready for new rooms or changes in environment. 

- Here's an important factor that easily gets forgotten about: Realistic social and environmental reactions! When I started noticing this in my games, I was driven crazy by it. How many times have you had a fight in the middle of the town or city and completely forgotten about the bystanders or police patrols? How many times have you done a chase scene, but barely mentioned the disruption its caused? How many times have players had conversations that shouldn't take place in public, but you didn't make anyone react to it? The more conscious you are of this, and the more realistic your environments are the more engaged your players will be. This is key to making your games immersive.

- In writing there is something called passive voice and active voice. If you're a fiction writer you want to ALWAYS write in the active voice. Well, in running a TTRPG, there is passive environment and interactive environment. This is different from the last point. What I mean by interactive environment is giving players chance to make small interactions that have nothing to do with the quest. A passive environment is one where we ONLY give those preplanned descriptions and quickly usher players to next quest point. It takes some creativity to write these into your game, but if you do you'll offer a truly immersive experience. 

So, I think I've thrown enough at you for now. Many of these methods are a matter of effort and practice. You can't suddenly do them all right in your next game. Start slow and introduce these methods in layers. If you have any questions or would like me to write a post expanding any ideas here then send me a message. Remember, I am available for hire to write supplements for your campaign. 

You can find me on Twitter @flayer85

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