As an experienced RPG game master, you’ve likely encountered moments where the game you envisioned doesn’t quite align with what your players expect. These mismatches can lead to confusion, frustration, or disengagement. Understanding where these expectations come from is crucial to creating a satisfying and immersive experience for everyone involved. But what exactly shapes these expectations, and how can they be understood and managed more effectively?

Player expectations arise from several interconnected sources. These include an intuitive sense of story structure, the conventions of genre, the themes that drive the narrative, and the tone that guides its emotional atmosphere. Together, these elements shape how players interact with the game world, make decisions, and immerse themselves in the setting.

Shaping and Sustaining Player Expectations

The foundation of player expectations in tabletop RPGs stems from the medium itself. Before considering narrative or structural influences, it’s essential to understand a core assumption inherent to RPGs: players control their characters’ actions, which establishes an underlying level of agency that profoundly shapes engagement.

Player Agency: The Core Assumption

In RPGs, players expect to have meaningful control over their characters. This expectation of agency is fundamental to the medium and sets RPGs apart from passive storytelling formats like books or movies. Players anticipate that their decisions will influence the outcome of events, whether it’s navigating complex social dynamics, devising strategies for overcoming challenges, or choosing how their characters grow and evolve.

A lack of agency – such as railroaded decisions or outcomes predetermined by the GM – can disrupt immersion and diminish engagement. Ensuring players feel that their choices matter maintains their investment in the game world, reinforcing the believability and coherence of the setting.

Unconsciously Learned Story Structure

Building on this foundation of agency, players also bring with them an intuitive understanding of story structure. Years of consuming books, movies, and other media have ingrained expectations about how narratives should unfold. Arcs such as the hero’s journey or the three-act structure shape what players anticipate, from the introduction of challenges to the resolution of conflicts.

This understanding enhances immersion by providing players with a sense of rhythm and flow within the story. A well-timed climactic moment, for instance, resonates because it fulfills an implicit narrative promise. Aligning the narrative with these structures helps GMs create cohesive and immersive experiences that honor players’ expectations while leaving room for creative surprises.

Versimilitude: Believability in the Game World

Versimilitude is the quality that makes a game world feel as though it could exist independently of the players. It is a cornerstone of immersion, as it reinforces the idea that the setting operates according to consistent internal logic. Players expect the world to react in realistic ways to their actions, and when this expectation is broken, the sense of immersion can quickly crumble.

For example, if an NPC ignores logical consequences or the laws of the setting are violated without explanation, players may feel disconnected from the narrative. On the other hand, when the game world behaves in a way that aligns with its established rules, it fosters trust and engagement.

A well-constructed setting goes beyond superficial details, building depth through consistent cultural, historical, and environmental cues. When the setting supports the players’ choices and reflects their actions, it strengthens the overall narrative, making the story feel both impactful and believable.

Genre: The Foundation of Familiarity

One of the most significant factors shaping player expectations is the game’s genre. Whether you’re running a session set in a “high fantasy,” “cyberpunk,” or “noir” world, your players come to the table with a set of genre-related assumptions. Each genre comes with its own established tropes, themes, and narrative expectations that your players have absorbed from books, movies, games, and other media. In a high fantasy setting, for example, players might expect grand quests, magical artifacts, and clear divisions between good and evil, while a cyberpunk game would lead to expectations of moral ambiguity, dystopian worlds, and high-tech gadgets.

These assumptions influence how players approach the game, from the characters they create to the decisions they make during play. Genre expectations can be incredibly helpful because they provide players with a framework to engage with the world. However, if a game doesn’t align with the expected genre cues, it can lead to confusion or frustration.

Theme and Tone: The Emotional Core

While genre outlines the framework, theme and tone shape the emotional and narrative substance of the story. Themes such as redemption, survival, or justice define the story’s central conflicts, while tone establishes how those conflicts are experienced.

For example, a theme of survival could unfold in a grim and harrowing tone, focusing on scarcity and loss, or in a hopeful tone, emphasizing resilience and community. Tone provides a consistent emotional backdrop, helping players align their actions and decisions with the narrative’s underlying atmosphere.

The interplay of theme and tone reinforces the players’ expectations of what the story promises to deliver, ensuring that their journey feels cohesive and meaningful.

Narrative Promises in Action

The Scenario Hook: Building Engagement

The scenario hook is the first narrative promise you make to your players. Whether it’s an ominous message from a forgotten king or a cryptic artifact discovered in the wild, the hook sets the stage for the story and signals its central conflicts.

Hooks are not merely plot devices; they establish tone, genre, and stakes. A political assassination in a sprawling city suggests intrigue and diplomacy, while a cursed ruin implies puzzles, danger, and exploration. By delivering on the promises implied in the hook, you affirm the players’ investment in the story.

The Central Question: Sustaining Momentum

At the heart of every story, there’s a central question – the overarching mystery or dilemma that drives the narrative. In an RPG, the central question might range from the epic (“Can the heroes stop the apocalypse?”) to the personal (“Will the rogue find redemption?”). This question shapes the entire narrative and sets up player expectations about the story’s resolution.

Players engage with the central question almost unconsciously, and it drives their decisions and character development throughout the game. A well-crafted central question helps focus the narrative and gives players a clear sense of purpose. Understanding the expectations tied to this question helps GMs keep the story on track and maintain player investment.

The Art of Balance

Managing expectations requires a careful balance between honoring conventions and introducing surprises. Twists, for instance, can be a powerful tool for reinvigorating a narrative, but they must be thoughtfully integrated. A well-executed twist builds on the foundations of established promises, offering moments of revelation that deepen the story.

However, twists that disregard narrative logic or feel disconnected from prior events risk alienating players. The key lies in aligning twists with the story’s tone, theme, and central question, ensuring they enhance rather than undermine the experience.

Foreshadowing is an invaluable tool for laying the groundwork for twists and resolutions. By providing subtle hints early in the game, you create a sense of anticipation that pays off when the pieces finally fall into place. This enhances satisfaction, delivering the “click together” moment where the story feels both inevitable and meaningful.

Not all expectations need to be fulfilled exactly as players anticipate. Some can be subverted to add depth, while others might be altered to maintain the story’s novelty. Striking the right balance between familiar elements and fresh ideas ensures that the narrative remains engaging while respecting the trust between players and the GM.

Final Thoughts

Player expectations and narrative promises form the backbone of a successful RPG campaign. When GMs thoughtfully manage the interplay between these elements, they foster immersive and rewarding experiences. Remember, the art of GMing is not about surprising players at every turn but about giving them a journey that feels both inevitable and wondrous.

This article draws inspiration from The Practical Guide to Becoming a Great GM by Guy Sclanders (2022) and Josh Storey’s insightful post on GnomeStrew (2024), weaving together their ideas into a comprehensive guide for understanding and fulfilling player expectations.