Saturday Q&A (mar 23)

 Maxwell in California writes,

I am a natural pacer. I have spent my entire life walking while talking. it’s how I think through everything. Sometimes people find it distracting. Or even offputting, saying that it makes them feel like I’m going to pounce on them.

As I recite, I compulsively pace. I feel like this is to be corrected. I am trying very hard to root myself to the spot, even using a timer to test myself. But it is quite difficult.

Is this actually a problem or should I just focus on doing a good job presenting the world?

Have you had some tics, or habitual gestures, or other things you’ve had to rein in while DMing? If so, and if you were able to dein them on, what effect did have on your game?

Answer: Early on, I taught myself to get out of my chair when I was DMing. At first, this felt unnatural ... but I was playing in a very large room, the cafeteria of my High School, so there was plenty of room to step back from the game table and frame out scenes with my hands. Later, I discovered that talking with my hands, which I'd done since elementary school, was progressively getting in the way of my communicating to people I thought I was making myself more clear, when in fact I was pulling their gaze, causing them to become so distracted they didn't hear the words I was using.

There is a form of public speech problem called "prowling." You can see even very experienced speakers do it, in university lectures or Ted Talks online. The speaker walks back and forth across the stage, back and forth, back and forth. A prowler will argue, I'm moving so that I can talk to everyone. A prowler will argue, "I'm demonstrating that I really care about the subject." What they don't understand is that prowling is mesmerising. It's like watching a pendulum swing back and forth, back and forth. A really good listener will focus on the spoken words, but half the audience just drifts out.

I learned in my more serious acting period, performing at the Edmonton Fringe Festival and auditioning for film, that the very best way to communicate is to have your body be absolutely frozen except for your facial expressions. Humans relate to a speaker entirely because of their facial expressions. We're programmed to read the tiny muscle patterns of others; we're hyper-tuned to the tiniest of facial movements. Waving our arms around, or moving our bodies, just spoils our potential impact, because it pulls our face out of our audience's reach. If Simon Sinek prowls across to stage left, for all of that time I can't see what his face is doing while he's talking. If he's shaking his body to make his point more emotionally, he makes his facial muscles shake and we lose the connection we'd have gotten if he wasn't moving.

There's no reason you can't walk while you think, or walk miles outdoors if it helps you think clearly. I used to walk and do that, but I find these days that a shower is more efficient; I suspect there's a thing about the change in body temperature and some sort of sensory deprivation caused by the water beating on my skin ... but it doesn't matter. Do whatever helps you think. But D&D is a performance. If you want to rivet your players, don't move. Emote and speak. Compare this excellent scene between two very different actors in one of my favourite films:

https://youtu.be/49_QRU7NSYs?si=AfIzGBwtLXlMnA3y

Watch Olivier's apparent lack of expression, which lets every tiny tick produce an emotional impact. Watch how intensely still that both he and Sybil Thorndike both remain, though she occasionally flips her head, which makes them both riveting. The glass in her hand doesn't move. Olivier directed this, and he practically beat Monroe with a stick to get her to stand absolutely still. She still bobs around, but it's done so mutedly it's hard to believe she's the same actress as she is in other films.

Obviously, not everyone is an actor, or wants to be. D&D is just a game, played with just your friends. You don't have to go to this extent. You certainly don't have to reproduce the style of Olivier! But a little consciousness, moving a little slower, being a little more still, will have tremendous impact on the witness.

_____

Thank you Maxwell.

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