I'm sure you've seen games fall apart because a GM lost interest in his story, maybe the setting in general, or even what the players were doing versus his or her original plans. As a player, this is very frustrating and hard to deal with. Sure, you can talk with your GM, but that's rarely enough to keep the spark lit in them. Sometimes a bit more is required, and when players step up to the plate it can really impress and inspire some GMs, even if their game isn't on the brink of being cancelled.
I separate these kinds of acts into two smaller categories - Active and Passive. Both work, and in very different ways to help any GM in subtle and interesting ways. It also is very dependent on how your GM runs things. If s/he prefers to plan everything out, passively helping is probably best bet. If your GM does his or her fair share of improv, active helping might be the route to go.
To elaborate, helping your GM in an Active fashion is making things, people, and places up in game, usually without warning your GM, and seeing if s/he runs with it. A good example would be a well-seasoned traveler. The traveler goes into town with his friends, and alerts them of an old acquaintance who might still reside here. It's a really neat way to help build your world with your players, and allows the GM to remain in control without worrying about them mucking up his intended theme or setting. As a GM, you can not have him find his friend, as the town might have been sacked, burned, and rebuilt in the time the traveler has last been here. Or you can have him find his friend, and talk of old adventures and travels, making up new lore as the conversation goes on. Either way, the player is actively making new things for the players and GM to explore.
Now we get to Passive helping. Passive helping is usually out of game stuff, like keeping a journal your character might have, and writing out your travels. Maybe keeping a map of the world, marking cities, towns, landmarks and other things of interest. This can kick a GM into action, making him or her want to add that much more detail to the world you're all in. Without players who ask questions, GMs might stop caring about the little stuff and move on. If that's not what you care about, that's fine and you shouldn't need to worry about it, but if you want to get immersed and really get into a setting, some sort of real connection, like an adventuring kit that changes over time, might not be a bad idea.
I know this is generally a place to post about GMing advice, and although this is mostly player based GMs can learn from it too. By encouraging your players to do things like this, it can in-turn encourage you to make your worlds and people that much more interesting and alive. Just because the GM makes up the world doesn't mean you can't add to it in subtle ways.
How will you influence your world?
Taylor Shuss
