It's time for the week three compilation of my responses to the RPGaDay 2025 challenge! This post includes additional commentary that won't fit into the confines of social media. That commentary is in italics. For background information on RPGaDay, refer to my introductory post. To see my responses to the daily prompts on the day of, see the dedicated RPG.net forum thread, Mastodon, and Bluesky.
Day 11: Flavor
Folks prefer organic over boxed text. Working details into the flow of the game is fresher than reading novel excerpts at glassy eyed players. Cook flavor into play.
Remember boxed text in classic AD&D adventure modules? Remember enjoying boxed text in classic AD&D adventure modules? I don't. Reading boxed text and having boxed text read at me was an excruciating experience. Especially when the module designer got cute and included some key detail at the very end. The kind of detail that would've been the first thing anybody on the scene would've noticed.
A far better way of conveying flavor to the players is for them to interact with it. Short, punchy descriptions that they can act on in the moment. Clear communication in the gamemaster's own voice beats droning through something that somebody else wrote.
Day 12: Path
I discuss the path forward with our group. Where we think the current campaign is headed. The games we're interested in playing later. Ideas for what to do next. Talking about the path ahead maintains interest and generates enthusiasm.
I've learned - through painful experience on both sides of the gamemaster's screen - to value transparency when talking about the games we play. Clear communication sets expectations. It lets participants know what's next, what's around the corner, and what's down the road. It's difficult to get folks to buy into something without a back and forth on what that thing is.
Day 13: Darkness
Darkness - the absence of light - symbolizes depression, a lack of enlightenment, and evil. Let's subvert that! Darkness is a good place to hide, be left alone, or find quiet. A somber tone need not characterize those who are in it.
Equating darkness with serious mental struggles, ignorance, and the enemies of good has unfortunate implications. Emphasizing the positive aspects of darkness flips that narrative on its head.
Day 14: Mystery
How I run a mystery is informed by GUMSHOE. Players ask questions? They get answers. Players need to know something to move the game forward? They get what they need to know. Moving the mystery along is better than watching it grind to a halt.
I talk about GUMSHOE elsewhere on this blog. In fact, I wouldn't shut up about it for awhile. It's a system I really need to get back to running.
Day 15: Deceive
As a gamemaster, I don't deceive players about meta stuff like the campaign premise. The old switcheroo easily goes bad. In game? Things like NPCs lying through their teeth (or equivalent) to the player characters is fair and expected.
There's a difference between one participation lying to another at the table and a gamemaster-controlled character deceiving player characters within the context of the game. Folks who showed up expecting one kind of game may not welcome something completely different. And this honesty needs to go both ways. A player who promises to engage with the premise and fails to do so should expect to get called out.
On the other hand, players and player characters aren't exactly shocked when NPCs to try to deceive them. It's accepted and expected behavior.
Day 16: Overcome
There are many things to overcome to get a game together. Rules. Character generation. Adventure creation. Campaign management. But the biggest challenge to overcome is scheduling. Somebody needs to write a guide.
Going through a core rulebook to gain enough system mastery to guide players through character creation and play is a time consuming process. Absorbing the setting information needed to write adventures and come up with campaigns is also a pain in the rear. It's less reading for pleasure and more like academic study. I have to take notes and review them. Test time comes when our group is sitting around the table.
On scheduling, with all the "how to play" articles and videos out there, I'm surprised "how to handle scheduling for your TTRPG game" isn't its own sub-genre of TTRPG advice by now. There's a clear need for it.
Day 17: Renew
Everybody's got to refresh, renew, recharge. Long campaigns. Repetitive play. Grindy mechanics. Take a break. Try a new game. Reconnect with the source material by consuming genre content. Take a walk. Touch grass.
I'm not fond of "touch grass" as a saying, but it is important to go outside, move around, and stop to smell the roses from time to time. Putting a long campaign on hold for a palette cleansing run through another system or genre can help to maintain interest in gaming over the long term. When I start running out of juice as a gamemaster, I put away the game materials and either read a book on a non-gaming topic, watch a movie or TV show, or play a video game. It's a good break and can spark creativity.
No comments:
Post a Comment