#AprilTTRPGMaker 30: Top Tips and Advice

#30: Top Tips and Advice

In getting to role-playing games/a new system: Just dive into it. Experience is your best teacher in learning how a game plays. Reviews can help, but ultimately be aware that everyone has their own reasons for gaming. I've often seen games I love dissed by people whose reasons for hating it are the features I actually love. So form your own opinions on games by trying them.

In running a game: Remember you too deserve to have fun.  For some strange reason, many people think the GM is beholden to make things fun for the players... and yet it doesn't go both ways. People who GM aren't doing the players a service! They're also there to have fun. So if you find yourself in a group that seems to expect you to do whatever they want as if you were obligated to make them feel good, get out. That's not a healthy gaming group. That's more like an abusive relationship. You're all investing time to enjoy each other's company and have a fantastic narrative in the process.

In playing a game: Share the Spotlight, Trust the GM.  Remember that you're all investing hours of your time to play together. Doing stuff, "Just to see what happens" or "Only because my character would do so," are actually very self-focused choices and usually lead to the other players getting annoyed or frustrated. Don't be a fun killer. Consider how your choices can make the game fun for all. Weigh when to let others handle a scene. In any ensemble show or movie, other characters let others have their moment. Learn to do that too. And finally, know that the GM is also playing with you guys in this game. While some GMs do still think they're just meant to "kill the PCs when they can,"  the really good ones understand the game is intended to also be worth the hours you've all invested into it. So when you're with a GM who might throw unexpected twists in the story, trust them and see where they can lead. Running away from the "plot" rarely makes for a more interesting game.

In getting stuff published:  Write it. Finish it. And release it.  Your first work might be terrible. Hey, most are anyway. But write and get stuff out. Stop worrying about ideas being stolen. There are millions of ideas and barely 5% of them are original. But how you present them or explore them is where the uniqueness can shine. Get your work out there!  Your audience will find you. But they only will if you give them a means to look for you.

From https://twitter.com/Kiranansi

I challenge ye, my dear fellow game makers, to answer my questions, on the corresponding day, this burgeoning April, and verily it shall be that ye shall be inspired by all makers around you and in this beautiful world henceforth. #AprilTTRPGMaker