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00:00:01
So You Wanna Play an RPG
20 Plays2 months ago
What's more exciting - and daunting - than a group of friends coming together to dive into the world of RPGs together? Daryl, Nick, & Robert discuss helpful tips and steps for new players seeking to start a game group. And, along the way, they also come up with an idea for a challenge within the How We Roll Gaming group.
Sorry...Daryl couldn't find his copy of the "session zero questionnaire" he mentioned, let alone the link to it.
https://howwerollgaming.com
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Transcript
Introduction to How We Roll Gaming Podcast
00:00:01
Speaker
How We Roll Gaming is dedicated to spreading enjoyment of great role-playing games. We hope to bring you insights into games you may not have played, tips to be a better game master of player, and share stories of momentous events at our tables. Every game is a new story to tell. um darrel I'm I'm Nick. And here's Robert. And this is How We Roll.
Meet the Hosts and Recap
00:00:26
Speaker
Welcome back to the How We Roll gaming podcast. this As always, this is Darryl. This is Nick. And here's Robert.
How to Start an RPG Group
00:00:35
Speaker
Last time we talked about adding new people to an existing group. And as part of that conversation, there's the idea too of groups that start off with a complete crop of brand new players, a group of people who come together and say,
00:00:55
Speaker
We want to play an RPG. And so how do you get a group like that off the ground? Well, we're approaching this from the perspective of a group that consists entirely, or at least mostly you might have some veteran players in the mix of brand new players. And also the idea of aspiring GMs who haven't found their players yet as well.
00:01:21
Speaker
Right. And if you are a brand new player and you found our podcast to help you on your journey, a hearty, hearty welcome to you all. And thank you for listening. Yes. We're glad to have all of you and aspiring GM said want to introduce players that may not be in your friend group or in your friend group. Welcome as well as we try to explain how to put that together. All right.
00:01:51
Speaker
And we're going to dive right in.
Choosing the Right RPG System
00:01:53
Speaker
The very first thing to do, and this sounds like a no-brainer, is to pick a system. ah Now, is there a specific system that's calling you? um I know a lot of people will gravitate to D and&D because there's name recognition. A lot of people came into RPGs, and D and&D specifically through Stranger Things a few years ago. ah The kids would play stranger or would play D and&D on Stranger Things and people were like, hey, that looks like fun. I want to play it. And it is also just in the popular zeitgeist, even in groups that you wouldn't expect. And those same groups that may figure out there's more than one system. I thought there was only one. It's all I hear about.
00:02:48
Speaker
Right, and that's kind of the next point on this is instead of a specific game, are you looking more for a vibe?
00:02:59
Speaker
And there's almost certainly a game to fit the vibe that you're looking for. There are tons of RPGs out there. There's science fiction. There's horror. There's ah there's other fantasy RPGs. They range all ages. There's- There's goofy RPG, like Epic Brigade.
00:03:21
Speaker
Havoc Brigade, or Everyone is John. Or hardcore horror stuff like Call of Cthulhu, Alien. Warhammer 40k, grim dark. And they they run the gamut of original settings to licensed IPs.
Understanding Game Vibes and Interests
00:03:40
Speaker
We already mentioned Alien, Star Wars, ah Star Trek. Marvel, DC.
00:03:47
Speaker
Walking Dead, yeah Delta Green, Call of Cthulhu. Technically, Call of Cthulhu isn't a licensed IP because it's in public domain, or a lot of it is in public domain. But yeah, it's building on an existing IP. It's building off of Lovecraft specifically. And part of that too, when you're looking at a vibe, are you looking for more for action or for story?
00:04:17
Speaker
or a mix of it. There's lots of things that you can look for when you're looking for that vibe. Yeah, like we ask, are you a role player or a role player? Yes. um And to explain that more ah efficiently, it's like, are you looking to big characters that are like hitting hard, striking down like Hobgoblin in a single thing, doing heavy damage to a dragon with a magic missile?
00:04:46
Speaker
Or are you okay with like spending a good couple hours talking with nobles and getting involved with like court intrigue? Or do you want a mix of all of that? Do you want that series that has the intrigue and the character development and the long scenes of quote unquote talking heads, not the band.
00:05:16
Speaker
And along with that, you have the the big fight scenes, the big action set pieces. ah you know you have There's plenty of examples of that in entertainment media. you Game of Thrones is a great example. It's fantasy and it has magic and it has dragons. And there's lots of scenes of people just talking and wheeling and dealing and backstabbing.
00:05:45
Speaker
But there's also scenes of huge like sword fights and massive battles and dragons are sort of swooping down over armies. Right. So are, what are you looking for there? Are you looking for action story mix? You're going to find something that caters to that. And definitely ask your players, are you okay with some sessions? It's just one big, huge combat round. Or are they okay with going an entire session without rolling a single piece of dice?
Game Mechanics: Storytelling vs Combat
00:06:15
Speaker
Part of that, too, answering that question comes down to this very same pick a system point. We're presuming you in our hypothetical new group here that it's a group of people that's come together and said, we want to play an RPG because it looks fun. So you're figuring out what do we want to play, and you're picking a system that's tailored to that. For instance, D and&D.
00:06:44
Speaker
we We mentioned that you know D and&D is the 800 pound gorilla. D and&D is the one that people know that it's got the brand recognition. You can find it at your at your at your bookstore. You can find you can find it at Barnes and Noble. I was about to say that too. Yeah, you can find it at Barnes and Noble. You don't have to seek out a game store like you do for most RPGs. You can find it at ah at a half price ah his books, a different edition of it, but similar concept. I've seen it in toy stores. Yeah. The thing is, the thing is now despite the fact that yes, you can get good dramatic scenes out of it. Let's be honest, the mechanics of the system lean very heavily towards combat. this Is this true? standard Standard XP advancement in D and&D.
00:07:43
Speaker
leads heavily towards combat. Though I might debut it a little bit. I view it more as a jack of all trades because you can use the die for combat, but can also use it for social settings. It's just the same type of hurdle you have to go through. Oh, you absolutely can. That's what I'm trying to say. You can do it. But if you look back at its origins, spinning off of a tactical miniature board combat game,
00:08:12
Speaker
tabletop combat game, it spun off of of that. yeah And so always at its heart is going to be combat. And that's why there's more quote unquote role players who are like big number in there. But because it is like the progenitor really of traditional RPG games, you can easily pivot to more storytelling as we call it a milestone advancement where characters accomplish goals in the story either personal or storyline based and they achieve levels rather than via combat encounters. It is easy and we were saying that it can be done and it's relatively easy to take that system to take that framework and
00:09:09
Speaker
spin it just a little bit to get that character and R-O-L-E playing out of the system. Like I'm looking beyond my screen here right now and out of the corner of my eye see Animal Adventures. It uses the d20 system but you're playing cute animals on different adventures and they're their medieval type fantasy adventures, but your dogs, your cats, your rats. And again, like part of a system is that systems are made to be explored. You could do, unless it's specifically like franchise, even then there's some leeway, but especially like D and D, do you have an idea for a setting, a plan, a type of story you want to do? Me personally. It could work. like it's
00:10:02
Speaker
When I think of an RPG I want to play, I first think of, OK, what story do we want to tell? And then you go from
RPG Systems Comparison: Focus and Mechanics
00:10:10
Speaker
there. You get the genre. What's it going to mainly consist of? Is it going to be action heavy, story heavy? Is there going to be a lot of fighting? And then that can help you lean in towards the systems that would work better. But if you're starting out, D and&D is like a sandbox. It has settings and ideas for like, quote unquote, canon D and&D.
00:10:33
Speaker
You can just play it how you want to. I know we we keep coming back to Star Wars a lot. Star Wars is our his i backbone. It's our bread and butter. But the best example of how different systems can have different focuses, different vibes, different feels to them, and still be the same setting is Star Wars. Star Wars has gone through depending on how you want to look at it, three or three and a half different iterations under three different publishers. yes The original West End games with their D6 system, it was kind of sandboxy. It was very loose and easy with the dice, but also at that time that it was released in the late 80s,
00:11:26
Speaker
there were fewer RPG systems. And so all of them were one way or another emulating Dungeons and Dragons and how it worked. So you had lots of dice involved, even if they were all D6s.
00:11:42
Speaker
Then the license moved to Wizards of the Coast. They released a system using the then current D and D mechanics, which was... D20. Right. They were using the D20 system and it was very, very crunch and mechanics and combat focused. um In fact, I bought the core rule book and I was trying to convert my D6 character over And just it couldn't be done. There was not a way to approximate what that character was. And then I tried to adapt that into the saga edition, which is the 3.5 is of Star Wars. Right. Like trying to be like, OK, we're going to less crucify it, but over-specialize. Yeah, and I think that's a good point to point out as well with these systems.
00:12:38
Speaker
some can interchange with each other, but like Dale said, some of them are just not going to be compatible. So you got to factor that in as well. My hat is off having listened to stories of voice actor Sam Witwer and his group that have been playing the same Star Wars campaign since high school and have transferred it from one system to another, starting with West End and have transferred it from one system to another as the licenses changed hands and the license and the system has changed. That takes effort and commitment. that's off like well like like His group, like I was glad to meet him and get his autograph when I first met him. He's cool. Once again, we've mentioned the Order 66 podcast before, and he's been on several times. None of us listened to it.
00:13:34
Speaker
No one listens to the Order 66 podcast. Honestly, really. Yeah. Yeah, listening to him talk about it, there was work involved in it, but they were able to successfully translate their characters from West End D6 to Wizards D20 to Wizards Saga and now to Fantasy Flight slash Edge. But yeah, I think I can put an end to our discussion of the Star Wars stuff so that we don't bore them again. Star Wars Fantasy Flight is a system that has three distinct groups, Force and Destiny, Age of Rebellion, and as an empire for different types, but they're all
Managing GM Responsibilities & Rotating Roles
00:14:21
Speaker
the same system. And episode one of of our podcast was about that. So we expound upon that greatly in there. but
00:14:30
Speaker
The vibe of the Fantasy Flight Edge system is much more narrative and story focused. Yes, I can agree with that. And even in the name of the system, it's the narrative dice system. Picking a system might become a little bit harder if you've just heard RPGs are fun and I want to play.
00:14:53
Speaker
And if that's the whole group, then you really have to pick your system. So you all sit down and talk and it kind of goes into the next thing that I had written down for this. And you want everyone on the same page as far as finding a system and a setting.
00:15:10
Speaker
and finding it interesting goes. you know what are you What are you all looking for? What is the play going to be about? Speaking to someone that tried looking for people for a long time, it took me a while to get this group going that we have now. It's a hard sell in RPG game. If you don't know a group of people, like if you're doing like a group that you don't know of each other. Especially, and even with a friend group, it's going to be Okay. You want one thing, but they may weigh on want another thing. This can't be one of those majority rules type of decisions. It's got to be somewhat unanimous or you're going to leave someone out of it. True life story. The way a group like this can potentially come together is I'm a big comics nerd, a big George Perez fan, a new team Titans fan. If I had done that, I would have kicked you out.
00:16:06
Speaker
And no, you delking you would not. I'm joking. But in the mid eighties, there was a DC heroes role playing game that was released. I bought it because the cover was new Teen Titans heavy by George Perez. And as I must have this because I love this man's art and I love this team that the that the introductory box, that the rule box is focused on, gimme gimme. And so I had it, I was looking through it. I continued buying every book that came out for it, but had no one to play it with. And I was talking about it to friends at school and they said, that sounds fun, let's play. So we decided, okay, yeah, we're gonna play DC Heroes.
00:17:04
Speaker
And that branched out, we we played, ah we experimented with a few other systems, mostly tune, which I need to see if I can track down a copy of tune. I think it's out of print, but. I'll say that ties into like how I got my first group of friends in high school into this. Like I had the books because I was originally in a homeschool group and a guy taught me D and D and then He left and like, I became the GM, but then I left homeschool to going to a private school. And I had all this stuff and I was like, I like this lore and this different stuff. And I told my friends about it. It was like, and it' like well, when we mean next have like a, like a friendly, uh, sleepover, we can like try it. Yeah. And the same for me.
00:18:00
Speaker
and the and and And that started, that started, it was like six o'clock at night when they all came over and like, I thought of the rules. Like they made their characters and they're like, guys, can we go to sleep? It's like, no, we're having more fun than we've ever had in our entire lives. We're having too much fun. Go away. And the end was like, guys, it's 6 AM and have we beat the dragon yet?
00:18:24
Speaker
Was it 6am and you must have been lonely? I'm sorry that's 3am, sorry. it six a Is the dragon still up? Yes, it's still up. You guys are like level 6am and you guys both. If you're lucky, someone one in your group maybe the kind of person that, that Nick and I are and that we might be trying to turn Robert into, but I'm not saying we are. I'm not saying we aren't who sees an interesting game at the game store and says, Oh, this looks interesting. I don't know if I'll ever get it on the table, but I want this book. Yeah. That's, that's been me before. That's.
00:19:06
Speaker
Basically what I that's what I did with Legend of the Five Rings. I was like, OK, yeah, that's that's why they say that you are into that. And I am excited that you're into it because I want it because I'm like I'm your your friend and like I want to see what you do with that. I have knowledge of that lore, but like I want to explore that world a bit more. Yeah, and it's just one of those. I've seen this pretty sure Nick and Daryl will never do one themselves. So let's do it.
00:19:35
Speaker
Like honestly, I just don't see it as like how I would run a game, but I would like to play in that scenario and like see how it is. Like maybe it's not my vibe. I don't know yet. I think I'll give it a shot. I played one or two games of it several versions ago with my old West End Star Wars group. Yeah. And liked it, liked it well enough that when I found out Fantasy Flight slash Edge had the license. I started picking up books here and there. And you're you're right, Robert, that I would never run it because of and that's making a perfect segue into our second big point, ye which is who's going to run this thing anyway? The reason I would never run a Legend of the Five Rings game is because I want to play it.
00:20:29
Speaker
Yes. And that is the death of like 90% of role-playing groups. and that That's true. No, no, that's not the, that's not. No, no, no. We know what the killer is and that's later. We're talking about the killer later, but there are a lot of new games that do fall by the wayside because yes, everybody is gung-ho about playing.
00:20:54
Speaker
but everybody is gung-ho about playing. ah Nobody wants to GM because they don't see that as playing. And again, like my story was, is the classic story. I had a DM who parted and then we needed to continue and I took the mantle. That's the quote unquote forever DM curse. You are the DM until you leave and and someone what has to pick up your place. And that definitely ties into what we spoke on episode two of our little podcast moving behind the GM screen. But yeah, had definitely at the beginning, it's definitely got to separate between the people who really want to play, but also the person that really wants to play.
00:21:43
Speaker
but also somewhere in them, they also really want to make the story as well. Cause that's definitely me like legend of the fire rings. Of course I want to play as well, but I'm perfectly content and even, and happy to be the one making the story for everyone else. I think I talked with Darrell, I talked with your son and he said, like you mentioned that your son likes the fallout RPG.
00:22:08
Speaker
that's currently out and I played it at like. he now He played a game at Gamer Nation Con. Yeah, but he doesn't want to run a game, right? Even though he loves that. He had fun with the game, but he doesn't want to be a GM. Yes, he's the one in the house that has the core rulebook. But he doesn't want to run it. And again, that's that's a fair that's a fair feeling. It's like as a.
00:22:38
Speaker
GM, and I think, again, we're all GMs. Yeah, there's always that feeling, like, I would like to play this moment. That is the one stumbling block to me introducing Star Trek Adventures to our group. I like the game. I've played i played first edition, and they just updated to second edition. So I haven't played second edition. I've heard second edition is really good. So have I. I won't mind running it.
00:23:08
Speaker
for all of you if you're interested in playing it at all. I know that I'm probably the biggest Star Trek fan of the group. But at the same time, I kind of want to play it, but I also won't mind running it because I do kind of have an idea for a campaign. All things equal, I will probably toss it out there at some point this year. I want to get, they just released a copy of the second edition starter game. yeah and you know you made you made them about that I saw that have the core rule book, but the starter game just came out within the last week or so. So I need to pick up a copy of the starter game and we we will discuss those further on down the line. Yeah, that sounds good. But yeah, you definitely need to figure out who's going to be running
Creative Benefits of Rotating GM Duties
00:24:00
Speaker
the game. now
00:24:01
Speaker
what One thing that might be agreeable to some members of the group is one person says, hey, I'm willing to start off as the GM, but I would like to hand off to someone one else after a while because I want to play too. Or if multiple people in the group feel particularly comfortable with it and are willing to do so,
00:24:30
Speaker
and want to step up, you might have rotating GM duties. Yeah. There are plenty of stories of groups. It's a sort of, I've called them, called them daisy chains. It was like just one GM takes over some cousins and another one and another one. That same DC heroes campaign that I started in high school. We started off of course with me as the GM because I had the books.
00:24:59
Speaker
a few other, one or two other players came forward and said, you know what? I have no problem running the game. I want to run it because i we we were relative newbies to gia to RPGs. yeah And I had that whole, well, I'll run it because I'm really the only one who can, but I want to play. So we had a GM PC who when the other,
00:25:27
Speaker
he was not God mode. In fact, he had the biggest glass jaw of the entire team. okay okay years he he He got knocked out really quickly every to the point that I started getting frustrated that he was knocked out so quickly. and When I had enough points to buy a new power, I bought him a healing factor. Fair fair enough.
00:25:57
Speaker
Because he he he was a light-based character. He didn't really have much in the way of strength. He he generated light. um He could fire energy blasts that were, quote unquote, focused light. He generated a glow, all of that. And in a twist on using the light-based powers, he could use that to turn invisible. OK, now you just have me thinking of Dr. Light. Yeah. Yeah.
00:26:26
Speaker
That's kind of Dr. Light. Yeah. You're just making me think. it my monday it might we're not go talk about one dog light it this both Dr. Light was, was kind of a joke in New Teen Titans at the time. And so he, he was, he had hardly any, any game at all. So yeah my character spotlight had more to him, but since he didn't have much in the way of of physicality.
00:26:55
Speaker
one hit would knock him out. Yeah. That's, that's good that you were willing, that someone was willing to like trade with you. And it can be a interesting concept because now it's something that's popped in my head is like, okay, you make this story about how a rotating GM could work and even be even more fun is that one GM makes a story, starts it after that session, doesn't plan anything, hands it off to the next person who builds on that story in their own way.
00:27:23
Speaker
Oh, like round, round Robert. Yep. Challenge accepted. We're going to do this sometime. Probably at some point, but like currently both me and, uh, there on Robert, we're running co-TM campaigns. Two ads are better than one. One was because we have a, had a larger player base, but larger player character pool. And the other one was like, we came up with the story together.
00:27:52
Speaker
And we, ah we just didn't feel good. One of us running into the other one playing in once we knew the entire synopsis of the story. And then that's totally fair. That's totally fair. There's no rules on how to be a GM. Except for, for one rule, uh, don't be a dick. Basically. Yes. yeah And then the round robin thing where we three are not doing it.
00:28:20
Speaker
explicitly, but we're kind of doing a version of it with our Delta green since they're a liar flip flopping one shots and you have to work it into your campaign, Nick. Yeah, I think that's kind of been your brand robbing with each other. I have the yeah overview. I have the work with what you guys do. I think we need to go full DC challenge here.
00:28:43
Speaker
Nick gets that reference. Robert probably doesn't. Absolutely not. So in 85, as part of DC Comics 50th anniversary celebration, in addition to the grand continuity changing crisis on Infinite Earths, they also released a 12 part mini series called DC Challenge. Yep. It had 11 writer artist teams and the rules of DC Challenge were The writer of say issue one would establish some characters and some plot lines and would end the issue on a cliffhanger
00:29:21
Speaker
that the writer artist team of issue two had to pick up. And now they could resolve some of the other storylines and introduce their own. And then they can resolve it like, ah like just like immediately solve the cliffhanger in like one panel and be like, okay, here's my story now. Yeah. But then they were required to end on a cliffhanger.
00:29:48
Speaker
that the next team had to pick up and so on and so on and so on. And then we we could skip this part. They got to issue 12, the big double-sized conclusion. And all of the 11 writer artist teams came together for a jam issue that tied everything up that was still floating around. Oh, it's kind of awesome. You have my attention. It's kind of what we're kind of working with it. but like Outside of context, it makes no sense now. But yes, as you said, Gerald, maybe late maybe in the future, challenge accepted. Yes. because still they I feel we can work with that. I declare here and now oh as one of the rules of this. like if If I start off and I do session one, and let's say I do i do alien, grab I leave it on a cliffhanger.
00:30:48
Speaker
And Robert does session two. The system does not have to be alien. Oh. Oh, he's getting wild here. You could then jump into D and&D or so another Delta Green. Or Star Wars. Yeah. Or I'm dropping the gauntlet. Someone, actually, I might start off with paranoia.
00:31:16
Speaker
oh Yeah, that'd be the best, because one, I'm not familiar with that system, so I wouldn't be able to do it anyway. ah like Paranoia is fun. You'll have fun when we play it. I'm planning on doing a one-shot here or there three during the year. Oreck, you could go from aliens to everyone as John. Let's put a pin on this, because I actually think we should have like a fun discussion in the future like for like eighty for the whole group as a whole month-long event.
00:31:48
Speaker
Yes, that that could be quite fun. Anyone else in the group who wants to GM a session? They'll have one session. Can join in on it. And yeah, this is going to be fun. But we are getting off topic. Yeah, off topic. But as we just showed, a little microcosm of how rotating GMs can work and just how it gets you excited. And how inspiration can come from anywhere. ready much Yes.
00:32:18
Speaker
You do need to figure out who's going to run the game. And who knows? There might be someone in the group who really, really wants to run it. It could be that person who came to the rest of their friends and said, hey, let's play insert system here. I think you would really like it. Which is. Oh, just be like, they like, oh, I was listening to this YouTuber. And it's like.
00:32:46
Speaker
They talk about like took this game is role-playing game stuff. It's like, maybe we can try that. Or I bought this, or I bought this book on a whim read through it. I really liked it. I want to mention that as a disclaimer, the hobby of role-playing games is not cheap. I have seen some, some RPG aficionados who would disagree with you. It all depends on going back to the last point, what system you pick.
00:33:16
Speaker
exactly Havoc Brigade is not necessarily designed for a campaign, but it was 10 bucks and that's everything. Well, at the same time, D&D books have gotten a little more expensive. D and&D is 50 bucks a pop. But have a great deal of material that could last you decades, depending on your imagination and creativity. There's a very realistic element to D and&D being more, being a broader system in that, in addition to official Wizards of the Coast content, there is plenty.
00:34:02
Speaker
There's a vast online community and there is plenty of third party content, both online and in physical copy. for a range of prices anywhere from free to comparable to wizards. Same thing with other systems, depending on popularity, that's that's ah just a Google away. Exactly. Say what you will. I was kind of lightly talking bad about D and&D's D20 system, but the
00:34:39
Speaker
open gaming license that is still in effect allows a variety of people to make, publish, and sell content that is fully compatible with D and&D. So Wizards of the Coast doesn't have something that quite fits what you're looking for in D and&D. Somebody else might. And you just got to go find it. Yep. You just say go.
00:35:06
Speaker
like i for I forget Nick was the. ah The whole Eberron series, was that a game license or that was this this mistake? That was actually a they had a whole sweepstakes for like a new setting and Keith Baker won that. That dude's got imagination in spades. Oh, he and he was going to give like there were thousands of entries. Yeah, and like you said, once Nick it's him winning just makes you want to think what it What did second and third place have in mind? Honestly, like i I would have loved like, can we publish like the, at least the top 10, the top 20. There's gotta be some winners in there. I imagine like there's thousands of like losers in there. Like that like really bad, like really bad. Anything else that we want to touch on about
00:36:02
Speaker
figuring out who's going to GM the game before we move on. I think we're good with that. I would say at least a good rule of thumb. Don't like out someone or like take a vote on who plays because that can lead to some emotions. If someone doesn't want to play it, you vote that they have to be the GM. Honestly, it should be a chosen role like it really come with someone that like i A GM should volunteer, a GM should not be voluntold. Exactly. yeah I volunteered when my DM left because there was no one else that wanted to take it. and Honestly, like as much as it sounds like it's a thankless task,
00:36:51
Speaker
it's should be taken by someone who wants to like, feel like they're telling a story that they're exploring the world. It's like, it's not thankless. It just has a lot of responsibility. Yeah. But the but your, but your fulfillment comes from your players enjoying what you're showing them. And just a reminder word for the wise to prospective GMs out there, even though your crafting the framework of the story, RPGs are still a collaborative medium. like a lot of selling The players are not actors acting out a story that you have written every line to. You are providing them with a framework within which they will improvise. yeah Exactly. And if you want a more deep dive into that, just go back to episode two. Yeah.
00:37:48
Speaker
Yep. And we'll probably get into that even further in throughout the past. Probably. Yeah, definitely.
Importance of Session Zero
00:37:55
Speaker
And so that takes us then to our next big point, which is to familiarize yourself with the rules, which is a lot of people would say like, wait, it's, doesn't that be rule part one? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, because well, you can't familiarize yourself with the rules of a system that you haven't picked yet.
00:38:18
Speaker
Exactly. And you want to know you got the right system before you dive into that core rule book. Right. Because that's also a investment of money. And time. And time. You also want to know who's going to be playing and who's going to be running, because depending on the system, that might be a different book for you to look at. ah The classic being D and&D has the player's guide and the GM's guide or the DM's guide. Sorry. Are split apart. Yes. So the DM or GM will read their appropriate book to learn how to craft the stories and adjudicate decisions and roles and so forth. Or have extra books like for puzzles, environments, monster manuals.
00:39:14
Speaker
while the players will have the player's handbook where they see their options on how to make their characters. They see how they're going to play the game and interact with the world. And a lot more systems have, it's gotten kind of even these days. I know in the old days, in the old days Back when we rode dinosaurs to the bookstore to buy our RPGs, it wasn't the exact same. How's your Triceratops doing, Daryl? He's dead. Thanks, Nick. Oh, I gave him a bone. Back in the earlier days of RPGs, it was very common that there would be a core box. D and&D did it. Star Frontiers did it. DC Heroes did it.
00:40:09
Speaker
um I believe TSR's Marvel Super Heroes did it. Yeah, they did it. I have a group with that. and That box included what is now today often split into a player's book and a GM's book. But it included those books in the box and they weren't nearly as thick as they are and most of them were paperback stable bound and that's fine.
00:40:39
Speaker
I knew that's what the industry was at the time. It was back in the day. You would get that. So for our DC Heroes game, I was able to pull the GM's book out and I could hand the player's manual to the players. That's kind of, some of that still exists now. After walking up back to school both ways in the snow. Uphill, yes. And to rain.
00:41:08
Speaker
And now you'll see one of two things in the industry these days. And most of the people listening probably know this, but for those new players that we're hoping are listening, what you'll see is you might see the D and&D model where you have two separate books that are at an equivalent price point, everything else in the line.
00:41:35
Speaker
that one is geared towards GMs, one is geared towards players. Yep. The flip side of that is you'll have a system like Alien or Walking Dead or the various Star Wars lines where there is a single core rule book that has the mechanics listed out and it will have a section for GMs and a section for players. Yeah. And generally speaking, those are a little higher cost than the other books in the line. But it the idea is one book can get everyone started. Yeah. And then you usually get the supplemental books that basically do both. They'll just say the new player types and then
00:42:27
Speaker
how to add this into the existing story. Or have to explicitly like, here's new player type stuff, new gear, new equipment, and then a book that look for the game master GM, where it's like, here's new antagonist types, here's new like rules, equipment, and- Here's a new setting. It's most important for the GM to familiarize themselves with the rules.
00:42:55
Speaker
because they're going to be the ones leading the Arbiter. They're the Arbiter. They're going to adjudicate any roles, any conflicts within the game, be it players versus NPCs, or sometimes players versus players. PC versus PC. It's a whole whole can of worms. The biggest hurdle that I see to new GMs, especially when it's a brand new player in a brand new group of players is they're worried that they won't know enough to be able to run the game effectively for their players. You don't have to memorize the book backwards and forwards. Exactly. Honestly, that's the biggest. No matter how much you want to enforce rules, there's no one enforcing rules on you. So there's no one going to, like, especially if you have new players.
00:43:55
Speaker
No one's going to like tap you and be like, you did that wrong. You did that wrong. Turn over the book, you're done. And if you do, that's called a rules lawyer, which is another type of bad thing. Rules lawyers should be disbarred. Or at least are they on the opposite side of the GM screen? They don't have the have a say. Unless you agree with them. So yeah, definitely you don't have to know the thing front and back.
00:44:25
Speaker
It's just a good mix of you. You know how it most of the normal stuff will work. But you are definitely going to have to sometimes pick up that book and say OK, let me see how that works or let something slide because it or let something slide because either you don't know it or. Everyone's really, really hyped about that. You guys know I like to abide by the rule of cool in my games.
00:44:49
Speaker
Yeah, I do. I do. Let's let some like some role slide that probably wouldn't would be like rule lawyered back and that was cool. Let it happen. And like we three have always said we've done before sometimes. The core rule book or the system will have rules and we're like. Yeah, I don't want to do that rule or that rule is dumb like Daryl's famous.
00:45:17
Speaker
Skating tirade rule. He doesn't like the core rule book, Skating Tirade. That's me. That's me and Darrell. We worked out that for for a good couple of years, but like we finally came to the realization that yeah, it took us a while to get there. My big advice to a GM along the lines of this is the same thing that I tell new hires when we're teaching them to troubleshoot and work with customers over the phone.
00:45:48
Speaker
you're going to get a lot of information in training. In the GM's case, you're going to get a lot of information reading the rule book. We don't expect you to come out of training or reading the rule book, knowing everything.
00:46:05
Speaker
We expect you to come out of training having a sense of what the right answer is and to know how to locate the right answer if you don't know it. yeah oddly death That's the best advice because al it I've had time to read all the rule books. I'll admit I haven't read all of them. Cover the cover. You keep adding on to it. Of course you won't.
00:46:31
Speaker
I know, but I know where they are. I know where like, so if I Nick, okay, this happened. This is where I need to look. I look at that place and like, okay, do I agree with that? That's that conflict of any rule that I've done before. We're human. We can't just like, we're on computers. We aren't like advocating like on direct rules. And also we're telling a story, not, not a computer game.
00:46:59
Speaker
Yeah, and like my team lead says it work. Okay, if you don't know something, check your resources. Make sure you you've got it, and then you can apply it. And just like we tell GMs, you don't have to know the whole thing in and out. Same mindset for the players of that GM. He doesn't know it inside and out. give You ah need to give him some grace, just like you don't know the game inside and out.
00:47:26
Speaker
Exactly. Yeah. That's like, that's a great example. It was like when players like do something you don't expect, it's like some players like I want to use this skill for this check, but it's like, that's not usually how you do that. Anything that stops me from doing that. I'll check. Oh, it'd be like, well, there isn't. Let's see how that goes. Yeah, exactly. Or you have to get clarification on the role. Like it's.
00:47:56
Speaker
It's written out like this, so does that mean this can happen? And do you have to make that decision if, if everyone in the room isn't clear? Yep. Because like a proper GM is never a rules lawyer. They are if and or but. My favorite RPG rule books are the ones that right up at up front at the beginning say this book is a guideline. Yes, I love those books.
00:48:26
Speaker
This book is the guideline. Do what works for your group. Yes, and that brings into, you know, the rules, but like all of us, sometimes we want to add our own rules or house rules. You don't have to follow the book front and back. Not to be less, but there's no book is gospel. There's no canon. No. Yes, there is. The EU is the only canon.
00:48:50
Speaker
No, sorry. No. Excommunicate them. Also, learning the rules and familiarizing yourself with them is necessary for everybody. If you're a group of entirely new players, it is perfectly fine. And we've been kind of circling around this point for the past few minutes. It's perfectly fine for everyone to learn of along the way, GM and players alike. Yeah.
00:49:21
Speaker
A lot of game publishers are facilitating this kind of learning by publishing starter games or beginner games. And adventure modules, adventure books. But starter games and beginner games are a kind of different animal yeah to that. Yeah, more springboards into the broader story. More recent, more recent as a development in terms like to get people to In general, they're more streamlined than even an adventure module. And they're designed to teach aspects along the way. They're like the tutorial at the beginning of a video game. Yeah. It's like, OK, you're going to do this now because this is a core element of the game. And they have pre-made characters with pre-made roles that aren't yeah exactly how you would make a player character. but
00:50:19
Speaker
Yeah, they're basically those presets you see in video games where you make your character. There are presets already made. yeah And starter and beginner games are great for this communal learning of a system. And a lot of systems now offer one right away.
00:50:37
Speaker
with the launch of a core rule book, others released. so i That was never come out before. Some of them come out slightly after. And some of them come out much, much later. I'm looking at you, Marvel multiverse. You made that note. I did make that note because I'm calling out, come on, Entertainment, because the game found pre-order was almost a year ago, and it was supposed to ship in November, and we're still waiting. Oh, I'll call out The Force Awakens begin again. Well, that that was Lucasfilm. That was an FFG. I know, but still, like it came out two years after the game came out. It came out after the movie The Force Awakens was available and had been out for a while on home video.
00:51:33
Speaker
But that that's a whole Lucasfilm can of worms. It would have been great corporate synergy. But yeah, I could go off on a whole tangent that would probably take an episode on the things that I have learned about the Star Wars RPG license and how it works with Lucasfilm. And we're not going to do that in this episode. nop That can be a special Darryl Dives episode. No.
00:52:01
Speaker
No, because I wouldn't want to run the risk that someone from Lucasfilm might chance upon this and somehow transfer my opinions having heard things from people involved with the RPG and bring it down on Edge Studio.
00:52:20
Speaker
so Oh, you're right. Yeah, the mouse will get you. OK. Yes. Yes, the mouse will come in to my house and. Friends even hang out with Star Wars explained. Yeah, the the mouse would come in and put a bag over my head and drag me out in the middle of the night. i was So it is always rigged for the start. Anything else I'm familiarizing with the rules? ah No, no, I think we got a pretty good.
00:52:49
Speaker
Yeah, ready to go to rip of it. Let's go the four. All right, number four. You want to get together for a session zero. This is non negotiable. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You you do that zero before you get to one. Even if you call the one, it's zero because ninety eight point nine percent of bad bad RPG stories is because there was no session zero. So even if you call it says that one, it is.
00:53:15
Speaker
sets a zero. Every first like get together is sets a zero. So pay attention to people. If you are a new player, if you are brand new to RPGs and especially your entire group is brand new to RPGs, what a session zero is, it's an introductory session where the entire group sits down together. You outline what the campaign is going to be about. What is the game? The game, the system? Yeah, the game, the system. Here is the tone of the game. Here is the general, yeah the back dust jacket of a novel yeah and of what our story is going to be. And you also ask, OK, everyone, what do you want to see in the game? Yes. And especially what don't you want to see in the game?
00:54:09
Speaker
We got your your positives, your negatives. You want to know what to expect. Definitely set expectations both for the players and for the GM. And i so it's been years since I've used it, but it was a great tool. And if I can find the link to it, I'll put it in the notes for the episode. But I stumbled across years ago, there is an actual paper questionnaire. Yeah.
00:54:39
Speaker
that had things like, what do you expect from the game? What don't you want to see in the game? On a scale of one to 10, how much do you want to deal with story? On a scale of one to 10, how focused are you on combat? That kind of thing. Again, for the internal, that should be what you're asking. The group should ring up, especially. Because if you don't have that, then you don't even have the base of how the GM and the players can build the story. Right. yeah And now I personally recommend doing a session zero much sooner rather than later. Think about the general excitement in a kind of scenario that we've been talking about all along. You have a group of people, most of whom know one another, and they've decided
00:55:28
Speaker
We wanna play an RPG. Oh boy, oh boy, let's do it. Let's do it, let's do it, let's do it. The longer you wait to actually hold this session zero, the more the enthusiasm has a chance to wane. I would say that I try to merge, but I am experienced. That's the difference. I try to make session zero a session 0.5.
00:55:52
Speaker
and I've picked that up from you and i exact same Robert has as well. and i so that I feel that works, but it's not a yeah mostly that's because I have a consistent group of players. What I like and what we all do is we do spend probably about half of the time on traditional session zero things, but then rather the and we discussed this in the GM episode.
00:56:21
Speaker
but rather than- Just saying, okay, we'll see you next time. Okay. Yeah, I'll schedule the the first session sometime. Bye-bye. You have kind of a prologue. and Again, i that works for us because we have a consistent group on the fact that we're working on the idea that we are a brand new group. Yeah. The best way I would say it is that- Take as much time as you need And definitely, yeah, definitely schedule it because basically treat it like for all of us avid video game players. How many times is a game studio would say, OK, this is going to be our release date? It gets closer until they say, OK, we're going to bump it six months later. um How many times is your enthusiasm just gone from here to ground level? Basically, it's like, oh, OK. A 4SS at zero if you haven't had experience with players.
00:57:20
Speaker
have session one already, like have like two or three dates already to like propose to them. And well what was that and we're we're talking about that later. The killer is later, Nick. Don't go into the woods yet. Don't go into the dark house alone behind the shed of chainsaws later. Hey, Nick, what's your favorite scary movie? Halloween. Now, if you're going to all learn together and kick off with a starter game,
00:57:50
Speaker
before launching the campaign, that's a great time to learn everybody's expectations for an RPG and what but and if everybody's gonna be a good fit for the group or not. You might all be great friends. You hang out together, you get along great, and you sit down around a game table and you find out that there's six people at the table, including the GM. Five of you are gonna have a lighthearted adventure in the vein of the Dungeons and Dragons Honor Among Thieves movie. And player number six is a murder hobo. Or you have all these happy-go-lucky people. Oh, no. And then you have Sylvester in the dark corner in black and gob, downcast face, murder in his eyes. Yes. Or you have the clown who likes to backflip into areas like, oh, wow, there's some mushrooms I wish to take.
00:58:47
Speaker
I'm gonna eat those mushrooms. Oh, no Or maybe ah a character who sees a big bad evil guy who's a woman in like my lady a Campaign ends right there. Oh, there's a large button. Hmm. What would happen if I Well, honestly, that's the GM's fault that point Did you hear that Nick? He just called you out and he wasn't even there. Oh thing because everyone is going to want to push that button, but the GM issue. You get that feel for if everybody is a fit for this game that you're going to be playing and if every everyone clicks as players, even if they click out of the game. And then when you kick off your actual campaign,
00:59:34
Speaker
you still want to have a dedicated session zero for it. You've played that starter game. Now you know a little better what you're going to expect from the system. You can adjust and set expectations for the campaign proper and agree on- But they don't assume completely because people are people. Well, and that's the rest of my sentence, Nick, which is you can agree on themes and content restrictions for the ongoing campaign, the the yeses and the nos, the red lights and the green lights. Are those yellows in between? Yeah. So you you get all of that ironed out then so that the odds of running into a problem going forward, are let you you lessen the they likelihood of running into that problem going forward.
01:00:32
Speaker
And of course, once you set those restrictions, GM and players alike, follow them. Yes. Don't just say, OK, but later down the line is like, but I want to do this, so I just will. like you You can. no You can course correct, especially if it's like on this paragon of truth and justice, like. And I'm going to steal for this, like, would you do that? It's like, well, I would like to do that. like That was high consequences. We're going to talk about that course correction here in a little. Nick keeps reading ahead, Robert. Well, he's got the script. You got to you got to you got to be like the government. You got to you got to censor some of it. Nick is railroading this. Oh, Nick, we talked about this. Oh, railroading. Have I been metagaming? Yes, you have.
01:01:27
Speaker
So do do we have anything else? i We could probably and probably will devote an entire episode to planning and implementing a session zero. Because it is that important. It is very important. full disccourse We know that we are not unique in the podcast and YouTube arena in being an RPG related show that it's covering what to do in a session zero. We're not claiming to be unique about it.
01:01:57
Speaker
It is that important that that many outlets talk about it. Yes, because how many, for those of you who do watch RPG Horror Stories, how many stories have you heard or read in the sentence, and there was no session zero come up? There are so many. And you hear that phrase, and as an experienced gamer, you say, yeah, that tracks. And heck, little shout out right here,
01:02:26
Speaker
Chris B. Stavrun has a gag running on that now and it still works. Yes. Even before that, that was like on horrid forms of fortune. There was like, it was at a zero. So you think everyone would learn by now, but no, that's why everyone keeps repeating it.
01:02:46
Speaker
Yes. and thats that's why That's why it's such a popular topic. like you got You got to learn that because it's not in the DM manual. and um I'm going to throw this out on the table and the two of you are welcome to say, nope, we need more time to plan for that, but we know what next episode is, but we're still flexible on the one after that on episode six, I say that it is our our manifesto on session zero. I say, I think I can communicate that work. I say we can work with that as well. But I would say this, it has seven asterisks because there is no way to ever create a perfect trick session zero. No, there is not. yeah and If you ever go in with that mindset, you're never going to get it. You'll get the opposite.
01:03:40
Speaker
and I would say like maybe every like year or two years we updated. yep yeah There's a lot to do and there's a lot to learn from assessor zero. you You know what? Write it down somewhere. Our first episode of each calendar year will be session zero updated. Write it down right now on a note. It's only to be written.
01:04:09
Speaker
So let it be done. that That makes perfect sense to do it at the top of the year. I think that without going into our full episode that we'll have in the yeah in about a month on session zero, we've covered everything that we can without falling down the rabbit hole of discussion session zero. So now let's get into the killer. The killer.
Scheduling Challenges in RPGs
01:04:33
Speaker
Schedule, schedule, schedule.
01:04:36
Speaker
the biggest killer of any RPG campaign is scheduling. There is a reason that when the Honor Among Thieves movie came out, there were two jokes that ran all across social media building off of this same theme. The first was the movie should stop in mid-scene and cut to the actors sitting around a table and getting up and saying,
01:05:02
Speaker
Okay, now we need to figure out you know when we're going to come back and finish this. and yeah yeah The other was the movie, the theater should stop the movie right before act three and everyone in that showing had to coordinate a time to come back together and watch act three. but You definitely need to schedule. Before you leave session zero,
01:05:31
Speaker
schedule session one. Definitely. You want to know the exact date you are coming back. And before you leave session one, schedule session two, and so on and so on. Yeah,
01:05:48
Speaker
depending on how close you are to them monthly yeah and yeah yeah that that's the next point that I have down here in the notes. Make sure to take everyone's availability into account. Yes, because our group we're lucky that we all live in the same area. and we There are those groups. I very much have a life. I'm just able to fit this in there. For those of you that have people and I have i probably have their life. But for those of those of you who may have friends in other states or the dreaded other countries, yeah this is mega important.
01:06:28
Speaker
I mean, there's always the potential for scheduling conflicts, but if there is a strong potential for recurring scheduling conflicts, you want to try to work them out. And if they can't be reconciled, you know, if you're planning session two and a player comes to you and says, I can't make that day. Talk to them, talk to the affected players and make sure they call the conversation communication.
01:06:58
Speaker
make sure that they're okay with the rest of the group playing without them. And if if not, then work with the rest of the group to find a time that everyone is available. And if you're you're in with Rebace, we had to have Kyle, he's our Jedi character, and he's been doing Jedi training, but with like less XP than what do you would get for a regular session that you guys would be with you guys. Yeah, or most recently. This week. We were going to schedule something on Saturday, but one of our players said. I can't make that day. Can you reschedule it and we were like, sure. Yeah, that worked perfectly for us, and this isn't just a GM thing. If you're a player and you know you can't make that date, either a.
01:07:52
Speaker
Let your GM know that you're fine with mying missing that session or reach out and say, is there any way you can reschedule this? And yeah, going back to with for basic, sometimes Kyle can make it, but I give him like a session like, okay, for half XP, we do like an hour long, like a remote session online. The major the thing here is.
01:08:19
Speaker
You don't want any of the players to feel like they're disposable. Or like the story is fine without them. Yeah. That some of them is impossible due to this the nature of time and people like. Yeah. Sometimes it's last minute. So like you can't have a good reason why someone's gone. This is what we use the quote unquote.
01:08:46
Speaker
cardboard cutout excuse. Yes, or you have that one player. That's good in the beginning, but then down the line, they basically ghost the group. As we know, wasn' as we know with no show, Michael and people's schedules change. When the campaign starts, they're set. Let's say you're playing every other Saturday, their Saturdays could be free, but they get a new job.
01:09:17
Speaker
And they have to work Saturday with, uh, with, uh, corn and Kyle. He's going to be a horse Sunday base. Or with me on Sundays. Like yeah sometimes I want to eat lunch with my family because that's our, that's usually ours weekend family lunch. To coordinate all of this, make use of any tools that your group has access to.
01:09:42
Speaker
to facilitate the scheduling and the communication between. So with we live in the 21st century. yeah here Yeah, we've got these beautiful things. We got a headphone and a mic, cell phones. We got social media, several social medias, yeah hundreds too many, in my opinion, yeah ah too many, but plenty of ways to connect with people.
01:10:08
Speaker
Social media, Discord, Google Docs and calendars, meetup, whatever works for you and your group, make sure that the communication and the scheduling is flowing. You're not just you know a a group of of people who, you know oh, what once what a month I play this game with these people and I never, ever hear from them. we also in numbers Yeah. You want to keep that, even if it's just about the game, you want to keep that communication flowing so that they all know that the game is still an ongoing thing that it hasn't just been, you know, dropped. This shouldn't be your extended family. You see at the reunion twice, twice a year, you should be at best that
01:11:00
Speaker
at least your pen pals and you get in contact with them. And it was just like one point of contact, but like someone else has a point of contact i think point contact to you, the other point of contact. I do want to throw a disclaimer out here. Go off on little tangents and discuss our group and everything while we're while we're talking and recording. Do not use our stories of our group as a template for scheduling.
01:11:28
Speaker
Yeah, definitely don't. Don't do not. We're a large group. And we've been saying large group. And some might say that we have some problems because we juggle roughly 12 campaigns at any time. We do have some problems because there's some overlap and stuff like that. But you know we we run about 12 campaigns at any given time.
01:11:58
Speaker
plus occasional assorted one shots just because they sound fun. And we do this only playing on weekends. There's no weekday night game sessions. So some of our campaigns are out of necessity, bi-monthly or things like that. Yeah, if you're a new group, definitely just start with one.
01:12:22
Speaker
Start with one. Yeah. Pick one and you play as frequently as you're able. You don't have to make this a weekly thing. It's great when it can be, but it doesn't have to be. Yeah, it could be biweekly, multiweekly, twice a week. It could be anything. I didn't freeze it. that They have made a community that allows for all this. But I'm also a player in some of these multi-games going on.
01:12:52
Speaker
Yep. And I got you. You thought you were going to be a forever GM. Well, I'm able to play. I'm also able to code GM. You can just have like a small group, like your friends or people that are in your, in your, in your local town, town group, like your friend group, you go on all online.
01:13:20
Speaker
You take all of these elements that we've given you you, you take the lessons from them, and then once you start playing, as the Steve Wynwood song says, roll with it, baby. Yeah. Adjust to what every everyone is enjoying, even if you have to make those adjustments on the fly. At the end of the day, it's having fun. Yeah, exactly.
01:13:48
Speaker
head so and It does a lot of effort. It's a lot of work. Yes. But the main thing is, are you having fun? Yeah. Have fun. Have fun. And, and as the GM adjust to that, as the players adjust to what is, is vibing for everybody, uh, you know, it can be a case that you know, the group might start out with a relatively serious dramatic adventure campaign, you know, a Game of Thrones kind of, well, no, Game of Thrones was pretty, pretty serious, but you know, a, you know, your, your basic action adventure kind of thing, but for whatever reason, just because it happens spontaneously, the players lean into the action comedy genre, like Honor Among Thieves.
01:14:40
Speaker
and everybody has fun. and yeah And of course with a group of friends, even if it's serious, you're going to crack jokes because you just want to have fun. And it's absolutely fine. I mean, and and started up quite I kind of feel bad for you because we were discussing this just last weekend.
01:15:03
Speaker
you've tried several times to launch a Star Wars campaign based loosely on the canceled mobile game uprising, Star Wars Uprising. ah yeah over that yeah This last time you it ran longer than it had any ah of the other attempts and we were all having trouble kind of finding our footing and finding the player side hook to it. The storyline was great. Uprising has a good built-in hook, but we were we were kind of shallow as characters because we weren't finding what was making the characters run in this setting. Until one day, yeah one session, we sort of stumbled into
01:16:04
Speaker
basically being the guardians of the galaxy and having that same kind of tone where it's not a straight up comedy, but it's not a straight up drama action either. And it can it can lean into the wacky and it can lean into the serious. And once we get that vibe. I was not prepared for that. So that's where it all fell apart.
01:16:32
Speaker
but But I think one of our best examples of one where we did all adapt to the story is your D and&D campaign, Nick. Yes. Yep. Because you set something up. We went with it a little until we decided, no, we're going to go this direction. And we like you yeah, you weren't like, I know my players. I know probably it's going to happen. So you know what? Let's do it.
01:16:59
Speaker
yeah i did that that That might be my for our next session. We absolutely had Nick wanting us, nearly begging us to zag. And we made a hard zig. Yeah, we were just like. As my as my two year old niece loved to say, um, no.
01:17:25
Speaker
When you have to adjust to to what the players are enjoying, that's a good problem to have because that means they are enjoying something. These whole shifts in tone, there's there's a reason that the cliche exists. There's a cliche saying in the RPGs community that every D and&D campaign starts out as Lord of the Rings and ends up as Monty Python and the Holy Grail. And that is true.
01:17:51
Speaker
And like my finals sounds like a proper GM student role of it. Yes. Your, your story yes is yes. You, you want to tell this story, whether it's like a Epic or a comedy. It's not your story. It's your players. They are in your world. And at the very end, we're good with that.
Flexible Storytelling in RPGs
01:18:21
Speaker
That's storytelling. It's like yeah. And just because Lord of the Rings will end up Monty Python, the Holy Grail. Doesn't mean that it's going to stay there. It can go back to Lord of the Rings at times. There's nothing that's saying it has to go one way and stay that way. Oh yeah, like like Lord of the Rings has like it's like Sam, Sam Frodo interacting with Gollum is like filthy fat hobbits and stuff like that. Also like I was fighting in Mount Doom.
01:18:50
Speaker
And then you have Gimli saying, trust me, don't tell the elf. Right. Which is one of my favorite moments. And then seeing, seeing Gimli say like, and so I would die with someone else. Like what about dying with a friend? ay Yeah. your Your group is basically like those actors in those stories. They have their serious moments. And you turn off the camera, you get the bloopers. You can do both of that. Like, yeah, we're,
01:19:18
Speaker
We're playing whole ass stories and stuff. All right. Well, I think we've pretty much covered everything that we wanted to. Yep. Yep. I've hoped you've I hope everyone who's watching has at least gotten something out of all our tirades and. Yes. Everyone watching, everyone listening. I think we've shared like a great deal, like how to get groups together, how to like start things. but There's definitely a lot more to learn. This is like a starter pack. Yes. and And it never ends. Right. that That's actually true. Like if you if anyone says like, you know everything, no. That's the start of a bad GM. Yes. The one that knows everything. Because they don't know everything. But what we are giving you is like the start of the path.
01:20:14
Speaker
But yeah, we we hope that we have given you some useful information to start a group and pick a game and get a successful campaign rolling.
Conclusion and Next Episode Preview
01:20:25
Speaker
Next time around, we're going to feature our first RPG Glory Stories episode discussing proud GM moments. And I'm looking forward to this one. Oh, I'm so looking forward to it. Same here.
01:20:40
Speaker
We just got to make sure we got our stories down. Exactly. Individual stories, like they'll want to overlap. In the meantime, between now and that act next episode, check out our website at HowWeRollGaming.com. There you'll find links to all of our socials. You'll find information about our current campaigns, and you will find a link to our merch store to help us keep producing the podcast.
01:21:04
Speaker
wear a How We Roll Gaming t-shirt or drink from a How We Roll Gaming water bottle or yeah or pint glass. I'm looking through all of the options that we have. And just last week, I added a sweatshirt because Stephanie saw the hoodie that I added. And she's like, I want a regular sweatshirt on there. So and there's a sweatshirt. We got to add a shirt that says, and this is why I drink.
01:21:30
Speaker
yeah
01:21:33
Speaker
I'll have GM specials. Yes. I approve it. Or rather, not this is why I drink. I'm why my GM drinks. Perfect. Yeah, that's two separate t-shirts. Yeah. Until that next episode, thank you once again for joining us. I'm Darryl. I'm Nick. And I've been Robert. And this is how we roll.
01:22:00
Speaker
This episode of the How We Roll Gaming podcast is copyright 2025, How We Roll Gaming, LLC. All games and associated intellectual properties are copyright their respective owners, and How We Roll Gaming makes no claim of ownership by discussing them here.