Things It Took Me A Long Time To Learn
Regarding role-playing games, in no particular order.
- The game is what happens when you play. Everything - prep, rules, lore - is combined at the table to make the game.
- You owe nothing to the writers of rules, settings, modules etc. Make your game yours. It is polite to credit your influences.
- Playing games is a high-trust activity. No trust, no game.
- Do what you can with what you have. Time, imagination, and energy are all finite resources. No game is worth your health, mental and/or physical.
- Buying products is pointless consumerism and will not fill the void inside. Do It Yourself.
- There is always someone with a better idea. Steal liberally and feel no shame.
- Creating monsters, items, spells etc. and thinking up procedures for your game is good and is a creative outlet for the imagination. Spending more time doing this than using them at the table is bad and you will deserve your branding with the insoluble mark of the Mental Masturbator.
- Document everything. Critically reflect on your experiences. Keep a journal or blog. This is the most reliable way to chart your development as Referee and player.
- Originality is overrated and impossible.
- Online communities are, by and large, astroturfed outlets for commercial shilling. Lurk more and determine the type of community present and whether it's a good fit for you, remembering that the terminally-online members of any community will have an outsized influence on its culture. The objective utility of an online RPG space can be gauged in how active it is in facilitating fun and creative gaming among its members.
- Consider your audience. Who do you play with? If you write, who do you write for? When partaking in online communities, consider whose criticism and praise you deem valid.
- You are a valid audience for your own work.
- Whatever you make, ensure it comes from a place of genuine enthusiasm. Share it freely and rejoice in its alteration, mutation, and remixing.
- Creating the perfect game is impossible. Try anyway.
- Things in the past are done. They cannot be recreated and it is impossible to try, for nostalgia taints memory. Consider the next game--the future holds infinite potential, it is far superior.
- It's just a game, don't take it too seriously.
- You will fail more times than you can possibly imagine. Welcome it. Failure is a valuable teacher. When you succeed, it will be all the sweeter for your failures and, in time, you will be more successful than not.
- The only way to improve is to play. It is important to both play games as Referee and player character, whatever your role preference--the experiences are complementary and vital.
- Social skills and creativity require regular and rigorous training to be effective.
- Find those who can give effective, polite criticism. Treasure this. This includes yourself.
- System matters until it doesn't, and vice versa.
- It is enlightening and important to play among different groups--enthusiasts, hobbyists and casual players demonstrate wildly different approaches to play.
- The natural course of a hobby is to die a commercialised death by a thousand cuts. Resisting this entropy requires constant effort and human connection.
- It is possible to play too much. While the hobby lacks the dopamine-cycling lure of video games, it is important to take breaks. Think about other things, let the subconscious do its work. You will be rewarded in future.
- Discard the platonic ideal of your perfect game and cease fretting. The game that is played is realised and exists. Seize upon the experience of play--it is a pure and beautiful thing.