Haha dude after reading your blog for a week or so I've come to realized just how...uninspired my gaming group (self included) really is. None of us could ever dream to match up to the level of creativity you, Anne, and your players have. I was already a bit disenchanted but seeing just how much more epic you guys and your characters are...I think I'm ready to hang up the dice and find a new hobby.
You sir, make me blush.
But you have to remember that Ive worked a very VERY long time on this. Ive been STing for 20 years, and I pour a LOT of time into it during each of those years.
I had years and years of bland stories, bland characters, etc(probably still have some of both even now) before I got any kind of good at it. Like anything in life that is worth doing, it takes time and practice. In olden days I had many games of "find monster, fight monster, find next monster, fight next monster." You grow out of that and as long as you realize there is growth to be had and dont stagnate you can keep learning and growing. If you are lucky to have a group of players that are interested enough, hopefully they can grow and learn with you.
And I have been blessed with excellent players, but that took a lot of work as well. Ive had to make some tough decisions and had difficult talks with good friends who "werent working out" in the group. Its not easy, but its an amazing amount of fun and incredibly fulfilling.
So you really have to ask yourself if it seems like something you would enjoy and really like to be better at. And if thats true, please keep pursuing it and you're lucky to have a great resource here to ask questions learn from other peoples questions. Ya keep trying, and when it gets too frustrating you take a short(or long) break, and if its really what you enjoy doing, itll pull you back in.
Hopefully that helped. If it didnt, I can try the gruff angry man version of that talk. Its shorter.
I have to back up what John is saying here. If you love the idea of running games, then don't give up. It takes practice, more practice, and even more practice beyond that to get really good.
ReplyDeleteWhen I ran my first game, it was all hack and slash with giant robots versus dragons. Sometimes I still do crazy things like giant robots versus dragons, but I've learned through hard trial and error what works and how to do it with style.
Think of it like art. Be open to trying new ways to perform your art, be honest about what is working in your group, discard the stuff that doesn't work, and keep in mind that what works in one group won't work for the next group.
They say that becoming an expert takes ten thousand hours. I've put in way more than my ten thousand hours and I still have so many more things to learn and explore as both a player and storyteller.
To add my two pennies' worth...the whole point of RPGing is to have a good time, so it doesn't really matter if you are running a Machiavellian political game with maneuvering Gods and their minions, or just a simple Zombie Crawl - if everyone is having fun, you're doing it "right"!
ReplyDeleteAs John said, it takes time to get used to juggling all the intricacies of a complex campaign, and we all find our own balance of "fun" vs. "crunch".
Keep with it, as long as you are having fun, it's a great hobby.
Totally agree with everyone here. It's all about having fun. I think the most important thing is communication between the players and the storyteller. If you have to adjust things on the fly of if the players have good suggestions, use them. talk to each other and help make the game fun, and if you can't know when to end it, and try to end it on friendly terms.
ReplyDelete