Pen and Paper RPGs

photo by ishkamina

So if you consider yourself a writer, you probably know just how time consuming the process of writing is. It gets to the point where you start feeling guilty during any time you’re spending away from it. Yet, it’s always helpful to remind yourself that many of the activities beyond the manuscript help hone your craft in ways that sitting at your desk do not. Learning to play the violin, for example brings expertise and authority to the voice of any story that involves music. Toiling in the wretched life of 19th century Russia brought authority to many epics, did it not?

So what of all this time you spend plotting the downfall of your PCs? Building all those custom NPCs and monsters so that they can actually stand a chance against your power-gaming players? What about all that time wasted writing the history behind that secret mission that your PCs just blew off so they could rob the king’s treasury in the middle of the night? In actuality, all this time has been well spent not only for the fantasy fiction writer, but also for the creative-writer-at-large; for they are honing your craft in at least 5 unique ways.

1. Free Workshopping: it almost goes without saying. Even when running a campaign in a published setting, you must come up with so many stories past, present, and future for the characters to hear or even witness unfolding around them. These stories are being workshopped with the players in front of you as you find out what sticks and what does not, what people remember week to week and what people forget. Whatever hook players latch on to is often, at its basest level, a more interesting story than the four or five they left in their wake. You’re throwing a thousand first drafts at these poor kids, who are sorting through the slush pile of your hooks, histories, tales, and rumors. No one would be offended if one of the the those that really worked found its way (in some different incarnation) into your published novel or short story. In fact, your players would be honored to see their PCs tales in print.
2. Audience: just as your PCs wander off for Mountain Dew refills during your amazingly detailed and well-thought out explanation of that Ancient Forgotten Brotherhood (you know, the Kingdom of the Long Forgotten Magis, where Magic Itself Was Once Discovered in the Sacred Grove of Time Aeternus) so will your readers (except they are not as obliged to return to your stories). GMing gives you a more urgent sense of audience, as instead of writing for a long-distant audience of amazon.com reviewers, you are instead given instant feedback on your storytelling, for good or bad. Use your players as sounding boards, see what works, and remember to use this newly keened sense when you sit down in front of that great manuscript. However, keep in mind that the attention span of your players will be different than that of your readers, though not extremely much so.
3. Dynamic NPCs: most good GMs I have known give every NPC (no matter how passing) a few memorable quirks. Players (as well as readers) will never remember the Great Lord Xikitch of the Order of the Silver Fist. They will remember “that one-eyed dwarf with the half burned off beard” or “the quasit that gets sick and throws up whenever he has to teleport”. There are so many random charts of NPC traits out there, why not take this technique into your writing. The most economic way to get a character on the page (or board) is by pointing out some interesting, telling, and somehow characteristic quirk that they have. Describing in detail yet another dwarf with a large scruffy beard and a heavy steel axe and finely crafted helm and mail is the fastest way to get your readers and players on their way toward that Mountain Dew, so to speak. Additionally, all the tricks you have learned to make villains especially vicious and cruel, allies especially complex, and those crowd favorite NPCs memorable, they can all be recycled into your writing. Genuine, interesting side characters are missing in many author’s work, and the ability to create these on command is an  invaluable tool to any writer.
4. Surprise/Abstract Thought: I attended Columbia College Chicago for Creative Writing. Their pedagogy there was heavily focused on the idea that you will write your most creative and innovative work only when you are forced to think abstractly, when you are forced to surprise even yourself. One way they did this was by constantly forcing you to generate quality writing on the spot (after some exercises), and then immediately reading it back to an audience of your peers, to find instantly what worked and did not. I believe it was very effective, though not at all practical for your average writer outside a formal program. Now consider, as you GM a game, how many times you are forced to come up with material on the spot. You had no idea they would decide not to take your bait and instead overthrow the king. You are telling a story on-the-spot through which you have no control over your main characters. As long as you do not railroad your PCs every moment of storytelling, every moment of dialogue is often more real than much of the drivel you have forced together on the page. Because it is all surprising and abstract. None of it was planned, it all came as naturally as the events and dialogues do in real life, and without any of the rigid constructs of novel-based storytelling. Now just remember how it felt to be in that moment, and do whatever you can to bring yourself back there next time you sit down in front of your manuscript.
5. Power Balance: one of the first lessons you must learn as a GM is how to placate the over-powered characters without hurting anyone’s feelings. The enemy steals their +5 vorpal longsword. The cleric’s fickle goddess of chaos suddenly rebukes many of her blessings. Nasty rumors spread about the nobleman, and he is no longer able to pull those old political strings without rousing suspicion. When you find those characters in your written stories that are “overpowered” and are either somehow outshining your protagonist in every way, able to overcome any known obstacle, etc you will be all the more prepared to cut the legs out from under them, and place them gently yet unapologetically into the Wheelchair of Storyteller Nerfdom. A great example of this was Doctor Manhattan in the comic/movie the Watchmen. Think about it (those who have read/seen it) he could have stopped the entire plot in a heartbeat. But luckily, his “GM” was clever, and kept him preoccupied and conspired against.

But be ready next week for some tips on not letting all this Great and Powerful GM Knowledge get to your head. Stay tuned for the article What Works at the Table-Top, but not in the Manuscript.