The Spirit of RPG

I recently ran into a girl who was part of a short campaign that I was running to help new players get oriented in the ideas of role playing games (henceforth RPG).  This girl had the spirit of RPG as did her new comrades in arms.  Only she had a previous experience, but it was limited.  So allow me to elaborate on a few dos and don'ts of RPG.

Do: have a backstory.  Know who your character is and what motivates them to do things.  A Game Master or Dungeon Master can only throw so many plot hooks before they will give up.   This will give depth to a character that would otherwise be: "I rolled a 24 with my sword and did 12 damage, now where's my loot?"

Don't: tell your backstory to every warm (or even luke-warm) body in the world.  We appreciate your character, but we would rather see how their past affects the future than have it told.  This does not explicitly count the DM/GM, but at least keep it within reason for them.  They need to include your character in the history of the world, but don't need you to tell the whole story.

Do: play nice with others.  This is a team sport...sort of.  You need to work as a team to defeat the enemy.  Use your strengths to HELP the cause.  Remember, this is their story too.

Don't: play someone else's character for them.  Who knows the character better than the one who created them?  No one likes to have their character stolen.  Telling someone HOW to play their character or what to do is equally frustrating.  Let them decide what their character does no matter the consequences.  If you want to tell all the characters what to do, write your own novel instead.

Do: let the story tell itself.  The world is bigger than just you or your team.  Many things happen as reaction to your actions, but many things just simply happen.  Let the GM/DM tell that story as much as you participate in it.  Many times, if you force a GM/DM to do something for your character, their will be unintended consequences that may result in a worse situation.

Don't: be a kill-happy jerk.  If you walk into a town and start slaughtering citizens, the world screeches to a halt and fights you.  If you stab your teammates in the back without good plot development, you end the campaign (or at least your character is now a corpse, possibly on fire).  Know the targets, act rationally or your character will have a very short run as either GM/DM or party members target you instead.

In short, have fun!  The more secrets you reveal, the harder it is to do the unexpected.  The more unpredictable you are, the more likely your campaign will go on without you.  Play nice with others or you will play by yourself.  Open your mind and imagination and the universe is open to you!

End of Year and New Beginnings

Out with the old and in with the new.  Ringing in the New Year always brings such feelings of change and desires for the better.  But are you one of those people who starts a New Year's Resolution only to have forgotten by February what it was?  I hope you are and here is why: you strive to be better.  Is January first the only day we can start fresh?  Now we are getting to the meat of this idea.  What are you doing to improve yourself?  It doesn't have to be big.  "By small and simple things are great things come to pass."  Maybe it's big to you but insignificant to someone else.  Are you taking the steps to become better?  Perhaps you are improving your health, or maybe trying to learn more.  Maybe you want to be more social or know when to stay quiet.  Maybe you want to grow closer to God.  What are you going to do today to accomplish your goal?  Whatever you do, be true to yourself, do what you love and be pleasing to God.  All else will fall into place.
P.S. I started this as a much longer blog about three weeks ago and failed to complete my goal...