Player Advice
4 Mistakes Players Make When Creating New Characters
When you create a character in a tabletop RPG, you should focus on creating a character that’s interesting to you. The most balanced party will grow dull and gameplay will become rote if half the players have been coerced into playing characters they don’t care about. (“Who’s going to play a cleric? C’mon, somebody has to play a … Continue reading
Hit Points Don’t Represent Physical Wounds (Necessarily)
What does a loss of Hit Points mean? Some of you already “know” the answer to this, but it bears repeating, and there’s a hidden message. As the 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Handbook puts it: Hit Points measure your ability to stand up to punishment, turn deadly strikes into glancing blows, and stay on your … Continue reading
How Ryon Got Kicked Out of Our Group
Play tabletop RPGs long enough, and you’ll run into him: the player who you no longer want to be part of your group. He’s not just annoying; he makes the game less fun for everyone. Again, to be clear: this post is about a player who decreases everybody’s enjoyment of the game. That was Ryon. He was rude, he’d elbow … Continue reading
First-Class Role-Playing…for Players! Part 4: Creating an Interesting Character
In previous posts in this series, I provided basic advice on creating a character, table etiquette, and dealing with problems. This post is all about going one step beyond and creating an interesting, deep character. Any character is (simplistically) made of two things: nature and nurture. The nature comes from the character’s inherent physical and mental makeup: … Continue reading
First-Class Role-Playing…for Players! Part 3: Troubleshooting and Summary
Welcome to the third part in a series about playing tabletop RPGs. The first post gave you some basic advice, while the second covered more advanced topics like improv. This post offers guidance on problems you may run into. The Inflexible DM Some DMs aren’t really running a role-playing game; they’re narrating their novel, within which the PCs … Continue reading
First-Class Role-Playing…for Players! Part 2: How To Be Awesome
This post is for players who have played enough sessions to have the game’s basic rules under their belts. If you’re completely new to role-playing, read this first post in the series. Work With Your DM Accept your DM’s house rules Your DM has certain guidelines and parameters for the world, and house rules to play … Continue reading
First-Class Role-Playing…for Players! Part 1: Help! I’ve Never Played Before!
Welcome to tabletop role-playing! We’re glad you’re here. You’re going to play an important character in a story, and you want to do the best you can. Good on you. This blog post (and a few more coming later) provides advice to players of tabletop role-playing games, helping them to be better players. Each section will … Continue reading