Stay Awhile and Listen - A beginner's guide to TTRPGs

Join me on a new adventure! I'm sharing my journey in the world of Tabletop Roleplay Games (TTRPGs) and tabletop gaming, and this blog is where I'll be sharing tips, stories, and more. Find out why I started this blog and what you can expect.

The Hook

I was upset, I was genuinely upset about something that my character was about to do; something that I had complete control over and could easily choose not to. For those that have played plenty of tabletop roleplay games, this might be a familiar feeling but for those of you that are reading this with little to no experience might be wondering, how, it’s just a game? Why don’t you just not do it?

This is what I find so beautiful about TTRPGs, while we can all get emotional about a scene in a movie or a book, in TTRPGs this response is amplified. It is not just your favourite character that has to choose between betraying what they believe defines them for the greater good, it’s YOUR character.

So I was upset, I had been playing this character in a game for over a year; 3 hours every week helping tell their story, and I made a choice. I didn’t have to, I could have let someone else’s character deal with the situation, but I didn’t, why? The story!

At its core and beyond all the dice rolling and game mechanics, TTRPGs are collaborative stories. Who doesn’t want to have a chance to be part of an amazing story? Hopefully that is why you are here, either to start your stories or for inspiration in your own storytelling.

My First Character: A Tale of Tuneless

I have been playing and running games since I was young. I remember sitting at the park with my friend as we took turns pretending to be epic heroes in a made up world while the other describe the horrible monsters that we had to vanquish. I ended up being my group’s storyteller/dungeon master/gamemaster and have always loved doing that.

Eventually I needed a break and wanted the rare occurrence of being on the players side of the table. So I found a game and started creating a character that I would eventually play for just over 2 years. It was Dungeons and Dragons, my character was a Bard, but he was a bad bard; and often would be paid more to stop playing than he ever earned from any of his performances. He smelt badly, was covered in open sores and his voice was extremely grating (and yes, I did the voice); I loved the idea of an anti-bard an antithesis to the class archetype. Varmin Tuneless was born!

He started off as quite a jokey character, a butt for jokes but he had a very important role in the game; he made mistakes. He was the one that often moved the story forwards, by walking into the obvious trap with confidence, all the tropes and clichés that stories present themselves he fell for hook, line and sinker. As a result he became quite heroic and his character grew, filled out, started to develop nuance, and I really started to like him.

Then, through all the joking and silly voices a moment came. Varmin needed to make a decision to take a live to save countless lives. Up until this point Varmin had been a morally righteous character, always willing to give a second chance, and never really taking things too seriously. After the deed was done, I was upset, his character had fundamentally changed, but he would later develop further, refusing violence and those that commit it, embrace a divine life and became a loved character by me that I still reference to this day.

Why am I telling you this? While Varmin wasn't technically my first character (sorry about the misleading title) this was the moment that I truly believed how powerful TTRPGs and collaborative storytelling are. In that story I chose for my character to make that choice, to break his character because it made me upset, because it made for a better story for all those around the gaming table. That is why TTRPGs are amazing, they allow you to make those choices in a safe and welcoming environment with other people that all want the same thing, to experience an amazing story.

What you can expect from this Blog?

So what are my plans, well I want to try and share my journey in the TTRPG universe, I am by no means an expert and everything I say here is my opinion and everyone is entitled to their own. But hopefully by sharing a little of my own adventure and encouraging other to share those, I might inspire and engage with an amazing community. What I will hopefully offer the following:

• In-depth guides for both players and GMs - from introductions to game systems to analysis of how to build encounters to campaigns.

• "Reviews" of new and old TTRPGs and tabletop games - I don't like the term review but its a buzz word, what you will find here is my analytical opinion on the suitability of systems. Not every system is for everyone and not everyone will like every system, hopefully I can help guide you to the right direction.

• Homebrew ideas and resources for your campaigns - from encounters to helpful tips, I want to take the burden off other gamemasters by offer some successful encounters, one-shots and adventures that I have run.

• Personal stories from my own games—the good, the bad, and the epic.

• Community spotlights of other creators in the tabletop roleplay space - sharing some of my current favourite watches/listens.

• Anything floats into my creative brain else - sometimes some things defy categorisation.

Epilogue

If you have managed to get this far then hopefully something I have said here has peaked your interest, and if not then thanks for simply reading this far, I wish you all the best.

For those that have stuck around please come and join my on my own adventure and we can roll come dice and tell some amazing stories.

Come back next time when I will be going through The Absolute Beginner's Guide to Your First TTRPG!