DB

I am writing this on the day after a game that I did not enjoy, and I will be revisiting this article later for edits before its posting day. I am intentionally scheduling this to post on a day that is later than today, because I want a bit of abstraction about the table that I played at, and who I played with. This article is not about them, but about a bigger topic. What table is good for me?

As a GM, I don’t know when I started telling people this: “If you don’t enjoy my game, please don’t let this dissuade you. This hobby, TTRPGs, are wonderful. If you did not enjoy this game and this table, that’s fine. There is a table out there for you, but it is probably not this one.”

I think it was to cover for myself. I fervently believe that TTRPGs are one of the best hobbies and activities a person can participate in. They teach problem solving skills, they help you engage sympathetically with people vastly different than yourself, you train your social skills, flex your listening abilities, create new worlds and stories, and lots more. These are healthy things to engage with! Be it a table that plays a more rules heavy game, or a table that doesn’t touch the rules at all and instead opts to something more similar to improv theatre…they’re both fine. Will either be fine for you? I don’t know. These are different styles of play, and it varies from table to table.

However, more important to me is that a person is able to experience a good game at the right table. I don’t want my table, be it the fellow players, or me as a GM, to become a barrier between that person and their next (potentially) lifelong hobby. So, the discretion that I make is to give myself permission to be the GM that I prefer to be. It helps me from feeling that unique type of perfectionist-defeatest mindset that is not healthy. That discretion is mostly for me, and hopefully saves the player if their experience is not a positive one.

There are a lot of small details that make up a TTRPG table, which I will go over. Hopefully by listing all these aspects to consider, you can better recognize these elements at a table and decide for yourself what you enjoy, what you can tolerate, and what makes a table right for you.

Safety Tools

Safety tools may help you and other players feel and remain comfortable and safe during the aspects of play, which may explore sensitive areas do to the improvisational nature of TTRPGs.

Are player boundaries discussed at the table? Are there tools available to ensure that everyone is comfortable and having fun at table? These may include X-Cards, Lines and Veils, Open Door Policies, Script Changes, Cut/Brakes and more.

Having your boundaries properly accommodated for is important to feel safe within this group of people, and is important for making others feel safe while you game with them. By feeling safe, people are more willing to be vulnerable and genuine with one another, which leads to better games. Finding and creating these practices in these games in a way that is effective for both you and your group can make or break the health of a gaming group.

Rules Heavy or Rules Light

Mechanically speaking, what system is being played? Regardless of the system, is the table and GM rule flexible, or rule inflexible? How much time is being spent negotiating for what can/can’t be done by your character? How much time is spent in-between scenes? How much time is spent in character and within a scene? What is the balance between things you can and cannot do? Are the no’s within your appetite for plausibility for the game? Has the base reality of the world been properly communicated? What types of metagaming are passable in that game?

Acting and Roleplay

How do people embody their characters? Do they act with a voice and refer to themselves and others by their character’s names? Do they narrate some or all of their actions? How about their character’s thoughts? How much abstraction is there in scenes between the GM and fellow players? Is every single second roleplayed at the table, or is most of the game played by table talk? How much time do you spend as your character, and how much time do you spend as a player? When are you fully immersed within the world, through a theatre of mind experience?

Hospitality

Are there snacks at the gaming table? Are there dice for people to use? Do people make sure to wipe their hands after snacking if using other peoples things? Do people offer to take turns hosting? Does everyone contribute to snacks across the games? Do people help clean the play area before/after a game? Is one person responsible for scheduling, or is everyone responsible for initiating that discussion?

Cross Talk

Are more people talking than the GM and the players in a scene that is currently happening? Is this distracting to you, or the other players? Are there ways to engage in cross talk at that table without distracting from the scene that is currently in focus?

The People

Are they people you would hang out with outside of the game? Do they pick up on details that you have mentioned and make reference to them? Do they actively include you and your characters? Do they intentionally invite you and your character to collaborate with them? Do they cue in players who have not spoken in a while, or seek to include them? What do they seem to value at the table? Are they there to explore character relationships, are they there to hang out with the fellow players, or are they there to accomplish an objective?

Themes

What is the game about? What kind of game do the mechanics encourage, and what is actually explored during the process of a game? Are these things that you are interested in? Are there too many, or too little jokes? Is it too serious, or not serious enough? Is it immersive enough for you, or would you prefer more over the table talk?

Just the Beginning

These are but a few of the aspects and considerations you can take into account when surveying a table for yourself. Perhaps a good game for you is out there somewhere–you just have to find it! And if you can’t find it, you can always try making it and decide to become a GM yourself.

Good luck and happy gaming, fellow gamers.