DB

Reading tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) can be like eating food–

And don’t forget it, because literally, that is this whole blogpost.

From baby to bigger kid

2023 was a big year for TTRPGs, and a big year for me. We started the year with the Open Game License (OGL) fiasco, which resulted in me jumping into the deep end of indie TTRPGs.

It was exciting for sure. I took a break from our D&D 5e game and started up a Cypher System superhero game. I started voraciously reading lots of different games. I went through list after list of game after game, which each of them getting me more and more excited.

It is at this time that I still believed that the “perfect game” could be found. I thought that I could find an amalgamation of different bits of rules and mechanics that could express all the types of feelings that you should feel in ever single moment. It would be the best mechanics for every genre, all put together in one place.

That sounds like an massively multiplayer online (MMO) game, huh? More on that in another post.

Anyway, reading games made me very excited. There were new resolution mechanics, new worlds, new ways to onboard players into genre based storytelling…it was wonderful.

And then I read more games.

And a little more.

And I slowed down.

Mostly because of monetary reasons (hey, I love to support developers if I can help it), but also because…I was getting sick of it. I had seen similar mechanics before in another game. I had seen a similar way to onboard players. I understood what the mechanics and text was made to do, and it was all…familiar.

It wasn’t enjoyable. I wanted something new.

I was rapidly experiencing the world–new aspects of the TTRPG world–and they were rapidly becoming mundane to me. I was growing up.

And I didn’t like it.

A buffet everyday

Naturally, because my funds started to run out, I started to slow down. I wasn’t reading a few games a week anymore. I was only reading a few games here and there, I was playing video games, I was doing improv during the week, I was hanging out with friends…

I stopped engorging myself on any game possible. It wasn’t fun or novel to read through lots of different games anymore, so I resorted to skimming through most texts. I knew what to look for, and if the prose that accompanied a game was delicious in its imagery and if it was evocative enough, I stopped to smell the flowers.

I started feeling a bit better about games…but I was still thirsty for novelty.

Playtest Zero End of Year Social

I was able to take off for work in December to make Playtest Zero’s end of year meetup. It was there where fellow TTRPG nerds got together to talk about design, things that they did that year, and all sorts of fun stuff. I talked about starting a TTRPG book club because Aaron Lim mentioned that other folks did it, and it sounded like a good idea. I thought it would be a good idea to motivate myself to read more games.

And, I mentioned that I read Darrington Press’ newest TTRPG, Candela Obscura. When I was asked about how I felt about it I said something to the effect of: “It’s fine, and the world is cool…but I don’t know why it’s not exciting to me. Maybe because I’ve been reading so many games, I stereotype a game as I’m reading it and I can’t fully appreciate what it is anymore.”

Aaron mentioned that that feeling is like eating bitter gourd, or why people seek it out. They’re so used to other food that they’re willing to have something terribly bitter for some sense of novelty.

Oh god. TTRPGs are just like food.

Thank you, Aaron Lim.

You can still eat food, it can be a familiar dish and a familiar taste…

It doesn’t have to be novel, but it can still be tasty.

Just like a game.