Having No Players

Today’s topic for #RPGaDay2017 is, “Describe a game experience that changed how you play.”

I can’t simply recount one instance of game experience which shifted how I play… there are so many such experiences that it would artificially elevate the importance of one instance over all of the others.

That said, there have been key steps along the way. One of the most significant factors has been that having no players has driven my gaming in new directions.

Becoming GM

Shifting from the player’s chair to the Game Master’s seat was a fairly big move. It came after a series of game experiences in which I (rather arrogantly) assumed I could run things better… but none of those was enough to get me to run for my friends until the big event happened.

The big event was not being able to get a game… like, for years.

For a long time, my hobby was about reading books and dreaming about the games I’d like to play. Almost by stealth, the mindset of the Game Master grew to be my usual way of thinking about my hobby: I was creating the worlds and events that I wanted to play.

Maybe I’d create a character as a means to learn the game, sometimes run the odd test encounter to see how things felt in play… but, basically, that was the limit of my gaming because I lacked a group with whom to play.

Eventually, I arrived where I am now. I temporarily joined a local roleplaying club and I forget how long it took, but probably not long, before I took on the mantle of Game Master. Apart from some short stints in the player’s chair by way of a break, I’ve been GM.

Thus, the game experience which changed the way I played was not having a game to play.

Developing My Own Ideas

The second experience of this kind comes from the bi-annual reality of players being unavailable which occurs every summer and every Christmas. In short, everyone else buggers off on holiday and I am usually off-work, home alone.

During these times I have:

• Tried to write my own game system(s)
• Created new campaign settings
• Written for publication
• Read and discovered new games
• Tried to figure out how to be a better GM

I find being without a game for a couple of weeks really frustrating. Even though I find prep hard and time-consuming, I’d rather be running a game than watching TV or reading a book. Each time I am left alone, my players risk the “butterfly” to flap his wings and go discover something new and shiny.

What play experience inspires this? Not having a game lined up.

Playing Solo

The spur? All of the players bailed on games night and I had no game.

This happened more recently, despite coming 6 years after I first discovered and read the Mythic system. How did it happen? In short, Kenny Norris (who has since ceased his excellent website on solo play) wrote about how to do it.

I had a good time creating a setting and character, getting in a game alone. Since then, I’ve solo’ed a few times… always briefly and sometimes without much clear intent, but always having a good time. Having discovered that it’s ok to run a game alone, I have found myself increasingly drawn towards doing this more systematically.

What was the in-game experience that led to me learning to play solo? Not having a game on a Friday night.

Reflecting…

Thinking about this, many of the significant moments of genuine discovery or change in my hobby coincide with one of three things:

1. Having no-one to roleplay with
2. Having players bail at short notice
3. The players all being away during the holiday seasons

Perhaps I should be more grateful and positive about the Billy-no-mates times. They seem to have led me to game in different ways, all of which has enriched my hobby.

Game on!