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A Dungeon Master's Manifesto

Abstract

I ran a D&D game over lockdown which turned out exceptionally well.

It wasn't just a great game and a great story. It didn't just get us through the pandemic. It made us better, stronger, and closer as people. By playing together we laid the foundations of a mutually supportive community. Since the campaign ended I've been running for other groups and trying to apply the lessons learned. I'm here to share those lessons, to devise a theory about FRP games and what makes them work, and think about how we can use them to improve our everyday lives.

Fantasy Role Play as a specific type of game functions as a synthesis of childhood make-believe play and concrete board-game or wargame style mechanics.

An effective synthesis between the two can be accomplished by using procedures to provide structure to play, interconnecting mechanics within the medium of make-believe to create nested gameplay loops which give larger meaning to individual decisions.

This structure creates a 'basic activity' players can jump into and enjoy while waiting for the real fun - deep interactions, dramatic storylines, epic moments - to develop. This gives them time to gather confidence and inspiration and think about what they want to express creatively while already playing, and with continuous feedback from the other players.

Players will contribute creatively if given a safe space to express themselves, encouraged when they do so, and expected to provide such a space for others. This process provides a real-world payoff in terms of confidence, kindness and social skills. This requires centering the players, listening to them and making the game about them, recognising that this is a work of art or a performance created for them, and one that would be pointless without them.

The Studio Model provides a blueprint for player-centered games which lays out responsibilities not only between DM and player but also between the players.

The time, mental effort and attention of the players, and most especially the DM, is a bottleneck for any game and should be treated as a precious resource. Streamlining rules, rulings over rules, and keeping rolls simple enough to eyeball probabilities all help to preserve this resource and ensure it is used on the things that matter. Every rule should pull its weight.

Minimising prep can make running a game easy and DMing fun, so more people are willing to run. Using lessons from the OSR we can create a sandbox world for the PCs to interact with. Other play techniques can enrich the world and aid in record keeping and realising the setting.

Storytelling techniques can enrich the world of the game and create a grand narrative even in the absence of a preplanned arc. Epic, character-driven arcs are still possible in a sandbox if certain methods are used.

I'm developing a set of rules through play (the only real way to find out if they work) to suit the way I run, but we can, and perhaps should, have as many editions as we have DMs. Make the game your own!

Games are art and they are folk art. They are weakened when they are commodified. They are a powerful tool in building community and real-world relationships, removing the screen that separates us from the stories we love, glamorising the people we know in real life, and reclaiming our creativity.

Email: Valinard@wgp.org

Mastodon: @Valinard@im-in.space