Hello hello hello 🤗

Do hope you enjoyed the last Podletter. I am looking forward to seeing where that game goes. Today on this installment of Ink n Bones: Hindsight we are discussing abandoning your babies. If you've been liking what we've been doing so far give it a share. If you aren't already subscribed smash that button for your next Exceptional Yes. May the bones be ever in your favor.

Some people might be familiar with the concept already, if you are in the creative space at some point you may have heard some version of ‘no idea is sacred', Or ‘ideas are a dime a dozen', Or something like ‘don't be afraid to kill your babies'. I personally struggle with this even now.

They Call It HOME(brew) For a Reason

There is something Intrinsically, different about a homebrew game that traditional adventure paths or modules lack to some degree. That is ownership, these paths, and modules are all pre written. You are injecting parts of yourself into and possibly even customizing,(at least I hope that is the norm) but what makes homebrew different? It's something I have nurtured and developed on my own out of my own enjoyment. So there is a large part of what I find interesting, my philosophies and beliefs injected into the very world.

Don't Put Myself Into My Art?

Now this isn't to say that being vulnerable when you create is a bad thing. It leads to some of the greatest art and performances known to man. I do think I made a cardinal sin when I had the thought process of springing my world on my players.

The misconception

The fun of being the DM is playing the world. Bringing to life this living breathing story and characters. Making the fantasy real by making your players laugh, cry, hate and even love characters and locations. Right? That's what being a DM is right? If you'd ask me starting out absolutely. Even now a part of me agrees with it but, this is not the same thing as my current motto. I'm hard pressed to agree with this wholeheartedly now. PTFO has a great name because I think it is a reminder not only for players but DM's as well. Play to Find Out. I think is similar to We are here to explore something other than ourselves.

We are here to explore something other than ourselves.

Hindsight being 20/20 and all that. I can see what I got wrong and what I got right.

Well…😅🤷🏾‍♂️

Being a DM is only a fraction of the above. You are a facilitator of chaos and choice. An arbiter, judge, and referee. These professions don't 🚫 make art. They facilitate the means of play, cooperation and competition. Doesn't sound as delightful does it.

Let's talk about Min

Min a city shrouded in mist and ravaged by unknown horror during the late fall and winter months of the year. A City built by refugees of the 100 years war with Hoviel. Made up of multiple factions, infighting, cloaks and dagger. Spooky mystery sleuth type stuff, with a dash of House of Tudor vibes.

Brainchild

Min was my baby 👶🏾. A small portion of my baby mind you. I'd created a sprawling world with multiple continents, multiple cities and nations. Crazy amounts of factions. In short I was over prepared, and not only was I over prepared I'd forced my idea of what game we were playing down my players throat.

😮 Yeah I know pretty wild to think now.

You’re Not a Writer Gary!

The story of Min and it's history is what is known as lore. I think

Most DM's are drawn to lore and the inner weird workings of their narrative. Lore can be vitally important to not only shaping your game but immersing your players. But I mistook my excitement for the Lore as the backbone of DMing.

This is where the dice hit the table right. This is where we look back and ask ok so we have identified the mistake how can we fix it in the future.

Don’t be THAT DM

Let Your Players Do The Work. I’ll make sure I write it again. Let your Players do the Work! This is something that is wildly hard to grasp starting out. This is a collaborative game and story. As much as I may know about the world and find different stories interesting as whole nations fall and collapse at my imaginations whim. That is not my Players contributions, these are not the things they find interesting in the world I have created.

* Players want to make choices.

* They want to discover things.

* They want to tell their characters story.

These three things have been my guiding light since. Let them do the work, they will let you know if they find the plot hook interesting. You don't need to trap them into it or keep throwing it at them. This is where I faltered with the city of Min. Such a great story of faction intrigue and nonsense about time. My players and their characters both wanted nothing to do with any of it and were trying to find every which way of getting out of town. This dragged on for about two sessions before we all sat to talk.

When they talk listen

They were honest. They wanted to go explore other places and do other things. This sounded like a whole lot of political big wig stuff they felt their characters just wouldn't want to deal with. This at the time was a gut punch like no other. Did they hate me? Did they hate my world and the game? Oh my god I'm one of those horror DM's I always hear about on YouTube and Reddit!!!

Did they hate me? Did they hate my world and the game? Oh my god I'm one of those horror DM's I always hear about on YouTube and Reddit!!!

They were telling me to tank all the work I'd put into this world and back story. When in reality that wasn't the case at all. They were simply saying this part of your world we don't find interesting. If you let us explore more we'll find what we want to do.But these were my thoughts at the time. Pretty self deprecating I might add.

Slow And Steady

Looking back though the conversation didn't simply come out of the blue. There was one thing I had made sure to be clear on after our first session. For myself and my players. I was going to be a better DM. People would leave my table feeling something and being excited for the next week. So I did one thing! The secret to my happy players and long term game. I check in after every game and I ask any variations of these:

* How'd you guys feel about that session?

* What could I improve?

* Anything that you really liked?

* I felt like this didn't hit the way I wanted it to, how did you guys feel? Was the gravity of that situation apparent?

I probe my players constantly, maybe to a point of annoyance sometimes. Luckily I was amongst friends and they gave me honest criticisms. That is one thing that I will always be a champion of Ask your Players. In general there is no stupid question in life. You don't know what you don't know, how else can you grow but by exposing your self to the opportunity to learn? Abandon your babies.

As always thanks again for being part of this journey. I'm excited for the next few things coming down the pipe line. If you haven't gotten a chance to read/listen to the last Podletter on Friday check it out here. Another shout out to PTFO for being an awesome inspiration in this craft we share. Next Installment of Hindsight we are talking about Our Quiet Year game and Immersion. 👀⁉️⁉️

Final thoughts

I'll leave you with this today a quote and a question.

Firstly from Marcus Aurelius

Don’t let your imagination be crushed by life as a whole...

This is something that I think every creative person should pin on their wall and people in general. Don't let the stresses or struggles of the world cause you to stifle your own creative outlets.

And today's question is what area of your life can you start asking self diagnostic questions? Drop a comment with your answer.

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