5. TTRPG Mindset

The end of 2023 fast approaches and like the other multitudes of people out there, I am reflecting back on the year. This isn't going to be a year in review because I have the memory of a goldfish and would have to spend a significant amount of time to plumb my archives. I instead want to take some time to talk about the change in my TTRPG mindset, which I have been tweaking for about as long as I have been running my current campaign.

You can have a growth mindset, where you essentially believe that the qualities that make you up can be changed over time, or you can have a fixed mindset, which is where you believe those qualities are in fact permanent. You can check out the works of Carol S. Dweck for more information on that. It's probably obvious where I'm going with this in regards to the TTRPG space. I believe that there is always something you can improve as a player or as a gamemaster. Nothing is fixed quality or condition. If there is any area that you struggle with, there is some solution out there found in a blog, a system, a book, or a YouTube video. Even if you feel like everything is working out great, there is always something you can do to improve your own experience or improve the experiences of others. 

I think too often, from either side of the gamemaster screen, we wall ourselves off from elevating the experiences of both ourselves and those around us. There are so many questions we could be asking ourselves as we engage in this wonderful hobby. Will this mechanic increase the fun of everyone at the table? How can I make everything easier and more fun for myself? Is there anything I can do to pull a fellow player into the spotlight? Will the response I plan to give be perceived positively and/or will it create an appropriate level of drama? There are many more questions that can be asked. As it so happens, there are mechanics we can add to our games to help facilitate this like Stars and Wishes to highlight what everyone likes and wants to see more of. 

I also think that the more (non-toxic) perspectives we encounter, the better players and gamemasters we become. I almost always learn something new or have a new frame of reference every time I talk to my fellow gamemasters about how they run their games. Each person has their own unique way of seeing things, and I sometimes catch myself balking at the TTRPG notions of others, when I should be seeing how I can use it to shape my own perspective. We should not be a slave to our knee-jerk reactions and instead should intercept our emotional responses and decide how and if we act on them. That's something that is true for everyone who is participating in TTRPGs, where there is a strong possibility that we form strong emotional attachments to our various ideas and creations. The more we are aware of our emotions and actions, I think the better people we become in general.

Lastly, seeing how each system approaches the particular vision they are going for is great for adjusting the games I run or will run. Each mechanic in these systems is a tool that I can use immediately or store for when it is would be useful to apply. There are all kinds of ways to run hexcrawls, manage resources, make NPCs, and tweak combat. I have incorporated rules and tables from DIE, Shadowdark, Mausritter, Heart, Knave, Break!! and countless reddit and blog posts to (mostly) great success. Maybe there is only one TTRPG you play or really enjoy, but I bet there is something out there in another TTRPG, book, or a module from another system, that you can use to refine the game you are currently running. 

As we step in to 2024, my prime directive is to continue to grow as a gamemaster and well, as a person. I want to continue to foster my growth mindset and ensure that everyone, myself included, is having best possible experience with all the TTRPGs we will be playing in the new year. I hope you'll join me in that.