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# What is this document?

"Interesting people are interested!"

In the interest of keeping the Words of Power rulebooks lean, all the generic TTRPG advice has been moved into this document. It is intended to guide first time players through the process of actually playing a TTRPG. This document will take you from zero to being an effective player and gamemaster. It is highly opinionated. 

# Lingo
Before we can speak normally about Tabletop Roleplaying Games, we need to understand the culture-specific words and how they are used.

**TTRPG** stands for Tabletop Roleplaying Game. This is used as a generic term for games, where you roleplay through a story and roll dice to resolve conflicts. 

**Dice** : One is called a "die", multiple are called "dice". Most people are familiar with the six-sided dice that are included with games like Yahtzee or Monopoly. Many TTRPGs will choose to use dice that have other total numbers of sides. This allows us to have different odds of success for different tasks. We refer to the number of dice and the number of sides as XdY. "1d6" would mean one six-sided die. "4d6" would mean four six-sided dice. 1d20 would be one twenty-sided die.

**GM/DM/ST/Judge/Gamemaster** : These are all terms for the same thing - the person who "runs" the game. They are (usually) a special kind of player, who is responsible for describing the scene, controlling the monsters, and resolving rules disputes. 

**Player** : This usually refers to participants that are not the GM. They are (usually) in charge of controlling a single character. They will attempt to overcome the challenges presented by the GM. 

**Party** : This can refer to the group of players, their characters, or both. 

**Meta** : Meta means everything outside of the game world. A "metacurrency" means something that you can spend for in-game advantages but doesn't actually exist as an object in the game. "Metagaming" means using information the player has, as though their character also has it. 

**Character Sheet** : Many games will provide a well-organized example of how best to keep track of your character's attributes, items, and history. However, "character sheet" is also sometimes used in a casual sense to just mean your character.

**Table** : A group of gamers is called a table

**PC** : a character that belongs to or is played by a player

**NPC** : a character that is not owned or played by a player but rather the GM

**HP** : HP stands for "Hit Points" or "Health Points". Most often, this is an attribute of your character and is used to describe their physical wellbeing or will to fight. Usually, HP being reduced to 0 will begin some sequence of events that results in your character living or dying. 

**Roll** : "a roll" is used as shorthand for asking someone to complete the appropriate sequence for resolving an action. Usually, this is rolling a specific number of a specific type of dice and adding a modifier. "Give me an Attack Roll" simply means to roll your dice, add any modifiers, and report back the result.

**Modifier** : Not all games will include the concept of modifiers. A modifier is a number that you add to the result of a roll. "1d20+5" would mean rolling one twenty-sided die and adding five to the result. In this case, +5 is the modifier. 

**Skill Check** : Non-combat actions that have some penalty for failure are often called "Skill Checks". The process for resolving these is usually similar to the aforementioned "Attack Roll". You may hear a GM say, "Give me a Stealth Check". This would be asking you to follow the procedure for resolving use of your character's Stealth skill. The details will vary from game to game, but it's usually rolling a specific number of specific dice and adding a Stealth skill modifier. 

**DC/TN/Difficulty/Target** : Skill Checks will very often involve trying to roll over or under a specific number. This number is generally either standardized or set by the GM, based on how hard the task should be. 

**Initiative** : When combat breaks out, it is common to make a roll to determine the order in which units will get to act. "Roll initiative" just means to begin whatever sequence your game demands for determining the turn order. "We are in initiative" means that players should proceed to take actions, as though they were in combat. This is useful for resolving time-limited scenarios.

**Fiction** : Sometimes, the game world is called "the fiction". This includes everything the GM and players have described their characters experiencing. It excludes game concepts, such as dice, rules, and HP.

**Narrative** : The narrative is the story of the game. It's not just what has happened since the beginning (the plot) but what it means to have happened. TTRPGs are a combination of narrative and rules. When the gameplay leans more into roleplaying and telling the story without rules, we call it a narrative game. 

**Roleplaying** : There will be a more detailed discussion of this further in the book. Roleplaying is the empathic exploration of a character and the story. It is attemping to feel what your character would feel. It is trying to bring that character to life, for the other players, by speaking and making decisions as they would. 

**PvP** : PvP stands for "Player vs Player". It's when one PC performs negative acts on another PC.

**One-Shot** : This term can mean either playing only for one session or for one adventure, that is not connected to any others.

**Campaign** : A "Campaign" is a series of adventures that are connected in some way. Usually, what connects them is an overarching story or simply having the same set of PCs involved. 

**Safety Tools/Lines & Veils** : "Safety Tools" are dedicated meta-systems for managing player expectations. Generally, you will go through a list of common phobias/triggers/topics and declare whether you're hyped about it, would prefer to keep it "off-screen", or absolutely do not want it involved in the game at all. They remain controversial but are common enough to mention here.

# 1. The Game Loop

For those who have never seen a TTRPG played, it can seem far more confusing than it is. Simply put, the GM will describe a scenario and then the players will describe their characters' responses to that scenario. You can take any action that your character reasonably could. You will work with the GM to figure out which rules are appropriate to resolve the action and figure out what follows. The GM continues describing how things unfold and players keep responding. Over time, this develops into a coherent story about the characters.

## Example - Cave Arrival

GM : "Your party has been commissioned by the king of Nebular to retrieve the Holy Grail. After many months of searching and travel, you have arrived at the mouth of the cave, where it was last seen."

Now that the GM has set the scene, players may ask questions or take actions. 

Player 1 : "What time of day is it?"

Player 2 : "I'll start unloading the carts."

GM : "It's about noon. There is plenty of space to set up a camp safely."

Player 1 : "I want to scout around, while the others make camp. I need to know if there are any signs of other people in the area."

GM : "Cool, you'll need to make a Search check. Roll 1d20 and add your modifier."

Player 1 would then roll one twenty-sided die and add the appropriate modifier from their character sheet. Assume they rolled 14 and added 3. 

Player 1 : "17"

GM : "You do not see any campfire smoke or recent cart tracks. You have not seen another soul, since leaving the main highway two days ago. You do, however, notice the faint webbed footprints of a creature. They lead to the West."

Notably, the GM does not need to have preplanned the time of day, the webbed foot tracks, nor whether there was space to make camp. In roleplaying, we often assert something and then make it make sense later. Players are generally only in control of their one character's attempts to perform actions. The GM is generally responsible for controlling the rest of the world. In the event of a mistake, it's fine to just admit it and move on. 

# Before You Play

TTRPGs are an extremely social activity. Even good friends may find that they are incompatible at the table. There are many reasons for this, and it's not anybody's fault, but you should be aware of them.

As TTRPGs are a balance of roleplaying and rules, different people will prefer different ratios. Some players only care about the story. Other players want to play TTRPGs like they're a normal board game. Every individual player will have a different preference about that ratio of story:boardgame. If your desired ratios are incompatible, someone will always feel a bit bummed. 

In the same vein, there are many subgenres and not everyone will be into all of them. For example, some players enjoy a horror-focused game but others have no interest whatsoever. Some players like a competitive environment and PvP, but many players would rather just be on the same team.

It is good practice to sit down and have a conversation about expectations and etiquette, before playing with a new group. This is often called a "Session 0". You should talk about the things that you are excited about and the things that you absolutely do not want to see in the game. Discuss your preferred ratio of roleplay:rules. Discuss the setting, potential stories, and character concepts. This is your best opportunity to avoid much toxicity and drama. 

# What is Roleplaying?

Roleplaying is often presented as "doing what your character would do". This gets extrapolated out to doing funny voices and wearing silly costumes. However, I believe that's a bit incomplete.

It may help to think of roleplaying as "emotional exploration". It is your job to feel what your character would feel and react appropriately. This will naturally trend you towards bringing your character to life for everyone else at the table. Voices and costumes are great fun (and can certainly help you feel like the character) but very often come from a place of performance and ego. It's not about putting on your best Dwarven accent. It's about you and your party walking away from that campaign, really feeling like you've been on an adventure with a Dwarf. A character is expressed through mechanics, just as much as an accent. 

This embodiment of character relies on a retrospective process. The totality of a character is developed in the wake of each action, after it has already happened. During play, you will have to make decisions, without enough time to really think through all the why's. You will eventually do something that appears out of character but felt right at the time.

It is here that emotional exploration begins. When you start looking at that out-of-character event, through the lens of your character, and trying to figure out why that felt right, you are exploring the character and their story. You will have to fill in details that reconcile the two. 

Example : Scurvy the pirate has been hired to rob a noble. During his raid, he encounters the noble's young child. What does he do?

Whether Scurvy lets the kid go or chooses a more direct solution, it will flesh him out as a character. If he lets the kid go, why? Did he know a similar boy? Was this simply outside the parameters of his contract? When you figure out the answer to this question, you figure out how to feel. Whether the answer enthuses or disgusts you, the character is more complete. It's by looking at these characters and how we reconcile their personalities that we are able to learn about ourselves, our perspectives, and life. You don't need the most optimal or most probable answer, just the one that is true to the character.

# Metagaming

"Metagaming" is using player knowledge to help your in-game character. If you (the player) know that Undead are weak to fire, it would be inappropriate for your character (who has never even heard of an Undead, much less seen one) to immediately jump to fire as a solution. Your job is not to defeat the Undead but to present an immersive experience of how your character would interact with an Undead. Metagaming is often considered cheating and will get nerds quite fired up.

However, metagaming is also the glue that holds the game together. There will be times, when you must intentionally trend your character away from "what they would do". Imagine that you are playing a loner that doesn't trust anybody. It will be necessary to find a reason that they are willing to make that leap for the party. Even if this manifests as a paid contract or some convenient circumstance, you will metagame to facilitate the game. You should not demand that the other characters solve this, lest ye become more trouble than you're worth. 

In this same vein, an evil character or thief cannot just spend every minute of every session committing crimes. It takes too much of the focus and creates a scenario where it's impossible for the other players to effectively play the characters they were so excited about. It's a balancing act. You must choose specific instances that will highlight the feeling of having a thief in the party, without it becoming a hindrance for the game itself. This includes not stealing from the other PC's, in a game where PvP has not been explictly allowed. 

# Why do we have rules?

In a silly game of pretend and math rocks, it can start to seem like the rules are secondary or unnecessary in their entirety. Why should we not just decide what happens? Do characters really need to die, when we're not ready to lose them?

The rules of a game are the bones upon which we hang the fiction. They are the physics of our little reality. The more credible and reliable the rules are, the more real and satisfying the world will feel.

It's not that overcoming challenges is harder or easier but that it's more credible. Your outcomes weren't just handwaived and granted to you. There was a process that your whims were subject to, that you had to master and overcome. The harrowing story that you and your character survived wasn't just a writing exercise but an 8 month battle, tooth and claw, with many ups and downs. It's not what you decided should happen, but what did happen. 

Before tossing out any given rule, please do consider how it affects the credibility of your game. It's one thing to say "I slay the dragon with my epic firebeam" and entirely another to find out if you can. The former is a popular choice, called "rule of cool". The latter is a tabletop roleplaying game.

# Advice for Players

If you take nothing else away from this section, please take the mantra : "I am not a consumer of content!" 

The worst thing you can do as a player is to sit passively, waiting for the GM to spoonfeed you encounters. It's less fun for you, the other players, and especially the GM. A good player is interested. They want to know more about their own character, the other characters (PC and NPC), and the world itself. Every scene is an opportunity to find out more. 

## Making a Character
Every game will include specific rules and procedures for creating a character. This section will instead focus on the larger concept of figuring out who the character is, in terms of the story.

The most important part of a character is that they have a goal (or interest). Through the lens of this goal (or interest), you will make the ordinary extaordinary.

Envision that you've been given this quest and relate it back to the character description. "I need you to go down into Old Yamu's basement and bring back his books."

You are an adventurer.
You are an adventuring wizard.
You are an adventuring wizard, who wants to collect as many spellbooks as possible.
You are an adventuring wizard, who wants to collect as many spellbooks as possible, but is also in the process of completing their wizard school thesis on rare spiders.

The more we know about your character, the wider variety of ways to hook your deep interest in the quest. Could these books be spellbooks? Could this basement contain rare spiders? These are the lenses through which you must explore the game world. Ask the GM about signs of spiders. Ask about specific spellbook authors. Give the GM unexpected opportunities to expand their lore. 

However, there is a danger. If you define every aspect of your character, down to the specifics of every family member in their lineage, you start to build a sort of prison. You're no longer able to shift and roll with the story as needed. The GM can no longer bring in a distant cousin with news about your family. There won't be anything left to discover about your character and they won't mold to the world as seamlessly. 

I believe the sweet spot is for a level 1, beginning character, to have : Name, Personality, Hometown, Reason they left home to adventure, and a separate big goal they don't know how to solve. This handful of facts is strong enough to capture the essence of a character and loose enough to change as needed. 

You can declare that you're from the port city of Shamshir, without the GM needing to do any additional work. You've already left, so it's unlikely that you'll return until your adventure is over. Whatever bad thing sent you away could be as mundane as a breakup or as outlandish as giant robots. Since we're not going there and you could just be confused or lying, the GM again has no obligation to do additional work. 

When it comes to the separate big goal (that you don't know how to solve), this is for your benefit. Perhaps your character wants to revive his long lost love. You don't need to know what resurrection magic exists, how it works, or what your GM has in store. It keeps your character from being one-dimensional and gives you infinite jumping off points for unplanned investigations. Why are you going in the spooky deep dank crypt of the deathgod? There could be leads!

## Questions

To best bring your character to life for the table, you will need more information than you are initially given. The GM has no way to know what details will be of interest to every character and it would waste far too much time to just list everything. It is likely that they don't even know the answer before you ask. This is good and intended.

When you ask for additional details, you are giving the GM the opportunity to play the game. You're also helping to draw everyone at the table into a deeper and more credible fiction. If your character would want to know, if it somehow relates to an action you want to take, ask for those details!

Read the following example and track how your image of the room changes.

GM : "You enter a 10ftx10ft room. Torches line the walls and there is a slow, rhythmic drip of water somewhere." (<-- Note, this is a poor description!)

Player 1 : "Are the torches lit?"

GM : "The torches are lit. They seem to be mostly burned down. The dim light covers the entire room but only weakly."

Player 2 : "Does my character know how long these torches would have burnt for?"

GM : "I don't know. Do they have any special familiarity? If not, roll a Knowledge check."

Player 2 : "Well, she was a tavernkeeper. Does that help?"

GM : "Oh, right! Through your expertise, you know that this style of torch lasts almost 6 hours to the minute. About 1 hour remains."

Player 2 : "That means that whoever lit them can't be more than 5 hours removed."

Now, whether the GM figured that out before he said it isn't important. It's his job as a roleplayer (and GM) to make it make sense. What matters is how these questions got us from "a 10ftx10ft room" to something that we can interact with. Asking personalized questions is one of the most obvious signs of a good player, who is going to be fun to play with.

### Character Stats Replace Player Attributes

The whole point of RPGs is to replace your attributes with the character's. You do not need to be smart to play a wizard or strong to play a warrior. You don't need to be a tactical genius to play a weathered commander. It's enough to ask the GM, "What would my character know about this?", or, "I'm a tactician. Can I determine any particularly advantageous tactics here?".

### Interact

Asking questions about the observable world is good but sometimes you'll want to inquire about bigger ideas or the unknowable. Imagine there is a door and you suspect it is trapped in some manner. You could ask, "Are there any traps?", or say, "I search the door for traps", but it's far more immersive (and fun) to actually take the actions that "search for" describes. Poke it with a stick. Jiggle the handle. Check for wires. Interact with the world, just as your character would, when you want to test a theory. 

## Learn the Rules

It takes time for any new player to properly learn the rules of any game. This is never a problem and should not deter anyone from joining. However, some players never bother to learn the rules, and that is a problem.

Some players mistakenly think that, because the GM is the final word on a ruling, that only the GM needs to know the rules. It is important for every player to develop a strong understanding of the basic rules. It is also important for you to be informed about any rules that apply specifically to you (class features, specific weapons only you use). 

Not only will knowing the rules give you more options and speed up play, but the credibility of the fiction depends on it. When everyone understands what a critical hit actually means, they can all react appropriately in the moment. If people have only a loose understanding or have to reference a book, the momentum is lost and that entire moment loses all of its weight.

A tertiary but still important benefit of informed players is that the GM gets to engage much deeper with the NPCs. As players begin to fully utilize their options (defensive actions, positioning bonuses), the GM is able to use those same options for the bad guys and not worry about overwhelming the players. Games are a lot more fun, when both sides can play at full capacity.


## Set Others Up

It's a bit of an advanced concept but a good player will be on the lookout for opportunities to let other players shine. If there's a boulder blocking the path, it may be fine for everyone to just roll Strength and see what they get but it's better for you to shine a spotlight on the warrior : "This is why we keep you around, Douglas. Please and thank you!". Take every opportunity to reinforce the characters. 

## A Word On Balance

Roleplayers are generally too busy playing their characters to really abuse the mechanics of most games. They don't spam the optimal thing on every turn because there are more flavorful things to do. Unfortunately, some games are poorly balanced at their core and make those flavorful actions too undesirable to justify. If you find yourself opting out of flavor because it's too punishing too often, it's probably time to switch games.

# Advice for GMs

"I am a roleplayer, too."

The GMs of today bear a terrible weight. This weight is decades of cultural baggage, from specific popular TTRPGs, that inform expectations of what a GM's role is. You need not carry this weight any longer.

## Not Your Job

You are not solely responsible for :

* Deciding where the story goes
* Creating content
* Resolving out-of-game conflicts
* Hosting
* Providing materials
* Knowing all the rules
* Scheduling
* Balance
* Keeping players engaged
* Pacing
* Snacks

## Your Job

The job of the GM is to roleplay everything that the players are not. This ranges from individual NPCs, to forces of nature, and even to the momentous will of entire factions. You understand them on a deep level and then play out what they would do, in reaction to the scenario being played. In this way, you do not need to plan every step or room of every dungeon. You don't need to worry about story hooks or climactic endings. You are a roleplayer!

## Translation

You will often be called upon to figure out how something would work in your world. This requires you to have a strong understanding of the game's mechanics. You will likely find it necessary to alter these base mechanics to translate some concept into game terms. When doing this, you are not seeking balance but translation. 

Imagine we want to introduce a giant snake boss monster. Whether the giant snake takes up 1, 2, or 3 squares is unimportant. What matters is that it feels like a GIANT snake boss monster. In different games, that's going to mean different things. Your mastery of the ruleset is what will allow you to make satisfying translations of cool concepts. The actual balance will come from the underlying systems. 

Similarly, players will often ask for items that are not detailed in the rulebook but are core to their character's character. For example, what is the Grim Reaper without his scythe? If the game doesn't have a "scythe" listed under weapons, it will fall to you to translate that into game terms. Is it a reflavored quarterstaff? Is it a new item? Your job here is not to create a new, perfectly-balanced item. It is to use game terms and mechanics to accurately capture the essence of the feeling that the player was going for. It doesn't help anyone to make a historically accurate scythe, if the player doesn't end up using it.

## Balance

The GM is not responsible for the balance of underlying mechanics. If you follow the rules for adding or altering things, you should be able to expect that the game will go smoothly. However, the GM is responsible for scaling the intensity according to the party that they have. If you're playing with new players, it would be inappropriate to optimize every action and tactic of their first opponents. You will need to modulate your intensity to allow space for everyone to roleplay.

Ideally, suboptimal decisions yield proportionally suboptimal results. A forgetful wizard forgetting his spell for one turn shouldn't wipe the party. He should be able to anticipate that there will be some pain, but not need to sit and calculate whether he can afford to roleplay. 

## Integrating Player Stories

It is not necessary to tie every adventure to the PC's personal backstories or characters. It's perfectly fine (sometimes even desirable) to just have an adventure about bopping Goblins because Goblins are bad. It's almost equally easy to over and under do this one. However, choosing the right moments to shine a light on a specific player is one of the many skills of the GM.

You don't need to plan it ahead of time. You don't need to know what it means. You're going to roleplay for now and have plenty of time to find real answers, after you see how the player reacts.

Whether its putting a family crest on a generic loot dagger or telling a player they've faced these guys before, the GM is able to take any otherwise forgettable moment and make it intimately connected to a character. If you are unsure, simply ask, "Would Feri have fought many Goblins before?".

Let's assume that you've told Feri that a messenger has given her a letter from her long-lost brother, Craven. Feri's player informs you that Feri doesn't have a brother, so that's impossible. Don't back down! Simply shift it into a conman, trap, or mistake. You can't miss and Feri's character will be reinforced for everyone at the table. 

## Planning

Every GM will develop their own strategies for preparing an adventure. In this section, I will share my own. The only wrong way is the way that's no fun. 

### Central Conflict

The "central conflict" is the thing that sets this place and this time apart from all the others. It describes why the adventure is happening now, rather than last week or next year. By solidifying this early, you will ensure that your campaign remains clear in purpose.

### Priorities

Each NPC (and group of NPCs) should have clear priorities, usually presented in a ranked list. If we know whether a character values gold more than life, it becomes easy to roleplay. If we know whether they fear their boss more than they value gold, we know they cannot be bribed. I generally aim to have about 5 priorities.

1. Serving a diety
2. Protecting family
3. Resurrection of Glathos
4. Gold
5. Life

This short list makes it very easy to roleplay this character, at a glance. We know that they will not run away, while defending their family. We know that Glathos is important to them but not at the cost of their religious tenants. 

### Factions

A "faction" does not need to be a literal faction, in the sense of two sides of a power struggle. It should simply encompass every unit and character that belongs to a group. Undead could be a faction. The Shanktown Pirates could be a faction. Each faction should have their own list of ranked priorities, that do not necessarily extend down to the individual units but can be used as a fallback. 

Additionally, I find it helpful to figure out what the organization of the faction might look like. If they are combatants, how many of each kind of unit travels together? Where do they travel and for what purpose? Do they have unique tactics? By listing the combat tactics of each kind of unit in the faction, it becomes easy to capture their essence without much foreplanning. 

For example, let's imagine that your faction tactics note says, "One autonomous unit consists of 1 captain, 4 melees, and 2 ranged scouts.", and your individual grunt unit says, "Ranged units will seek highground, to provide cover fire for melee units.". No matter where they enter combat, you know exactly how to play them. 

### Patrons

"Patrons" are what I called the named NPCs of a faction, that take individual action in the world. Usually, this will be the leaders of a faction. Patrons should also have their own unique list of priorities. These will likely differ slightly from the faction's. This difference, again, makes it easy to roleplay at a glance. You know where they differ and can roleplay that friction.

### Places

It is very common for GMs to design locations that are unique to a specific group of inhabitants or simply accompany a specific adventure. I find this wasteful. It is far better to design standalone locations. They should have their own lore, secrets, and loot - regardless of who happens to live there.

### The Adventure

Envision that we've built a Reptilian tomb. It's filled with traps and secrets. It houses an ancient sword. It's fine to run through this, battling the Reptilian protectors and call it a day. 

However, we could swap the inhabitants to the Shanktown Pirates faction. We could say they're trying to graverob the ancient sword. Instantly, this combination of faction and place creates an adventure that basically runs itself. All you have to do at that point is roleplay both the Shanktown Pirates and the essence of the Reptilian Tomb. 

Since we know the priorities of the Shanktown Pirates, it's easy to determine when they would flee or whether they would make a deal. It's also completely trivial to bring in a third faction (maybe the royal guard?!) and roleplay their conflict with the Shanktown Pirates, catching the players in the middle of this dynamic world. 

Each faction will use the same space differently and battling them there will be a unique experience. Perhaps the Shanktown Pirates brought many boxes of explosives, to bypass all the locks. None of this requires you to do additional prep work. You just make rad, standalone things and then roleplay them!

## You Are Not A Writer

When a GM forgets to roleplay, it is very easy to drop into the role of a writer. They plan many games ahead and have big ideas about what "should" happen. Always be wary of this! If you find that you are overly invested in obtaining a specific outcome, consider whether you'd rather play a fun game with your friends or write a short story.

# Conclusion

I wrote this document as an attempt to help bolster roleplaying. Too often, we only see memes of players and GMs sniping at each other. There is a glorious world to be had, where nobody is mad and everything is rad. We just need to shift focus from "winning" to "reinforcing the fiction".