What a beautiful reminder of the importance of play, and all the skills we can gain along the way! I never participated in a campaign style RPG, but I did do online role play in the Roswell and Harry Potter universe. I’m kind of feeling nostalgic now at the memory of creating my character and discovering her along the way, the fun unpredicability of the way a role play partner’s responses can send it in a new, exciting direction. All of this inspired my writing, and in some ways, it’s something I need to bring more into my own solo writing process.
Thank you again!
Azelyn
2 months ago
I’ve been wanting to play RPGs for fun, and now I want to do so for writing sake too! Here’s to hoping I can find some fellow gamers.
JENGarrett
2 months ago
As a confirmed pantser, I found that RPGs are great… for other people. LOL, actually, I’m a story consultant for a few DMs (Dudgeon Masters) so I can hone my weakest writing points – plotting!
Christine
2 months ago
I liked the “pressure to spontaneity”. You play in the moment, react to situations and challenges in the NOW. This brings up cool ideas from inside of you which you might never have dared to come up with before. And it trains you over time to connect story ideas, moods, bits and bobs and build a metastory / repository in your mind which you can mine later on for writing your story.
Plus: You get instant reaction from your co-players … sometimes, that’s a good thing, too.
Minus: Don’t mine your round too much … unless you asked for permission to do so from your co-players / the DM.
A. T. Baron
2 months ago
I remember playing Dungeons and Dragons as a kid and again when my kids were interested in it for a brief time. I love creating the character sheets and quests most (go figure). So much of that role-playing is what we put into our manuscripts. We are the DM, the player, the map, and the monster all rolled up in one. It might be fun to see what happens to our new main character if we roll D20 die for their next decision.
Debbie Vilardi
2 months ago
I take my characters into other worlds for this reason. They exist in DC and Marvel movies. I throw them into books. I have running play in my mind to tell myself a story before bed. None of this is in my books. None of this has to be truly logical. I can skip a year or back up. I can steal characters. No one will know. It’s all for fun. That’s maybe learned from my imaginary play with friends days and informal RPGs.
Kim
2 months ago
Love this! I started playing on Roll20 with my son and some family friends, as a pandemic activity, and I’m having such a great time practicing character development. I hadn’t thought to give my character a secret, but I am going to! Also, listening to my 10-y-o son freestyle backstory for his badass assassin/housecat (Tabaxi) character has been hilarious.
What a beautiful reminder of the importance of play, and all the skills we can gain along the way! I never participated in a campaign style RPG, but I did do online role play in the Roswell and Harry Potter universe. I’m kind of feeling nostalgic now at the memory of creating my character and discovering her along the way, the fun unpredicability of the way a role play partner’s responses can send it in a new, exciting direction. All of this inspired my writing, and in some ways, it’s something I need to bring more into my own solo writing process.
Thank you again!
I’ve been wanting to play RPGs for fun, and now I want to do so for writing sake too! Here’s to hoping I can find some fellow gamers.
As a confirmed pantser, I found that RPGs are great… for other people. LOL, actually, I’m a story consultant for a few DMs (Dudgeon Masters) so I can hone my weakest writing points – plotting!
I liked the “pressure to spontaneity”. You play in the moment, react to situations and challenges in the NOW. This brings up cool ideas from inside of you which you might never have dared to come up with before. And it trains you over time to connect story ideas, moods, bits and bobs and build a metastory / repository in your mind which you can mine later on for writing your story.
Plus: You get instant reaction from your co-players … sometimes, that’s a good thing, too.
Minus: Don’t mine your round too much … unless you asked for permission to do so from your co-players / the DM.
I remember playing Dungeons and Dragons as a kid and again when my kids were interested in it for a brief time. I love creating the character sheets and quests most (go figure). So much of that role-playing is what we put into our manuscripts. We are the DM, the player, the map, and the monster all rolled up in one. It might be fun to see what happens to our new main character if we roll D20 die for their next decision.
I take my characters into other worlds for this reason. They exist in DC and Marvel movies. I throw them into books. I have running play in my mind to tell myself a story before bed. None of this is in my books. None of this has to be truly logical. I can skip a year or back up. I can steal characters. No one will know. It’s all for fun. That’s maybe learned from my imaginary play with friends days and informal RPGs.
Love this! I started playing on Roll20 with my son and some family friends, as a pandemic activity, and I’m having such a great time practicing character development. I hadn’t thought to give my character a secret, but I am going to! Also, listening to my 10-y-o son freestyle backstory for his badass assassin/housecat (Tabaxi) character has been hilarious.