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 ReasonThere 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 misconceptionThe 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 MinMin 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. BrainchildMin 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 thinkMost 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 DMLet 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 listenThey 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 SteadyLooking 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 thoughtsI'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.Remember to share. Get full access to RoS at theinkyard.substack.com/subscribe

Hello hello hello!New issues are always weird to write. This format is rather new to me but I hope it is something you all will enjoy.I thought I would start things off with a look back at my previous game and some things I would do differently. Especially with the start of this New Year.Session N0 n0Group games are fun, but they can be rather overwhelming starting out. New DM's can easily bite off more than they can chew without realizing it.A military budddy of mine approached me with a proposition, way back in 2018. "I have people who really want to play DnD. But no one wants to DM. You think you'd be up for giving it a shot Mr. Storyteller?"Now I'd been watching Critical Role and we'd been trying to get a game going since before I'd left the military. So a chance of a life time was before me (atleast how I saw it) I can finally spring my world on people and let them loose!I was so excited anyone and everyone was invited to the table. My first game had a total of nine players. NINE! This isn't a knock on my enthusiasm, it isn't even a knock on running a game that large. However, my eagerness and inexperienced didn't take into account the vast duties of the DM. Needless to say things quickly fell apart. Why? Looking back I ran what I thought was a session 00. But it was no where close. I hadn't set expectations of my players nor told them what kind of game I wanted to run. Or maybe more importantly what kind of DM I am. Some of these things are easy to figure out. But when you've never run a game then how do you sus out these? My group was gracious enough to allow me some level of trial and error. Awesome as that was probably not the smoothest or most fun to be apart of. What would I do now?Figure out what kind of DM I wanted to be First and foremost. Mark down the stories I want to tell, the games I want to run.Huh?Literally what inspires me* fantasy * anime * music * weird cosmic horror * speculative fiction * podcasts * movies and more!Pay attention to all the media I consume. Then tell those stories the way only I could tell them.BoundariesI'd set expectations for my table. This might be the hardest thing starting out. You think you shouldn't have to talk about something like this but.... Alas we are human.* How far explicit behavior and content can and will go at the table. * Setting up parameters for when your players do not feel comfortable or safe at the table. Not just talks about what races, and classes are allowed or how much gold your character gets. While this is important to play. What is more important is building a space where you can feel comfortable exploring with others. Because isn't that what we are here for; To explore something other than ourselves?Thanks again for signing up. Please share this newsletter with whoever you think would enjoy it! Also don't forget to check out the website!I'll be diving into ‘Abandoning your Babies' next issue. Remember every 1st and 3rd Monday. Get full access to RoS at theinkyard.substack.com/subscribe

Hello, hello, hello…I wanted to start this newsletter off with a honest conversation. And a walk down memory Lane.I started my First session with Nine players. It fell apart quickly. I know now it wasn't because it is impossible to run a game for that many people. But because I bit off more than I could chew at the time.Real Intimacy makes Real ArtThis newsletter is an effort to keep things small. It is an effort to cultivate the same intimacy I experience when I create. I don't strive to position myself as an expert or guru on the subject. But to let you into my process. I think it's important we examine our processes because its there we find the art. I atleast that's what I like to believe. I hope my own honest explorations and realizations will offer you some method to tackle your own creative explorations. Whatever they maybe.Ponder this…Self reflection is a powerful tool and something I tend to do often around my birthday. Which was recent! So I'll leave you with this; what have you been neglecting to create?As always thanks for being subscribed. Your support is encouragement to continue doing this. We’ll be starting things off with a series on the first campaign I ran. Deconstructing somethings I did well and some I did horrible at. You can read the recaps here. If you want to stay ahead of the class. They do start in media res due to something I will be touching on. Notes! And why every DM/Gm should have a system to take and keep notes. With a few recommendations 😊 of my own. Get full access to RoS at theinkyard.substack.com/subscribe