I received lots of feedback about my gaming styles post. I really appreciate all of you twitter friends that responded, as well as those that emailed me or left comments on the site. I truly appreciate hearing your thoughts. In listening to all of the feedback two things have become abundantly clear to me… 1) I need to clarify the post a bit, and 2) I need to write shorter posts. This post is to be a short clarification.
My intention in writing the gaming style post was two-fold. The first thing I wanted to address was the vocabulary, and the second was the blended nature of most game styles.
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I have been playing RPGs for quite some time and I feel like I know a good bit of RPG jargon and what is meant by certain words. Now, that’s not to say that I think my dear readers don’t know the meaning of RPG jargon, I’m sure most of you do. Those that don’t have an RPG connection to the words probably know the terms used in the style piece due to various and sundry other hobbies (cinema buffs, history geeks, stage/drama peeps, avid readers, sci-fi fans, etc.). But I was writing this article for newer DMs/GMs that might not have an idea how those words might describe a D&D game, and how that looks in action, and how it translates to the table . And now for my first clarification: I purposely used very extreme examples of those styles of play separate from any other style to illustrate the point, not to proffer those descriptions as the only correct way to use that game style. It’s my fault that I didn’t make this clear in the piece and for any confusion you may have felt, I apologize. I hope that I didn’t steer any new DMs/GMs in the wrong direction.
The second thing to clarify is the assertion that these gaming styles are mutually exclusive. They are not and I didn’t mean to imply that they are. I only meant to illustrate that if you used them as such you would be running a very extreme game. One of the great things about RPGs is that they are cooperative endeavors. One joyful, and sometimes troubling, aspect of this cooperation is the goal of creating a good time for everyone. In order for everyone to have fun, players must feel like they are contributing (in their own way) to the game they are helping to create. Because of this, I highly recommend asking your players what style of game they would like to play and try your best to accommodate everyone’s preferences. With a little practice, you will be able to blend styles into your game and give everyone a style of game that they will really enjoy.
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Hopefully that clears up the issues regarding the post. Or rather, in the words of a friend of mine, the “long-ass article.” I will try to keep my posts shorter in the future (this one comes in at 571 words!). If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at DMSamuel AT IronNeuronEnterprises DOT com, or simply post a comment here on the site. Don’t forget, you can subscribe to the feed via email by typing your email into the box at the top right hand side of the website and then click the button.
Until next time, I wish you good gaming!
~DM Samuel
