roseembolism (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
roseembolism) wrote2008-03-16 01:06 am
roseembolism) wrote2008-03-16 01:06 am
cHA0$ gAM1nG!
Woo, what a toot last night was! Lots of people at the gaming table, lots of laughter, lots of alcohol and snacks...and Oh yeah, we did a bit of gaming too.
All of which is why last night was so important to me: I got to have huge amounts of energetic fun with people who I love and respect. And that's given me back a little bit of confidence to continue running games, and get better at it. I'm very rusty now, but that will change. And I owe that to my friends and my wife.
Gaming in Santa Barbara didn't prepare me to run with this crowd; in SB as a player, it was all "Poke the GM, to see if he's still alive!"; GMing a game here, was like trying to manage a class of hyperactive ferrets. The game started nearly two hours late due to the sheer noise and distractions, I made a lot of mistakes, and most of the players crashed or had to leave before the game finished, meaning that I and two other people finally finished the game. I've been taking notes on the things I'm going to do differently next time I run a game, such as allow for a more open-ended scenario that has much less combat. My collapsing in laughter less often would be a good idea for a smoothly running game as well. In a real sense, I'm just happy people had a good time. The main thing is, I am going to be running more games, because in spite of the mistakes, chaos, and all, I've gotten a bit of confidence back
This is important, because you see, the last game I ran in Santa Barbara, ended badly. It had some pacing problems, the plot was a bit too intrusive, things like that. But some people did not take kindly to how the game turned out. For instance, I was working at the same company as one of the players, and she called me over to her cubicle, sat me down, and lectured me on the things I did wrong, and how I could improve the next game, in the same tone of voice a manager uses when saying to an incompetent employee "And how do you think we could prevent you from burning down the building NEXT time?". And then her boyfriend, corralled me in the local game store to also give me a lecture on the things I did so, very, very, wrong. At the time I was stunned, and when I had a chance to think about it, I simply decided I would not run a game for that crowd again. But like a kid who doesn't immediately get up and ride a bike after falling down, that resolution extended itself even after I moved to San Jose, where I had a very different crowd of people to game with. I had to be pushed into running a game.
This is important, because you see, the last game I ran in Santa Barbara, ended badly. It had some pacing problems, the plot was a bit too intrusive, things like that. But some people did not take kindly to how the game turned out. For instance, I was working at the same company as one of the players, and she called me over to her cubicle, sat me down, and lectured me on the things I did wrong, and how I could improve the next game, in the same tone of voice a manager uses when saying to an incompetent employee "And how do you think we could prevent you from burning down the building NEXT time?". And then her boyfriend, corralled me in the local game store to also give me a lecture on the things I did so, very, very, wrong. At the time I was stunned, and when I had a chance to think about it, I simply decided I would not run a game for that crowd again. But like a kid who doesn't immediately get up and ride a bike after falling down, that resolution extended itself even after I moved to San Jose, where I had a very different crowd of people to game with. I had to be pushed into running a game.
All of which is why last night was so important to me: I got to have huge amounts of energetic fun with people who I love and respect. And that's given me back a little bit of confidence to continue running games, and get better at it. I'm very rusty now, but that will change. And I owe that to my friends and my wife.