“It is a bit embarrassing to have been concerned with the human problem all one’s life and find at the end that one has no more to offer by way of advice than ‘Try to be a little kinder.’”
— Aldous Huxley
I started this blog to vent about gaming and Game Mastering. I had trouble wrapping my head around one of the biggest problems. I didn't know it at the time, but not everyone was really playing the game. Some of the players were trying to break the game. It's not always obvious. I was reading, the not always eloquent, but usually on point "AngryDM" and found this blog entry. The proverbial light-bulb switched on and I had an "ahh I see it now " moment.
I have been trying to reboot my oldest and longest running game for years. Constantly listening to complaints and rants by or about one player or another. Accepting constructive and destructive criticism. My original group stopped playing years ago. We've stayed in touch and the possibility of playing again comes up a few times a year. It always falls apart for the same reasons. I thought I could fix that.
A few of us had even found another gaming group. The same old debates followed. They even gained momentum and size, because this group had it's own history. I thought I might be able to use my experience as a DM and years of playing different games to fix this. Hell, I read Dragon magazine and had been playing since AD&D was a thing. I played Basic D&D and Expert D&D. AD&D 2nd Edition and D20. I played Call of Cthulhu, Shadowrun, Top Secret ....well you get the idea. I gamed. But I couldn't fix it. I had rules and theory up the wazoo, but what I lacked was not obvious, so I didn't know it was missing. I just assumed everyone was there to play and wanted the same kind of game. It never occurred to me that anyone would show up, with the intention of trying to break the game on purpose. It's a real thing. It's also very common. Game groups actually have to draw up contracts with intentions and house rules. It's like a dating contract complete with safe words.
Part of me laughs at how ridiculous this sounds. At the same time, I realize, this is exactly what I have been trying to fix all along. There is no game rule or campaign supplement that can resolve this. It's not something that you can open a book and point to. It is about people agreeing to play the same game, the same way.
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