A is for Active, The State I Like Best

I don't do nothing well.

A better way to say it might be...I'm not very good at doing nothing.

When running a Role Playing Game, I like something to be happening, always.

It really doesn't matter if it's a fight, a chase, an investigation, an argument with an NPC, or a heated discussion between PCs on the next course of action. I just want Something. Going. On.

Is it because I'm impatient? I get bored easily? No. It's none of that nonsense.

It boils down to the fact that the people, the characters we portray in the games we play, the stories we create, are people living on a razor's edge. They aren't just accountants, farmers, or even soldiers, even when they are. They are people gambling their lives on terrible stakes, against possibly insurmountable odds, in search of fame, fortune, glory, or justice.

Sometimes maybe a little of each.

These aren't people who want safe, easy lives. If they were really those types of individuals, they would never have become adventurers. Heck, if you observe some people play, you wonder why their PC bothers to drag itself out of bed every morning. Why leave your house if you're not going to do anything when you go outside?

The point is, my point is, don't overthink to the level that you do not do. Don't contemplate, analyze, and plan, but never execute said plan. If you should execute said plan, and it becomes more complicated, or it flat out fails, don't give in, give up, or sit it out after that.

Do. Be active. Be proactive, or even reactive. Keep moving. Move the scene forward, the story forward, the game forward.

Like life, gaming is not a spectator sport. Get involved, stay involved, see it through.

Gamemasters, always have something going on. Maybe it's obvious, maybe it's in the background, but something needs to be happening. Even in the quiet break moments when the PCs are resting, and recovering, the world, the universe you're playing in moves on.


A is for Active.

AD
Barking Alien