RPGaDay: Experience

This is the first time I've done RPGaDay, and it's certainly been an experience.  Coming up with creative interpretations of the prompts has been a challenge, and I think I would have preferred the more concrete questions of some earlier years, but I probably got more interesting blog posts out of these prompts.

It's pushed me to actually write something every day, which has definitely been good for me. Writing regularly is a skill I really need when running a campaign, when surprise actions of PCs mean I suddenly need to write new material on fairly short notice.  It's also the only way my current collection of half-written scenarios are ever going to get finished.

Along the way I've found some insights into what I do well as a GM and ways I can improve, as well as ways to get better as a player.  I've also got some potential inspiration for scenarios (because I clearly need more half-written scenarios in my collection) based on the Forest and Tower posts.

There's also been happy memories of past games,reminding me that no matter what the imposter syndrome might sometimes try to tell me, I've been doing this for a long time and I do it well.  I may not have been playing back in the 70s and 80s like certain grognards of my aquaintence, but I am an experienced RPG player and GM.

Experience isn't everything though.  Last night I played Call of Cthulhu with a GM who'd never run the game before, and we all had a brilliant time.  One of my recent Liminal games included someone playing his first ever RPG, and he did great.  The best RPGers I've played with aren't just experienced.  They're enthusiastic.  Experience might make you better at playing and GMing, but all you need to get started is to really want to do it.