Player Skill vs Character Skill - Managing Expectations

There is a discussion in the TTRPG hobby called Player Skill versus Character Skill.

Player Skill describes a playstyle where players solve problems in the game using their own creativity and problem-solving skills. Examples:

• 1. Players using their own persuasiveness to convince NPCs to help them. The player makes an argument in character, and the GM evaluates it in character, then responds.
• 2. A player describes how they interact with a feature of a room or scene. If their description would reasonably allow them to find something hidden, then they just find it. For example, if they describe pouring water onto the floor and the game master describes that it drains through a crack of a pressure plate in the floor. They player has revealed a trap automatically!
• 3. If a player wants to sneak, they describe how they use their environment effectively to avoid line of sight, how they minimize sounds like taking off their noisy armor or jangling weapons, etc.

Character Skill describes a playstyle where players solve problems in the game primarily using powers and abilities on their character sheet.

• 1. A player declares an intent to persuade an NPC, then rolls some dice and invokes a game mechanic, such as a speech skill.
• 2. The player declares an intent to search the floor for traps, invokes a search or perception mechanic, and rolls a die.
• 3. A player declares an intent to be sneaky and invokes a game mechanic by rolling a die.

Player Skill and Character Skill describe two completely different kinds of games. They feel different.

The feel of games with player skill

• 1. Gives more value to game master descriptions of the room or scene.
• 2. Incentivizes good player narration, creativity and improv in the moment.
• 3. Rolling dice is a fail-state for poor creativity, planning, or decision making!
• 4. Deemphasizes the need for rules knowledge and systems mastery.
• 5. Solve problems with your wits and know that the dice won't arbitrarily spoil a perfectly good idea!
• 6. More freeform, rules-lite game.
• 7. The game becomes simpler and more intuitive. You don't need to know the rules; instead, just understand that anything that can reasonably happen in real life is allowed in the game.

The feel of games with character skill:

• 1. Players make decisions based on knowledge of game mechanics rather than imagining and describing clear actions.
• 2. Players are incentivized to master the rules and systems of the game, and even exploit weaknesses in the game design.
• 3. A greater emphasis is placed on rolling dice, and the game master's interpretations of the dice can feel arbitrary or contrived. Actions that have no business succeeding can succeed, and actions that have no business failing can fail. This can cause ludo narrative dissonance and loss of suspension of disbelief.
• 4. Creative actions and good planning can grant bonuses, but some players are most creative outside the game when creating their character.
• 5. Players refer to or rely on their character sheet for answers to problems.
• 6. Character options get classified as either optimal or sub-optimal, and all decisions eventually become a matter of doing the optimal thing over and over ad nauseum.
• 7. Good ideas get questioned because there isn't a clear rule for it, and we look for the rulebook to tell us if it's allowed or if it will be helpful, even if it reasonably would or be.

So, if we're playing a game that emphasizes player skill, why do we have game mechanics? Mechanics are not for solving problems, and they're not for resolving uncertainty. They give structure to the game, and they're for simulating actions that need to be simulated. If you want to strike a stationary object, you can just do it because there's no chance of failure. If you want to strike an opponent who's actively fighting back, then we use the mechanics and dice to simulate the outcome. We need to simulate combat because we can't hit each other with swords at the game table, but we don't need to simulate lying and haggling because we can actually do that!

Further, you don't need a mechanic for everything. Mechanics are only needed for things that absolutely need simulation, nothing more. Everything that can reasonably be solved through the logic of the world or narrative should be. This is what the game master (aka the referee) is for! If your opponent is no longer able to defend themself, you don't need to roll a die to hit them! You don't need a rule to tell you that if you take off your heavy metal armor and heavy backpack full of treasure, you can sneak, climb, swim, run and jump better.

What Does My Character Know?

Sometimes, players ask the GM something like "would my character know anything about X?" Either the player is knowledgeable about the game and the setting and wants to confirm what of their player knowledge they may use, or the player has no knowledge about the game and setting, and they want the GM to tell them what their character would reasonably know.

The Character Skill approach to the game is to allow the player to roll an Intellect or Knowledge check or test, or to invoke some feature of their character that lets them automatically possess and recall that knowledge.

The Player Skill approach to the game is to instead tell the player "why don't you explore the world and find someone who does know?"

Consider that this situation is a regular part of that game and liken it to a puzzle. It's a puzzle that can be solved in different ways. With the Character Skill approach, the player merely has to think to use a game mechanic. The solution is then either presented to them or it isn't. If it's presented, the players can then move onto the next challenge. The pacing of the game or major points in the narrative is fast.

With the Player Skill approach, the player has to rely on their own creativity and work out their own solution within the setting and narrative to solve the problem. They can think to research at a library, gather rumors and news from a tavern, or to search for an NPC expert within the setting and ask for knowledge. Access to that expert may have some prerequisites, like gold or a positive reputation. The player may first have to learn about the expert by asking around town. This is a type of discovery and is fun and rewarding to some players. Earning access to an expert NPC can also feel rewarding to some players. It gives more value to the setting by placing more need on the players to learn and understand the setting and the people in it.

The differences between the two styles also means that the player characters are either self-sufficient with non-material resources, or they are a group who occasionally have to make time to gather non-material resources.

Which approach to play is preferrable? Depends on you! How do you have fun? Do you want to solve the puzzles by flexing your own mental muscles, or do you want to solve puzzles by rolling dice? I'm sure there's pros and cons, and there might even be times when one approach is preferrable, and times when the other approach is preferrable.

Mapping

While exploring, either a wilderness or dungeon, how do your characters know when they're lost?

A Character Skill approach would say that players can use a game mechanic and know that they're lost, and then potentially use the game mechanics to figure out where they are. The players may also have access to a map or other visual aid to show the world and their process in it.

The Player Skill approach might say that your characters will know when they're lost in-game the same way that you would know you're lost in real life. You walk or drive around for long enough asking "how far is it? How long have we been traveling? Are you sure we're going the right way? Did we pass it? Does anyone recognize where we're at?" In my experience, recognizing that I'm lost in real life is a process rather than a eureka moment.

Getting lost in the wilderness or dungeon can be dangerous. You can run out of resources, get sick, die to exposure, or be attacked by some dangerous wild animal, monster, or human. Being lost is the obstacle and a source of tension. Being able to find your own way out of it is the solution, and to improve at navigation to avoid getting lost in the future is another solution.

Imagine the roleplay prompt: "you're lost in the dangerous wilderness with limited supplies and a deadline to save the victim of the monster. What do you do?" Some people want to work this out scene by scene, and they want to un-stuck themselves using their player skills. There's potential for team building and learning skills. One solution is to find higher ground, like climbing a hill or a tall tree, then you can see further. The game master will describe what you can see, and then you can work out landmarks and navigate your way back. The adventure was unexpected. There's also a chance to discover something you weren't looking for while you're lost.

Player Skill Over Character Stats

Your player skill is your character's luck, wisdom, intelligence, and charisma. Think. Be careful. If you the player get a funny feeling that something is not right, it's OK to use that feeling in play to keep your character safe. Don't hold back just because your character has low stats!

Game Balance

Do not assume the obstacles and challenges are balanced to match your character's abilities. Rely on your own creativity and ingenuity. There is no right way to overcome a challenge. Not all obstacles need to be overcome; some can be circumvented. Fleeing is always valid. Make sure you always have a way out.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, Player Skill vs Character Skill isn’t just a mechanical distinction, it’s a question of what kind of game you actually want to play. Some tables thrive on dice-driven certainty and character sheets full of buttons to press; others want a grounded, intuitive world where clever ideas matter more than modifiers. Neither approach is universally better, but they create completely different experiences, and mismatched expectations will ruin a game faster than any bad die roll. So decide what kind of play you enjoy, communicate it clearly, and build a table that buys into the same style. When everyone understands the expectations, the game becomes smoother, more immersive, and a lot more fun.

Related: Game Design Sins - Character-Skill over Player-Skill is a post about D&D 4e skill challenges and why they stink.

Chapter Showcase - Adventures in Midland, Jo the Blue vs Hunk

This chapter from a novel (unpublished) in my Adventures in Midland series; it captures the tone and style I aim for in my fiction: grounded fantasy, sharp dialogue, and high tension. It’s one of my favorite sequences featuring Jo the Blue. Reading it now, I can tell you I have improved a lot at prose.

CHAPTER 8 Hunk

Why the brig was a thought that repeated in my mind. After the trap door closed on us and closed us into a smelly room that only let in light through gaps in the floorboards, I squatted down and reached two fingers into my left boot and withdrew a small folding knife. 

“Jo or Iosefina, or whatever your name is,” Captain Atelier started.

I fumbled it open with my hands as they were and made a loud clicking sound.

“What was that?”

I worked the point under a rope and started sawing and pulling. I cut through portions of the rope and it started to unwind. It loosened and fell off my hands with a few vigorous shakes. I then grabbed the cloth over my mouth and yanked it over my head and took a breath.

“Oh, I don’t like the smell in here!” I said.

In a distant part of the room came a sniffing sound. I froze in place.

“I don’t like that sound either,” I said. “Identify yourself at once!”

“Nonsense!” The captain said. “What could be…”

From across the room a deep guttural voice spoke, “does something speak to I?”

My stomach clenched. If only I could see the captain’s face down here and express my frustration to him non-verbally.

“It does,” I said, and sang “Custos parvus,” and with a whip of my hand from my side to my face I conjured a small orb of light just behind my head.

A bright area of light appeared on the floor for about five feet in all directions and a dim circle of light extended beyond that by about ten feet and blended into the darkness.

Captain Atelier whipped his head. “Ah! What?”

I searched the darkness. “Calm down, Captain. It’s just a light.”

“Oh, that’s a splendid trick!” said the deep voice.

“Why don’t you show yourself,” I called out sternly. “And just know that I have more splendid tricks in me.”

There was a sound like a very bulky man getting to his feet. I listened intently, but couldn’t hone in on exactly where it came from.

“You say, you say,” the voice said.

The Captain furrowed his eyes and gave me a confused look.

“I think he means ‘so you say,’” I said to the captain.

The captain’s face flashed with a perplexed look, then he became impatient. “Enough!” He snapped. “I am Captain Louis Atelier. I captain an Odegrad vessel called The Hull. Who am I addressing?”

“Who I?” the deep voice asked.

Heavy, lumbering footsteps sounded. The captain and I took uncomfortable steps back, but I was still floating and so my boots made no sound. A large man-shaped figure formed at the edge of the light, and portions of the beast’s thick, leathery skin showed green as it stepped through the perimeter. He was very broad; his jaw, his shoulders, his torso, his muscular arms, his hips.

“My God,” the captain said.

“I is called many things.” He pontificated, “some call I monster, some call I man-eater. That man Gilcrest call I Hunk. I is troll, I eat the women and the children.”

“Son of a bitch!” Captain Atelier said.

Hunk smiled wide showing a mouthful of jagged teeth and snickered. I stepped into the light fully. He was so tall, he couldn’t quite stand up straight in this space and was hunched over. His skin was covered in flat lumps that might have just been thick patches of skin, and he had marks that looked like they might have been scars, but they would have described major wounds.

He had a scar that ringed his right wrist, and a large scar across his pectorals and abdomen. He had many, many smaller scars on the outside of his arms where he might have blocked dozens of swords or spears.

He seemed perfectly at ease. He took a deep breath through his nose. “Bargain with I,” he said and smiled. “I will one of you spare. I will one of you not. You choose.” His eyes swiveled lazily from the captain to me.

“You can eat me,” I said sternly. “If you think you can.”

Hunk laughed and took one step forward with his left foot. “You make I laugh.” He reached an arm out, presented a massive palm, and curled and uncurled his fingers in sequence. “I is much larger.” He made a fist and turned his arm to me, showing me all the scars criss crossing his forearm. “I is not stopped by any wound.” He sounded amused, taunting even. “You is puny child. I eat many like you. You cannot stop I. Much bigger men than this one have tried many times.”

“I’ve seen your kind before. Your kind doesn’t get back up after having their head cut off.”

Captain Atelier looked at me curiously.

Hunk chuckled. “Is plain to see.” He turned his head and a bone cracking sound came from his neck. “Ahh,” he said relieved.

I looked directly at the captain. “Move.”

Captain Atelier furrowed his brow at me. “No, that’s not gentlemanly.”

“Move,” I said again.

Hunk laughed.

“What’s to stop him from eating the both of us?” the captain asked.

“Me. Now move.”

Hunk laughed a little. Then he bent at the knees and arched his back and laughed slightly harder. “I, I, I, says she.”

I looked directly at the captain and I said sternly “my name is Jo the Blue, and I am the greatest swordsman in the world. Now move. You’re in my way, and you’ll get it my way, and you’ll get hurt.” I pointed a finger at him and I started to sneer a little as I finished speaking.

Captain Atelier looked skeptically at me. After a moment, he seemed to conclude that I wasn’t suicidal and his face softened. “Just one question.”

“Yes?” I asked, impatiently.

“No questions!” Hunk said, and he lunged.

In a flash I whipped my cloak out of the way and reached across my body for my sword. I tried to draw it, but the curve of the handle made me draw the sword at the wrong angle, and it only came out an inch. In as much time, Hunk had stomped loudly across the deck and swung a massive, discolored arm out and swatted Captain Atelier out of the light and into the dark. The captain’s face twisted in pain as he came up off of his feet. Hunk smiled in satisfaction. He wound his fist back and looked down at me like I was food.

And with a single stride backwards, I cleared ten feet. Hunk held his punch and watched me, awestruck. Then his awe turned to disappointment, then to outrage. 

“You cheat!” he said and raced for me again. His stomps echoed in the room. 

I drew my sword fully and scratched Hunks’s fist with the tip at the apex of the draw. His fist came down hard and hit the deck, but I stepped out of the way and cut twice at the back of his arm as I did.

In my light, I saw that the cuts I made were small, and Hunk grinned at me. “I has tough skin!”

He lunged for me and threw several punches, all of which I dodged like a cloth fluttering in the breeze. Hunk grit his teeth in frustration.

“Be still!” he said.

“No,” I said bluntly.

He wound his right arm back, then reached for me with his left. In a single sideways stride, I moved towards the center of the room and put ten feet in between us. He raced after me with loud, heavy stomps and threw a haymaker, which I avoided with a much larger stride and cleared another fifteen feet. I willed my light to follow after me, and it lit a dark portion of the room where Captain Atelier was climbing to his knees and looking dazed.

I shouted at him “I said move!”

The captain looked stupefied at me.

Loud stomps followed after me, and the captain didn’t look like he was able to dodge.

I pointed my sword at Hunk and lunged for him. The sword pierced his abdomen, and I pushed it in up to the hilt.

And his momentum didn’t stop. He kept moving towards the captain, though now his face seemed mildly annoyed by this new wound.

He skidded to a halt.

I heard the captain roll out of the way.

I planted a foot in Hunk and kicked off him, taking my sword with me. Blood issued from the wound with a single squirt.

Hunk’s arms closed on the space where I was, then his eyes tracked me like an animal honing in on its prey. He ran for me again and threw a punch.

I dodged his punch and ran past him, pressing the edge of my sword across his side as I did. I turned and watched as Hunk twisted at the waist and found me with his eyes. He was still bent over awkwardly, unable to stand fully. He looked down at the bleeding cut at his side and flared his nostrils at his wound.

He growled. “Is too small a space.” He turned casually and started walking across the room. Each foot step broke the silence. He stood under the trap door, pressed a hand to it, straightened up and stretched his arm into it. The trap door sprung open and he reached into the sunlight. He grabbed the deck above and pulled himself up and out of the brig.

Captain Atelier and I met each other's gaze.

“What are you going to do?” he asked.

“Wait and see?”

I looked back at the trap door. Much lighter footsteps pounded the deck above us. I heard muffled shouts.

“You, monster! You are not supposed to be above deck!”

“Get back down below!”

There was a moment of silence, and it was broken by a deep, guttural shout “girl come out! Fight I where there is space!”

I looked at Captain Atelier and complained “he’s going to be more vigorous now, isn’t he?”

Captain Atelier looked stupefied again, then he laughed.

“Are you alright, captain? He hit you pretty good.”

“I’m fine,” he groaned. “I’m fine.” He sucked in a breath. “You might not be. You ran him clean through and he’s still standing. That’s madness.”

“How come you don’t seem surprised by him?” I asked.

Hunk shouted again. “Girl fight here!”

There were more shouts from the men above I couldn’t make out. I waited for them to quiet down.

“We merchants already knew about them,” Captain Atelier said. “If you survive, I’ll tell you more if you like.”

Oh? I turned and started walking towards the trap door. “I want to hear everything. And I want a promotion.”

Captain chuckled. “Did I hear you say… No, nevermind.”

I looked over my shoulder at him. “Yes, you did.” Then I leapt straight up.

I dodged a wild green punch as I cleared the trapdoor and another fifteen or twenty feet of air. I looked down at the bright deck of musketeers with wild and furious faces. I looked at the upper decks and saw the amazed faces of a couple of officers and more sailors. 

I looked back down at Hunk’s green, grinning face. In the light of day, I could see that his forearms and legs had an appearance of very calloused skin. It was darker and thicker and covered in more of those wide, flat lumps like scales of thick flesh.

The wounds on his abdomen and his flank didn’t appear to bleed anymore.

I floated down and landed gently on my toes. I cocked an eyebrow and Hunk, and I pointed my sword at him again.

“Girl,” he said. “You fly?”

“Yep.”

Hunk chuckled. He reached down for his muscular abdomen and rubbed it with a large finger tip. “I no can die.”

“I disagree.” I gave my sword a flick and some blood splashed the deck.

Hunk laughed.

“Why fight me?” I asked. “Why not escape?”

Hunk looked and sounded satisfied. “I here to eat.”

“Understood!”

“Sailors!” An officer shouted. “Shoot her! Shoot the witch!”

“You!” I started to say, and nearly cursed. The musketeers aimed their muskets for me and I moved.

Bangs went off all around me. Flashes of fire and clouds of smoke erupted from a dozen barrels.

I strode, and was ten feet from where I was standing when the shots went off, flying directly for Hunk with the point of my sword first. I pierced his chest to the hilt, and his body jerked. I planted a foot in him and kicked off him. A green hand flailed wildly for my ankle as I went up. I came down on his shoulder and buried the sword into the gap between his neck and shoulder. He twisted wildly at waist and spun a half circle. I twisted my sword and pressed the edge into him, and I kicked up off his shoulders straight up into the air. I looked down at him grasping for his sputtering shoulder with both hands. I cut downwards as I floated to the deck. I caught him in the side of the neck and opened a gash, and I dragged the edge of my sword down his arms. His face twisted with pain, and his head turned hard. His knee hit the deck with a loud bang.

I took a single stride backwards and put a distance for charging in between us.

He shook his head and scowled at me.

I did a flourish with my sword, presented the edge at him, and I took a single stride. As I passed him, I caught him under the chin with the edge.

He gargled, then there was another loud bang as he hit the deck behind me.

I waited and didn’t hear him move.

I looked around at all the silent, stunned crew of Count Gilcrest's ship.

“Witch Iosefina!” called an officer from the upper deck.

I turned and looked up at him.

“You will surrender, now!”

I didn’t feel like raising my voice. I leapt up. Some of the crew flinched.

I landed on the upper deck. I rubbed the railing gently with my offhand once, and pointed my sword at the faltering stoic face of the officer.

“My answer,” I said.

The officer tilted his chin up at me. I pressed the bloody tip of my sword to his collar and I stepped in really close. With my offhand, I presented a single finger at him.

“You, officer, what’s your name?”

“I am Captain Frank Osborne,” he said with a firm voice.

“Captain Frank Osborne,” I repeated and thought for a beat. “How would you like for that name to be known as the captain who sank Midland’s foremost ship?”

He narrowed his eyebrows at me. “Do your worst.”

“I will,” I said sternly. “I absolutely will. You can bet your fool arse.”

Captain Osborne just looked back at me. Then his eyes swiveled away.

“Sorry about your uniform,” I said sternly. I kept the point of my sword in between myself and Captain Osborne and I walked past him. “I’m going up stairs. I’m going to have a word with the count. This ship will burn and sink into the Middle Sea if anyone follows me. You can share a watery grave with that green monster.”

Captain Osborne gulped.

One-Page Campaign Form - Managing Expectations

Today, I want to show you some GM aids that reveal two completely different philosophies about running TTRPGs. We're going to talk about them, then we're going to talk about why using a GM aid like this important. First thing to note is that both of these documents are created by the GM / DM and are made available to the players.

Below is a link to a one-page Campaign Planning Form that is standard in GURPS. Open it up and read. Then come back.

https://www.sjgames.com/gurps/resources/CampaignPlanning.pdf

What did you notice? What does it emphasize?

Below is a link to a one-page My Campaign form by Matthew Coleville (of MCDM). Read it and come back.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZK5E4Qg3AnfZLj68v6_3sioGrPmrw4Be/view

What did you notice? What does it emphasize?

Comparison: Contract vs Syllabus

Let's compare and contrast these campaign forms as they are both the same tool, but they show different approaches to TTRPGs.

The GURPS campaign form is about defining the limitations of the game and the setting. It starts broadly with genre, realism vs cinematic, and theme. It defines the level of technologic development (stone/bronze/iron age, medieval, steam, modern, futuristic, etc.) and tells you what kind of political powers are in charge and how much control they use. Then it tells you what is allowed at character creation and what isn't, and what the setting thinks about some characters. Finally, it tells you which supplemental books are permitted because GURPS has a lot of them.

Meanwhile, the MCDM campaign form tells players what's in the setting. It's more of a checklist of cool and useful stuff. I'm not sure if its author intended it to be a GM only document, but it can definitely be a player aid. It helps you structure your setting by establishing the pieces of it so that players can do cool stuff and have fun adventures.

The GURPS form is a contract. The MCDM form is a syllabus.

Analysis

The GURPS form defines the scope of the game. It is the GM telling the players "here's the kind of game I'm running, and you need to create a character who fits." It's a constraint document that intentionally narrows the scope of the game. It prevents mismatched expectations. If you join the campaign, you agree to these terms.

The MCDM form, if used as a player aid, orients the players. It gives context. It assumes (high) fantasy genre already and it does only a little to modify the genre or tone. It tells you about one small location, it hints at the greater political system and cosmology, shows a few geographical features, and a few small enemy factions responsible for conflict. Here's what you know, here's who you talk to if you want to learn more. The "Here's what locals think about dwarves, hobbits, elves" section softly tells the players how these fantasy races are in this setting, framed as how they are perceived.

Both forms are useful. Both are smart. But one campaign form solves more problems than the other.

The GURPS form is better suited for managing expectations than the MCDM form. The MCDM form, while it has a space for you to detail how different fantasy races are like in his world, it does not restrict their use by players. The from does not detail what is allowed or disallowed: classes, races, backgrounds, race-class-background combinations, languages, feats, multi-classing, equipment, magic. It doesn't explicitly state what kind of style or tone to expect. It is still a kitchen-sink. Meanwhile, the GURPS form can directly, explicitly say it's a fantasy-sci-fi genre, elves and magic are not in this game, and here's what happens in this setting if you use Psi abilities.

Use the GURPS form if you want to tell your players what nonsense isn’t allowed. Use the MCDM form if you’re fine with whatever nonsense is allowed.

One of the problems with a social contract is that it's unspoken. This sort of campaign document is a snapshot of your specific game, and it should be standard in TTRPGs. Seriously. It's not just "oh, we're playing an Eberron campaign, and the big bad is a tarrasque". This also lets players know all the little particularities of your presentation of the Eberron setting. Your particularities are the highlight of the form because you're the GM and you need to let the players know what kind of game you can handle running, and what kind of game you can't. This should be completed and available when you pitch your game to prospective players.

My Form

After reading these two forms, I decided I wanted one that suited my game, Bright-Dark 3d6 Role-Playing Game. Below, I have provided a link to a one-page campaign document with the items that I think are valuable right now. Your needs / tastes may vary.

Link: Bright-Dark 3d6 Role-Playing Game Campaign Form

Leave a comment on this post. I would appreciate come feedback on this concept and on my form.

Optional / Add-Ons:

What else could be added that's valuable?

• Related Media: What books, movies, etc. that are similar to your game. This helps orient players fast. If you list Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind or Firefly, that might stop them from thinking about making a character who would suit The Fifth Element or Breaking Bad.
• Recommended Reading: Supplemental RPG books, documents, etc. Maybe you wrote a short story about characters in your world, or maybe you have a detailed setting document.
• Homebrew: Are you big on homebrew? What's your homebrew stuff, or what play-brew stuff is allowed?
• House Rules / Optional Rules: Every table has this. Make yours clear.
• All that Lovely, Lovely Session Zero stuff: You know, violence, gore, and whatever other weird no-go zone types of stuff. Player vs Player? Play-styles focus / emphasis, heavy roleplay or heavy bookkeeping, PC death, game balance, game fouls, etc., etc.
• Miscellaneous. More things in life need a misc. section than you think. 

Related

Hyper-Gratuitousness in Fiction and TTRPGs is an excellent post that you might find valuable for your TTRPGs if you want to include darker subject matter with care.

Also: Managing Expectations in TTRPGs - Discussing What We Do and Don't Like

And: Managing Expectations in TTRPGs - GM Expectations Framework

And how about: The DM Shortage - Why 5e Doesn't Have Enough

Stop Faking Horror in TTRPGs - Do It Right

Happy October. Let's talk how to do Horror in RPGs.

Genre vs Tone
First, let's talk about horror as a genre and horror as a tone. These are not the same.

• Genre means style or aesthetic. Horror as a genre can be spooky, creepy, or it can be gory.
• Horror as a tone means effect by creating circumstances that elicit or evoke a fear or disgust response out of the audience / participants.

Chances are if you want to do horror in a TTRPG, your intent is to make players feel actual fear.

Expectations
Second, know that there's no easy way to evoke fear, but you do have to get your players on board with the idea of doing horror because fear, like fun, is subjective, and expectations need to be managed.

For instance, there are people who fear getting sick and having to worry about money, and there are people who fear waking up in the middle of the night to a phone call from the police telling them their loved one was found in a gutter. These might be unwelcomed fears in escapist entertainment.

There are also people who are desensitized to things like slasher horror and even cosmic horror by now.

Desensitized people might be bored. Sensitive people might be disturbed. These aren't the reactions we want.

How to Evoke Fear
Let's ask ourselves how we feel fear in any typical RPG. The easiest answer is losing your beloved player character. However, emotion is important. If you're emotionally attached to your character, more fear. If you're emotionally detached from your character, less fear.

Therefore, invite your players to fall in love with their character concept before play. Seriously. Tell them to bring something they're proud of; Bring something they're already invested in. No disposable characters.

Players can't feel like they've signed up for a meatgrinder one-shot. The goal isn't to die in a thrilling way. You want the players to be nervous or afraid to make a bad choice in play that could get their character hurt.

Also consider that horror is about survivors and victims, not heroes. Therefore, D&D 5e might not be the best choice for a game system because D&D 5e characters are expected to feel powerful. You want vulnerable characters. If you use 5e, I suggest keeping the characters at low levels and throw high CR monsters at them.

Threaten Things the Players Like and Need

Create NPCs who represent security to the players. If the NPC dies, the players lose their security. If players develop a fondness for a non-player character and the opportunities, resources, or the story that the NPC represents, that NPC goes on the list of things you can hurt the players with. Sounds horribly manipulative, doesn't it? Well, that's good storytelling.

How to Run a Horror Game

First, tell players you're doing horror and get their buy-in. You need people to be willing participants in horror. They have to be willing to lower their emotional guards and be open to the emotional experience.

Second, mood enhances horror. Forbid jokes, side-conversations, cell phones, distractions, or forms of relief during the game. Turn your session into a crucible where only stressors are allowed.

Third, emotional investment - we already covered that. You start with an emotional investment in a character or outcome. Then hang the sword of Damocles over their heads (I know it's not a perfect metaphor, but I like the reference).

Fourth, choose the right game system. D&D 5e for instance is a game about balance. Horror is not about balance. Horror monsters are bigger, stronger, and faster than you. Their motives are simple (they're hungry or they want your soul) and they can't be reasoned with, so a charisma check won't work. They have powers you can't understand and secret weaknesses that a lore check won't reveal. Also, D&D 5e offers players too many spells or features that could spoil a challenge and therefore deflate the tension.

Try a system that keeps Hit Points low and keeps player character powers in a range where success isn't a certainty. I suggest Index Card RPG of all things because it's also pretty rules-lite and very flexible. You could also use Cairn or Liminal Horror RPG which is a horror reskin of Cairn.

Fifth, pacing. Horror needs room to breathe. Slow pacing builds dread; rushing kills it.

Sixth, player agency is important. The players choices must matter. Spontaneous bad outcomes with no clear causes feel cheap. Telegraph danger and give players the choice for how to engage with the situation, or to try and avoid it. The players should feel like bad things happen because of choices they made, even if they only had bad choices.

Telegraphing danger doesn't mean revealing the threat, it means revealing the stakes. This builds dread, tension, anticipation, and responsibility. A pool of blood under the door says the door is dangerous.

At the end of the game, don't tell them what would have happened if they chose something else; let them wonder.

This one is important. It is a cheap effect to roll a die and tell the players they're scared. Don't use a fear mechanic. The feeling of fear must come from the game organically.

The Unknown

Lastly, the unknown is scary. Do not use monsters from a monster catalog or book, or monsters they are familiar with (goblins cough cough). The monster or antagonist should be unfamiliar and strange. Do not tell the players the name of the monster, describe it instead, but delay that moment when they are actually face to face with it and can see it. Do not let them roll intelligence to see if they know what they're dealing with. Tell the players their characters have no idea. Make sure that monster feels unstoppable. Give the monster a secret weakness, tell the players the only way to stop it is to learn the secret weakness, and to kill the monster according to their secret weakness. For example, were-wolves and silver weapons or vampires and stakes to the heart or sunlight. Their swords don't work, their magic doesn't work, those things are only good for the minions. The monster must be seemingly undefeatable; its attacks can auto-kill, permanently maim, cause sickness, or curse the PCs just by touching it or looking at it.

Conclusion

Horror has power over you, not the other way around. Horror in TTRPGs isn’t about gore or darkness, it’s about tension, vulnerability, and the fear of losing something you care about. Build emotional stakes, control the mood, keep the unknown truly unknown.

Related: Hyper-Gratuitousness in Fiction and TTRPGs is a post about dark subject matter in art. You may find it valuable for your horror RPG.

Also: Seven Rules for Monsters in TTRPGs - Your Fun is Wrong

Worldbuidling: Geopolitical Hotspots = Human-Scale Conflict

When I see worldbuilding content on the internet, people don't start with the geopolitical hotspots, and that's a problem.

What is a geopolitical hotspot? It's a place where two or more cultures come into military, political, or economic tension. Often due to disputes or competition over territory and resources.

Geopolitical hotspots = conflict

Starting with the geopolitical hotspots is the shortcut you need to make your world map interesting. In fact, throw out the concept of the world map for a second and just focus on a regional map. Your campaign isn't global scale (yet). You only need one region where multiple cultures are fighting over the good stuff. That's what makes a good fantasy map.

What people tend to do is they get lost in the weeds of realistic world map or they want a map that's visually pretty or exciting. They ask, "do the mountains belong there?" and they get stuck. I'm not telling you that it's wrong to ask if the mountains would logically form there like that; That actually can serve to make your map more believable. What I'm advising is to make concessions on realism for the sake of forcing, even contriving a geopolitical hotspot into your world.

Serious man, just put it in!

Sample Region Map - The Calean

Here’s a simple example to show how a geopolitical hotspot turns a plain map into a story engine. Below is a region called The Calean. It's named after the central feature, the Calea Sea. It's a very simple map I cooked up in I don't know, half an hour?

Full disclosure: I traced it from another map found in this video by the YouTuber likealightart9414. I hope he doesn't mind. Then I named everything. In his video, likealightart9414 said he didn't like this map. *Scoffs* excuse me?

For this map, realism, scale, aesthetics, or ready-to-play-ness are not the intent or goal. It's here to teach. 

Cultures

Distinct cultures turn geography into a story. I want you to identify the four major kingdoms / nations: Adamia, Bethland, Erlina, and Gregoria. I know there's other stuff on this map, but these four areas are the main points. Arbitrarily, we're going to ascribe to them distinct cultural identities.

• Adamia: Militaristic, imperial. Value law and order. Lots of noble houses and bloodlines.
• Bethland: Famous for art and science. Value luxury. Perceived as soft. Meritocracy with a raising merchant class.
• Gregoria: Very religious, courageous, humanitarian. An unmatched naval power. A budding republic with a powerful symbolic monarch.
• Erlina: Stubbornly proud, tough, and wealthy. Famously use mercenaries and foreign armies to fight for them. They have resources and you can't take them away.

What's important (to me) is that the cultures are distinct. You can immediately evaluate the aspects of the culture like the colors and mascot of a team in a competition and pick the one you like.

Boundaries

Next, let's look at how geography shapes their relationships. Creating a few boundaries means you have an area where kingdoms may blend without losing their distinction, and where the contrast is most immediate. These are places where political, economic, or military tension is most apparent.  

River Nina separates Adamia and Bethland, and it also coincidentally marks a climate boundary. Which climates specifically? Well, scientifically speaking, Adamia is kind of cold, Bethland is kind of warm. There you go. These are now two distinct areas, and it adds variety to the cultures and political powers.

Gregoria is connected to Adamia by an impassible isthmus where The Stellas mountains are. The logistics of marching an army across are mindboggling, so there are no land invasions. 

Reina Mountains separate Bethland from Erlina. You could say there are a few mountain passes, but it's easier to travel by sea.

The Calea Sea has not one but two choke points: The Delilian Straight controlled by Gregoria and the Felixan Straight controlled by Erlina. If you want to get in and out of the Calea Sea, you have to be on good terms with at least one of these cultures. Naturally, Erlinda and Gregoria compete over Isle Levi which creates both straights.

The fact the Erlinda and Gregoria have a competition going, there isn't one single power who monopolizes passage in and out of the Calea Sea. This competition is important because it makes being on good terms with one nation or the other important.  

Calea Sea

This sea is the main artery connecting everything. That's what's the point of the sea, but why is there conflict here? Resources? Trade? Colonialism? War? Religious conflict? Bad blood? That's up to you, but it is important to define why these powers are in conflict. Try and come up with a few conflicts. Here's an example:

• Adamia and Bethland compete over control of the River Nina. It's an nutrient-rich, important waterway that can take you inland. Adamia claims that their snowcapped Adamant Mountains (just off the map) feed the Nina. 
• Erlina competes with Gregoria over control of the Isle Levi and both straights.
• Adamia competes with Gregoria over silver mines in The Stellas. Both nations are also competing for control of that northern coast.
• Erlinda and Bethland have territorial disputes and the various passages of the Reina Mountains as boundary is unclear. There are smaller cultures here too: Mountain people who make iron goods and practice war, and valley folk who farm goods for them.
• There are also small islands. The inlanders consider themselves part of the kingdom that controls them, but because they are isolated, they also consider themselves distinct from their continental peers and resent the continental conflicts.

Finale

Geopolitical hotspots matter because they give your setting human-scale, actionable content to engage in. It's not "We must take the ring to Mordor" content, it's "The British are Coming!" content. It's "Then the Fire Nation attacked" content.

Checklist

• Major powers with distinct cultures
• Vulnerable minor cultures in between
• Valuable resources
• Natural boundaries
• Choke points
• Territorial disputes
• Competing interests
• Climates, history, terrain, myth as flavor at the end

Use this checklist to turn any blank region into a living engine of story, politics, and adventure.

Related: How to Create a Fantasy Setting (Loria) shows you what to do from here.

The DM Shortage - Why 5e Doesn't Have Enough

First thing's first, I don't actually know if D&D 5e is suffering from a DM shortage, but this topic gets revisited a lot in the YouTube spaces that I frequent. I can't back up this position. I also can't back up if it's just D&D or all TTRPGs.

There is no published ratio of players to GMs, no official report on DM availability, no formal study on how many people want to GM vs play. WotC, Paizo, Chaosium, Mongoose, and Modiphius have never released this kind of data. So the DM shortage is not a documented fact; it's anecdotal.

The closest thing to a real number that we get is Roll20 which shows that 20% - 25% of users ever run a game on their platform. There's also been snippets of interviews from industry professionals saying DMs are the ones primarily purchasing TTRPG products. This implies that data may exist supporting a gap in players to GMs, but it does not indicate a shortage.

But let's suppose it's D&D 5e in particular with a DM shortage and that every other game has just the right number of GMs (yeah right).

Poor DM Support

When is the last time Wizards of the Coast (WotC) released a supplement book for DMs only? That's my first observation. Not a book for monsters, magic items, settings, or adventures, but tools and instructions to teach GMing and to make GMing easier. For that kind of advice and instruction, people go to the internet. Isn't it weird that amateurs on the internet are the ones capitalizing on this, not the industry professionals? You've got The Angry GM who writes a hell of a blog, advice books by independent authors, and not to mention dozens of YouTube channels with a cumulative thousand hours of advice about prepping and running the game. Where is the official DM support? Are you thinking about WotCs' Sage Advice stuff? Pfft.

Where is Dragon magazine and Dungeon magazine or a successor magazine?

Where is the Dungeon Masters Guide 2 and 3? The ones that break down the internal math that the D&D 5e designers use and teach it to you? It's not there. It's these internet DMs who figured out and taught that 5e's design aims for easy rolls to have a 60% success rate, and hard rolls to have a 40% success rate. The should have come from the designers.

How about DM guidance for problem players? I don't mean the kind of players who are sometimes blatantly rude or disrespectful, I mean the ones who make broken characters who spoil the tension and challenge in every scene, or goofy characters who spoil the tone? Where are the hot tips for world building, making after-session notes, or fast prep? How do I read an adventure and break it down into manageable chunks for my notes and prep? Where are the combat hacks? What if no one understands or agrees on a rule? Conventional wisdom says make a ruling and move on. Are we assuming everyone knows how?

How about basic instructions on how to use the books? Something like:

• Players Handbook (PHB) is for rules reference
• Dungeon Masters Guide (DMG) is for instructions on the rules

The PHB lists the rules and defines them, but the DMG explains how to think about them, how to use them, and when not to. You need both. If you're missing the DMG, the rules of the game feels like instructions on how to play, and you get a really rigid, stiff game that eschews DMing skills and DM authority.

To some people, if the official books don't say something, it might not be the legitimate way to play or understand the game. How I described the Players Book and the DMs book above is fair, but it's not explicit in the books; Therefore, some people will never acknowledge this delineation or benefit from it.

GMs Need Authority and Instruction

Maybe the DMG 2 should give the DM more authority so that players aren't walking over them and their games like a door mat? That section should be called Put the Master in Dungeon Master. Did I say section? Maybe it should be a chapter. Players want to pick a spell but it's too powerful? Tell them "not in my game". Players think they should be able to play whatever fantasy race in the book? "Sorry, that doesn't suit my setting". Broken character build? "I'm lowering your ability scores and HP to balance your character". How about a rule that tells players that if they expect the GM to treat their characters seriously, then players should treat the setting and NPCs seriously? And to have respect for game's tone.

Putting the master in Dungeon Master isn't about arbitrary and capricious rulings by a tyrannical DM. It's about clarity, boundaries, and tone protection. It's about being able to establish the kind of game that you can handle running.

DMs, what do you do when the players don't understand what a rule means and they want to fight over it? How about an explicit No Rules Lawyering rule or No Exploiting Weaknesses in the Rules rule? How about a section on game fouls and what to do about them? What does it mean to be That Guy and what do we do about him when he shows up? How about a section on telling players "no" or "not at my table" or "get out"?

How about a section that advises GMs about pacing themselves to avoid burnout or how to prep your players so that their expectations align with your campaign setting? GURPS has a one-page, fillable campaign form that establishes what kind of game you're running. Why not D&D? Where's the official session zero checklist?

The current DM book might cover some things, how about another book to cover them in more depth? How about a section that teaches adventure structure and setting creation? About improv? About creating and portraying NPCs? How about dungeon and wilderness procedure which is actually seriously lacking in D&D 5e. Break this down for me and show me how it works.

DM instruction is a deep well of content, and they put out one dedicated DM book for the 2014 edition and one dedicated DM book for the 2024 edition. They are sorely lagging behind. It's incredible to me.

How about advice or instruction on different playstyles or modes of play? Like the West Marches style of play which accommodates an open table. We need an essay about not building broken characters or exploiting weaknesses in the rules because accommodating these specific things contribute to the workload for a GM.

How do you handle adversarial players, competitive players, and interpersonal conflict? How do you manage schedules and communication? When do you kick people out? How do you handle spotlight hogs, joke characters in a serious campaign, or rules lawyers derailing a session? How do GMs teach players the written and unwritten rules? The best that the 2014 book did was tell you in a very corporate way to be respectful. With respect, that's not advice, that's corporate CYA. It lets the corporation wash their hands of any colorful scenarios that might emerge by letting them stand on a ground of "we encourage respect". And let's face it, 9 out of 10 adults don't need to be taught about respect.

GMing 5e Isn't Fun

Ultimately, if you want to get people to do something, incentivize them. IF there is a lack of DMs, that means the incentive isn't there. The only incentive you should need is fun. The problem with DMing for 5e is it's very effortful to do, and it's not proportionately rewarding.

5e Attracts Tourists

This is not intended to be an insult. 5e is not a niche game for niche people, it's a massive game that's intended to have as much broad appeal as possible. That means tourists can access it. Tourist means people without discerning taste, genre literacy, foundational knowledge, or realistic expectations. It's a cultural outsider of the hobby with low or casual interest. The is a not commentary about their worth. Not everyone who plays 5e is a tourist, and if you're reading this for fun or if you find this enriching, that's not you. Probably. 5e is generic. It has everything about the fantasy genre without any consideration for identity. Its identity is everything and anything all at once. It asks little of you. It gives tropes and it gives you room to insert your own. That's how you get Big Bird from Sesame Street as a Paladin or a Ninja or a Power Ranger. Or Joe Rogan as a Druid. That's why its generic.

Therefore, it could be that the problem is not the system itself, rather it's the people who are attracted to the system. When you run GURPS or ICRPG, you're running a game that doesn't have as broad reach. GURPS is a game that requires a lot more system understanding and it requires the users to have their own genre conventions because the game offers you hundreds of tiny pieces and asks you to make sense of them. You are expected to make them into something. That requires will, effort, and creativity. It takes time to learn all these pieces and it appeals to people who appreciate an intrinsic reward. People who do this make something special for a small, intimate group of people. That's a sign that the participants are not casuals, noobs, plebs, or tourists. ICRPG has massive appeal but it's too indie and needs to be discovered. It's not your first game, it's a game you graduate to when you're ready move on or when you've outgrown D&D 5e. Like GURPS, it requires creativity. ICRPG also asks you to give up your shiny things. There's less player tools and less safety nets. ICRPG asks you bring your heart, wits, and guts. Tourists are less likely to find it and more likely to bounce off.

Tourists aren't bad, but they need the most onboarding and the most initiation into the hobby culture. They bring their own influences from other hobbies or interests and expect them to mesh. It often clashes instead. No one knows what to expect, and they anticipate too much. No one is prepared for what happens when you mix different friend groups together and find out what they're like when they get a to embody a powerful, evil character and have a beer. That's the kind of situation that 5e creates. These could be people who have only played Dark Souls and seen Marvel movies, or they could be people who love watching Critical Role for the jokes, characters, and story, but who don't really care about the game itself. No one is on the same page. It leads to disappointment.

If you're reading this and you don't think that's a problem, either you're really good at this or you have some really good friends. Or maybe you're really easy going. For others, this is hard to manage.

Managing Expectations

D&D 5e is kitchen-sink fantasy. It's very broad and very generic. Because of this, expectations are a son of a gun to manage. Because D&D can be so many different kinds of games and fantasies, you never really know what you're going to get. Imagine I ask you out to a movie and you ask "what's playing?" I list the movies and ask you, "what are you in the mood for?" We narrow the choices down to one specific, coherent experience based on our tastes and mood. A D&D 5e group is like five people who can't decide on which movie to watch, so they overlap five projectors playing different movies onto one screen. 

I've come up with some interesting metaphors to describe D&D 5e before, but I'm really proud of that one.

D&D needs to be something specific. It really does. Why? Because you're not interested everything. You have specific tastes. One of my biggest complaints with 5e is that managing expectations is a massive problem. It's a massively understated problem. Unfulfilled expectations are massively disappointing. I will write ten more essays on this subject specifically before I die. Watch.

No one wants to wake up one morning and realize they've committed to a game and a group they have nothing in common with.

The Likely Cause of a (Supposed) DM Shortage?

It's DM burnout. DM's report exhaustion, prep burden, rules or systems burden, conflicts of expectations, conflicts with personalities, lack of authority, lack of tools, or lack of system clarity.

One of the problems is the asymmetry inherent to the game; one person does all the work, the other four do none.

Every player should take a turn being a DM and they should run their own campaign. This teaches them appreciation for the role. It will enrich them and by extension everyone. Here's a hot take: if you've never run your own campaign, the feedback that you can provide to your DM or fellow players will never be as valued as someone who has. Note that I didn't say valuable, I said valued. If you haven't done it yourself, you don't actually know what it's like and so your opinion hasn't been informed by experience.

DMing is a rite of passage. Every player should be expected to take a turn and DM. No exceptions. Players are consumers. GMs are producers. Being a producer makes you a better consumer. As a thought experiment, I want you to imagine two gaming groups. Both groups are seasoned at TTRPGs. In group one, you have one forever DM and players who have never DMed. In group two, everyone has DMed a campaign. Which group do you want to be a part of? You would rather be in group two because everyone has been a leader, teacher, and a creator. This means some maturation.

Yes, I am suggesting is that players who haven't crossed the DMing threshold are contributing to DM burnout. For anyone keeping score, this is not WotC's fault.

Here's What This All Means

D&D 5e is not for beginner DMs and that's why there could be a shortage. D&D 5e is a mess. It's one hundred games in one. Every game has a hundred variations. There are too many different kinds of players with different tastes, and D&D 5e is trying to appeal to all of them at once. Finding the iteration of D&D 5e that works for you takes trial and error. Now imagine one core rule book set that tries to make that work for groups of five, hundreds and hundreds of times. Now combine that with the task of learning leadership / managerial skills you might not have, and the struggles of having your creative labor scrutinized by people who might not appreciate it on a weekly basis.

Your mission double-oh Joe, average Joe, regular Joe, is to make it work.

Good expletive luck!

Actual Data?!

We have data that shows that the average D&D campaign lasts 6 sessions:

https://www.myarchivist.ai/ai-dungeon-master/how-long-do-dnd-campaigns-last.
What can we infer from this data? I think that the most generous interpretation is that TTRPGs are hard. If you get into D&D or any TTRPG, temper your expectations.

Here's Why This Matters

If there is a DM shortage, it's important to confirm it and then it's important to identify the causes. Naming the monster is the first step to slaying it. We want more DMs. We want this hobby to grow. DMs grow the hobby, not players. We need to take care of the DMs.

Here's What Should Change

If I were in charge of WotC, here's what I would do. I would release D&D 5e Basic. Once upon a time, there was Advanced Dungeons & Dragons which was crunchy and full of tables and all kinds of crap. Then there was the Dungeons & Dragons Basic. I'm bringing it back because less is more.

D&D Basic was the essence of D&D. It was the good stuff without all the mess, the bloat, and the complications.

D&D 5e Basic would not be a starter set. It would be its own product line. It would be fully supported, and published side-by-side with D&D 5e. D&D 5e Basic will have fewer and simpler classes, fewer and simpler fantasy races, fewer spells, fewer magic items, fewer, simpler rules. I'm cutting the crap and I'm giving you what is recognizably D&D 5e, but I'm curating it. I'm giving you to the essence of it. The best of it. It's going to have a more refined tone and genre. It's going to have a narrower scope. It's going to have a setting that's grounded, so you understand what works and what doesn't. I'm restricting alignment to enforce group cohesion. Combat is going to be simpler and faster. Exploration is going to be clear. Social Interaction is going to clear. It's going to logically led to only a few styles of play.

When you look at D&D 5e Basic, you're going to be filled with a sense of wonder, but you're going to know what kind of game this is and you're going to know what kind of game it isn't. And so will the players.

It's going to easy to learn, to run, and to play. It's going to be fun to prep and run.

Conclusion

I want to reiterate my introduction. The DM shortage is anecdotal. We need more data. I think GMing for 5e is a son of a gun, and WotC continues to support players, but not GMs. All of these things contribute to GMing for 5e feeling like hard work rather than a fun, creative pursuit. GMing 5e was the most frustrating and least fulfilling experience in TTRPGs I've had. Make no mistake, the frustration comes from 5e in particular. Other games were smoother.

For more commentary on Managing Expectations, see these posts here:

Managing Expectations in TTRPGs - GM Expectations Framework

Managing Expectations in TTRPGs - Discussing What We Do and Don't Like