Adulthood & RPGs

Too many responsibilities with your career, kids, study, finances, relationship, or any number of the other million priorities that can control your time and spending as an adult? No problem.

As GM, player, and a completely capable adult, I’m here to tell you that no matter what responsibilities adult life throws at you, you can create amazing memories and spend quality time with your friends and loved ones. The world, and even the multiverse, is your oyster.

Join me on my journey to GM-hood amidst the ups and downs of financial upheaval, family challenges, parenthood, and a teaching career leading up to and during the global Covid-19 pandemic. Here I will share the tips and tricks I, and my fellow RPG nerds, have implemented to ensure an exciting and sustainable social experience, breaking the monotony of adulthood.

As you can probably tell I’m quite the fan of tabletop roleplaying games (RPGs) along with the freedom of expression and community opportunities they bring. I enjoy spending so much time with my friends and being silly with them. I love that unlike so many adults I see struggling to find even a single day of the year to catch up, I get to have genuine, quality experiences with mine weekly. At first, I was a fairly closed off newbie player who was so focused on ‘winning’ (spoilers - you don’t play to win, you play to experience) that I couldn’t even bring myself to make true character decisions. Now I play as fully fledged role-player in multiple campaigns and run one of my own for which I created a 3D maps using my ‘map-making on a budget’ system that I’ve been able to share with world outside of my own little groups.

Surprisingly, this rapidly became my highest read piece on Vocal and I received a lot of positive feedback, not only from within the Vocal community, but from those on RPG pages, map makers, and prominent global forums.

Knowing the joy this experience has brought me and hearing so many people say they love what I do and want what I have in this regard, while still dropping every excuse in the book for why they can’t, I decided to make it my mission to help people find the path to tabletop roleplaying with a no excuses guide to good times gaming. Initially, I was certain that a novel exploring all of the tips and tricks I use to gain and keep momentum in the gaming sphere while sharing a few stories of my own personal experience as evidence that ‘yes, it can be done’ was the only way to go. Perhaps I chose a direction too soon.

In this digital age where so many useful resources are simply a mouse-click away, could there be another, more effective way to get this information out there to the world? I watched a webinar recently about using your passions to connect with people in an authentic way through membership sites and programs. It emphasised the relative ease of promoting this kind work and how, before long, these programs can start promoting and funding themselves. It’s in every self help or business related book out there - building and maintaining momentum is the key to success.

We see it work time and again in the most competitive of fields. Watch out for the brand new fitness programs taking on a life of their own despite the countless membership programs already on offer and somehow the established ones still don’t show signs of slowing down. Have seen the latest business coaching promotions with catchy phrases tier based access? Don’t forget the astrology service plans with weekly and monthly subscriptions to tell you to “Take this moment to reflect on all of your accomplishments big or small and your strength in reaching this space in such a turbulent time” or to “Be conscious of your choices in light of the lunar eclipse that brings these opportunities in unexpected ways from behind the cosmic curtain” - okay, I had a bit of fun with Vocal’s recent ‘Gemini Season’ horoscope challenge.

But I digress…with all of these successful membership programs how can I bring my own passion in line with the elite and monetize this collective social need for human bonding and adventure that can be accessible to all no matter the restrictions or responsibilities? Well, after taking the time to do a little more research and polling to confirm people’s highest priority needs and to engage even more with the tabletop RPG community, a monthly release program would be my place to start. I would address one primary problem a month by highlighting the issue, providing solutions complete with true personal accounts and videos of how I, and those in my circle of tabletop RPG enthusiasts, have overcome these same issues (it’s always important to connect with people authentically, on a personal level), and provide helpful digital resources to ensure my subscribers have all they need to take the next step in their exciting new journey. Swag is always great, and I’m sure it’ll be a big selling point, but honestly I’m most excited about connecting with people. Showing them where I’ve gone wrong, funny stories, blooper reels and all, and showing not only how to avoid mistakes, but how those moments of misfortunate can be used to make the experience even better.

That’s all well and good, you might say, but how could you possibly be sure that anyone will take the slightest bit of interest in something that has for so long been considered a pastime for the nerds-only club? People have been deprived of human connection and exciting, memorable shared experiences for so long now, it’s time for a change. And there is already a wealth of evidence that a growing number of adults are longing for an RPG experience, with so many falling in love with YouTube programs like Critical Role and Dimension 20. You’ve even got countless celebrities finally speaking out about their own passion for the game and the joy it brings them when they enter into these worlds. From Vin Diesel and Joe Manganiello to Steven Colbert and Will Wheaton, it’s a great time to be a tabletop RPG gamer, and a great time to begin.