Failing Forward! Bad session=good learning opportunity

[@Tablerunner]

Please check the description for two excellent examples of roleplaying sessions.

[@Drudenfusz]

Indeed, people learn more from mistakes than from success. Which is weird why most systems award XP for success and not for failing things. Regarding characters and low prep GMing, I would say the less you prep the more narrow the characters should be, since if both ends are open then the players will suffer fro the paradox of choice. Which is why I always give a theme as direction for my low prep running of games, to give the players something they can focus on in character creation and thus make that faster.

[@Tablerunner]

Good point. I like narrow versus broad focus.

[@miksmeistergeneral]

Your group's enthusiasm about pre-gens speaks well of their ability to role-play outside of their comfort zone. IRL interests and beliefs often get transferred into the game world, and I think pre-gens are a good way to encourage players to try 'something different'. I've also noticed players can be more spontaneous with pre-gens, and this can lead to more unpredictable and exciting situations, particularly in 1-shots.

[@Tablerunner]

I was surprised that they were as enthusiastic about pre-gens as they were. As you say, pre-gens move them out of their go-to tropes and help them stretch their imagination in unexpected directions. I'd like to see them go back to making their own characters eventually, but as we work at getting better at roleplaying, the pre-gen is a real help. Thanks for your comment!

[@quickanddirtyroleplaying]

Enjoyed this video. As far as being a no-prep GM is concerned, one important factor that I haven't seen discussed is where the GM draws their creativity from. For example, say the GM is a Star Wars fanatic. They've seen the movies several dozen times, they've read all of the novels, played all of the video games, read all of the comics, owned all of the books regarding the tech and the different species and whatnot. We're talking about Wookiepedia embodied in a living, breathing (and hopefully showered) person. This particular GM is going to have a much easier time not only drawing from their intimate level of Star Wars lore, but they're more prepared to make more authentic fanfic (i.e. generate content on the fly) during their Star Wars TTRPG sessions. Now, if said GM were trying to no-prep something that's not in their wheelhouse, yeah, they're going to be running on fumes, so to speak. Crispy, is there some pop culture or fiction that you feel you'd be able to more successfully run in a TTRPG session in a no-prep manner? Hopefully, this form of content specialization will help you not only produce content on the fly faster but also reduce the processing time of doing so as well.

[@Tablerunner]

I like your point about familiarity with setting as a prerequisite for successful low prep games. I can think of a few that could apply. Will try to stay with those settings next time. Thanks for your comment!

[@Primaeval]

I think we 90% learn more from bad instead of good experiences. But we should also parse out the goal here. Planning can be a great thing, depending on what exactly we're planning. Planning "what will happen" (for my style) is bad. Planning a huge array of contingencies is a great (& necessary) practice.

[@Tablerunner]

I appreciate the distinction which you make regarding planning for contingencies rather than outcomes. This strikes me as correct.

[@windmark8040]

Cool insight- as usual. How about pointing some of your viewers towards those sessions you enjoyed?

[@Tablerunner]

That's a great idea. I should've thought of doing that. I'll try to insert in the description.