[Patreon Exclusive] Good Morning, Game Masters! Episode 3

Fkn brilliant chat. Awesome.

Its nice to have a GM/play theory show thats not just basic 101 or even 301 stuff, hearing people share and talk and evaluate thoughts ive batted at and missed on my own is really rewarding to hear, thanks for really digging in at the point you are at. I want inside baseball about inside a baseball.

Listening to GMs talk about railroading while on an actual train is…. quite fun 😆

I'm not NOT saying it's the world building. But with WWW I think another thing ended up being more (at least as) important, which is The Children's Adventure. A deep lore can be really alienating I find, because it makes learning to read and interact with the world work. Some people might enjoy that work, but it tends to take some time and effort to pay off. In the Children's Adventure, you had the luxury of seeing the world through a lense of wonder. There was little expectation of expertise in interacting with it. We could get a taste of the rules of this place the same way a child would. Then we had a breaking point, and an implied, somewhat linear path for each of the PCs into early adulthood, which gave them a very clear sense of character by the time the actual campaign started. You didn't write a backstory, you experienced it. As a listener at least, that's what made the magic work especially well for me. The world building made the campaign keep delivering for sure, but without the Children's Adventure, I don't think it would have hit the same.

Their later discussion about player agency resonates with what I love about WBN, which also intersects with my own line of work as a qualitative researcher. They play their characters like grounded theory researchers do research: I know my positionality to the best of my ability at the start of a project, which impacts how I recursively and iteratively collect and interpret data about this slice of the world. And, through that process, I build a substantive understanding of it to the best of my capabilities and opportunities. These grounded truths carry the potential to challenge and change me as much as change the grounded truths within which I now am more deeply intertwined. Straight up delicious play within the intersection of the structure-agency experience and our human capacity and will to make meaning within that experience.

INJECT THIS DIRECTLY INTO MY VEINS

"You don't spend enough time with Murph" was perfect, because I only recognized the phrase because of NADDPOD 😄

"Agency, Investment and Imagination Dragons."

I need to know if the plot rejection Brennan is talking about is Wic's sermon and the subsequent... Drama... At the hallowed round...

Aabria!!!! Great to hear her again!

This episode is one of the most phenomenal seminars of complex thought I’ve ever listened to!!

Could not stop smiling listening to this You guys are amazing

So glad to have Aabria back and come out swinging with such an engaging talk! Everyone’s thoughts on agency across the table really resonated especially and I can’t wait to get back in the GM seat. Also a fully belly laugh for my hometown of Rancho Cucamonga mentioned. Great stuff, gang!

I'd love to hear more on the "false adversarial DM" point at 31:00. I downright HATE true adversarial DMs and when I DM for my adult friends, I always open a new campaign with "yo, we don't do true adversarial bullshit here. I'm on your team, I just have all the bad guys in my haversack and I gotta throw them at you b/c that's a 3rd of why we're here," but I really struggle with that line between false and true adversarial DMing. Maybe this is better for a Reddit thread, iunno, but I'd love any insight that anyone has into how they manage it, bc I'm not interested in a "me, DM vs Everyone at this table"

No one is mentioning “baby side plot.” BABY SIDE PLOT?!! I PRAY we get to hear about that at some point

so incredibly nice to hear aabria's voice again 💚

Baby side plot? Umm excuse me, Lou Wilson?! Was Abigail supposed to be pregnant?!

Great conversation. I think one area where its more common to have that 'minimum context' to let your choices feel grounded is in interactions within the party; you've got whatever sessions you've already played, out of character conversations and you often know the other player to some degree and can draw on that. I think getting that level of context can feel daunting, but doing it on a smaller scale can be pretty effective.

I wonder if one of our GMs would put killing a god in front of their players?

Brennan and Lou introducing the term “butt rock” to Aabria feels like a great parallel to Aabria and Erika introducing all the horrors of the internet to Brennan and Lou 🎶🎶🎶🎤

I love the longer conversation! Very in depth and some great perspectives :)

One time I had a player at my table literally get in a car and drive out of the main town, exactly as Brennan describes, and completely resist repeated attempts to spark any internal or external conflict every time the spotlight came around to them, as an escalating bit. They were just like "Yeah I just get in the car and drive west. I go the speed limit. I don't talk to anybody at the gas station. I just drive. Nothing happens, I just keep driving as far as I can go." At a certain point I had to be like, "Hey you know the matrix runs out eventually, right? There's no easter eggs out here."

Not the Crit Role mention

Oh my goodness, this is so interesting- I was part of a party who was having avoidance issues. One of the players (not their character) was in an emotional state that made him want to hunker down and be safe, and was *so vocal*. He moved us all out of the city in which things were being planned, and kept railroading the other players into building a bunker when we were supposed to be thwarting the baddies. Our GM had things Just Keep Happening, and eventually we had to shit or get off the pot. I was ostensibly playing a very quiet not leader type, and had to make him stop listening to our party's "leader". I have a lot of compassion for the other player- his real life was falling apart, but whooof.

I'm glad Brennan answered the question from the player's chair, mentioning Evan Kelmp's visit to the nurse's office.

AABRIA'S BACK! THE WORLD IS HEALING!

The concept of the invisible marker where the level of detail in your imagined world tips it into the richness needed to give players true agency (now known as “the acanthus line”) is so perfect. And it really is the difference in why some games really feel exciting and full of real stakes and emotional payoffs while others are just sort of jokes and beats.

As a teacher, I have never so heartedly approved of putting a child in timeout. To be fair the favorite thing that my grandmother ever did was walk up to a disrespectful boy and say “you are not too big for me to fold you like a long chair and put you in the trashcan.”

I love Brennan’s camp councillor stories. It’s always a gut buster, full of earnest wisdom, or both.

What an amazing discussion. Describing the rush role playing games is so difficult because it’s so ethereal. They managed to articulate so clearly what makes “vibes” turn into magic. I wanted to share a quote from the book the artist way that I was reminded of for most of the episode Art is born in attention. Its midwife is detail.

Welcome back, Aabria! My GMing dread is named Bob.

Grateful for these talks as a newer GM! 🙏🏻 great stuff guys

Thank you, now I have to blast Radioactive at max volume until I get the image of teddybear cockfights out of my head. Thanks Brennan

Lou Wilson on GM GM... HUUUGE!!!! Crazy to think how to love in the stew really brings out the player agency over time... :') Also Aabria Aabria I've missed herrr!!!!! I desperately wanna know if Aabria was in World Turner what her PC would have been... ;-;

This episode is such a master class of having an epiphany with your friends and just leaning into it. I loved it so much.

AABRIA! We’ve missed you💕💕

I had an especially bad commute this morning but it was absolutely no big deal because I had downloaded this right before heading out the door. What a lovely conversation between friends. I liked Lou bringing the somewhat-newbie side of things to the conversation too. And welcome back Aabria!

Amazing talk!

Oh man, as a former shithead 15 year old, I REALLY want to hear from the fridge kid now as an adult

And I do feel like listening to GM GM should count as some sort of teacher Professional Development hours…🧑‍🏫

All Hair Fridge King!

The sports analogy escaped her! She's rusty! She's shown weakness! Get her (love and affection)!

“However crazy you think you are, I’m 100 times crazier” really nails working with kids/being a parent in a really succinct way

Great timing. I GMed my first episode of my first campaign yesterday. I used tons of tips and tricks from all three of these incredible storytellers

So so good to hear Aabria again, missed her so much on here and at CR

The perfect timing and length for my morning commute. GM, indeed!

GM GM!