5 Tips for RPG Players

Game master tips abound out here on the interwebs, and I’m really glad for that. Still, it can be hard at times for RPG players to find much of use to them among the thousands of YouTube videos and articles.  While the GM obviously plays a key role, you players out there (and let’s not forget that even most of you GMs are players from time to time) can make a huge difference in making for a successful game session. This is especially true if your GM does the job right by letting the players have significant agency and time in the spotlight. Whether that’s true or not, don’t let the responsibility for fun rest solely on the shoulders of your GM.

Level up your game, players! Take some responsibility, and uncover ways you can contribute to a great game session or campaign. In this blog post, as well as the next, I’ll be sharing some of my advice for how players can do this. Almost all the ideas herein are those I got from other people – my RPG class students, fellow gamers, YouTubers, and friends. You know who you are. In this first one I’ll steer more toward the basics, and much of this may be better suited to new players. Still, I’m always surprised how many veteran players ignore or forget a lot of this advice. The next post will include more challenging tips, but I think all of us, no matter our level of experience, can take at least one or two of these tips to heart to be better contributors to the shared experience of fun at the gaming table. On with the tips!

1. Be prepared! Have your dice, character sheet, and pencil and paper ready for notes. This is one of those tips that seems like a no-brainer, but you may be surprised how often it gets missed. Check and double check before you leave the house! There aren’t many things worse than a player who can’t participate because they lost their character sheet. Sidenote: GMs – If this is a problem for your group, I highly recommend you keep your player’s materials in your own binder!
2. Know your character sheet, but don’t look at it much. Find a balance between knowing your character’s skills, abilities, and spells, and ignoring the character sheet. If your first instinct is to look down at your abilities and spells each time, that’s not so terrible. But from time to time resist that urge and instead think about how your character would actually react to what’s going on around him or her in the game. Sometimes that reaction might fit with an awesome ability or spell, but other times that reaction might actually hinder you in combat – and that’s okay! It can make for more interesting storytelling if you aren’t always squeezing every mechanical advantage out of a situation. Think like a sentient being in the game world, not a collection of stats.
3. Don’t fear the dice. Somewhat related to what I said above, don’t get too obsessed with mechanical success. Use bad dice rolls to tell an interesting story of how you fail. Moments of power and success are great, and you’ll have those. But failure can be fun too! Make failure interesting by describing why you fail and weave that failure into your character’s words and actions in the rest of the game, and possibly even future games. If you can do this, you’ll ensure that your fun at the table is not dependent on good dice rolls.
4. Avoid metagaming. Metagaming is usually described as using out-of-game player knowledge inside the game.  You probably know that the fighter next to you only has 4 hit points left, that you’ll need a bludgeoning weapon to do more damage to a skeleton, and that the session is going to end soon so you might as well use up your spells. But would your character know? I find it to be a real challenge at times, but try to inhabit your character’s mind and act and speak like they would. Check your own knowledge of the system, the GM’s tendencies, and the monster stats at the door. Rather, imagine yourself as this character in the game world. Act accordingly, and great stories will unfold!
5. Build a “smart” character. No, I’m not talking about a character with a high intelligence score. I’m talking about a character that will be good for the game. Often we players sit by ourselves and write up amazing backstories and personalities for a character without considering what will work with the group. I’m not talking about balanced group composition as much as I am encouraging you to create a character that the rest of the group will enjoy playing alongside. That “lone wolf” Elven ranger who hates other races may sound pretty cool to you, but will others at the table enjoy those quirks as much as you? I understand this totally depends on your group, and so what I’d actually recommend is holding a session zero before a campaign where the group creates characters (and possibly even a game world) together. This enables you to create characters that fit well in the game world and work with the overall tone and style of the game and other group members. It also gives you chance to make connections between characters more fluidly and weave your backstories together.

That’s enough from me for now. I’ll be back with 5 more tips next week, but I’d really love to hear from you! Do you agree that these are important considerations for players? What other advice would you give to new players? What are some of the pitfalls you hope new players will avoid? Comment below!