RPG Ideas — Aspirations
Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is the aspirations, which we discussed in our weekly live chat. We hangout every Monday evening at 8 p.m. EST on Nerdarchy Live to talk about D&D, RPGs, gaming, life and whatever nerdy stuff comes up. Speaking of aspirations our strong desire for Mage Forge is realized! This project is fully funded thanks to awesome supporters who love magic items as much as we do. You can get the Nerdarchy Newsletter delivered to your inbox each week, along with updates and info on how to game with Nerdarchy plus snag a FREE GIFT by signing up here. You can get the Nerdarchy Newsletter delivered to your inbox each week, along with updates and info on how to game with Nerdarchy plus snag a FREE GIFT by signing up here.
Nerdy News
Plan to catch up on the week that was! Learn new academic feats, conjure the best homebrew spells, plot and scheme your next adventure and stoke the arcane fires of the Mage Forge! Plus new live chats with industry pros and creative folks round out this week’s Nerdy News. Check it out here.
Delving Dave’s Dungeon
A new year is time for new beginnings, hence this week’s topic aspirations. This is another amorphous term through which to view roleplaying games. Whether you are playing Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, Quest or Cypher System we are trying to take on the role of a character in these worlds.
Every single time you create a new RPG character for your favorite game it’s the beginning relationship between you, the character and the other characters at the table. Part of figuring out your new character is figuring out what they want. What is it they aspire to? If you answer this one question you can begin to fill in the blanks on the character’s identity.
I always like when backstories begin with a forward thinking view instead of components like who were they, where have they been and what have they done. Why not ask what is it they want, where is it they want to go and who is it they want to be?
The reason I like this way of thinking is because it gives you actions to take alongside your fellow players. It gives your Game Master fodder to include into their plots and stories. Often I like to leave gaps in characters’ backstory so I can fill them in as the story progresses and I get a better idea of the character. I also want to leave places for the GM to muck with my backstories. I’d rather have my character’s backstory get cemented through play rather than me just dictating how it happened before.
Even better than having personal aspirations for your character from the start of a new campaign is having a group aspiration. Aspiration and goals are very similar. Some of the best games I’ve played in are when the players decide on the same goals in session zero along with answering why they are trying to achieve this aspiration.
Each character may even have their own reason to achieve the goal, which makes it super personal for the players and makes them very invested in the game. In the last two campaigns Nerdarchist Ted ran for us this was true in the one game then carried through to the next one as well for three out of the five players. Two players brought new characters to the table while three of us opted to keep playing our existing characters.
When you are building your character instead of thinking about where they have been, try thinking about where they wish to go. What are their hopes and dreams? Are any of those hopes and dreams shared with your fellow players’ characters?
Running away from something can keep you going for a while. Running towards something better can sustain you for a lifetime. Are your characters running towards or away from something? Perhaps both.
From Ted’s Head
Through Nerdarchy we have done so much over the last eight years I never really thought was possible. With all those accomplishments behind me I still aspire to do so much more. With our second Kickstarter launched and several more planned in the coming years plus whatever new ideas we come up with Nerdarchy will be around for a long time to come. I can tease out that we have eventually a new RPG in the works and we would love to expand upon projects we have already ventured into and many other ideas besides.
Diving into our roleplaying game experiences, aspirations are something I feel a lot of players tend to overlook. As a player at the table your characters should have short-, middle- and long-term goals. Even if the Game Master never incorporates these things into the game they can still be desires. A great GM takes the story they have created and weaves each player character’s story into it like a tapestry.
When your character has aspirations for things they desire to have happen it is easier to make decisions because you have a direction you want to go. At the same time it can also add more drama when you have to go in a direction in conflict with those aspirations. These moments of tension for character can be planned and worked out between player and GM.
Your character aspirations need not always align with your player aspirations. One of the players in my recent game had the desire to die in glory during the campaign finale. Obviously the character was not looking to die — he was not suicidal — but he was willing to sacrifice himself to save his friends and those who could come to harm. He made the choice. In many streamed games I watched you can easily see the aspirations of players and characters shine like a beacon or slip through barely noticed.
As a GM we should have aspirations as well. Typically my aspirations when I run a game are for everyone to have fun, for me to be creative and hope the players feel challenged and threatened by whatever obstacles I pit them against. It need not always satisfy all three but it is better if it does.
I also like to challenge myself. To run games and styles of games I have not done before. Dungeons & Delving, the D&D game show I ran last year, was a lot of fun and very different from games I have done. I am now preparing for a game run not as a one shot or small arc but as a campaign on the open sea. Who knows what the future holds? I hope and aspire it will be more new games and lots of gaming fun.
From the Nerditor’s Desk
Nerdarchists Dave and Ted cover a lot of the bases when it comes to RPG character aspirations but when I ponder this concept my thoughts lean more toward hopes and ambitions of the participants in these experiences. During the live chat I touched on the idea of approaching RPGs with personal aspirations regardless of what side of the GM screen you’re sitting on.
My aspiration in sharing these points here is giving you some ideas to consider for yourself in your games. Keeping things fresh, expanding your horizons and learning more about the game, the characters and even yourself and fellow players lie at the heart of these RPG aspirations you might incorporate into your gameplay experiences.
Game Masters
- Run a new RPG you haven’t played before
- Introduce someone to the RPG hobby
- Focus on improving something you struggle with as a GM
- Make combat more dynamic
- Present more compelling NPCs
- Enliven your descriptions of people, places and things
- Encourage more player agency
- Run a holiday themed session
- Create your own content for your favorite RPG
Players
- Take a turn as the GM for your group!
- Play a character type you’ve never tried before
- Initiative meaningful interaction with another character during gameplay
- Look beyond the numbers on your character sheet
- Play in a one shot with new people
These are a few of the aspirations I’ve developed over the years. Working towards and fulfilling them is very rewarding! I’ve made new friends, discovered new games, deepened my RPG experiences and even segued into a new career!
This wonderful hobby comprises so many facets both in and out of gameplay times and I believe developing and achieving personal goals benefits me in both regards. You might even discover your RPG characters can teach you some important lessons!
*Featured image — Along with 250 new Fifth Edition magic items on snazzy tarot cards Mage Forge includes a booklet with additional lore, details, plot hooks and more on many of the magic items, secrets for the Game Masters’ eyes and we’re working on a special encounter to add in too. Discover the Mage Forge here!
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