#0043: My experience running TTRGP games
Preamble
The date is July of 2026. Hot as fuck summer (32°C indoors), and all I have to keep me cool is a broken desk fan that I found on the side of the road two years ago and “temporarily fixed” as I write this. It’s still waiting for its proppah fix… any day now.
On point. Well basically, a former work-friend of mine is coming back into town, and we want to use his visit as an excuse to play some D&D with 2 other workmates. So me and 3 players. In essence I wish to document the high-level experience that I had here, as well as reminisce on previous campaigns. However, I will leave out the nitty-gritty details of the play sessions themselves. That is for another article. THIS article is for venting about people.
As an aside: I hope you like the AI assets in the title graphic; as I make considerable use of it in my campaign. For example this picture above is of my campaign’s Roll20 splash-page. I find AI useful for generating visual assets to spark both the players’ imaginations, as well as my own. I know it is a contentious issue today, especially with artists; and people are quick to become tribal on such matters.
However, if it makes you feel any better: they have yet to receive a penny from me. At least at the time of writing this. A time after I have made considerable use of it to generate lots of images for settings, items, and characters. Mostly using a free account, and only recently a free trail. It has its place in my opinion. And I am happy to enjoy this (in my opinion) non-sustainable technology while it lasts.
NOTE #1: The original title here is: “Running my first TTRGP game”. Decided to clarify the title post-hoc for messaging accuracy. But it wasn’t worth doing all the required down-flow edits/re-writes.
NOTE #2: While digging into my dormant TTRPG files for this article, I found an old folder filled with Tumblr “Lucky Star” memes in it from ~2016. And since my old Roll20 account has Izumi Konata as its avatar. Seems natural to include them here. Enjoy.
My previous experience with TTRPGs
Now I know the title says “first”, but I have GM’ed two games before. (Lies I know, every day I drift further from God.) Both were during the 2020 lockdowns. The actual first game was a D&D5e module called “Lost Mine of Phandelver”. It came in a beginner box kit: with dice, character sheets, and a basic rulebook. It was a good buy to just get started. That campaign ended with a random encounter as the headless party of 3. (1 old-school friend and 2 of his friends.) Met their end travelling out of Phandalin to a random map marker. I think it was a wizard’s tower with a juvenile green dragon living there. They got murked by rolling an Owl Bear that came at them like a steam train. And they did not appreciate the idea of a tactical retreat. More on this later.
The second game I ran was a home-brew game of Shadowrun 6th edition. I called it Neo-London. Fantastic setting! Magic and Machines, within a corporate dystopia. Where actual wizards could be wage-slaves, working the Chinese 996, writing endless documentation on a new experimental magic drug that reverses ageing but only in Dwarfs — until a Shadowrunner mercenary terrorist-for-hire with two pogo sticks for legs breaks into your office block and shoots your co-workers to death, before beheading the security droid with a fucking samurai sword. And coming fo-yo ass. Shieeet! And you were only 5 days away from retirement.
Anyway Shadowrun has a great world but a shit rulebook. It has more spooling and grammar mis-steaks than the shit I write. Which is an achievement. If you really want a laff check out their errata document. All 10 pages of it! (Well 9 minus title page). That’s still too much. The latest one I could find is their 2019 August errata doc. (EDIT 2026-10: found another one. Errata 2020-feb.) And I have found many errors in the core rulebook not mentioned in this document. (Off the top of my head) I remember referencing of the “wild dice” mechanic, which is not featured in 6th edition. I believe it is an erroneous copy-paste from the 5th edition rulebook. The point is the rulebook is very poorly written and edited. I found numerous errors on my first read. I found numerous errors on my first read. (That’s an inside joke. Read their rulebook and you’ll get it.)
This game suddenly ended in a very similar manner as the D&D one. A TPK fighting a Babayaga-esque crocodile shaman. While trying to ambush her as she was in animal form having sex with a giant crocodile familiar in her house. They saw two giant crocodiles in a house fucking in the middle of the NeoLondon wild swamp, called Hackney Marshes. I.e. an isolated area with no one around to help if things go south. They thought yeah lets jump them, and steal their MacGuffin.
Well. While the Shaman took her human form, the crocodile familiar grabbed one PC (their healer shaman I think) and she just couldn’t break away, nor was anyone else interested in helping her. The house suddenly stood up on its chicken legs (which they saw previously but ignored). Another PC (Elf Decker Face) failed a dex check equivalent and fell down off of the house and landed poorly. Hurting themselves severely. Then the Street Samurai fought and lost against the Shaman and was blown out of the window. Failed his dex check then fell off the house, and knocked prone. The Birdhouse on its turn sat down on both of them. Killing them. Leaving the last PC in the house as croc chow. Fun times.
All the while a tactical retreat was never even considered. Nor was a plan of attack for that matter. Same players as before by the way. In fairness things did go south rather quickly. But then these things tend to happen that way. You can only telegraph so much to people, before things need to start happening. I remember deciding to end it like that because I was feeling done playing with these people, and the TPK gave a clean exit point. So I decided not to pull any punches. Note, I didn’t purposefully go in trying to kill them. I just didn’t shield them from the consequences of their actions. Something that I had been doing repeatedly in this campaign to date. Letting players off despite severe misplays. Such as disrespecting regional powers: AKA local gang lords.
Illustrative example that I just made up. (It’s been too long to remember specifics from their game.)
GM: “You arrive at the boxing gym after hours, and meet the gang lord, an old man named ‘Brick-top'”.
PC: “I stare him down, walk up to him, and spit in his face. Then challenge him to a match. I have a good body stat, and have done boxing before in my backstory right GM? I should win this. Can I roll for intimidation like in D&D?”
They really should have been chopped up into pieces and fed to pigs long ago…
Okay. It wasn’t that bad. However I do remember them disrespecting and dismissing quest givers. It became frustrating, because say I want them to do this mission; however they just dressed down and dismissed the NPC who’s trying to give it to them. Then they complain that they don’t know what to do. Resulting in me either having to make the NPC act out of character in order to give them the next job, or have the job get called in from another NPC altogether. Saying that they heard about it. Only to get a response such as, “why are we wasting time with this NPC, if the other one knows everything. Why did you send us here.” It was annoying, especially when the players think that they are out collecting info/clues. When in fact they are burning bridges with every faction they encounter. By being absolute cunts to everyone… and oblivious about it to boot.
Let me complain some more to you about my Players
In the previous two campaigns that I ran, I encountered a lot of things that genuinely annoyed me to the point that I lost motivation to be a Game Master. Probably the first and most important is a lack of respect for my time and efforts. This is the master issue that filters down into (most if not) all the other issues that I have had with players.
Let’s start with: Players with bad time management and scheduling. Some of these people genuinely do not understand that the game needs to be prepared for them to play it. In other words I have to read and/or create a scenario including all NPCs, items, points of interest, and how the story webs all these aspects together, as well as prepare combat encounters. This took me from memory about 90-120 minutes prior to a session to do. (Mostly due to my inexperience running homebrews… and knowing rules.)
I have had fickle players that either do not answer simple questions regarding scheduling. “When are you free next week?”. Or if they do give a day, they’ll suddenly cancel on that day. An hour prior if they contact me at all. I have had no-call, no-shows. That then get annoyed when they are no longer invited, and the game continued without them. “I don’t understand. So what happened to my character?” WTF do you care – you ain’t playing bitch.
Less annoying but still an issue. I have had players randomly contact me on an afternoon (keep in mind lock-down) and say something like: “Me and the guys are all free right now. Want to carry on the game?” I’m thinking in a few hours, no they mean now. They are only available now, and only for three hours before what’s-her-name needs to go. They want to jump on apropos of nothing and play a couple of rounds like it’s Team Fortress 2 or something. And when I decline, due to lack of time to prepare. Then I am the problem because I am “refusing to play when everyone is available. Yet complaining about players not being available.”
Next is players with a bad attitude. I have had players treat me like a video game; expecting me to manage everything for them behind the scenes. I have had lazy players that actually have criticised me for not keeping track of their personal stats. This means remembering what equipment they have, how much money is in their purse or credsticks, how much ammunition they have left, or spell slots that they have used. I have had players expect me to keep track of all of that for them personally; whilst also running the world for everyone. While they just sit back and enjoy the ride. Lazy, entitled, and passive. What a combo meal.
When I told them that they are expected to keep track of their own equipment, I got a “..then what are you doing?” or something to that effect. They also said something akin to “then what’s stopping me from just saying whatever…”. Basically without supervision: who’s stopping them from cheating. YOU! What adult needs the childhood lesson of don’t cheat: because you primarily cheat yourself. I just remember feeling and hearing the words in my head that I am never playing with this garbage again. Because the guy was dead serious, that he needed me to manage his character for him, or else… Kept my word too. Never played with him again. Thumbs up.
Now I can honestly complain here all day but for brevity I will end on this last one. This is the lack of social cues / basic understanding player. This is the player who either doesn’t understand, appreciate, or care as to what has been created/prepared for them. Instead they want to do whatever they want in the moment. In my case it was a player playing Lost Mine of Phandelver who had absolutely no interest in going to the “Mine” wait-for-it… “of Phandelver”. They ignored all plot hooks (because they weren’t interested in the story), and then got upset when there wasn’t anything for them to do outside of it.
And somehow that meant that I was a bad DM to them. Not that they are a bad player who doesn’t comply with the social contract of a TTRPG. You are there to play the module if you are playing a module, if you made a character who is not interested in the story of the game: then you made a bad character. Re-roll. That rule also doesn’t change when playing a home-brew as well. The point is that you can’t have a PC that doesn’t have (or want) a place in the story.
Heck that logic even applies to sandbox games. Where you could make the free-roam argument. Imagine a player who immediately wanted to travel beyond the border mountains at the edge of the game map. Essentially stepping out of the story. (If you are pedantic: then it’s the location where the emergent story happens. Happy? I know I’m not.)
For example: if you were reading the RPG play-book “Island of the Lizard King”; and as soon as your boat lands on the island, you chose to get back on the boat and wait within it until it sets sail again. Maybe even opting to hijack a better boat en-route to the next isle.
Well at that point, are you still playing Island of the lizard king – if you promptly left the Lizard King’s fucking island! Is ye?! Son you’re playing Sid Meier’s Pirates at that point. Problem is, you’re not holding a 1987 floppy disk copy of Sid Meier’s Pirates, is ye? No sir. You are not. You’re holding a copy of Ian Livingstone’s Island of the Lizard King that you stole from the school library 26 years ago. You absolute head-spun Bumbaclaat! Change your ways.
What I learned from running the previous two campaigns
Golden rule: set proper expectations! Do it early and clearly. If a player isn’t receptive to your rules and expectations, then they are not the players for your game. And it’s better to know that upfront, before you have invested in them. It is really as simple as that.
A) set proper expectations for the game.
This means that I need to provide players with my general CoC. (heh.) These are the rules below. However I also need to explain to them the type or format of game that I am running. What type of game am I playing? Is it a narrative-based role-playing-heavy game with theatre of the mind combat. Where your characters’ backstories are actually important, and you can pass through situations just by good acting on behalf of the players themselves.
Alternatively is the game a grindy crunchy combat-focused dungeon crawler where the player characters are just disposable cannon fodder thrown into a pit of hate and shit. A la Darkest Dungeon. Where you actually need to track exact location in combat, resources, food, drink, weight limits, etcetera. As well as have backup characters, for when inevitably they suddenly die. Having a player come in expecting one thing and getting another is a recipe for disappointment.
B) provide players with a general Code of Conduct.
I haven’t formalised my rules yet, but here goes for a rough draft.
- Respect other people’s time. Show up and on time. If you can’t make it, then give ample notice. If you can’t make it repeatedly, gracefully bow out. Rather than repeatedly stalling the campaign, expecting everyone to continually reschedule around you.
- Play the content. Play what has been prepared to play. Understand this social contract. Prior to you showing up I prepared content for you to play. Play it.
- No sabotaging other player’s fun. No PvP, or sabotaging other players’ plans and schemes. This quickly creates bad feeling amongst players that kills campaigns.
- It is your responsibility to keep track of your character. Stats, money, ammunition, equipment, and relationships.
- Remember that this is a co-operative game. We are all trying to play/enjoy a story together. The player and Game Master cannot have an antagonistic relationship.
- Do not cheat. This is common sense. But must be stated. Do not alter your stats, resources, or fudge rolls just to “win”.
Initially I did not want to provide a hard rule-set like the one above because I feared that it can be a buzz kill and put players off of playing my campaigns. However I have tried being laissez-faire, and that simply doesn’t work for me. Since I do put a lot of effort into preparation, I am prone to resentment if it is either disregarded and/or not appreciated. I realise that the players who would be put off by this simple enough set of rules, I do not want to play with. Because at the end of the day we are all playing for the same reasons I hope: a little bit of fun and escapism. It shouldn’t be this complicated. And I think these rules would help filter out a lot of the trash. To put it bluntly.
Acronyms used
AI – Artificial Intelligence
AKA – Also Known As
CoC – Code of Conduct
D&D5e – Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition
DM – Dungeon Master
GM – Game Master
NPC – Non-Player Character
PC – Player Character
PvP – Player Versus Player
SR – Shadow Run
TPK – Total Party Kill
TTRPG – Table Top Role Playing Games
WTF – Why/What The Fuck
Recent session summary and closing thoughts
I found the draft for this article in October 2026. Another abandoned write-up. Well, might as well cap this article off for posting. I had the roleplay session, it was the first one ever that I played in-person. (It was all online during lock-down.) We played a D&D5e homebrew campaign called “Into the Underdark: The Centipede express.” It was supposed to be a one-shot containing evil 6th level characters on a train to hell. However it has since spun into a mini campaign.
We played it after work, with permission, in an unused back office. It was a lot of fun honestly. A bit choppy at the start, but once the initial awkwardness and self-awareness wore off. It rolled on well. I was happy with the result.
One important thing to note about it. It really is ironic. The work-friend who actually pushed for it to happen in the first place, I ended up throwing out of the group. He ended up being one of my no-no player types. The flaky selfish idiot.
I’ll keep it short. Firstly we had to reschedule because he wasn’t available when the other two players and I were. He gave no reason for this. Just that he couldn’t come. Then on the rescheduled day, he needed to be chased up for availability. “The game is on at 4-5 PM, is your character sheet ready?” His response, despite having more than a month to create a basic character, and OWNING all the 2014, and 2024 core books, as well as supplementals such as “Volo’s guide to Monsters”, and “Xanathar’s guide to everything”. He has spent more than £200 on books alone, yet has yet to play a game of any kind…
Anyway his response was firstly that he did not create his character yet. Yet!? Apparently he did not have any time to do so within the month’s notice that he had. In addition he said that he didn’t know if he was available today. This is scant hours before the game was scheduled to begin. Long story short, I learnt from the grapevine that he planned on going bowling earlier that day, and wanted to keep his options open by being non-committal with us. That way he could stay out longer if he felt like it.
Also when I learnt that he had not created his character yet. Despite the other two players — complete newbies having done so. I decided that the man was a complete clown-show; and dropped him from the group. Then set up an in-person game come Monday. He was also the reason why we had to go online in the first place. Incurring additional logistical work for me. Uploading and editing all the materials, as well as tech tests for the players. As they were unfamiliar with Roll20’s eccentricities. He also didn’t even create an account. He was planning on doing it on the day.
So this person, despite being the initial catalyst for running the game. Being active in the group chat in the month between inception, and game day. Buying and owning more books than I do! Having the day of the game rescheduled solely for his convenience, and having the venue changed from in-person after work to Roll20.net again solely for him. Knowing that that increased my workload, as well as cost the other players money; as they had to buy hardware to play. (One got a laptop, and the other bought a mic.) Decided that it wasn’t important enough for him to prioritise above bowling. People like him are completely lost-cause selfish. And what they don’t realise is that their selfishness actually ultimately hurts them the most. Steadily burning all their good bridges, until finally isolating them on a desert island of their own making. A bit dramatic I know, but no actually Fuck’em.
If you ever encounter players (or people) like this in general, kick them out of your game (and life if you can); as soon as possible. Because people like this genuinely DO NOT CARE about anyone other than themselves. (And even then, it is only their current self, here today. No thought is given to their future self, and their need.) The respect and reciprocity that you are waiting on, is simply not coming. There will be no sudden awakening… and to keep giving users second and third chances is folly. All you are doing is giving them another chance (that you paid for) for them to waste. Better to spend one’s core resources elsewhere. These being: Time, Energy, and Attention. Life is limited, don’t waste it on people who aren’t appreciative. Kick’em out.
Thank you for reading my therapeutic rant. (+15 mood: catharsis.)
Links, references, and further reading
https://villains.fandom.com/wiki/Brick_Top
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/996_working_hour_system
https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/bundle/9403/dandd-lost-mine-of-phandelver
https://shadowrunsixthworld.com/resources/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_of_the_Lizard_King
