TTRPG How-To's: "Play Unsafe" and "Robin's Laws of Good Game Mastering"

Play Unsafe by Graham Walmsley

Here’s a portion of the publisher’s pitch; it should give you an idea as to whether this is the right work for you: “In Play Unsafe, Graham Walmsley explores what happens when you throw the serious stuff away: when you stop working, stop planning and start playing.“

What Worked For Me:

It’s both inexpensive ($5) and accessible
It’s system-agnostic, and includes advice that’s applicable to players and game masters
It’s short enough to be read in a single sitting, but thought-provoking enough to merit additional consideration after completing the first read-through
The author lists a number of potential TTRPG (and even LARP) systems to look into and explore
Some of the advice seems obvious on its face (ie listen to the people around you, follow social cues, etc), but that’s also of why it can be helpful to hear. After all, it’s one thing to intellectualize these ideas, to recognize them; it’s entirely another to use them.

What Didn’t Work For Me:

If you’re already familiar with improv / acting, this may not be the most useful work for you. As far as I can tell, it’s basically “Improv 101 with a TTRPG-focus.”
The author purports a low / no-prep method that involves working with / reacting to other players and the GM. Walmsley even goes so far as to describe this arrangement as, “utopian.” I think this is an interesting idea in theory, and the author offers suggestions about how to make a story seem more interconnected than it really is (e.g. by “reincorporating,” or calling back to details / plot points that appeared earlier in the game). While this might be the author’s ideal, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen it play out this way in practice. Maybe it’s my own inexperience, but I think trying to create an entire session, from scratch, is no easy feat. It might be easier with time and experience, but in my mind there’s a lot more to it than, for example, saying “yes, and?” In short, it’s one thing to know what players want; it’s entirely another to have the framework / ideas / practice / know-how to actually give it to them.
(Nit-pick) The chapters could be better delineated.
(Nit-pick) For some reason, there’s two tables of contents

Conclusion:

The book is short, cheap, and easy enough to read that it’s worth a look for TTRPG players and game masters alike. I appreciate that it’s system agnostic, and that it gives useful frameworks to understand running a game (e.g. how to work with others, how to add tension, etc). It’s not perfect (the formatting is a little janky and some of the ideas feel like they’re better suited to experienced players who probably wouldn’t need this work), but I enjoyed my time with this work regardless.

Check it out here.

Robin’s Laws of Good Game Mastering by Robin D. Laws

Here’s the publisher’s pitch on why this book is worth a look: “Has your game got the blahs? Are your players spending more time thumbing through your book collection than hunting down clues, more energy heckling one another than in crushing their cruel foes? Never fear, o beleaguered Game Masters, for Robin D. Laws, noted game designer (Feng Shui, Hero Wars, Dying Earth, Rune) and columnist (Dragon magazine, The Play’s The Thing) has sojourned long in the gaming wilderness to bring you the techniques required to take your mastery of Game Mastering to the next level.“

What Worked For Me:

The book includes systems-agnostic advice (and corresponding examples) to improve any GM’s game. The work covers everything from picking a TTRPG system to designing adventures and how to improvise.
The book opened my eyes to a fact that seems obvious in hindsight: players from different geographic regions may well have different preferences for the type and tone of their game (e.g. North American vs European)
The book name-drops a number of different TTRPG systems, though not nearly as many as Play Unsafe. Still, it’s always fun to learn about potential new systems to dive into.
The work acknowledges that improvised campaigns, while just as valid as planned ones, have a different feel. The internal consistency and vision of a grand plan may be more satisfying than the meandering feel of an improvised campaign. (To combat this, Robin suggests planning. In short: planning may stop us from falling back on old habits and first impulses. If your villains or shopkeepers or fight sequences follow a noticeable pattern after a while, you may want to make advance notes to consciously sidestep your favorite clichés.)

What Didn’t Work For Me:

It’s a bit expensive for its length (a scant 38 pages, including the cover, “about the author,” and an full page advert for Steve Jackson games). As such, I would recommend buying the PDF instead for half-price ($8 vs $13).
None of the hyperlinks embedded in the text work. This makes sense, given the work’s age (2005, almost 20 years old!) but it’s still disappointing.
It’s not that the included advice couldn’t apply to women, it’s just that it seems like the work wasn’t written in a way that takes us into consideration. I don’t think the book or author are sexist, but it seems obvious that the book was written at a time when the TTRPG hobby was an activity dominated by men (well, even more-so than it is today).
Some of the figures / diagrams included in the work are grainy (e.g. the adventure flow chart on the penultimate page)

Conclusion:

While the author describes the work as something for people who already have some GM experience under their belt, it tackles a number of topics that are foundational to successful GMing (e.g. making sure everyone at the table is having fun, that players likely have a variety of preferences / priorities in the game, etc). It’s not a perfect work, and I’d certainly be curious to see what an “updated” version might look like, but the knowledge it offers is copious and useful. Both new and seasoned GMs could benefit from giving this book a read, in my estimation.

Check it out here.

Quotes worth remembering (from Robin’s Laws):

“Roleplaying games are entertainment; your goal as GM is to make your games as entertaining as possible for all participants.”
“What would be the most entertaining thing that could possibly happen, right now?”
“There is only one way to roleplay: the way that achieves the best balance between the various desires of your particular group.”
“There is no one best game system, but there is probably a game system that works best for your group.”
“Rules sets in which crunchy bits predominate give power to the players.”
“Rules systems that limit the impact of crunchy bits give power to the GM.”
(With regards to homebrew rules:) “Do my rules exist to make my game better, or does my game exist merely to make my rules better?”
“There is no shame in using an established setting.”
“Fluff ain’t so fluffy as it looks.” Also, “The illustration is your friend.”
“The more the players know and feel about their imaginary world, the better. Do this even when a setting tells you not to. It’s easier to get people to distinguish between player knowledge and character knowledge than it is to get them emotionally invested in an imaginary world.”
“Emotional investment is more important than the preservation of the setting designer’s secrets.”
(With regards to world building:) “The key balance in any setting is between originality and accessibility.” (In this case, accessibility refers to how much work a player will have to do to understand / play in your world.)
“You must know, and clearly communicate, what it is that the PCs are expected to do.”
“You don’t need to make an adventure complicated. The players will do that for you.”
“Like so many other things, structure is a matter of taste.”
“Two rules for (scene) transitions: One – the PCs’ ability to move from A to B never depends on the success or failure of a single action. Two – Even if you give the PCs no opportunity to stop a particular bad thing from happening, you should at least give them the chance to affect the degree to which it happens.”
“Always have a list of at least 50 names on hand to attach as needed to the NPCs you invent on the spot. (You’ll never need that many in a single session, but it saves you the effort of adding to the list before each game.”
“The number one rule of running the game is: You’re doing a better job than you think.”
“The ability to judge the mood and attentiveness of your players is your single greatest tool as a GM.”
“It’s better to alter the storyline of your adventure or the motivation of an NPC than to send the group away fed up and edgy.”
“Sometimes it’s better to quit early than to let bad feelings attach themselves to your game.”
“When the mood of the room goes sour, it’s almost always because the focus is on something the majority of the group finds inconsequential, uninteresting, or actively annoying.”
“Most impasses between players arise from disagreements about either tactics or morality.”
“Contrive throughout the session to have the most dramatic thing happen at the end.”
(With regards to working with “problem players” and differences in taste:) “… the following rules work pretty well: Make your approach polite, respectful, and soothing. Listen to the other person explain what he wants. Figure out how to solve his problem while also solving yours. Propose the solution. Be prepared to amend the solution based on his input.”
“If your game is running just fine already, ignore everything I’ve just told you.”
“If you and your players are having fun, you are a good GM.”