Wizard Dad: Soloist, thank your GM. (A Wizard Dad short)

For some soloist jumping in with a blank character sheet, a general idea for a setting, a game engine, and an oracle are all they need to feel prepared. Then there is the other extreme. Of which I am in. 

I love everything about the role of the GM in TTRPGs. I love picking or making just the right setting, that I am in the mood to play. I like semi fabricating the interesting places I will explore (you have seen a few of those in this blog already). I like having a few NPCs ready to hinder or help. I like to know there is a problem to be solved. 

When you are soloing, all of that is part of the game, and you should do as much or as little as you enjoy, as long as it leads to a fulfilling gaming experience. But unlike in a group game where the players will give you a thank you, a high five, and occasionally spring for pizza, your only reward tends to be the feeling of a job well done. And the feeling following on its heels is, now I am too tired to play this.

So I have this small suggestion. It has worked wonders to incentivize my GM prep. I give myself some Experience Points (or advancement points, or Karma... you all know what I mean). And I don't mean a skimpy little pat on the head amount. I treat every significant and difficult aspect of prep as if it were a game session. Because it is. Whether that is reading setting material to make notes for lists and cards, or it is a bit of prefabbing places and faces, or researching Emulator variations that could be of use (with the Mythic Magazine or GM's Apprentice decks and the rules that go with them can be very involved), anything that makes your game run smoothly, match your play expectations, or is just fun, but admittedly taxing, reward yourself . And if that happens to put you close to an advancement point when you start playing, well why the heck not. You earned it.

W.D.