RPG a Day #22 Substitute

 

I’m going to try and take part in the #RPGaDay writing prompts for 2021. The idea is there’s a prompt every day that asks you to write about something in RPG’s you really like. There are a couple of alternate prompts offered but I’m going to try and do the main one every day. If you want to try it yourself, you can head here for the calendar for this year.

I think there are a couple of ways to view substitute in gaming. The one I’m going to look at is taking a break from your regular game and trying something else for a little bit.

I think if you’ve hit a large milestone in your campaign it’s a good idea to take a break and try something else for a week or two. There are a couple of reasons for this. If you’ve just hit a large bit of the story, finished the huge dungeon, or defeated one of the big bosses for your game it’s nice to let the game master step away and take a break.

As a GM I know how much work goes into that last couple of sessions leading to and including the big move. It’s hard to jump back in and go for the next boss, dungeon, or encounter. It’s nice to take a break from the big story and focus on something else. It’s especially nice if it’s a change in genre or if someone else takes the lead as GM for a bit. The spare time to get my thoughts organized and set in a decent path towards the next chapter in the story.  

I know from my own experience that it’s hard to get into the right head space to reset the stories pace and go back to a more neutral position. I believe that my games in the past have suffered when I’ve tried to push on and move into the next story beat. That small break of a couple of weeks is just a nice refresher that gives me time to recalibrate and come up with a good place to head back in.

This may be just a thing I like to do, but it works for me.

Anyway, I’ll be back tomorrow to talk about memory.

Until then. Stay safe and be well.