Armed with last week’s WWID (What Would I Do) advice, today’s #newbieTuesday post is about community. No, not the amazing TV show, but the group of people you play stories with. If you are new to playing stories, know that nothing makes the experience great quite like a group of wonderful people.
But more specifically, as a new player, I’d like to touch on what you can expect from a community standpoint when it comes to playing stories. Think of it this way: if stories are a blacksmith’s forge, then the group’s collective experiences of its trials and tribulations are its fire. And, of course, you and the players are the blade, being honed by the hammer and flames. That process, and the resulting closeness, unity, and comradery that result, literally forges communities.
And sure, there are other avenues of the human experience which can have the same effect. But precious few give you the freedom to live in an ever-evolving, wonderful story along side that community.
A community accepts and honors their members for who they are, the good, the bad, and the ugly. If beyond the story itself I could pinpoint the greatest byproduct of playing RPGs, it would be the community that naturally forms when a group of people invest in that experience.
So if you’re a new player, asking yourself the natural question “what’s in it for me?” then know that we in the playing stories world answer “community.”
