Kind of a shower thought, and maybe it’s just how I run campaigns, but it feels like there’s a lot of parallels between DMing and that guy who has a great idea for a book/movie but will never write a single page.
The DM comes up with “So what if there’s this guy with this magic power, and the only way to beat him is through a very specific process.” And then all the Players decide: who are the characters? What do they do? What do they say? How’s it all work out?
I don’t even hide it. I keep iterating back and forth between running TTRPG games and writing short stories. I do think I’ve started to hit something more satisfying with using a looser system (plug for https://lemmy.world/c/owboybeboprpg devoted to a fairly dead TTRPG that I probably only like because I haven’t done enough research into more popular TTRPG systems)
For me, it was this cycle where I would just get kind of exhausted at the writing process, outlining, writing, editing, and then feeling a bit dejected when its never quite as good as you remembered, then when I DMed tabletop games, it felt like I wanted more control to ideate high level visions for the narrative. They both scratch different itches in the creative process, and sometimes its nice to just switch up the itch.
The campaigns my players consistently voice as their favorites are ones where I created an overarching plot, and then incorporated their backstories as significant and impactful portions of that plot. Being the sole input for character motivations for a story (as with a book) makes it easier to end up with a coherent vision and story, but more difficult because of the amount of content you’re responsible for. Conversely a good DM can offload work to players and end up with a result that everyone is personally invested in.
I will say though that some DMs end up writing thousands of pages over the course of years spent in an ongoing campaign and might cry at your characterization.
It’s definitely POSSIBLE to run a campaign without ever writing a page, but good luck when your characters get attached to an NPC you forgot about if improvisation isn’t your forte.
I generally start with a pre-written adventure and then just run it sandbox living world style. If I do anything it’s a ton of researching random DND lore and working that in.
It’s not just you, but it’s also not most DMs. TTRPGs are collaborative storytelling. Books are single-author and have a consistent plot (generally, anyway).
DM’s own the factory full of monkeys with typewriters trying to write their version of Hamlet
The players are the monkeys with the typewriters
Some of us write books too :)
Tabletop RPGs are such a great way to bring some life to a story that you’re still workshopping. Sometimes I have an idea for a story I’d like to tell, and it ends up seeing the light of day at game night before I would commit to writing it.
It’s great too because it’s so collaborative. The life of the story is usually character-driven, so having other people play those characters goes a long way to giving them their own voice.
You also have a captive audience as a focus group. At least, in my group they’re not afraid to tell me if I have a stupid idea, and they’re always coming up with outside-the-box solutions that I never would have considered.
People are better when they work together.
A nicer way of framing it: Co-creation is the heart and soul of tabletop RPGs.
Yeah, pretty much. Collaborative storytelling is the most apt description I’ve heard. Could probably add “rng aided” and you’ve captured pretty much everything about it. It’s definitely one of those “all about the journey, not the destination” sort of things, sort of like a road trip. Also like a road trip, can be anywhere from meticulously planned to basically being railroaded on down to “uh, how about that way?” or anything in between.
