Learning RPG Game Mechanics

I have been planning to write about my struggle with table-top role playing game mechanics. The theme troubled me when starting my first campaign of Changeling: the Dreaming. Writing about it now could help me smooth my process in future games, so I deciced to do so. Maybe this helps someone else, too.

The Rules: Memorizing versus Processing

The trouble with game mechanics is that you have to both remember and be able to apply them in varied situations. I think that is why I found it hard to jump from reading to running a game.

For any starting Storyteller there is a lot of work ahead. The fact that CtD 20th anniversary book has over 400 pages of content, makes it hard to memorize. A little consolation is that other World of Darkness games use same dice rules. However, Changeling: the Dreaming also has some special mechanics, like gaining Banality and Nightmare,which affect characters' wellbeing.

Examples of Processing

Learning can be easier by using self-learning tactics. I usually remember clearly how things look, so I ended up visualizing a lot of mechanics and story plot. By doing that and writing thing in Finnish, I processed the info more thoroughly.

Front of my self-made ST screen.

Vizualising led me into making...

• flow charts about battles (to visualize what I need to remember in each phase)
•  cheat sheets about Glamour and Art mechanics (players were happy about these)
  
•  Excel sheets that I printed into a GM screen.

  

  Translated description of Seelie and Unseelie codes.
  

 Processing a mechanic was like taking a thing into pieces and putting it back together. That helped me to remember it longer and to understand what happened in there. The cheat sheets can used as handouts for players too.

Taking It Slow

The most important thing I have learned is this: take it slow! I was very excited to get my own campaign rolling. I was busy doing maps, non-player characters, finding locations that spoke to me and so on. Now I have to mention that I had a hyper-thyroidism back then, and was really working with full speed, even though it wore me down constantly. That didn't help with learning new things. Now, a year and half later I have noticed how nice it is to design a scene slowly.

The learning curve makes me look back. I had played tabletop games over 15 years and had a habit of writing only the few most important dice rules to my character sheet. As a storyteller who runs the game, it is obvious I needed new habits. Hopefully from now on I'll have a smoother road ahead.