Tabletop roleplaying has had a recent resurgence since the popularity of advanced Dungeons and Dragons in the late 1970s. The medium had a comeback back in 2016 with the Critical Role podcast where popular voice actors and actresses came together to play Dungeons and Dragons. The show is according to CNBC credited for bringing the game back into the limelight and into the minds of millions across the world. The program now has merchandise, comic books and even an animated series.
Another show which worked to the game’s advantage was Stranger Things, a horror mystery that takes place in the eighties. The show employed monsters from the tabletop game and is an important element in the main character’s character growth.
When thinking of tabletop roleplaying, it is not far-fetched to think of Dungeons and Dragons due to its popularity. However, LCC’s Tabletop roleplaying club isn’t merely Dungeons and Dragons. Jarren, president of the RPG Club, wishes to broaden the horizon of novice and veteran players of Tabletop games. Jarren Seitz hopes by running many different types of RPG games he can show it isn’t just a style but a whole genre. The Torch sat down with Jarren to see insights within the community and see what kinds of stories can be told in the genre beyond Dungeons and Dragons.
So, tell me about yourself what inspired you to get into role playing games and what made you start this club?
I’ve always loved storytelling and the nuances of it as an artform, so when I discovered tabletop roleplaying and read that you could create stories and have other people live them out? I was hooked. The very first campaign I played in was back in 2018, which feels like a lifetime ago to be honest. To this day that campaign was the single funniest experience I ever had with other people. Sadly, however, it only lasted about five sessions, as the turn of the year happened and Covid-19 hit in full force and we weren’t able to play together anymore. When pandemic restrictions loosened, I bounced around from various groups, from party to party, game store to game store. They were all fun, but tended to have the life expectancy of a housefly. Nothing will ever compare to those first five sessions, it sounds corny, but it really was magical. What made me start the club? Well as of late I’ve been feeling very burnt out from D&D, I was never hugely into fantasy as a genre to begin with so I’d credit that as the culprit. With the RPG club, I wanted to provide a space that catered to more tabletop roleplaying games than just D&D.
How would you explain tabletop roleplaying games to somebody who’s never played?
Think of it like being a member of a play, except you create your very own character and insert them into that play’s universe. The only limits are the ones the person who created the world imposes, and of course, the rules of the system you chose to play with.
What sort of tabletop roleplaying games will the club play?
Whichever the group wants to play at the time, although, I’d prefer it if we’d stick with the same game for at least a couple of months. That way we don’t get into the loop of constantly starting over and never growing attached to the world or characters.
What kind of group would you like to cultivate with this club? Have you been having difficulty in finding new members? I would like a group of people with similar interests in storytelling as me, although that is by no means a requirement. If you join though, I’ll expect average attendance and if you’re unavailable to contact and tell me ahead of time so I can prepare properly. Moving onto the second part of your question, so far I’m the only official member, it’s only been me these past few weeks sitting alone in a room typing away on my laptop while waiting for somebody to walk through the door. I’m hoping that this report will get the word out about the club’s existence and get people interested.
With the pandemic many TTRPG groups were booted online. How has the landscape of TTRPG changed with the rise of online play? I’ll save my more impassioned views for a later question but I have definitely noticed a big rise in tabletop podcasts, whenever they say tabletop, they really mean D&D. They’re a dime a dozen nowadays. Something else I’ve seen is that most players tend to lean towards more online elements. For example, what I have noticed is that most people use digital character sheets and online dice rollers. There’s recently been a huge push by the publishers of Tabletop Roleplaying games for even more online features, such as D&D Beyond or One D&D, which is a program in development that allows people to do all kinds of amazing things I can’t even list here. Playing online is great if there’s no other option, but with its advent, I feel new players are missing a core component of the tabletop experience: the actual table itself. Being in the same room at the same table with the other players is an entirely, and dare I say, more enriching way to spend your time. With online play you lose that vital human connection, also if a gamemaster loses their internet connection that tends to grind the session to a total halt. Another concern is that these companies are trying to create an “ecosystem.” What I mean by that is, if you want to buy a D&D supplement, you have to go through them, they’d release exclusive online content, and before you know it, you’ve already dumped hundreds of dollars on them, it’ll be too costly to switch to any other tabletop game.
It’s a predatory business practice to ensure a loyal consumer base.
TTRPGS can be an interesting way to tell stories. Do you view RPGs similar to a book, video game or something else entirely? I do view it as a separate medium, sort of a mixture of acting and playing out the events of a very often chaotic and unpredictable novel series, that’s what I like though, so it was a perfect fit for me.
When people think of role playing games/TTRPG’s, people’s minds tend to immediately go towards Dungeons and Dragons. What would you say to those apprehensive to try other roleplaying games/systems and do you think current and old players of Dungeons and Dragons could benefit from trying something new? First off, I’ve never met an old school D&D player who’s only ever played D&D. They may not have gotten burned out like I did, but the curiosity to try a new game never fades. When you’re walking alone in an aisle of a game shop and your eyes wander over to something on the shelf that looks interesting, your mind can’t help but want to take a crack at it. It’s in human nature to want to understand. To those that don’t want to try and don’t want to put in the effort to learn another system beside D&D, I’ll say, alright, that’s your choice, if you’re happy playing just D&D, you’re happy playing just D&D. You can’t force someone to try something new, you can only present them choices, and if they pick what’s new, then that’s it.
Do you think people tend to stick to one system and not branch off?
As I said, it’s natural to explore, but I have met a Dungeon Master who’s been running the same game for the past twenty years, he’s got enough lore to fill several novels. But to answer the question, yes and no, if that’s the first tabletop game they’ve ever played, they’re always going to be more comfortable and willing to game that game since they understand the system so well if they decide to go further into the hobby.
What other genres of tabletop roleplaying games are there beyond the blades and sorcery of Dungeons and Dragons can you recommend? How can current players of D&D new and old benefit from trying something outside of D&D?
There are tons of RPGs I’ll gladly recommend. In Call Of Cthulhu you play as normal people fighting against elder eldritch evils, I’ll probably make veteran players froth at the mouth describing it like this, but it’s like R-rated Scooby Doo, and when I say normal, I mean normal. It’s the only tabletop game I know where nobody will want the magic item. Then there’s Cyberpunk, which is self-explanatory. Then there’s Traveler, where you play as folks venturing into space and can also die during the character creation, and no, I won’t provide context as to how that can happen. There’s Mutants and Masterminds, a superhero themed RPG that uses the same D20 system as D&D, albeit, a heavily modified version of 3.5. And finally, for completeness sake, I’ll give GURPS an honorable mention. GURPS stands for Generic Universal Roleplaying System, the system has no set universe, it only provides rules and it’s up to you to make the setting and the characters. Thing is, its rulebook is thicker than a George RR Martin Book.
What are your views on the surge of popularity in roleplaying games thanks to media like Stranger Things and Critical Role? Do you think their portrayal of the genre could clash with some older fans and cause them to gatekeep the game?
To be perfectly straight with you, I think the single worst thing to happen to the D&D, and RPG community at large, is podcasts like Critical Role and TV shows like Stranger Things. In Stranger Things, they portray D&D as a high octane game where you’re slaying monsters every minute, giving awesome speeches, huddling and banding together and working as a team, and killing the final boss. This, in my opinion, is the worst impression a new player could get. What Stranger Things and other shows that have Tabletop Games in them don’t show, is the hours upon hours of boring quests and exposition that never leads to anything. They never show being upset, cheating and getting bitter because a party member has a magic item they won’t give you or rage quitting because your party members refuse to work as a team and then all get one-shotted by a crit fireball. I’ve never ran a group that’s gone beyond Level Six, and that’s with starting them at Level Three. When playing D&D, you really have to tame your expectations.
I’ve had recent games where players leave after the first three sessions because they find it boring and nothing’s happened yet. It’s mainly been traveling to towns, fighting random bandits, and then helping out the villagers kill giant rats that infested their basements. Most players want to skip all that and jump straight to charging into the dungeon to kill the evil old Lich. But that part is important, I’d argue even more so than being a godlike hero who can kill gods. Being weak and dealing with small problems and slowly working your way up really lets you appreciate your roots. You’ve fought and bled, you’ve earned your power, the odds were stacked against you and still you managed. It’s The Hero’s Journey, it also applies to D&D characters, or any character for that matter, if you leave out steps, you get a decidedly less authentic and rewarding experience. I won’t sugar coat it, finding a long time group is hard, even harder finding one you mesh with, but when you do, it’s a journey that’ll you’ll remember for years to come.
Speaking of Critical Role, many dungeon masters have had issues in the past with something called the “Matt Mercer Effect” where players expect every game to be just like the podcast. What kind of issues could this cause to the game and do you think it may leak into other parts of the community?
It’s happened to me. I’ve mastered games where every single player has shown up in memorabilia from head to toe whether that be Critical Role or Dingo Doodle shirts — characters inspired by those from the podcasts — even backstories that have been straight up ripped from those in the podcasts. To give context to those unaware, The “Matt Mercer Effect” is when new players come into local games expecting things that are way beyond that of the dungeon master, the people behind Critical Role have a full production department behind them, they have the funds to produce art, miniatures, and have the newest shiny supplement the moment it hits the shelf. Playing D&D is like a job to them if we’re getting down to brass tacks. They are also all professional voice actors, able to do accents and throw their voices and do all kinds of crazy stuff. I can’t throw my voice in the slightest, my voice is simply too deep and I haven’t had the training for it. One time my players all bursted out laughing at the table because I tried mimicking a girl’s high pitched voice, not my proudest moment. Most DM’s, including me, do it as a hobby, and D&D and other tabletop game can get expensive. I think the most costly supplement I found was well over five hundred dollars, and that was with it still being in print and having come out a year or two ago. I can’t afford, and won’t, fork out that kind of cash for a hobby unless it’s something more than a tabletop game.
I’ve had players come to the table with novel length backstories and have them explain to me in mind-numbing detail about how they’ve angered some group they created and now that group is coming after them and how their the chosen one and blah, blah, blah, blah, you’ve heard it all before. While it’s important to have a backstory, here’s my advice: keep it short, two or three paragraphs ought to do it, short enough to where the DM can take notes and find plot hooks, but long enough for there to be flavor and personality so your character’s distinct. I’ve also had players get mad at me when we’re deep into an adventure and the evil group or person related to their backstory still hasn’t shown up yet, never minding the fact that they joined in the middle of a campaign and that I can’t be expected to suddenly shift gears and focus on a single player and neglect the others. If you can tell, it’s happened to me more times than I care to admit, and it’s caused the disbanding of more than one group. This goes beyond D&D, this can happen in any tabletop game, and my advice is just as applicable.
What are some issues the TTRPG community struggles with?
I know that I sound like a very grumpy and old-fashioned kind of guy, but I’m really not. I’m just frustrated with the current state of the industry and the modern zeitgeist surrounding tabletop games. I was a nerd long before I discovered tabletop games, long before being a nerd was hip and cool. I was a nerd back when being a nerd meant you got made fun of and called mean names, and please don’t call me a nerd if you see me, just for future reference. I’d say 45% of the troubles come from the player base and 55% comes from the companies that produce it, but I’ve ranted about them too much already so I’ll stop myself. I suppose the biggest problem otherwise is uncertainty, the culture may seem clean and pristine and streamlined, but if you peek underneath the covers, or a part of it for long, you can see it’s just as wild and untamed as it was when it started back in the 1970s in a guy’s garage. Instead of dying to obscurity though, the issue is being too known, too marketable. It stops being a passion and becomes another franchise to profit off of. Suits will be suits, and corporations will be corporations, that’s just business. I’m afraid that one day online play will be the default instead of in-person. That new players will have fallen in love with a fantasy, a honeyed lie, in that sense, it’ll be incredibly ironic wouldn’t it? Like I said, uncertainty. I’m not going to lie, it hasn’t been getting any better, it’s been getting worse in fact, but as long as we keep gaming and stay a tight, inclusive community, we’ll pull through, we always do.
What do you love the most about the genre overall?
I love meeting new people and crafting stories with them. If you join the RPG club, I’ll be more than glad to have you at my table, give it a chance, you’ll never know what you’ll find, you might step into the room and feel the magic.
1 thought on “Roll the Dice with LCC’s Table Top Roleplaying Club”
Comments are closed.