Commitment, Mood and Inspiration
Bringing real-life battles to the gaming table.

It can be a struggle for anyone old enough to procreate to balance gaming  commitments with the rest of their schedule. But usually a minimum attendance for players can be agreed upon (perhaps three out of four sessions) and some basic rules for behavior at the table. No sexting your luvwuppet. Put it away. The phone, too. (Though enforcing a ‘no electronics at the table’ rule tends to be a little tougher if half the group refuses to use physical books or even a physical character sheet anymore.)

It’s okay to make a few rules to assist with player commitment and engagement. But there may be weeks when, as a GM, you have to apply these rules to yourself. If you’re having an off week, whether due to work, fatigue, or an abysmally poor mood, stop before you cancel the game, and weigh up your meager motivation to run it against the effect a missed session will have. Taking the occasional break when absolutely necessary is fine, but the more you let yourself cancel, the harder it will be to resume, and players’ patience and enthusiasm will quickly wane.

With a little self-discipline, it’s still possible to run sessions when you’re unmotivated and don’t really feel up to the task. Figure out the minimum preparation you can get away with. Use devices to slow the pace or encourage players to interact more with each other and less than they usually would with you. Moral dilemmas and tough decisions are great for this, along with cryptic puzzles and NPCs with mysterious motivations. NPCs can also be used to relate exposition or reference events or places elsewhere in the campaign, slowing down the pace of the game while adding immersion and options for future exploration. An NPC can even be used to personify or channel a mood such as despondency or rage, which might even be a little therapeutic. But be prepared for PCs to love, hate or kill those characters (occasionally all three). Be aware of potential effects your mood may have on the game, however. Don’t let it influence the severity of the challenges faced by the group. Being in a dark mood is okay, but not if it leads you to a TPK.

If you are running low on inspiration, it’s possible to make a few tables for rolling up the characteristics of a place or an NPC randomly, but it’s always better to create them from a source that inspired you in the first place, so you can try and evoke it more easily for the players. Revisit those sources. Then consider anything and everything as a potential source of inspiration. For example, in one story arc, I used half a dozen dreams as the backbone for the adventure, fleshed out with inspiration from song lyrics from several different bands and genres, movies, pictures (from old RPG books, trading cards, and magazine ads), plus real-life inspiration from places (a garden, a gas station, a girlfriend’s apartment), objects (a key ring and a circuit board, translated into dungeon designs) and of course, people. The inspiration behind any adventure module can have a similarly eclectic mix of sources. Allow the real world to stir you rather than deter you from your RPG time.