god, i wish i could just do d&d games as a job. i mean, i know that there's KIND of a version of that but like, idk. consider this a beta version of this post which i'll try to write when i'm less drunk/excited and it's this: if we're friends, you could be like "hey, wanna play d&d?" and internally, i'd think "do i have the time?" but externally be like "let's fucking go." which is a lot of things, but mostly it's a love of dnd and my friends. i love you.
i still need to say a lot more but I think that one of the things that is difficult for all DMs is the sort of raison d'etre of the party. Like, what holds this party together? In a video game, this is sort of provided for you narratively and mechanically--the player character has a love interest who is interested in their survival and hence, follows them around. You can't count on this obviously in a D&D campaign so you need to conceive of a circumstance in which these chraracters might get a long. Perhaps that's somethign that the PCs work out ahead of time; perhaps it's something that emerges as you play. Two examples:
mint wanted to play the Guardian playbook from atla, which requires that you, as a player, decide that you will protect another player. So, functionally, you're on a leash with that character. Mint felt, understandably, sort of hamstrung by this. I'd like to pause to state this is EXACTLY the kind of build that requires work from both parties--protector and protectee--to really work on both a narrative and a mechanical level. Now, I don't claim to know what's going on behind the curtain but I know that things sort of clicked as a whole party after Mint switch playbooks.
Conversely, in the first session of Fabula Ultima, a game hosted by Mint, there was a moment where my charcter protected El's. While this was narratively perhaps a small moment, I think it's a huge one. El's character is largely taciturn and willing to cause trouble in the party--mine is kind of opposite, he's willing to do what it takes to keep things moving, even if it may slow his personal progress down. Yet, I would argue that this moment in session 1 is a sort of foundational moment for Jenny (El) and Ubom (myself).
Idk, i'm realistically rambling at this point, but let me end with this: party dynamics are such an incredible part of any D&D party and any game which allows you to spend some time developing that, on a lowstakes playing field, really kicks ass. Beam Saber, for example, kick ass if for no reason other than it has a mechanical incentive to force you to interact with other Player Characters between big missions.
I will try to come back to this in the next few days but like... idk, i love tabletop games. I got super heated , in and out of character, and had to walk away in character to cool off and cam eback and was cool and it was just such a good, powerful narrative moment and i thin about shit liek that all the time.
