Sailors on the Starless and Bible Black Sea

Gaming Groups As Bands and Kickstarter Update

Game designer Matt Colville recently posted an 11-minute video in which he confessed he had a romantic desire to have been in a band and to have made albums. He then explained how after watching the King Crimson documentary, he realized that he had actually been in lots of bands and made plenty of albums. Instead of playing instruments, he and his gaming groups had created art with dice, pens, paper, imagination, and creativity. He said that specific campaigns and certain adventures were like albums. He shared examples of similarities between gaming groups and bands.

Having been in both bands and gaming groups myself, I thought his comparisons rang true for me. There were additional similarities I experienced, however, that he did not cover. As a GM/judge, I found the time spent drawing maps, reading inspirational material, tweaking game mechanics, and world building in my journal gave me similar pleasure as woodshedding on my guitar in the bedroom, scribbling lyrics, and recording song demos.

Another similarity I experienced that he did not discuss was the camaraderie with your group even when you are not playing. There is a shared obsessiveness with your hobby that creates special relationships with your mates as you do the following:

• Upgrade your equipment - I still love going to both game stores and music stores to check out the latest products/gear/books. Doing this as a group let others weigh in on what was needed, such as chipping in on an effect pedal or an adventure module we wanted to experience.

• Check out your peers - while in a band, we would go to concerts together to see how other bands approached their shows. We would identify things to emulate and things to avoid. Going to game conventions or playing with other people gave a similar opportunity to try other games, experience different styles, and learn new approaches to take back to our group.

• Fantasize about the future - after band practice, we would go out to eat and talk about venues we would want to play, brainstorm band names/logos, and debate what our music ethics and principles were. With my gaming groups, even when not playing, we would get together and draw characters, talk about games we wanted to try, and discuss what type of fun we wanted to get out of the hobby.

Matt’s video is surprisingly moving and I strongly recommend it.

Is this how you turn undead?

If so, please check out the upcoming first issue of the Critical Hit Parader zine. I plan to launch the Kickstarter on Monday, February 6. You can view the preview now and sign up to be notified upon launch.

I will be interviewed at 9 PM Eastern on the 6th by Michael Curtis on the Goodman Games Twitch channel as part of his Maw of Mike show. Please check it out to learn more about the Critical Hit Parader zine as well as hear about some other Zine Quest releases.