How to Write for and from Tabletop Games

As I've grown more experienced in tabletop games, I've started to see that the process of playing a story-rich campaign (one where the players and GM work together to create a story) is very similar to the process of writing fiction. I think we might use a working definition for fiction writing as "deciding what the characters do and what the world is like," and those are the respective duties of the players and the GM. As someone who has spent considerable time as a GM, a player, and a writer, I can vouch: being a fiction writer is like GMing for yourself, as you are in a way presenting scenarios to your characters. So what's the real relationship between writing and tabletop games? 

In my experience, the two reinforce and enrich one another. And the relationship works both ways: writing can improve your tabletop game experience, and tabletop games can improve your writing experience. I want to explore how things move in both directions with some ideas as well as ways that I have personally used writing and tabletops together. 

Sometimes in the game, it makes sense to create in-game documents. I think it can help immersion and the dramatic impact of things, but it also of course allows you to connect the game and writing. Over a decade ago, when I was running Listen Check, an early D&D podcast, I offered a reward for a contest near the end of our run. The reward was that the winner would get to pick any NPC from the entire campaign, and I would write a personal journal for that character and present it to the winner. As it happened, our number one fan from early in the podcast won, and she picked a character who had largely played comic relief and had a few heartfelt moments. I set to work, and what I ended up with was a 99-page booklet that spanned most of the character's life (CW: parental neglect, parental abuse).  

In the course of sitting down to write for this character--Caspian, a small young man with tattoos of every god on his forearms ("just in case")--I wanted to find something that I had struggled to find during the show. Caspian was, as I said, a very comic relief type of character. I modeled his personality on a loose combination of the characters Master Shake and Meatwad from Aqua Teen Hunger Force, both of whom are over-the-top big-mouthed goofballs, and as a result, I didn't feel like they were moored to any kind of serious foundation. I didn't want to hand our number one fan a series of goofs that wouldn't even be funny and leave it at that. I needed to find the dramatic heart of the character. 

If you read that booklet, you'll probably agree that I did. Mild spoilers: because I established in the show that Caspian was illiterate, we had to pretend that this was the journal he would write if he were literate, and I also needed to account for how he had never been taught to read. I did so by making his parents negligent and abusive so that he never really had the chance to learn. I chose to make it so that Caspian was never discouraged by anything that happened to him; this allowed me to retroactively make his silliness a defiance of the pain that he had come from. I personally like how it came out, and I wouldn't have had the ability or context to write that if I hadn't worked with Caspian as an NPC for years before that. 

But the writing doesn't have to find its purpose in being a part of the D&D world like Caspian's journal did. Sometimes, you want to write to just figure a character out. How often in a tabletop game do you approach the table with an "idea" of a character, only to find out that it's a little undeveloped when you actually play? I'd say that that's happened with every character I have ever made. And yes, that is coming from the person who once wrote 80 pages of material on a character, his family, and his friends. Because all that writing happened after I had already started playing. I created that material in response to my need to characterize, not in anticipation of it. 

And so of course I found myself in the same scenario when I recently started playing a character in a roleplay-centric campaign. I had toyed for years with the idea of a con artist character, and I felt that because I had dreamed of this character for so long, I would be able to just drop into a session and be a fully realized version of the character. I learned from my intro session and the first session or two with the party that I mostly had a concept and an attitude. I needed more if I wanted to develop a meaningfully complex character, and that is more or less the aim in our roleplay-centric group. 

So I started to write. I figured that I could write a short story or two and figure out more where my character, Asp, came from. I wrote that story, and I had, in a small way, accomplished my goal: I had a better idea who Asp was. But for two reasons, I kept going. Reason one: because Asp has been in my mind for so long, I am truly invested in making her a special character. Reason two: I enjoyed the process of writing about her. She's fun to write about, I have found, and I changed the story or two into a series of five connected stories. As of the writing of this article, I have written ten of a planned twenty-five chapters of a novel. 

Yes, I am saying that in order to develop my character, I decided to write a novel about her. Do I think that this is an advisable first step for most people? Absolutely not. I've been writing consistently for years, and I get something out of the process even when I don't like the result. I know that not everyone has that experience with writing. I'm not giving advice here; I'm telling you one of the possibilities that tabletop games present with writing. It is entirely possible to create writing that helps you in the game and that stands on its own as entertainment. 

The above examples handle how you can write for tabletop games--but what about the other way? It's quite possible to writing from tabletop games. One of my first longer writing projects was a novel (yet unfinished) that used tabletop games as the core mechanic of storytelling. This came at a time when I was really beginning to get interested in the relationship between tabletop games and other forms of narrative. 

The novel's format relief on what I had experienced as a D&D player. The first chapter (out of nine total) would be the story of one character going up against a powerful evil foe and failing. The second chapter would be the story of an entirely different character going up against the same evil foe, but this time, the second hero wouldn't make the same mistakes as the first. They'd try something new and get a bit further, but still perish before the evil foe. This process would continue, each character getting closer and closer, until the ninth character would vanquish the evil foe. The end of the novel would suggest that each of the nine characters had been tabletop game characters played by the same player, hence their learning from their mistakes. Each new character would be a new character rolled when the previous one died. And for a philosophical angle, each of the nine characters would have a different moral alignment, which would guide the ways that their personalities were different. 

As you can probably see, the only meaningful connections to tabletop games come from the mechanics of how the story is told. The concept behind the story is something that relies on some knowledge of tabletop games, but this novel could easily stand on its own as a compelling fantasy story. I bring this novel-in-progress up because it illustrates the relationship between writing and tabletops in a new direction. This novel, which has the working title of How the Stars Align (a reference to the astronomy fascination of the evil foe), aims to tell a story that couldn't have been conceived of without tabletop games, and to do so without relying narratively on them. 

And although I haven't experienced this myself, I would posit it as a distinct possibility: people who need to understand a character, from writers to actors to students, can use tabletop games as a tool to understand them. It stands to reason that if writing about a character can help roleplaying (because it generates information and perspective about the character), then roleplaying should also help writing (because it generates information and perspective about the character). Ask any serious roleplayer to describe a character of theirs, and prepare for a torrent of information--information which most any writer would love to have about the characters they're working with. 

So now, the actual how of it: let's give you some ideas to start writing if you're not sure where to begin.  One fact you'll need to face is that you're flipping some of the role you'll be playing. If you're playing a tabletop to learn about a character, you'll be controlling only your character and responding to the world around you; if you're writing about a character so you can play a tabletop more fully, you'll be doing the GM's work as well as your own. The thing that matters most is how you view the challenge, so consider these ideas:

Playing a Tabletop To Learn About a Character

You are basically putting on training wheels. That should be your thinking--rather than complicating the scenario with having to control the entire fictional universe, you're putting all your effort on just the character. That means you're free to really consider things in depth. Allow your curiosity to run wild--Why does your character feel that way? Does it open up their backstory? What does your character want to do (versus what they feel they should do, versus what they're compelled to do by the game)? You're now free to investigate the small details that you'd otherwise have to ignore. 

To get started, I advise that you make sure your character sketch is as complete as you want it to be. Then, once you're in the game, do your best to balance what serves your character work and what serves the party (the other players want to have their own fun too, remember). And once you're in the groove with your character, you get to enter the real reward for this approach. As your fellow player characters and the GM create new situations that you could never conceive of, you're getting inspiration for writing. The heavy lifting of creating dramatic scenarios is off your back, and you can just sit back and watch your character become more and more detailed, and more importantly, more familiar to you. 

Writing About a Character to Enrich a Tabletop

You're taking control into your own hands. This should be your mindset. Yes, you have more responsibility than you do when you play a tabletop game, but now you have the ability to tell the story in your own way. Who hasn't had a character-defining moment in mind for months that never came up organically in a session? When you're writing, you can add that character-defining moment wherever and whenever you want it. You want to help your character shine, so go ahead and shine all the light on them like you can't when you're sharing the spotlight with other players. 

To get started, try to imagine scenarios that would be interesting for your character. Maybe you want to see them when they're stressed out; perhaps you want to show them strutting their stuff; you may want a quiet moment for reflection. Your goal in writing is to create as much of a distinct impression in your mind of what this person is like, so try to vary the situations you put them in. If it helps, you can use a writing prompt to jump-start your creativity. And don't become overwhelmed by the writing process. If it feels like too much, just clear your mind and begin imagining the situation you want. Note the details you think of and allow yourself to revise as you go. Don't be afraid to go to your favorite books, games, shows, and movies for inspiration, but have fun making it your own. 

A final word on writing and tabletop games: some of us in the worlds of writing and gaming forget at times that the goal is fun. We should work harder to embrace that fun, and don't forget about it when you're trying on more character development. Tabletops and writing like this shouldn't be homework--they should be part of the fun as well. So certainly give it an honest try, but don't make yourself do any work that isn't rewarding. 

That's all for now. Coming soon: a guide to food in my homebrew setting, tips on pacing your game, and how to deal with player character deaths. Until next time, happy gaming!

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The Asp/Daisy Stories

Two and a half years ago, I set out to play a character I'd been daydreaming about for years. Although I had for a long time toyed with the idea of the character, I really only had some broad strokes of who she really was. I knew she was a con artist, that she was very crafty and clever, and that she went through life pretending to be a host of characters that would benefit her in most situations. I named her Asp because the asp--a type of venomous snake--has venom that I read was actually enjoyable to experience even as the person bitten died. I felt like she'd leave her victims that way--happy about their encounter with her (so charismatic and charming was she) that they didn't register their loss until it was too late. I knew one of her character was a diplomat, which would allow her to use pretend governmental powers to talk people into and out of things. At the time, I felt this was a pretty complete sketch of the character, and when my dear friend (who you may have read about as the player of characters like Carric, Beor, and Brokk in my campaigns) let me know he was running a campaign which I was invited into, I knew it was time for Asp to leap into action. 

The thing was, though, that once we started playing, I actually had very little idea how to play Asp. She was a con artist, true, but that didn't inform her personality or decision-making. In her first intro session, Asp was just responding to conversation and hiding her identity, and she chafed at people's suggestions that helping people was worth it. In a later into session, she decided to antagonize a guard and got mixed up in trying to find some missing children. Our first few sessions as a group were messy--Asp was willing to help do good things like track down the missing children, but mostly because she felt it would let her call in favors. But this was a good-aligned campaign, and Asp soon began to grate on the other party members, who were more unequivocally inclined to helping people. I started pushing Asp to put aside her selfishness for the good of the party and campaign, but I didn't know how I felt about letting her existing characterization go. I was in trouble as a player, and I needed to figure out who she really was, and quickly. 

So I decided to write a short story about her. I took her back to her home city, the capital of halflings in our DM's world. In the story, she developed a reporter character to defend herself from being arrested, only to be turned in by her mother and having to flee the city. It was fun to write, and I suddenly had a better idea of her--she was more an opportunist with an eye on the future, which was consistent with her behavior in the party but I hadn't been able to articulate. I also got some real pain out of her--having to leave everything behind because of the betrayal by her mother was something that helped me to understand her more. But I felt like the short story only raised more questions and didn't offer enough answers, so I decided to follow that story up with another that would continue the tale. After that story, I had the same feeling. I decided I would write five stories as a little introduction in her backstory so I could better understand and play her. 

By the time I finished those five stories, I realized I was actually making something much larger. I told my DM, who had read those stories as I'd written them, that I thought that they were actually the first five chapters in a novel. I spent a few weeks frantically writing and ended up with a book I called "Nobody Knows Me," which was a complete telling of how Asp had gone from solo criminal in the halfling capital to a member of a gang in diverse metropolis to a solo criminal in the elven lands where the campaign began. All of this was written with editorial direction and worldbuilding information from my DM, who read every words of that novel as I went, cheering me along the whole way. It felt great to finish, and we'd only played maybe two sessions since I'd begun writing, and suddenly, Asp was the most complete, detailed, and realistic character I'd ever made and very much the emotional heart and leader of the party. I was cautious to not make the campaign about Asp, but my rich backstory meant that I could draw on lots of inspiration, and my DM could give really fun personalized storylines to Asp. It was the best experience I ever had as a player. 

But I wasn't done writing about Asp. I agreed with my DM to write a novelization of the campaign when it was complete, which would take another year and change to happen. In the meantime, I realized I had started Nobody Knows Me around Asp's thirtieth birthday and had plenty of room for a prequel. In a mad dash, I wrote that prequel--Two Different Things Can Just Be Different--which went from Asp as a troubled five-year-old to the exact moment that Nobody Knows Me Began. I started writing short stories that filled in moments between gaps in both novels, and when the campaign ended, I worked feverishly with my DM to turn it into its own novel. That book, You Changed Too, stretched from Asp's intro session to five years after the end of the campaign. And reader, you may not be surprised to hear that even that wasn't enough--I started work shortly thereafter on what would be the final book in the series, a tale of my character as an older woman that has her revisit everywhere she'd caused trouble as a younger woman in an effort to make things right. As of this writing, I'm only a few chapters from finishing it. And when it's done, I've decided it's time to properly share those stories. 

At a few points since I started writing all these stories, I've had them posted here on this site for free. I decided, however, that Asp's story is something I believe in. I tried conventional publishing but was told the saga was too unconventional--publishers want something similar to big-selling books, stories that are not radically different from the ones already succeeding. I kept trying for a while before giving up after dozens of rejections and reposted the stories here. But recently, I've realized that I'd rather try self-publishing these stories than simply take a "no" from publishers, and so I've taken the stories down on this site. Below, I'll post links to where you can affordably get these stories through the Kindle Marketplace once they're ready. 

But I do want to say that writing these stories has made Asp a crucial part of my heart, mind, and soul, and I think she will always be my favorite character I've gotten the opportunity to play. She's as real to me as a flesh and blood friend or family member, and that never would have been possible if I had taken the time to really invest in making her that way. And without spoiling anything about the series, the person she becomes being a part of me is a wonderful thing--her voice is invaluable to me, and I am grateful to my DM for the chance to turn a one-dimensional con artist into a truly complex person I will always carry with me. 

Please enjoy reading these stories. I'm truly proud of them, and I hope they touch you as they've touched me.