RPG A Day 2020--Day 21: Push

RPG A Day 2020: Day 21—Push

Today’s prompt is push. A lot of ideas come into my mind with this word.

I think of how—at age 46—that I am indeed pushing fifty or at least I’m on the wrong side of forty if you will, and the amazement that I feel that I still get enjoyment from a hobby I first played as a kid.

I also think of how some players—right or wrong on the GM’s part—have to be pushed to role play. A lot of players feel uncomfortable doing it at first, and for some, that aspect of the game never comes into being. It’s good if they still enjoy it. Nobody needs to be told how to play. Sometimes though, it’s that little push that can lead the player into bigger things than just rolling the dice and playing as one does a board game.

Lastly, I think of how I have to push myself to play a lot times right up to the minute of game time. I’m always getting the feeling that I’d rather do something else or—in the case of running one—that I don’t have enough prepared. Most of the time once things get going, I find my anxiety to be unwarranted and we all have a good time.

Right now I’ve become stagnant. I have a lot of work to do and many new aspects of my job to train for. I am caught in between pushing myself to start up something new in Roll 20 or seeking out any possible existing groups in my new neighborhood, but I’m afraid I might be staying right here for a bit longer. Someone will really need to push me to pick it back up again. As a teacher with a lot of set holiday time—winter break, spring break, summer break—I’ve always found long absences to be the bane of RPG groups. With the pandemic and an absence of eight months now, who knows if it will ever go back to the way it was.