by Hannah
There’s something to be said for the innate nature of
roleplaying, as a thing that comes naturally to people. Ever since I was a kid,
I wanted to roleplay as different characters and use those characters to tell
stories. Humans enjoy narrative engagement. Perhaps not to equal degrees
always, but it is common enough that we have accepted specific forms of narrative
as true or universal somehow, though that creates its own host of problems.
What I am specifically speaking of here is the drive to tell stories, even at a
young age. For some it is a hobby-level engagement, for some a passing
interest, and for others it becomes a lifelong pursuit. For me it was the last of
those three, though I chose to pursue being the writer or, in roleplaying
terms, being the Dungeon Master/Game Master rather than the actor or player
character. I do enjoy being a player character, and I also love theater and
acting, but writing always attracted me more. I think of it as simply a
different part of the creative process in which to specialize.
We have such a great Dungeons and Dragons 5E community here at
Labyrinth with both kids and adults alike. I always love seeing parents
supporting their kids’ love of D&D too because it was something I wished I’d
known about at that age. Growing up in an extremely rural county, there were no
board game shops, no D&D groups (or, if there were, they were really quiet
about it), and there was definitely nothing like what is offered to kids at
Labyrinth. It is without a doubt the coolest experience ever getting to work
there and help DM for this amazing community, especially as I come into my own
as a DM.
As a DM, much like as a writer of other fiction, I have the ability to
help players see a world wholly different from their own through the power of words
and occasionally maps and other such visual representations. It’s not entirely unlike
the hero movies I used to make with my action men and, once, a set of toothpicks,
since my action men were elsewhere. You get to lay out the entire setting, characters,
quests, but, unlike in my movies, you get the joy of seeing the unique way
players interact with the material.
If you have a kid, who like me, tries to tell stories every chance
they can get, and can sometimes be a little unyielding in terms of the “creative
direction” of a story, then I wholly recommend teaching them about DM’ing for
games like Dungeons and Dragons 5E. If you’re not familiar yourself, then no
problem. Labyrinth has a bunch of DMs who all have their own unique approaches
and who are great teachers, so be sure to ask us for advice. DM’ing can be a
great outlet for that narrative drive, as well as a great place to learn about
allowing actors or players to interact with the story in organic and unpredictable
ways. I first learned how to handle constructive criticism for my stories from
my workshops in graduate school, but being a DM has taught me how to handle the
ways in which those who are coming to your story from the outside, as readers, will
interpret its signs differently and in ways you might not have imagined.
It’s an
extremely educational game, as it teaches the DM creative problem solving,
storytelling, and social skills, and it teaches players how to cooperate as a
group, social skills, and multi-tasking as well. So to answer the original question posed by the title of this article, I think becoming a DM is a great opportunity for any young storyteller, and will likely change how they see storytelling for the better. The simple answer is"Yes!" If they enjoy roleplaying but also want to control the general direction of stories, then being a DM is a no-brainer.
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