What's the most important piece of gaming advice you would give to your younger self?

>A campaign isn't a novel nor a grand story.
>Your players are the protagonists
>Make the story awesome for them
>Don't plan ahead: Improvise

THIN YOUR PAINTS AND READ A TUTORIAL OR TWO.

Wear deodorant and brush your teeth. Bring some minty gum and chew it before the session. Bathe regularly.

Stop fucking cheating you little shit, holy fuck

As soon as you can, get your dice nice and drunk and then give them a relaxing bubble bath to clean them. Seriously, pamper your fucking dice.

This is very good advice for 12 year old me.

don't be a dick

...

Start DMing. If you can't think of good. detailed adventures of your own, DM a published campaign - a good one, like Curse of Strahd. There's nothing shameful about it, and you can still be imaginative within it's borders. I do it.
I know you want to play. Everybody does - but many can't. There are only so many masters, after all. Without them, games don't exist.
Be the change you want to see in the world. Be the DM.

Make and keep as many friends into roleplaying as you can. Actually work at keeping these people around, as you'll need them.

To add to yours, friendship is a mutual thing, and it has to be maintained, but it's a little bit different for everyone. Some people you can go a month or more without talking to and pick up as if you two had never left, while others need some more reassurance that you're there for them.

"Seek therapy."

Aye, that's a good addition.

Also tell myself that just because you consider everyone to be an acquaintance, not everyone considers you an acquaintance. Some people might actually think of you as a friend.

Very much this.

"Don't forgive him."
"Pull the trigger"

Don't play because you're obliged too. One game is enough.

If I could say one thing to my younger self it would be

On 9/11/2001, terrorists will hijack planes and crash them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Warn the president!

>Implying Bush didn't already know it was going to happen

Are you implying that 9/11 was an inside job?!

Honestly, I would tell my younger GM self to just let things happen. Go with the dice always, even if it seems like the worst possible outcome. Have some key things ready of course, but worry more about preparing your world as a whole instead of one singular path. If some warlord in the east is gathering an army to assault the main nation, go for it. Stat him, stat all the key players in that encounter, have it all ready, but also put it on a timer. If your players don't want to interfere, let the end result happen. Don't try to force greatness or heroism. It will happen on its own and it will be all the sweeter. The unexpected is what makes it all worth it.

When I was younger I was an awful railroader. I could deal with my players goofing off so long as it didn't hurt all the plans I had conjured up. In one very egregious encounter, I had cheated to allow my "epic" villain to escape. I had also fudged dice rolls both for and against the player's sake. I basically eliminated any chance of failure and knew exactly how I wanted things to go and, inevitably, would get frustrated when my players would not take the path I anticipated. Once I started getting rid of their leashes and preparing multiple world events at a time with various elements and possible outcomes I started having a lot of fun just seeing where things go as did my players.

Play as much as you can while you're young and still capable of enjoying things.

That, and play while you've still got the time. Gathering a group of adults together is like trying to catch smoke. Everyone will be busy with jobs and family and other responsibilities, and nobody's schedules will ever line up.

Learn how to say no
Don't let yourself be guilt tripped
Don't get so invested in building the world
Don't allow your group to do custom races
Most importantly, at the first sign of those two being That DM, leave.

's about it really.

To be fair, every good DM starts off as a shitty DM.

I'd give myself numbers for the lottery.
That counts as a game, right?

Don't fucking spend so much time on it

You spend your entire week working, prepping, and playing on a weekly game and the rest of the world won't stop and wait for you

To learn to take responsibility for all your actions. Stop being such a troll to the rest of the party just because you picked a strong class that's become essential to beating many obstacles in the campaign. In other words don't be that guy.

Don't play a Druid with a scythe. Joey's gonna get mad.

Also, take your fucking ADHD pills. You're being obnoxious.

Cut back on the Coke, too. It's not helping, faget.

dont rely on a small group of friends. have other options in case they let you down.

This. just this. This is a recipe for DMing greatness

Actually start running more games, stop theorycrafting. You're good at analysis but pretty mediocre in practice. Hone actual GM skills and stop obsessing over details. Run, analyse, run some more. But first and foremost, run something.

Dont fucking sell your bobs, shocklands and other stuff you scrub. And git gud.

Give second chances but not third,

Stop building GURPS

They already made GURPS

Hit on that GM. She's on the pill, and she'll let you nut inside.

That was a great campaign.

Let her go, she can't be with you.

Oh and try not to hog the spotlight when you're playing, I guess.

No, it's just that the people warning about it weren't listened to because no one thought someone would actually pull that shit on America. August 6th, 2001 the CIA literally gave Bush a briefing titled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.". He was just so sure no one would be dumb enough to launch an unprovoked attack on America that he didn't listen to the people whose literal job it was to determine that.

B-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-but aren't good DMs always supposed to say "Yes, and..." or "Yes, but..."?

You can't say "no" to players! Muh agency! If you're running a 1930s gangster noir game and I say I want to play an Elf Ranger, you have to say "Yes, and now Elves are real in this setting" or "Yes, but you have to be an Elf from Norse myth". Saying 'no' just demonstrates a poverty of imagination and a radial filter.

Don't get into warhamner, your too poor

Are you new to chibification?

On that note-

>buy 100 black lotuses when they're less than a dollar each

You don't need to powergame. Your ego can take losing a game of army men with dice. Invest your self worth in something more worthwhile instead of this petty shit.

Hubris is a bitch

"Yes, but you aren't really an elf, you're just delusional."

Learn to say 'Yes, but...' instead of 'No.'

Stay in touch with your old gaming groups, even when you move away. For God's sake, they're your friends!

Also don't try to be funny until you at least hit highschool, if not college. You aren't ready.

No. If it's plainly retarded, just say no. A "Yes but" is usually the same as a "No but" anyway, so at most you're talking about a rhetorical trick rather than anything substantial.

Use a little bit of water, and get a nice, fine tip on your brush

>gaming advice

I do not know what kind of games you play son, but they sound shity

We don't have time for games, kid! We have to stop the terrorists!

What a great noir gangster campaign that's going to be: 4 Italian thugs with tommy guns and a crazy man who thinks he's an elven ranger. That's not derptastic at all. Having a guy shouting "Elenion a Elbereth!" at Al Capone isn't going to be full retard or anything.

Don't go to college right after high school. Sort the family shit first. It will come back and drag you down otherwise.

Sounds like he's involved in an elaborate 24/7 Clancyverse LARP.

>that table
>this background
Holy shit!

Try and say yes more often when running games. Don't be afraid of your player's contributions.

It's called a screen tone, user.
They are transparent stickers you can cut out. A lot of art stores in Japan carry them.

Don't get into Warhammer, you're bad at painting and don't have the motivation to learn it. Save the money and buy more of the fiction that is the real reason you like it.

I would tell young me not to bully those nerds playing dnd and asked to join them instead.

I would tell younger me not to worry so much about what other people think, to break up with that bitch before it's too late, and to try new things more. Had I known, I would've discovered tabletop much earlier in life and likely avoided much tragedy.

"no, i want to play an actual elf and not an imaginary one. serve my needs or you're a bad GM."

get more into warhammer, the money to fun ratio is way better than comic books

>You can GM. Don't let him control all of your RP because none of your friends are confident enough to tell him to fuck off because he's an adult and you're all underage.
>Also, stop fucking hanging out with him, holy shit. He's E RPing on the reg with a 15 year old and he's a 31 year old cop get the fuck out
>Dark concepts are fine, but only if your players are okay with them. Don't get indignant because your characters don't want your edgy bullshit all the time.
>Do not be afraid of dice. Put some effort in and learn some systems, you don't have to freeform GM all the time.
>WRITE. SHIT. DOWN. You will forget your plot points and worldbuilding. Stop pretending that you're a prodigy and WRITE THE SHIT DOWN.

You're shifting goalposts. First you were raving about the "Yes-but" principle and now you're negating it.

Yes-but is a principle for GMs only. Players can say no anytime they feel like.

Gas the halflings while you can

Don't be a fucking edgelord.

But that phase is an important part of your development as a person.

Be less of a faggot.

Seriously, I look back on my past and I cringe.

youtube.com/watch?v=vt1Pwfnh5pc
Know when to walk away.
Don't expect them to be there forever, or even for that long.

>You're a faggot who can't into friendship. Don't even start.

>Play GURPS.
>Book literally says to ask what characters the GM allow.
>Throw this at people trying to shoehorn sentient blueberry muffins/robots/elves everywhere because "lmao ids burps i gan do anything".

Yes, but your "Elf" is a foreigner from Sweden, and "Ranger" means he's a survivalist nutjob who's good with rifles.

>If you're not getting along with the people at the table, do not wait until the end of the session to leave

Sound advice

Only play with people who want to play.

When I was just getting into the hobby and playing my first campaign with my group of friends some of them were super into it, other were just there so they wouldn't miss out.

The people who were there just to hang were really dragged the game down, so after a talk we decided we would find other fun get-togethers and leave the roleplaying those who wanted too.

Its really amazing how a player thats obnoxious to play DnD with can be great fun to play Catan with.

Do not pick up a magic card, ever.

Get outside and make friends instead.

Learn more about your options before getting too into 40k. Wound up wasting a lot of time and money when my (and much of the group's) real interests were better served by other lines and rulesets.

Go down to the lgs and buy out every box of alpha, beta, antiquities and legends available. Keep doing that regularly until they go out of print. Then store them in a cool dry place until 2016. No need to thank me, me. I know I'm welcome.

Also avoid pathfinder like the plague

Be nicer to the kids you were trading pokemon cards with. Ripping them off isn't smart, just mean.

Some people you just will not get along with. Try, of course. Then try again. Be open to the possibility that you're in the wrong. But people only get so many tries before you've definitely done your due dilligence and players and GMs not getting along with one another is actively harmful to the group.

As with all extreme statements, "never say no" is wrong.

It can be much better formulated by saying "Before saying no, consider if you could resolve the issue with a statement like "Yes, but...""

Sometimes, the answer to that is no. But oftentimes, improvizing aorund something unexpected leads to great shit.

I think by the time someone is trying to join a 20s mobster campaign with an elf, a serious communication problem has occurred.

That's definitely the time to stop and discuss with the player if what they want or are expecting out of the campaign matches what the rest want and are expecting from the campaign.

If they know it doesn't fit but want to do it to be "random" or silly or something, then telling them no isn't really going to fix the underlying problem. They won't suddenly wisen up and get serious, they'll just fuck around and not only will they not have fun, but others will have less fun with them. It's time to reconsider if they should really be in the game.

>I would tell young me not to bully those nerds playing dnd and asked to join them instead.
Holy shit, this.

It's not "too nerdy" for you, and you're not "more mature" for preferring Jack Ryan to Drizzt. Of the two of you, young me, guess which one will run two RPG campaigns simultaneously while writing a fantasy novel?

Sorry, Chris. I was horrible.

I think literally everyone has that. It's a natural part of growing up, to discover what works and what doesn't.

Don't worry, you're still pretty fucking horrible, John.

Nope, but nice try.

>dont play dnd

What could go wrong?

Different user but fuck you I would give anything to erase that "phase" of my life.
>tfw I was dahk furame mashtah once upon a time

My earliest D&D character still make me cringe.
Immortal epic-level Sorcerer with a spiked chain and custom spells that dealt way too much damage.