For more than two years now, I have been running regular public pick-up games at a local pub. This experience has been (primarily) fun and very enriching. In this article, I want to share a few short experiences that I’ve picked up over the course of those games. I write this article because when starting out, I would have found these things helpful.
First, I want to add a bit of context, but feel free to scroll down below to the lessons themselves.
I run games at a local “geek” pub. A few years back, they launched a public TTRPG event. It started as a Fifth Edition, Adventurers League-esque kind of thing. It started, as I was informed, as a strictly 5e thing. Since I had no intention of running any more 5e games, I kept away. Eventually, they opened up to other systems. Good for me.
Games happen every other Monday from 6 to 10 pm. There are seven (or nine?) tables available. Game Masters prepare their games some five days in advance, and participants sign up online. A pretty straightforward system.
The majority of games are either 5e, Pathfinder, World of Darkness, Call of Cthulhu, or Cyberpunk. The big names. But to my pleasant surprise, it’s not just that. I’ve seen a number of Free League systems, some really wacky stuff – like Crash Pandas, an RPG about street-racing raccoons, or a test run of a homebrewed system which converts the video game Balatro into a TTRPG. There were even a couple of 2e games run in English (which is not the native language where I live). The vast majority of the time, I am the only person to run NSR / OSR games, though I have a fellow DM (and a player at my games there) who has recently taken to running DCC, Pirate Borg, and Into the Odd. That makes me very happy.
The vast majority of people who come to play have zero to little experience… and it’s fantastic. Honestly, I have tremendously enjoyed running games for (almost) total beginners.
So far, I have run: OSE, Sword and Wizardry, Cairn 2e, Frontier Scum, Vaults of Vaarn, and even an open-table hexcrawl of Knave 2e. While I was, and still am sometimes, self-conscious about the games I run and my GM-ing skills, this experience has been totally worth it. I enjoy it so much, and it is one of the best experiences I have had running games. Hence, my first two lessons:
1. Do it!
If you are reading this, then perhaps you are considering running public games in a local club, pub, or con. My advice? Go and try it. It can be daunting to try something new, go out of your comfort zone, and do so in front of strangers. To put yourself out there. It can be big and daunting, but try it once.
For me, it has been an enriching experience that has helped me grow and develop as a GM. Playing with new, unknown people and seeing them enjoy the games I run is so gratifying. Plus, I learned so much.
2. Run the games You want to run.
Run that old-school dungeon, or that Cairn pointcrawl, or that weird acid science-fantasy mashup. Or whatever you like. Don’t worry if it’s niche or non-mainstream. People will come and play. Because they want to try something new, because something catches their interest, or because there is no space in other games. Trust me, they will.
At first, I worried my games would be out of place, mostly because people don’t know of them. That went away quickly. New systems were not a discouragement; in fact, it is why people come to the thing. To try new things. Be that a new adventure, system, or TTRPGs in general.
3. Try new things and experiment.
Play that game, your players don’t have an interest in. Try that adventure you found online, but doesn’t fit into your current games, or do something you’ve always wanted to try. Once you are comfortable with them, public games are a great place to experiment. With systems, with settings, with modules, and styles of play. With whatever. They are basically one-shots; you most probably will not play with those people again, and actually, many of them are really up for trying new things.
I use public games both as a playtest opportunity for things I’m thinking of publishing and to try things I really like but can’t fit into my regular schedule. For example, the other week I really felt like playing the Weird West, and my friend group is not really into it. Bam Frontier Scum it was. Or I got to test that Vaults of Vaarn arena, I really like and had a great time running with my friends, really does work with totally different and totally new people (Next step – publish it, heh). Then there was the time I wanted to try an open table hexcrawl. I did and have a group of regular players that mix in with people who sign up randomly, and even bring in their friends.
In general, thanks to public games, I’ve managed to actually run way more systems and try way more things that I would have otherwise in just my regular games with my friends.
4. Be yourself.
Getting up in front of new people, people you don’t know, can be stressful, even intimidating. That itself can be quite demanding. Trying to suppress or change yourself in the middle of all that will only make it needlessly stressful. It’s better, easier, and, in fact, liberating to just be yourself.
Ahead of my first game at the, I was really nervous. I almost forgot half my stuff at home. (Good thing I live around the corner.) I’m not really sure what I was worried about, but it was a mix of how I was going to do, what people expect, my worries about how I should act or behave, or if people will get references and jokes. A mix of self-doubt, shyness, and expectations. Not sure what to do, I ran it as if it was another game at my place… Made jokes, improvised a lot, read the room and picked up on people's signals.
I think I GM the same regardless of the audience. Sure, with my friends I make different jokes and references, as we know each other well and for many years, but in the end I try to be the same person I am with people I’ve known for 20+ years and total strangers.
5. Don’t get discouraged.
Sometimes things might not work out as you intended or planned. It might happen that people don’t sign up, or they cancel, or don’t show up. This might happen. But it most probably, has absolutely nothing to do with you. And sometimes things just don’t work out. That’s why it’s great that it is a one-shot, and next time there will be primarily new people again.
I’ve had different experiences over the years. I’ve had times when my game was the last one people signed up for. I’ve had times when half the table canceled that day. Once, I even had no one sign up at all. I also had times when my games were full within seconds or minutes, and I was literally the first one booked. And that time noone registered? Well, I ran the game next time to great success.
And at the table? Well, in the past years, I only really had one unpleasant or weird situation happen. But what I later found out was that two of the players met and had a disagreement and conflict the previous time at another table. Then they both, by chance, ended up at mine. I’m sorry for them, but in the end, it had nothing to do with me. As it probably will not have anything to do with you.
6. Talk to people and hang out
In the end, it’s not really just about running a game. Any game. It’s a form of socializing and getting to know different people. It’s about entering or creating a community of people. You might end up making new friends. In the end, In the end, table top RPGs are social occasions.
In the beginning, once my game was over, I would pack up afterwards and go. It didn’t help that I was, and usually am, the last person to finish, right at closing time. But over time, I started taking more time to pack up, have one more drink, hang out, and talk at the table or on our way out. This especially strengthened after I started my open table game. We would regularly talk for a long time after the game. About the game, the setting, our ideas, thoughts, and even our lives outside the table. I even started hanging out with some of the other Gms, thanks to one of my open table players who also runs games.
Sometimes I can find it a bit tricky because I am mostly introverted and have some very strong political views, but it is all the better for me to talk with new and different people. To take the time to get to know the people I play with, listen to them, talk with them, and find connections has just made the whole thing more fulfilling and enjoyable.
In the end, the message is: Go out there, give it a go, and have fun, running things you want to run. I mean, that’s kinda the core of the hobby as such.
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