Billhook Blog

Advice on Playing Games and a Recipe for Glazed Carrots

#1. Remember that everyone's experience at the table is your responsibility. (Everyone shares this responsibility)

Corollary: Your experience at the table is your responsibility. If you're having a bad experience speak up. You won't be given what no one knows you need. If the table is giving you a bad experience and can't or won't change, stop playing at that table. It doesn't mean you have to stop being friends, it just means you do different stuff together and find other people that want the same RPG experience as you.

#2. Listen at least twice as much as you talk.

I'm often the referee which usually requires me to be doing and tracking more stuff and talking more often than the rest of the people at the table. When I'm not the game runner sometimes I find myself talking too much, talking first, talking loudest, talking the most stridently, blah blah blah. I've improved immensely by being a player much more often over the last ~2 years, but I'll still remind people that they should tell me to Shut the Fuck Up as needed.

Secretly this is also really good advice for referees. Try to run a game where you're consistently listening to the other players more than you're talking.

#3. Figure out what you want from the game, pursue that.

There's an axiom that prepping for a game is game design. When I run a game in my preferred style a goodly amount of the "prep" happens in the moment which suggests to me that running a game is game design. If I follow that thought to it's logical conclusion every act of play is an act of game design.

Pay attention to how the game makes you feel. Try to understand what flavors appeal to your palate. Season to taste.

#4. It's just not that serious.

You're here to play a game that's one or two steps removed from playing pretend. You're actually very good at this, it's just a game where the rules are made up and the points don't matter so as long as you do almost anything you're playing the game. Walk out that door into the world and see what happens.

#5. Make a character that has a reason to engage with the game at hand.

Alternatively make a character that doesn't want to engage with the game at hand but must. Everyone including yourself and the game runner (if you have one) will have more fun if you accept the premise of the game.

#6. Do things instead of not doing things.

I like to plan. I like to have all available information before I make a decision. I like to achieve consensus. All of this is fine, but sooner or later you have to make a decision and enact it. Sooner is almost always better than later, so don't talk about it be about it.

A Recipe for glazed carrots

This is a very good recipe/technique in general, but I think it's especially good for beginners because it utilizes some basic techniques and principles in a low stress way and once you know it it can be easily adjusted to fit many contexts.

  1. Peel 4-5 fat carrots. Use an oblique cut to chop the carrots into near uniform sized chunks.
  2. Preheat a pan over medium, once it's hot add a glug of neutral oil (i like peanut oil) and swirl. Add the carrots along with 1/4c of water. Cover for 3 minutes, when you remove the lid there should still be some water in the pan, add a healthy pinch of salt now. Watch closely for when the water has almost finished boiling off.
  3. Turn the heat down to medium low and add a knob of butter. Probably more than that, butter is good and good for you. Stir the carrots in the pan occasionally in order to make sure they are cooked through by the time they start to color, we're not looking for a deep caramelization here. Try poking the carrots with your fingertips to test doneness, they shouldn't be hot enough to burn you and a sense of touch is very helpful to develop in cooking.
  4. When the carrots are almost done add a couple spoonfuls of sugar (I like light brown) with some spices*, and toss to coat. Taste one of the carrots and add more salt now if needed. Keep gently tossing the carrots until all the sugar is dissolved into the butter and starts to brown a little. Serve. Maybe sprinkle some lemon juice or garnish with parsley or cilantro chiffonade.

Important techniques

*Spices: here's where this recipe really shines, it can take an enormous variety of flavorings and work well with them which means it can fit well into lots of different meals.

#advice #recipe