The Player’s Manifesto
Be careful, be fierce
You don’t start out a hero. The only thing between you and a salivating dragon’s jaws are a few conditions unchecked on your adventurer sheet. You should never expect the world around you to be fair. You’re not in a tutorial level; your adventurer is journeying through a mythic Underworld that wants them to stay forever and ever. Keeping them alive requires caution and thoughtfulness.
Encountering a dragon is different when your adventurer is inexperienced versus when they’re experienced. At first, the focus might be stealth—how much gold can you get away with before the dragon notices you? After you’ve built up your strength, you might feel confident enough to engage in combat with the dragon. But don’t fight fair. Make sure you choose the battleground. Ambush the dragon. Drop a rock on its head.
And when the going gets tough, don’t be afraid to cut your losses and run away.
Solve problems orthogonally
You should be trying to make your GM say: “I didn’t even think of that.”
In an RPG, you can do anything. That’s the appeal! When you’re playing a computer game, you can only do the things the game designer programmed in. They anticipated you moving left, right, and down. Going up is out of the question. Not so in a tabletop game.
Most problems aren’t solved by fighting them. People can be reasoned with. Monsters can be placated. Traps can be avoided. Monsters can be led into traps. People can be sold the monster’s guts.
Don’t expect to “use” your talents and motifs to solve a problem. The abilities and items you have listed are just tools—and they’re only one of the many tools in your arsenal. Think outside of your adventurer sheet.
Engage the world
You don’t have to talk in a silly voice or wear a costume*. You do, however, have to interact with the fiction of the world in a logical way.
The essential way you have to interact with the fictional world is to ask questions. By engaging your GM in a give-and-take, you make the game real. The game world is layered. By asking questions, you begin to understand its bounds.
There are no abilities on your adventurer sheet that give you the sort of insight that asking questions will provide. If you’re looking for a trap, pour water on the ground and see if you can find any trap doors. If you’re looking for a secret door, tap on the walls and listen for something hollow.
The game is about you using your real-life thinking brain to solve problems, overcome obstacles, and figure things out. There are no stats or powers that are going to help you solve the essential issues.
- You can though. We won’t stop you.
Engage each other
The most essential stats on your adventurer sheet aren't your talents or motifs. The most essential stats are your Bonds with your guild-mates.
The economy of charging Bonds during the Crawl and spending them during the Camp Phase is essential to the flow of His Majesty the Worm. As such, make sure you're thinking of ways to engage other players.
Play to lift other adventurers up. When you see an opportunity for another adventurer to shine, take a step back. Share each other's burdens. Revel in each other's successes.
Be respectful and considerate. If you want to explore a particular story, engage with your fellow players to make sure they're comfortable with the themes that you're exploring. Don't be “that guy.” Read the goddamn room.
Let your relationships grow and change. Every session or two, touch base with another player. Discuss how your adventurers feel about each other in light of your most recent experiences. Have rivals become allies? Have allies become best friends? Have best friends become lovers?
Be funny in character. Be serious in character. Think in character. Stay in character.
Embrace the chaos
Part of the game is skill. Part of the game is chance. Sometimes, you can’t be careful or fierce enough to avoid a test of fate. And when fate isn’t on your side, you have to embrace it. Having something bad happen doesn’t mean that you’ve made a mistake. It’s just part of the game.
It is easy to create a new adventurer. This is on purpose. If your adventurer dies, throw yourself into the next one. If your adventurer completes their quest, be excited to retire them.
Games without consequences have no teeth. How boring would it be if you knew you would never fail and never die? The essential gimmick of question/answer with the GM would be boring: “How will your adventurer succeed today?” Thus, love the chaos.