A newsletter and podcast focused on Friday Strout's fiction and tabletop roleplaying games. Featuring top industry contributors from both the professional Game Master scene, game designers, writers, artists, and more!
You don’t have to be a professional to use these tricks to help you develop deeper relationships between NPCs and PCs. Even if you don’t plan to pursue a career in voice acting or dedicate hours a week.
The 3 Things To Pay Attention To:
Resonance
Pitch
Tone
We’re going to work on some techniques provided by Nicole Gress & ProZD! Resonance is important for you to make a noticeable differences between genders (if you want to.)
Resonance Tricks:
Pitch trick:
Tone Tricks:
Have a great time running games. Do what you think is fun and practice with physicality. Thanks for checking the newsletter. If you’d like to support me you can do so on Patreon!
Often players do not feel as though they are able to contribute in a meaningful way once you have established that you are a professional. I advise you present a way you will receive feedback that isn’t simply “good game”. To wrap up a session I leave the door open for feedback with Stars & Wishes.
“Thanks as always for supporting me. This was a fun game. Let me know if you have any feedback in the form of Stars & Wishes. You can DM it to me or post it in the table channel.” -Friday after almost every game.
I include this snippet in my Session 0 for the player to read or for me to announce. This is going to keep your ship sailing in the right direction for as long as possible. If you are not receiving feedback to course correct you might be heading toward a preventable disaster. The rift between you and player expectations only grows larger with time.
This also helps you open up dialogue for what is working and what is not. I make certain to ask for feedback if I do not feel confident in the players’ reactions to something I have prepared.
If I am not confident about something I ask for feedback!
Thanks for reading. If you’d like to support me then you can do so on Patreon. Join nearly 30 other pro GMs who want to work with a small community to improve their business practices to support themselves full-time.
Starting out as a pro GM can be pretty daunting. That’s why you will want to leverage camaraderie with your peers if possible. Few folks know what it’s like to deal with the freelancing grind in your field! Here are my recommendations:
Seat Fill for other pro GMs
This is going to teach you a lot but also develop a positive relationship with a peer. Not only are you able to have a peer that you can bounce ideas off of for your advertisements or community, but you’re able to learn from what they’re doing. My recommendation is that you do this at least once a week with someone whom your brand aligns with and you personally get along with.
2-3 hours a week playing in another game helps you learn good seat filler behavior and what you’d expect of folks for your games.
You can share and collaborate on ideas with your pro GM peer.
You’ll get a first-hand experience with issues at the table which you can (ideally) help resolve.
You’re going to improve as a GM through inspiration.
Feedback for ads
Putting together an advertisement can leave you with a lot of unanswered questions. If you’ve built rapport with someone and likewise are providing them with value to their business – you have access to someone who would help you out with their opinion. Not all advice is created equal, but when you’re starting out a different set of eyes for unfiltered opinions can be invaluable.
An Unofficial Channel
It can be lonely “at the top” or in this case: when you run a business. You would be ill-advised to complain about players to other players. That’s an incredibly toxic scenario and highly unprofessional. Instead, I recommend that you confide in your pro GM peers that you trust if you need to get something off your chest. Make certain to ask for permission to have that sort of conversation – but if it’s cool, then it’s a great stress relief. They can also provide you with candid advise if you find yourself in a decision making jam.
I have a modest group of 20’ish Patrons who chat about pro GM business in the vein as described above. It’s a moderated space and it can be a great think tank to help run your business.
Join here – $5 a month to support me and help your biz!
It can be difficult to break the ice! Here’s some neutral questions to get conversations going with someone new to your community.
About the game:
What is your experience with this TTRPG?
What are you looking for in a game?
Roleplay?
Combat?
Mystery?
Puzzles?
What is your favorite thing about this TTRPG?
If you’ve played a campaign before – what did you like about it?
Is your schedule regular for this time?
About the player:
How has your week been?
How did you get your start playing TTRPGs?
What do you do for work?
Where are you from?
Once you’ve asked a question, you need to focus on listening to them. Your next question or follow-on comment will stem from any of the questions you might ask. If they answer “I have played Storm King’s Thunder”, then guess what: You talk about Storm King’s Thunder, even if only briefly.
You can pivot to another topic as it feels natural. That’s just how you get the ball rolling. Good luck!
Jasper William Cartwright is a professional theater actor, host, producer, director, voice over artist, dancer and much more. We chat about the business, building a platform, and his personal experiences.
I had the great privilege of GMing for 3 Black Halflings and I wanted to share some ways they made the process wonderful for me as a newcomer to their table.
I love performing. Going into a call with these highly professional folx caused my heart to swell 3x its normal size. I laughed for 3 hours. I felt so much joy just to be invited to the table, but then when I got there… it was amazing.
What Jeremy, Liv, and Jasper did to make me feel welcome:
The atmosphere in the call was really warm and open to my guidance.
Leading up to the game each of the players expressed their excitement and enthusiasm with the handouts I’d given them in the lead-up.
They each filled out a safety/consent checklist and explained to me what sort of story they were interested in telling.
Jeremy reassured me that I was a great GM and that I didn’t get to where I was by being mediocre. (He’d never played with me, he’d made the judgment call on my reputation, I believe.)
Reassurances for GMs or players who are self-conscious are sometimes really needed.
Liv & Jasper let me know during my break time check-ins that I was doing really well and then asked how I felt about the show thus far.
Opening themselves up to hearing me voice insecurities meant a lot to me in those moments.
Jeremy shot me a message post-game telling me that he thinks people are gonna really like the episode.
Sometimes I mention my imposter syndrome. I’d had an epiphany when I literally said to my therapist “I can’t have imposter syndrome, I haven’t done enough yet.”
What I’d done in 2022:
Worked as a content manager as a side gig
Founded my LLC and led my business to:
51k revenue in my first year
Projecting 90-110k for 2023
Ranked in the top 3 pro GMs on StartPlaying Games year-round
Yet still I have these brain goblins telling me that I haven’t done enough. Every day I finish work I look at my to-do list and guilt trip myself for not doing more. It’s wild!
So if I’m gonna give y’all any advice out there, it is: Be cool like 3 Black Halflings. Be kind. Make great entertainment.
I’ll be releasing the Dollars & Dragons interview with Jasper William Cartwright on the same day that our game of Thirsty Sword Lesbians premieres on 3BH. Stay tuned!
In this chat with VJ Harris we discuss casting, shows, tokenism, and other elements of production. We address some topics: What is building an inclusive production? What can you do as a white person to make your environment safe?
Resources for you to make a great thumbnail for low cost or free
Thanks to my Patrons who helped me formulate this resource. You all are an endless source of motivation for me to continue my work. If you are interested to join this group of 25 superstars and help us get to 50 patrons – then you’ll have my undying loyalty in the class war of 2040. Also I’ll release 6 Dollars & Dragons episodes a month once I get 50 patrons. Check it out here! (https://www.patreon.com/isfriday)
Images licensed by SPG are free for you to use and manipulate, so take advantage of that. Remember: the highest paid GM on the website used nothing but SPG licensed images for most of 2022.
I would be careful about looking over “stock art” as there is a smattering of AI art available on DriveThruRPG nowadays. I don’t know if DTRPG will be regulating that or not, so for the time being try to mitigate that by doing some basic research. Reach out to the artist if you are uncertain.
That’s it for today! I just wanted to get this out there because of all the discussion on AI art lately. Cheers, y’all.
