Preparing for the new game set in the Northern Isles has been… well, busy. One of the things that took the most time was collaborating with each player in turn to conceptualise and build a character descriptively before I then sat down to put that character into the system. In other words, to take the role the player created and use the system to stat them up.

Initially I thought this would be a big laborious process. The reality has been far from laborious. I have found myself enjoying each step: the initial concepts were each excellent – brief and yet illuminating and evocative; discussing and playing through the background events has been an interesting and engaging process; and putting each character into the system has been something that made me smile with joy.

Slowing down the gaming process has been rich for me. Certainly it has also been nerve-wracking and uncertain – this is, after all, the essence of experimental play – but thus far I have been enjoying it deeply. It has been rewarding and I believe that the consequent gaming sessions in-world will be all the better for us all being already attached to these player characters. For my part, I want to play.

What am I suggesting? Everything so far goes against the regular kind of roleplaying: we met as players and discussed what we wanted to achieve; we have collaborated to sketch out a world for play; we have conceived player characters and outlined each of their backstories; the GM has chosen a rules system; the GM has built the characters. On top of that, I think I have an opening situation to seek to bring these characters together.

It’s looking like this may be more doable than I ever imagined. It’s time to find out as we meet to play.

Game on!