The Mission

 

Holy crap-balls!  This is blog post one-thousand, hoss!!!  Thanks to everyone who's been reading, commenting, and supporting me over these last 13+ years.

I've got a lot of things going on right now... end of school for kids, my upcoming book is going through last minute revision, I'm running my face-to-face, 4-year long, every other week (with 6 weeks off around the holidays) Cha'alt campaign; a monthly Cha'alt PG-rated half-session that includes my one kid who still loves playing; and an even more truncated weekly Roll20 Cha'alt campaign that's only 90-minutes. Plus, you know, life.  

Oh yeah, and my TTRPG convention VENGER CON V: The Will To Power happening in Madison, WI this July.  Grab your weekend badge now, and JOIN US!!!!!

So yeah, lots of stuff.  However, I wanted to wrap-up the soul-searching and deep-dive social media discussions about what's become most important to me in the roleplaying game hobby.  That thing which I consider both foundational and transformative when it comes to my subjective understanding of what we do.  

What's my personal philosophy?  What is... the mission?

In a word: PSYCHOCOSM.

Without using fancy jargon and extensive argumentation, let me break it down.  We participate in RPGs because it allows us an immersive experience.  But now that you're immersed, what then?  

What comes next is PSYCHOCOSM.  You identify, you believe, you create, you search for meaning, self-actualization; you do things that make you happy, that make your character's life (played by you) worth living, memorable, larger than life, fascinating, epic, awesome, or special in some way.

As the players' experience heightens, the campaign deepens, widens... until the created world improves the Game Mastering, which then increases player satisfaction, leading to renewed immersion as the continuous improvement circle turns.

As a GM, one of the myriad ways I connect with the campaign setting is to not only pay attention to the Living World, but also the Living Story (if you're interested in reading more about this, I have an article about story emulation right over here).  It's not scripted, there's no predetermined ending, and the GM is not writing a novel.  

It is the decisions of the players' characters, living in that world, which allow narratives to unfold.  The story part of TTRPGs is not anathema to the game part.  Occasionally congruent, at other times opposed, these two concepts, story and game, are complimentary, and worth more together than separate.

One of the best things about TTRPGs is that they're both game and story, combined!  Story-creation is the game; the game is story-creation.  The point of playing is to create a story with moment-to-moment input from all participants, players and GM alike, and immerse ourselves in it.  Fiddling with numbers and rolling dice are merely procedures for adjudicating unknowns, managing risk vs reward, and testing the law of averages.  

So, the mission is PSYCHOCOSM.  And how we get there is by opening ourselves up to immersion and beyond... submerging ourselves in the characters, world and story; actively moving towards them, seizing opportunities, going after moments that transcend the make-believe, as we pretend to be wizards and fighters, clerics and rogues, skulking around in the darkness, slaying monsters and seeking treasure. 

Thanks for reading, and feel free to comment below with whatever you want to say!

VS

p.s.  Yes, weekend badges are now available for July 2026's VENGER CON V: The Will To Power.  Want the hardcover Cha'alt trilogy?  Here's how (and they're currently on sale!)!!