Today we hear from the one and only StarShinobi about her experience in the TTRPG community! Let’s see what she has to say!
Stuff You Do: I am an actual play cast member on the WafflesMapleSyrup Pathfinder 2e campaign -Outcast and Outclassed. I also create magic items from time to time, have written for multiple supplements (Disaster Hamsters 1 and 2, Dark Reflections, Villaingers), and offer my time to DM games for charity.
Social Media: Twitter: https://twitter.com/StarShinobi Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/starshinobi/ Linktree:https://linktr.ee/starshinobi
What is your favorite TTRPG?
My favorite ttrpg is my first – D&D 5e; however my love for Pathfinder 2e is growing and Quest also has a special place in my heart.
What is your favorite video game or board game?
That is ever changing and depends on the genre – The Soulsbourne games are amazing and create a challenge that takes practice and skill to overcome, but the games I keep returning to are Raft and The Forest – survival/resource management/building games that make me have to plan out my own adventure.
What is one thing you think defines a (nearly) perfect TTRPG session?
A session where the players have to make decisions and sculpt the future of the campaign. I always love when my players are all engage and feel like what they are doing matters. As a DM, there is nothing I love more than my players making decisions that significantly impact the future of the campaign (whether they know it or not), figuring out a plot point (whether they know it or not), or just outsmarting me completely.
If your home town was launching a new professional sports team, what D&D monster would you choose as their mascot?
The Kuo-toa. While my first thought was owlbear, my favorite D&D monster is the Kuo-toa. They are a creature that if they believe something is a god hard enough, it can become one. What better mascot is there to have? The epitome of “We believe this team is amazing, and so they are!”
What do you think is absolutely essential in creating a safe space for all in a TTRPG game?
Open communication and follow through. It is one thing to have safety cards and discuss lines and veils, but as a GM and a player in a game, you need to ensure everyone at the table that it is safe to enforce their boundaries. Talk about it, remind people always that they can speak up, give trigger warnings to your players, ask how everyone is doing mentally before each game. Show you care about their fun and their mental state. Show them you will take them seriously if they enforce their lines/veils. And this isn’t just from the GM, this is also from the players to each other AND from the players to the GM.
Anything else you’d like us to know:
The TTRPG community has been an amazing experience for me. As someone from a small town who was told for years that I couldn’t participate in the ttrpg space, the acceptance and love I found here constantly makes me happy. If it hadn’t been for the person that opened the door to the community for me, I would still be missing out on experiencing ttrpgs the way I do now. Be that person in the world. Ask people to play, invite others in, open that door for someone who is worried to ask or feels they don’t belong. You can change their world for the better.
Thanks so much for talking with us, Star!
