I can still remember the first time I stood in front of a classroom filled with my peers. I had spent the time researching and learning, writing and organizing, and now it was time to teach. A dozen of my co-workers, people that I spent hours with, ate lunches with, and worked with every day. But this was something different. Standing in front of the classroom. All eyes on me, the looks on their faces were somewhere between anticipation and boredom. I could almost see their thoughts, “Why do I have to be here?” “Why should I listen to this guy?” “This is going to suck.”
I remember telling myself, It’s no different than running a game, Steve. Grab their attention, make your point, and give them what they came for.
I’ve been doing that now for over 25 years.
I wasn’t born a good communicator. I stuttered as a child, and because of that I was not outgoing in the classroom. I rarely asked questions and would damn near run away screaming when it came to making any kind of public statement. But when I would sit down and roleplay with my friends, that changed. It was like I was a different person. I was able to communicate and I wasn’t scared. I actually enjoyed it. Soon I would become the forever game master and that just meant more practice. Because that was what it was, practice.
I know for a fact if I didn’t roleplay I wouldn’t be a national instructor today. That class with 12 people in 1999 was only the beginning. I have done 2-hour presentations to auditoriums with over 1200 people. All of those hours of gaming and communicating gave me the skills and confidence I needed for my future.
We can learn a lot from roleplaying.
Last time, Mike and I talked about the Satanic Panic and all the things the haters said was wrong with roleplaying so today, Mike, Dr. Christina and I are going to talk about all of the good things you get by table top roleplaying.
Let’s start with you Mike, What’s one thing that you can do today because of roleplaying?
[Kick to Mike]
Christina, you literally got your doctorate in this stuff so when we talk about the things we can learn from table top roleplaying, where should we start?
[Kick to Christina]
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