Thread by @GauntletRPG

Find a mentor!

That's my (unsolicited) life advice for today.

Everyone is talking about Avery's thread re: game jams and crunch. It's a good thread; please go read it (I'll link to it at the bottom of this thread).

I want to talk about the importance of mentorship.

(thread)

Avery's thread is directed at people who wish to make a living (or at least supplement their income) by making ttrpgs. Making a living at ttrpgs is definitely not easy—there are just basic market factors at play—but if you really want to have a go at it, try to find a mentor.

When I started moving The Gauntlet into publishing, I was fortunate enough to have experienced people like @trumonz and @kylejsimons to help me learn the ropes. (And I'm still learning!)

I have a good-sized community of people in The Gauntlet who support me and provide me with validation. But that community of supportive people is not the same thing as working one-on-one with an experienced professional.

Those people have valuable insight. They have put in a lot of hours. They understand the pitfalls. They understand the logistics. My mentors understand WAY more about the business than I do, and I lean on them whenever I can.

I think Avery's thread comes from a place of wanting to provide mentorship (though at a larger scale). She does, in fact, run a game design mentorship program. I myself have paid forward the mentorship I have received to a number of upcoming industry types.

Importantly, you never stop having a mentor. And, when you start mentoring someone yourself, you will always be that person's mentor. I find this to be true in many vocations.

So, how do you find a mentor? I'm sure there are lots of different ways, but I just straight up asked. You say "Hey, I really love what you did with XYZ, and I'm thinking about doing ABC, which is similar. Do you have any advice?"

It can be informal like that, or it can be something more structured, like the IGDN scholarship, convention programs, Avery's program, and so forth.

Even if you ask someone and they don't have the bandwidth to help you out, they will at least remember you and they will respect the hell out of the fact that you asked. And that will pay off later, trust me.

I want to reiterate that I am only speaking to people who want to do ttrpgs professionally. The hobbyist or the person who makes games because they find it creatively fulfilling may not need this kind of advice.

And there is plenty of space for both. Making ttrpgs because it's fun or creatively satisfying is a 100% valid reason for doing so. I do it all the time.

I'm going to continue thinking and writing about the idea of mentorship. I'd love to put some kind of formal program together within Gauntlet spaces, particularly something that helps up and coming designers from marginalized communities.

As for the game jams, I'll say that I am personally not super familiar with them, but I find them intriguing. Many people in Gauntlet spaces participate in them and talk them up, but it's just something that hasn't hit my plate yet (fwiw, I'm not well-versed in Game Chef, either)

But I'm definitely interested in what is going on there. If there is a particularly great game that comes out of a game jam, I hope someone will find a way to let me know about it so we can give it some coverage.

And here is Avery's thread, as promised:

https://twitter.com/dreamaskew/status/1109645646380699648

(End thread)