I will write a whole post someday on the importance of friendship in Tabletop Roleplaying groups. Today though I want to capture two tweets I made because I don’t think you can ever say this enough.
#DnD tip: Play groups should work to be friends. Being part of an RPG group makes you are very vulnerable. Doing voices, expressing emotion, or just asking someone to do something cool with you makes you vulnerable.
— Optional Rule (@optionalrule) January 8, 2021
#DnD Tip: Make friends with your DM. DMing is a particularly vulnerable job. Not only do you have all the vulnerability of all the other players, but you represent adversity to the rest of the group. That can be hard. Most poor DM behavior is compensating for that.
— Optional Rule (@optionalrule) January 8, 2021
That’s it. Try to be friends with each other is the best advice I can give any gaming group. Learn a bit about each other and learn to enjoy each other’s company for a bit. You don’t have to be the best of friends. You don’t have to be up in each others lives, which can even be unhealthy. However, you’re going to be spending a few hours together every week, being vulnerable in your roleplaying, and hanging your hopes for a fun time on every other person in the game.
Do more than just try to be friendly and polite with one another, though that is critical too. Make an effort to try to be friends. Show up early to talk, or hangout a little after and bond over the game. Take some time to see the person and not the character or dungeon master. Offer up a bit of yourself to others so they can get to know you too. Above all, try to understand your new friends. You’ll get more out of this as a group than almost anything else I can think of.