ToaFD:List three or more maxims/proverbs/bits of conventional wisdom/etc. that you've learned in your gaming career, and explain what they mean and how you've seen them apply in your gaming experience.
•"Never ask a question you don't want the answer to." This was a proberb that came up early in my first campaign. The taciturn dwarves used it a lot to deny answers to nosey adventurers.
It has come to mean a lot of things at many levels (as all good proverbs do). Don't spend time on silly questions, ask what you mean-- if you don't intend to ask what you mean, maybe you aren't ready to ask it. Don't ask questions about things that might wreck your world if you aren't ready to handle it. Look before you leap. The future is under your own control, enter it when you are ready and not before.
In gaming, this is amazingly interesting advice to players and GMs. You don't have to say things. You don't have to give up secrets. You don't have to respond, let alone answer, probing questions. Role playing is telling a story, but there is time and place for each part of the story to be told.
Don't rush, think long term. Don't push plot at players, let it come naturally.
•"Dreamguard." Also from my first campaign. This was an elvish expression given at evening between friends or lovers parting for the night. The reply was most often, the same, or between really close friends, "Sweet Night and Starshine". The elves knew that one of the nastiest baddies around had domain over the night.
Never part ways or go into the Realm of Sleep without a clear head and a clear conscience for the ones important to you. You may never see them again, you don't want your last memory to be colored with darkness. Anger and pride burn quick and hot, but love can be timeless. In my own life, my wife and I adopted this maxim from the elves. We don't go to sleep without settling an argument or re-affirming how much we love each other.
In gaming terms, remember that any point of disagreement is not a life, it's only a point.
I would have included something like Ginger did about powers and names (some names are not allowed to be said in our house because of gaming history), but she covered it pretty well. Instead I'll reach into another campaign.
• "So much for Plan A." This phrase was invented by another dwarf in my GM Mentor's campaign. It was uttered most often, as you can imagine, when our party found that the primary plan of attack was suddenly worthless. Amusingly, this happened a lot.
No plan survives contact with the enemy. Flexibility is the best policy. Try, try again. We often gave our "Plan A's" everything we had, but we learned that while failure was never part of our plan, it was always a possible outcome. We learned not to panic. We learned to look in the dregs of failure and find "Plan B" and opportunity.
We learned that eventual victory was often finding "Plan B" before the other guy. If your plan was in shambles, the enemy's plan might be too.
As far as gaming, this is incredibly valuable advice to Players and GMs. Plan loosely, give it all you got, then get ready for "Plan B". I distinctly recall one horrible adventure where folks were dying and we got down to "Plan G". But in that desperation and in-character, we were grinning because we figured that the other side must be even more "hosed" than we were with how events had changed. Our mindset was used to rising from the ashes.
I'm slowly moving through the Great White Book of Nobilis. Since I've looked at character sheets, mail list comments, and other accessories beforehand, the material isn't bogging me down. Yet I imagine a D&D player or other young gamer coming to this excellent work from other RPG sources and finding themselves a bit lost. Lost in wonder.
The nanofiction sprinkled on every page is almost worth the book's cost all by itself.
