My Life As A Gamer: Patrons And The Campaign (Part Four): Patron Administration

(This is a series. Part One is here, Part Two is here, and Part Three is here.)

To Not Run Oneself Ragged

Referees eager to put this recovered knowledge of Patrons to use may overlook the necessity of administration and become overwhelmed.

This post seeks to address that concern, and to offer practices policies for a Referee to consider prior to adopting them for a campaign. Some of them may see obvious, but the reality is that far too many now running tabletop role-playing games (TRPGs) have little--if any--prior experience running wargame campaigns of any sort and thus a reminder on the basics is in order.

This is a hobby pursuit, done as a leisure activity. It is unreasonable to turn such a thing into a second job. I will explain how to administer Patrons without crossing that line.

The Basics

• The Referee must erect a communications protocol. This is a defined format that the Patron player uses for campaign purposes to communicate with the Referee. It exists to tell the Referee what he needs to know at a glance to speed up processing time.

  Because each Referee thinks differently, and each ruleset emphasizes different things, the Patron player can expect the protocol to be different from one Referee to another- and from one ruleset to another, even run by the same Referee.

• The Referee must erect a specific communications channel. This is also for the Referee's benefit; it allows him to separate messages and keep them orderly for ease of tracking, processing, and returning communications while maintaining confidentiality. All campaign communications are to use that channel, and follow that protocol.

  These days that means e-mail, Direct Messaging via social media or discussion forums, or specific channels in an online space such as a Discord or Slack server. It can include direct phone calls, snail mail, or even in-person visits- as it did back in the 1970s and '80s. (Remember, "Play-By-Mail" was once synonymous with this mode of play.)

• The Referee recruits only what he needs. A brand-new campaign, in a typical Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition (AD&D1e) milieu, does not benefit from having a dozen Patrons. For Referees new to this in particular, three to five is sufficient provided that they have cause to come into conflict and none of them will easily overpower the rest.
• The Referee must communicate clearly. The TRPG hobby, while it can accomodate children, is a hobby by adults and for adults. Clear communication from the Referee to establish what he expects from his players is not optional, and players are required to communicate in the same manner and spirit.

  Other TRPGs will be similar because they follow the paradigm that AD&D1e erected in the 1970s, so the advice for new Referees is the same. As a Referee becomes comfortable with using Patron players, he can expand the number of Patron players active in the campaign until he finds a maximum number that he is willing to deal with. For some that number will be low; for others it could be a dozen or even a score- find out what your limits are.

Suggested Tools & Policies

The key to running a campaign as a leisure pursuit is to use proper tools and practices.

• Communications:

  A lot of TRPG campaigns use Discord, enough that there are multiple video tutorials on setting up a server. Take a look at a few; you may miss a few things that will aid you in keeping things running smoothly (such as using the Role function to silo communications).

  Email is still a viable option. You don't need to create a brand-new address for the campaign, and neither do your players. A file folder specifically for your campaign to sequester communication in, using an email template set up to ensure that messages go straight to that folder, will suffice.

  A public-facing campaign update feed is a good idea, something that blogging sites (e.g. Blogger, Wordpress) are ideal for. The blogging function of sites such as Patreon, Subscribestar, Substack, etc. allow you to maintain such a channel while also permitting players and readers to contribute to defraying expenses (such as they may be). Campaign updates posted there should be confined to information that all players--Patron or not--could know or be expected to learn without difficulty.

  Audio and videos log are also options. YouTube is the obvious option here, and paid memberships are an option if that channel gets big enough. Patreon et. al. also allow for video and audio uploads, and other podcasting sites may be worthwhile- your circumstances will vary.

• Patron Actions:

  Patron actions should be kept on a regular pattern. Fix a deadline; orders arriving after that point are null and void, and that Patron does nothing during that interval. For most campaigns, this means a weekly basis at the most.

  Referees should be flexible enough to permit a Patron to put in action orders whose duration will last far longer than a week. Construction of a potent device, embarking on a long journey, research into a powerful spell, enacting complex strategies- all of these are common AD&D1e examples of long-term Patron actions.

  The Referee must aside time to adjudicate Patron actions and administer the results before running any play session at the table. This should be something doable on a weeknight. If Bob can paint his miniatures while watching the latest Super Sentai show with his kids, the Referee should be able to adjudicate Patron actions in the same setting.

  The reason is that if Patron actions open up a scenario for adventuring characters to handle, the players showing up that week at the table ought to have the option to go for it if the option is viable to pursue (be it with new characters or existing ones).

  For the Referee's benefit, this decision must be made as soon as possible and locked in for that week so that the Referee can turn his limited time to preparing to play that scenario out and not something else. (No, bait and switch is not permissable- not by players or by the Referee.)

Tomorrow I'll show an example of this in practice from the campaign I'm going to run.