Taking 20 Podcast - Ep 257 - Play More Reckless

Episode Date: July 6, 2025

Unlock more fun and epic storytelling in your TTRPGs by embracing a little recklessness! In this episode we explore how "driving your characters like you stole them" can lead to unforgettable moments, balancing narrative focus with thrilling unpredictability. Discover why taking bolder choices, communicating with your group, and understanding your character's motivations can elevate your game, knowing that the low stakes of failure in-game lead to incredibly high potential for legendary tales.   #pf2e #Pathfinder #gmtips #dmtips #dnd #rpg #reckless Resources: Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/taking20podcast BlueSky- https://bsky.app/profile/taking20podcast.bsky.social  

This week on the Taking20 Podcast. Drive it like you stole it means to drive a car with reckless abandon, pushing the vehicle and taking risks. What I'm asking today is that you apply that same logic to your characters. Take some risks with them and you might enjoy the ride even more. Music Thank you for listening to the Taking 20 Podcast, episode 257, giving some advice to players that I think will help make the game more fun. I want to thank this week's sponsor, Heaters. Heaters tend to be more educated than fans, because after all, they have more degrees.

Hey, do you have any topic ideas for me? If so, send them my way via social media or email, feedback at taking20podcast.com. To my American listeners, I hope you had a very happy and safe 4th of July, and I hope that you had good food and still have the same number of fingers that you had on July 3rd. Before I really get going on today's episode, I did get an email asking if I would show my face in the YouTube videos. And the answer is no, probably never.

I have a face that can stop a truck and with a big surgery scar on my head that will never cover with hair thanks to weeks of radiation treatments. I haven't quite gone full Anakin post lava encounter, but I am an old man with a giant furrow in my head, so I'll keep my face hidden and you can thank me for it. It has been far too long since I had a player-centric episode, and it's high time I remedy that this week. In some of the games that I run and play in and observe, I've noticed an elephant in the

room that I think hurts the fun players can have around the table. Player caution. Rarely do you ever hear anything from me like the good old days when it comes to RPGs, but I think there's one piece of advice from older versions that modern players need to hear. Drive your characters like you stole them. What? Jeremy, my character is in a car. I know that unless you're playing some RPG where you play anthropomorphic cars, which could be a lot of fun, actually. Drive it like you stole it means to drive a car with reckless abandon, pushing the vehicle and taking risks. What I'm asking today is that you apply that same logic to your characters. Take some risks with them and you might enjoy the ride even more.

I've been playing RPGs for a long, long time and I cut my teeth in the era where character death was very common. And don't worry, this isn't going to become an episode where, by god when I was a youngin we played the game right way because we were we know that's not how I roll games are far better now than they ever were back then but there was an understanding in the earlier versions of like D&D first edition advanced Dungeons & Dragons even into 3.0 and all their sibling games that we played like tunnels and trolls or gamma world or traveler your character could die horribly at any time with one wrong decision or roll of the dice so make your peace with that before you sit down

at the table. It's not to say that those games were cruel by the way that they weren't. Character death but all that had a seat at the table with us though. We would play our characters and there was a better than average chance than your character is going to die at some point in the campaign. And you know what? That's okay. That didn't chase us off, hell, I embraced it, which is probably why I've stuck with this hobby for more than 40 years now. Based on the regular gaming groups that I run and one-shots I lead now and then, plus watching a number of Let's Play Online from, oh gosh, Venture, glass cannon, critical role. In my opinion, players tend to play the game a bit more conservative, in a more cautious manner

than we did in the old days. That's not to say that we did it right or today's players are wrong. It's not right, it's not wrong, it's just different and while cooking this week I started to wonder why that is. Why players are playing more cautiously now. First off, I will concede that I could be completely wrong and this is an entirely subjective measurement based on the observations of one old man. Your gaming group may run a gritty, realistic, hard-nosed game where everybody takes tremendous risks and dead characters are more common than pine pollen.

And if so, you do you, no judgment here and it sounds like a hell of a lot of fun. But are games less lethal now? Possibly. I mean, it might be because players today are better educated about the game than we were back then. I will grant you players today know a hell of a lot more about the game than we did pre-internet. Their websites and blogs and electronic resources, gameplay recordings, podcasts, can help players today learn more about the game.

Please don't think this is a criticism. I am thrilled that my son is growing up in an era where so much information is available so quickly. Maybe fewer characters die because players learn, read, and know more when they sit down than we ever did. Or maybe because players today, even those who have never actually played the game, can watch countless Let's Play videos showing how the game is played by this group or that one. Even if it's not your primary method of learning, watching something done is a great way to learn more about it.

Watching Joe O'Brien play an unconventional cleric like Ramious or Ashley Johnson play Yasha the Barbarian not as a hothead but cool and detached at times teaches us how they approach certain challenges and gives us tools to fall back on to solve similar ones. When our characters face the spike pit trap or navigating an awkward high society affair, we can think of similar situations from our favorite Let's Play videos and learn lessons from what they did right and wrong. It's the equivalent of the person you're working on the job disabling safety mechanisms and getting a nasty electric shock.

Ha! I saw that! Good to know! You learned your lesson by watching them. You won't do that in the future. Or a happier version, I guess. You've seen someone make a cake and you can emulate their actions to duplicate their success. Most modern tabletop RPGs and a significant portion of the player base prioritize narrative

character development in the game. Players emotionally invest in their characters, become attached to them, and their stories look much more than we used to in the old days. If you're more attached to the character, it makes you less inclined to take big risks with them. After all, it's pretty hard for fall staff to raise enough money to open that kitten orphanage if he's dead at the end of a pike. We work with our DMs to design character arcs and possible life paths. We're encouraged to come up with a reason to why characters are adventuring, a life's purpose for your character,

whether it's to get rich, avenge a loved one, prove someone right, or maybe prove someone wrong. We build these possible narratives for our characters and we want to see our characters have that happy ending, no matter what that looks like. In modern games, there's more of a focus on storytelling, that our characters are the hero and we're watching their story unfold.

Older games were less narrative and more tactical and meat grindery, if that's a word. There wasn't a focus on a life path or retirement for your character. Generally, they were adventuring just to adventure and really didn't need a reason for doing so. And the focus of those games weren't the heroics of the characters, but the vastness of the world and the wide variety of dangers that you could face. That they were small beings against a vast uncaring world and survival was unexpected. These days there's a joke around a lot of tables

that, hey, you better have a backup character. I mean, I use that joke too. But it really was a necessity in the old days. Our group lost so many characters that I barely remember. Calipres, Victor, Gendry, all adventurers who perished and whose deeds are lost to the sands of time. But there are some memorable deaths, like Kodo the Barbarian who tackled the wizard off the top of a building, killing both of them and ending a threat to the town. Or my character Psycho, spelled S-Y-C-O by the way, the thief who stole the contract

with King Soul and was hunted down by devils because of it. This new narrative-driven focus in modern games means in general, games are designed to be less lethal. But Jeremy, you may be saying, if they're less lethal, wouldn't players be even more reckless? Maybe they're taking risks, but not having such dramatic negative consequences so players appear to be more cautious.

You know what? Let's stop talking generics, let's use an example. Back in the bad old days, when you dropped to zero hit points there were no death saving throws like in 5e or getting healed and getting back up with the wounded condition in Pathfinder 2e. Failing a save against a Medusa or Basilisk or disintegration spell meant instant death. No safety net, no backsees. No easy way for your teammates to undo what was done to your character. In a lot of modern games, they build these safety catches into the game so the likelihood of death is reduced.

The save or suck mechanics are dramatically reduced, which by the way, if you don't know what I mean by save or suck, see episode 30. A Cliff's Notes version of that episode would say that games used to have spells that had punishing, debilitating conditions that were inflicted on your character for failing a single saving throw.

Again, not good, not bad, just a different design. But regardless, games today are less focused on tactical combat than they used to be. The original games were based on wargaming games where tactics and positioning weren't everything, they were the only thing, to quote Vince Lombardi. Editor Jeremy here it occurs to me that this reference might need some explanation since the Venn diagram overlap of my listeners who also know historical American football coaches might be razor thin. Vince Lombardi was a coach of the NFL's

Green Bay Packers in the 1960s primarily. One of his favorite quotes is winning isn't everything it's the only thing meaning the will to win is the most important thing anyway I've probably over playing this joke now, and I will resume shutting the hell up back to your episode older games were more focused on tactical combat treating each encounter as a problem to be solved and Managing your limited resources to survive to reinforce the lethality of older versions, look at hit points granted. Hell, in original D&D, in some classes in AD&D you started with 1d6 hit points, not a fixed number, you had to roll for it. And given their low constitution, wizards were at real danger of dying in a one on one

fight with a kitten. All of this to say that the game is different now, because players are emotionally invested in their characters and the game is more narratively focused, character death has a much bigger impact than it used to. So players tend to be very very cautious at the table and I think it's robbing some players of some of the fun you can be having with your characters. When character death was more common there were games where our characters would go in a dungeon, When character death was more common, there were games where our characters would go in a dungeon, find a glowing metal disc and didn't shy away from it. It became a who gets to touch it and see what happens kind of moment around the table. That being said, okay, we weren't stupid. Everyone else stayed behind the door in case the disc went boom, but we did take more calculated risks and I think we had more fun because of it.

We kicked down doors without checking to see if they're trapped. Did that cause problems by the way? Yeah, occasionally we'd get hit by a swinging scythe or hit with poison darts or cause explosive arcane sigils to go off and our character would need some serious healing. But that was fun and exciting and it made for great stories. I've seen groups that search for traps every 10 feet down corridors, roll insight checks on every single statement by an NPC, and will repeatedly search rooms convinced there is a secret door there, scared they're going to miss something. They refuse to engage in combat unless they have all the knowledge they could possibly collect and the situation is ideal for their characters.

While I'm all for being thorough, a playstyle like this, striving for optimization, the best possible outcome in every situation, can really make the game slower and honestly more boring. I fear that players are being too cautious these days and focused more on optimal build spreadsheets than the fun of playing the character. And I think we need to find some of that old school recklessness while we're playing our games. It's time to start playing our characters less safe and more epic, bigger, bolder. Next, can we all agree that the ramifications of failure in tabletop RPGs are generally very low? Whoa whoa whoa, Jeremy! I love my cleric Liv and I don't want anything to happen to her. I get it. you crafted her from nothing

and in many ways she is like your little virtual child brought to life from your character sheet. But what if the worst thing happened and she died the next combat? Would you be sad? Probably. Would you move on and make another character? Almost definitely. RPG games, for all of our emotional attachment and all the love we pour into the game, really are low stakes affairs. In-game mistakes may cost you gold or hit points or your character's reputation, but it's not like it's physically hurting you or others in the real world, and it's not like it's taking a bat to your checking account or anything. The consequences of failure, even

the ultimate failure in the game, may garner you some good-natured ribbing around the table, but so what? One of my old characters, Carrick, once stuck his hand in a glowing black orb at the top of a wizard tower near the end of a campaign. Every now and then someone from my gaming group will give me a good-natured, I stick my hand in it, and we all laugh, myself included. RPG games aren't a survival simulation where real people are feeling negative effects of every decision. It's a shared session of make-believe with no real major consequences. Characters are more interesting and more fun when they break out of the safe, stay in the middle, worry about everything play style and either become a legend or a spectacular failure.

Either way, it's memorable and fun. My character, Karak, was an idiot. I roleplayed him as an idiot, and guess what? He died an idiot. But memorably, ground up and spit into the negative energy plane. Nasty way to go, but he's popped up as an NPC in some of my other games. So see, even your dead characters can live on. But compare being reckless with your character with being reckless with your finances or your vehicle or your loved ones. Those have a much higher chance of very negative consequences in your real life compared to being reckless with an RPG character. So loosen the reins just a little bit. Now a caveat.

Remember, your reckless fun should negatively impact the fun of others around the table. Any reckless or bold acts by your character shouldn't cause other players to suffer. Let your other players know that your character is going to be a little more reckless and make sure everyone's okay with that. And if they are, get ready to watch the fun fly. Also, talk to your GM about wanting to play more recklessly. Every time I've had a player mention their characters acting this way,

I have set up multiple situations where they can be rewarded for their reckless behavior. And sometimes it can lead to interesting and fun situations. Now, if I've convinced you, you may be asking, Jeremy, how do I play my character more recklessly? Remember, I said we played with calculated risk, so let's talk about how to do that. In short, this involves doing things like understanding

why your character could be reckless in certain situations. Even the most chaotic of characters isn't going to be reckless all the time. That's insanity. And even though Psycho was borderline insane, hence the name, and very careless with his life, he wasn't careless with the lives of others around him. So yes, he stuck his hand in the glowing orb

of negative energy, but he would never have asked anyone else to do the same, nor would he've tried to force that on other people. He's reckless, not psychotic, despite his name. So pick something your character's reckless about. psychotic, despite his name. So pick something your character is reckless about. One of my characters is a degenerate gambler and generally finds a way to lose any money that he makes. He's reckless with his money, but not party loot. He wouldn't go bet a staff of

the Magi that somebody else wanted because it's not his. So be reckless in a way or in a certain situation. Another way to think of this is to understand why your character is reckless and act appropriately in that situation. Recklessness can be born out of naivete, naivete, naivete, being naive. I never say that word right. Recklessness can be born out of being naive. Maybe your character has never encountered a door trap and doesn't even think any door in the dungeon could possibly be trapped. I mean, come on, when does that happen?

Jeremy the player knows lots of doors are trapped and would be careful, but Parisa the first level halfling has found locked doors, but never trapped ones. So the thought doesn't even enter her mind until either the first one goes off in her face, or she appropriately is warned by the other members of her adventuring party. Recklessness could be born out of impulsiveness. They act first, think later. There's a lever on the wall and no obvious thing the lever does. Well, the best way to find out is to go ahead and throw the lever. And that begins the unnecessarily slow crushing trap from the ceiling.

Caution can also be born out of analysis. The floor could be trapped, therefore I'm going to tap it with a 10-foot pole. There could be monsters in the cave, so I'm going to cast light on a pebble and throw it in. Let me let you in on a little secret, and I think some of my players listen to this episode, so... I think some of my players listen to my episodes, so Jen, Matt, Richard, Zach, Mononita, others, I am so sorry for what you're about to hear. If I'm ever underprepared for a session, Richard, Zach, Mononita, others, I am so sorry for what you're about to hear. If I'm ever underprepared for a session, all I have to do is to be careful with my wording and they get a little paranoid.

You approach the clearing and everything seems quiet. Dear Lord, the skill checks start rolling. Nature for this, perception for that, survival for this other thing. All because I put a touch of emphasis on the word seams. That usually buys me about five to 10 minutes to catch up on my notes for this session and be better prepared.

Why does this work? Because they are a very careful lot. Most of them are engineers and no shade being thrown because I work in cybersecurity, but they can overanalyze the shit out of everything. One time in a dungeon room, I casually mentioned the room had some old desiccated sticks and branches in the corner. I had rolled that fact on a random dungeon dressing table.

There was absolutely no foreshadowing, no clues to be deciphered, but the group spent 45 minutes in real time trying to figure out why there were old weathered sticks in the room. Do they look good for a fire? Could they possibly be used to make weapons? Is there a knife or whittling tool nearby? Well, possibly, no, and no. Okay, I can't speak with plants. They're dead. Dead plants don't talk back. They were confused and couldn't come up with the answer to the great puzzle of these sticks in a corner. They would not move on because they were sure that the secret to this dungeon could be found in fucking sticks Finally to get the game moving I generated a goblin whose hobby was collecting sticks and he had stashed them there fine

Yes, you figured out the great mystery of little Lionel the goblin The party wound up adopting him and would regularly bring him sticks they collected from the forest. I suppose that example undermined my point, but they wasted a lot of time on sticks. If they'd been reckless and just said, huh, sticks, weird, and moved on, then we would have gotten through the adventure much quicker than we did. I think that campaign lasted seven years to get through six books of adventure. So I would ask you, my beloved players out there, lean into a little bit of risk. Play a slightly more reckless character, not by being a jerk to the rest of the party, but by making interesting character choices. They create great story moments. When things go wrong,

embrace it. A reckless character would never say, why did that happen? But instead they'd say, well that didn't work and that sucked. What's next? By being a little more reckless, our tabletop RPGs can lead to more fun and more epic storytelling. While games have evolved to be less lethal and more narrative focused, the spirit of driving your characters like you stole them can inject a thrilling unpredictability to your sessions. Remember to communicate with your fellow players in GM, understand your character's motivations for recklessness, and embrace both the legendary successes and spectacular failures that will come with these bolder choices.

After all, the ramifications of failure in tabletop RPGs are low, but potential for unforgettable moments is incredibly high. If you take more risks and be a little more reckless, I'd be willing to bet that you and your fellow players would have fun doing it. Thank you so much for listening. If you like this podcast, please like, subscribe, and follow us on social media. I'll include links in the episode description. Come on by and say hi. In two weeks, I need to take a little bit of a break. I need to travel to see a family member who's having some health issues and I need to take an episode off. So in four weeks, on August 3rd,

I'll be talking to my DM friends out there about how to handle official canon in their game world. But before I go, I wanna thank this week's sponsor, Heaters. I bet you didn't expect me to mention the sun in this joke. After all, it is just a giant space heater. This has been episode 257, encouraging players to be a little more reckless with their characters. My name is Jeremy Shelley, and I hope that your next game is your best game. The Taking20 podcast is Copyright 2025 by Jeremy Shelley.

The opinions or views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host. References to game system content are copyrighted by their respective publishers.