I’ve just finished reading Every Day I Read, a collection of essays by Korean author Hwang Bo-Reum where she breaks down the joy and approaches she has to reading fiction and non-fiction. Most of my reading tends to be TTRPG books, and it occurs to me that I think we have a really different approach to reading game texts than other non-fiction.
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This is pretty idiosyncratic to individuals, I think, but these are the kinds of game reading that I do. None of them, I should say, involves reading the whole book from back to front – I don’t think I do that except for the very shortest of TTRPGs. There’s probably loads that I’ve missed! Do you do this? What are your reading habits?
The Daydream Skim
This is the first stage – and often the most pleasurable! From taking the new book (or .pdf) home, I’ll browse it – looking at options and content, jumping back and forth through bits that interest me – or just trying to find things that interest me. This random discovery stage, for some games, is probably as far as they get – and that’s not always a good thing.
Particularly with Kickstarters, they can sometimes arrive just when I don’t have any time to read them, and if I don’t do this stage I can guarantee they’ll go back on a shelf, and I might miss some gems from them.
The Proper Read
This is, often, when I’ve got a real motivation to get a game to the table – usually as a ref, sometimes as a player. I’ll pick out the bits I need to really know, and work through them. Anything particularly complex, I’ll make a note of or put a bookmark in
At this stage, if it’s a new game to me, I’ll write up a “One-Sheet” of rules references to help at the table. I rarely need to refer to these except for spot rules; it’s the process of doing it that helps, as it makes sure I don’t miss anything, because I’m still jumping backwards and forwards with my reading.
The Prep Reference
This is where we really get into it. I’ve decided what I want to do with a game, and I’m reading carefully to translate that into the table. With a rule book or sourcebook I’ll probably be parsing the content into quick scene notes for play.
With an actual adventure, I usually do read the whole thing first – just to check there aren’t any big plot holes or bits that won’t sit well at the table. Then, I’ll read again more carefully, writing bullet point notes to make running easier. I do this for nearly everything I run – even really nicely presented adventures like Winter’s Daughter – and as with the rules one-sheet, it’s the process rather than the notes sheet that works. I know what I tend to forget at the table, so names of NPCs and any clues involving proper nouns get copied down in an obvious place on these notes – and, if I remember, a few stock names in case I need to invent an NPC during play.
So, how do you read TTRPGs? Does anyone actually read them cover to cover? Let me know in the comments!
Burn After Running: RPG One-Shots 
[…] The Original Lonely Fun – How We Read TTRPGs @ Burn After Running – A short look at the different ways we actually read TTRPGs – the skims, the deep dives, the prep passes – and why game books invite a kind of wandering, idiosyncratic reading that other non‑fiction rarely does. […]
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[…] After Running has a nice breakdown of three different ways we read RPGs: The Daydream Skim, The Proper Read,The Prep […]
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this was really interesting! especially as i do tend to read ttrpgs from cover to cover! at least so far ^^ not in one sitting, ‘of course’, but when i do start reading one, i usually continue where i left off. this also means that i haven’t read that many, mind you ^^” to be fair, i have also skimmed through some, but it’s then more of an extremely quick scroll in a pdf, and barely any reading at all. i know that once i start and become absorbed with one, i will want to read it all the way through! in some ways i do wish i’d let myself start more, there’s a lot of games i want to read, even if i don’t think it’s likely i’ll get to play them. definitely something i could start trying more 🙂 that said, i kinda also do like how i read them as is, even if it takes me more time and i overall get to read fewer games ^^ still, super interesting to get another perspective 😀 thank you for sharing ❤
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this was really interesting! especially as i do tend to read ttrpgs from cover to cover! at least so far ^^ not in one sitting, ‘of course’, but when i do start reading one, i usually continue where i left off. this also means that i haven’t read that many, mind you ^^” to be fair, i have also skimmed through some, but it’s then more of an extremely quick scroll in a pdf, and barely any reading at all. i know that once i start and become absorbed with one, i will want to read it all the way through! in some ways i do wish i’d let myself start more, there’s a lot of games i want to read, even if i don’t think it’s likely i’ll get to play them. definitely something i could start trying more 🙂 that said, i kinda also do like how i read them as is, even if it takes me more time and i overall get to read fewer games ^^ still, super interesting to get another perspective 😀 thank you for sharing ❤
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One that I use, which is similar to the “prep reference,” is the “strip mine”: for a game (or especially setting) I’m not planning to run as-is, but with some pieces I want to steal for a game I am running, I go through and methodically note / transfer notes of all the pieces I want to steal into the other campaign’s notes.
For example, I have no intention of running Old Gods of Appalachia as-is, but I noticed from my daydream skim that it had a lot of areas that would be good starting / adaptation material for places in the eastern area for my weird west independent train company campaign. So I went through later and copied the most interesting or relevant pieces over to my other campaign’s worldbuilding section, often with page note references to Old Gods so that if my players do go there I can find the original section again more easily to pull more.
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I’ve been trying to read back to front. it’s harder for the more tactical RPGs. Those I tend to do the skim to look at the rules and see what going on with the game. Then follow the process you go through.
I find smaller indie game or story game, I have not problem reading back to front. Just did that with the Last Caravan.
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