Wyrmworks Publishing How do you find great gaming groups? Welcome to Gaining Advantage. Wyrmworks Publishing Welcome to Gaining Advantage. We're using role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons to help make lives better. It's less than a week to go to get in on the create a character discount for our fall campaign, Limitless Characters. It's going to be the biggest and most diverse collection of disability themed fantasy miniatures ever made. Right now you can add your character concept to that core collection that will be on 1000s of tabletops all over the world. Our team will create a statblock, 2D full color art, 3D STL for 3D printing, color 3D art for 3D color printing, which will be available in our Kickstarter this fall. So even if you don't have a 3D printer, you can order the miniatures and part of that is included in what we're offering right now. If you want your characters included in that core collection, just go to mini.WyrmworksPublishing.com That link's in the show notes. Before July 14 and claim your spot — it's $575 right now, it'll be 600 when the Kickstarter launches, and so I encourage you to go and get that right now. If you're hearing this too late, it's not too late. Go to Wyrmworkspublishing.com, sign up for our announcements email so that you know when our Kickstarter launches so you can get in on the early rewards. Wyrmworks Publishing And now follow me to Vancouver for a great interview. Wyrmworks Publishing What is the most common problem facing tabletop role playing game groups? Scheduling! But even more, for many, it's finding a welcoming group. Today, we welcome the CEO and co-founder of YVR Dungeon Masters, Montana Rosalle. Welcome, Montana. Montana Rosalle Thank you, Dale. Wyrmworks Publishing So what would you like us to know about you personally, specifically speaking to the tabletop role playing game crowd? Montana Rosalle Personally, it's something that changed my life. It was I found tabletop role playing games at a time where I didn't know what I wanted to do in my life. But it opened up a side of creativity to me that I never knew I had. I started doing improv, I do acting now. I just opened myself to what possibilities of my life I could really reach, you know, it is something that I have really want to share with the world. Wyrmworks Publishing Alright, well then tell us about the work of YVR Dungeon Masters. Montana Rosalle So YVR Dungeon Masters is a nonprofit, nonprofit organization that helps spread tabletop gaming to whoever it could be. What we do our main bread and butter is doing intro nights. So meeting having new people meet new people, learning how to play the game, a dungeon master kind of guiding through all the rules and roleplay and all that stuff. But more than that, we connect people to games. So if we would have people send in what they wanted, where they live, and we connect people together, creating groups of people that want the same thing. One of the biggest issues that we face is, you know people just don't know what they want or how to find it, just breaking past that first barrier. Wyrmworks Publishing Okay. So can you tell us a little bit about how that process works? Montana Rosalle Sure. So they would email us and we would send a form, the form would have, who they are, where they live, what kind of game they want. It doesn't have to be Dungeons and Dragons 5e. Could be Fate. Or Or Call of Cthulhu, whatever they want. We would then find people within our chart. It's connecting them together. We will then email everyone to get together, go through the first process of introductions where they want to what they want and stuff like that. And as soon as everyone kind of starts get the flow of conversation, we'd go then organise a date, time for everyone to come meet and then we'd bring everyone together. After the first kind of interaction, it's all on them. But of course, if anything happens, we're kind of a third party people can go to be like, you know, this was something that didn't really work for me. I could need to look for this type of thing because we know that even if you have an idea of what you want, it's not always what you need. Yeah, we're really trying to work the process of getting people that have never played the game before, into groups, and it's always something that we're working on to try to refine and make better. Wyrmworks Publishing I can see that really being helpful for people that just have difficulty initiating social connections. Montana Rosalle Yes, 100% it's, it's always people see all the different media things, you know, Stranger Things, Community, they see people play Dungeons and Dragons or even like, even further of like, Critical Role or Dimension 20, they see all these like actors playing the game and they they really want to play it, but they don't know how to get from the step of watching it to actually playing it. And that's kind of where we come in. Help you be able to get at least your first game in with the intro games. Just a quick one shot three hours. They don't have to bring in character or make a character—we have everything all set up for them. And then they get to play that and then from there, they're like, Okay, this is what I like, this is where I want to go, and then they contact us and we get them to a home game. Wyrmworks Publishing So how broad is your range? Montana Rosalle Right now? We're just based in Vancouver. So our local community trying to get people together. But we're are looking to expand but first we want to get the formula correct. Because there is sometimes a disconnect between their first session and then finding a group. Wyrmworks Publishing Makes sense. All right. So how have you seen lives changed because your work? Montana Rosalle You know, it was one of our great stories is a cool, cool guy named Brennan. He came into our intro night, he moved out here from a different province, and he didn't know anyone. He never even played the game before. And he came in he really enjoyed his first time. And he was like, I kind of I kind of want to know more about everything about this. So he sent us an email. We got a group together. And I was the Dungeon Master for the group just to get everyone because they didn't have a Dungeon Master. And he started to learn the game. That group is still playing today. That was like three years ago. They were very tight knit group. They go on vacation together. They hang out all the time outside of it. Going to drag shows. Then they're like a close, almost family, you know. And we've had a couple groups of people like that where people didn't really know anyone didn't have like friends and then now they're just like, really connected as you know, friends and peers. And seeing that is like, really heartwarming. It's exactly why I wanted to do this. It's really helping people really get to that next step. And there's also another person. He was, he came to me and he was like, before I get into the game, can I sit down and talk to you in a coffee shop? And I was like, Yeah, sure. And he was telling me he's he has very bad social anxiety. He's doesn't really work well with a lot of people. And I was like, okay, yeah. Totally trying to find your group that's okay with that kind of stuff. I found people that were like, Oh, my brother had social really bad social anxiety. I know exactly what that is. So he ended up becoming friends with them. And they started opening up he had created these really great characters that once like a wizard, an Eladrin wizard that was using spellbook to like, learn about the world and honestly, it was great to see him open up and like, really start become more communicative. And it was just like, beautiful, and that's what I want to do. You know? Wyrmworks Publishing That's awesome. I love that. I that is one of the things that got me doing what I'm doing and everything was just seeing the power of tabletop games to to bring people together to build, you know, the relationships beyond the game. Montana Rosalle Yeah. Wyrmworks Publishing I've just I've never seen anything else that can bridge that gap as effectively. Montana Rosalle Yeah, me either. It was the first first game I ever played. I didn't even know any of these people. But when I sat down in the game store, and I started playing this rogue from someone who didn't even show up to the session, and I was like, Okay, so there's an ooze. There's two oozes blocking my way. Can I run up the wall? And they're like, Yeah, that's a great idea. I was like, Oh, cool. Run up the wall, stab these two oozes, they both die. I'm like, wow, this is so great. But it was even more just like, such like a friendly atmosphere because I wasn't really that social of a person before. And these people just like kind of welcomed me in and I think that's the great power of it is you don't have to fully be yourself because you have a character in front of you. But you get to express who you are. And that kind of helps warm you up to like, being like, you know, maybe I'll just be who I am, you know? Wyrmworks Publishing Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. All right. You just rescued a djinn from the hands of an efreeti, and it offers you three wishes to achieve your goals to make the world better. What do you wish for? Montana Rosalle To make the world I would probably say I wish I had like kind of like a Cerebro from X-Men be able to like hook my brain into that and then find all the people that want to play Dungeons and Dragons if I could, like, map out like, okay, there's 40 people in this city. There's 150 in this city. Oh, I can connect these people together and like, figure out how to like place them all together into groups. That would be great. Wyrmworks Publishing I love that. Montana Rosalle The next thing I would I would make it so… it's interesting because like this one wish I feel like it's all already happening. But I wish that everyone in the world was just knew about Dungeons & Dragons. If everyone knew about it and knew what it did and like what's its purpose and like how it affects people. That would be so great, because then everyone wouldn't have any barriers or anything like that. But why say that like it feels like that's already happening because I actually I used to before the pandemic, I used to go to schools and teach acting to kids. There's like a three day program kind of thing and come into a classroom and work their way through it. And I was talking to one of the teachers during lunchtime that was running a group of Dungeons and Dragons for like these kids. And I was like, This is so great. I wish I had this in my elementary school and she was just like, oh, this is awesome. But I actually was talking to others teachers around the Lower Mainland. And we were thinking about having like, Why do soccer meets happen, but there's no Dungeons and Dragons meet? And I was like, that's an interesting concept. And she was like, yeah, get the different D&D groups from all the different schools and then bring them into a gymnasium, and have like an epic adventure with all of them. So like, connecting the different schools with all these kids, and like really just like playing Dungeons and Dragons, and I was like, that's amazing. And I feel like that's kind of where we're heading, right, where it's really becoming not just like a game but like a sport almost. Wyrmworks Publishing Yeah Montana Rosalle It's great. Wyrmworks Publishing Yeah, no. Wow, what a cool idea. My my home group has. It was three tables, but now it's two because of the pandemic kind of messed things up. But we have we have two different groups that are both in the same campaign world. And, and so there's what one does, there's repercussions on the other one, and and so we've been talking about the plan was eventually to end up bringing everyone together. And you know, and doing kind of a big epic thing and and we're, we're hoping to, if things ever calm down enough that we can consistently come together in person because everyone's still remote, to you know, expand it, add more tables and things like that. So yeah, what you're talking about, this is exactly what I want to do. But when you talk about bringing schools together and stuff like that, I mean, you know, I was just thinking in my own city, you know, my own community, but to be able to expand that the way that, you know, different schools come together for sports and things like that. Yeah. Wow, that'd be pretty epic. Montana Rosalle Yeah. For my third wish. You know, I guess my third wish would, this one's a little out there, but I wish everyone had, like, if you're a Dungeons & Dragons fan, there'd be like little icons hovering above other people, that D&D. You just be like D&D, or Pathfinder, and as you're walking down the street, you can like kind of see, and like a augmented reality type thing, just like oh, hey, and then they see your icon and you're like, Oh, that's awesome. Are you playing a group right now? So great. Just make it so much easier. Wyrmworks Publishing Yeah. Oh, no. Absolutely. T-shirts are helpful for that if Montana Rosalle yes, it is. Wyrmworks Publishing I try to wear D&D t-shirts in public and stuff like that, hoping that somebody would go, Oh, hey! Montana Rosalle Yeah. I actually so to advertise for YVR Dungeon Masters, I have a sign, like on a, like a sandwich board type thing, corrugated board, and it just says, Have you ever wanted to play D&D? And I just sit out there with a sign. And I just people walk by some people are like, is that some religious thing? So then people are like, Oh, yes, I have. What is this for? And then you start talking about it. And they're like, is this really that popular? I'm like, You're this like, let me see, 23rd person I've talked to in the past hour, you know, and they're like, Oh, okay. Yeah, this is a thing I can do. You know, but it is very interesting to like, see how many people in a crowd have either thought about it, played it before or know people that play it. Wyrmworks Publishing Yeah, it's Yeah, we really live in kind of a golden age right now. You know, considering when I got started, it was in the early 80s. And it was niche. It was the Satanic Panic and all that other stuff. And our version of playing in school was in sixth grade indoor recess, when the weather was bad. Grab a piece of notebook paper or graph paper if you had some and just sort of make things up on the fly and roll a D6 and if you roll high, it's good. And if you roll low, it's bad and you know, we didn't have any rule books or anything but it worked until the school banned it because Satanic Panic, of course, Montana Rosalle Of course. And it's interesting because there are still people out there that are pushing it, but they're the niche now, so. Wyrmworks Publishing Right. Yeah, no, exactly. And I ran into that too. But yeah, then, you know, my response to that was always just come and watch. You know, better yet, play. But, you know, but otherwise, just just watch, you know, so I had people do that and oh, yeah, there's nothing wrong with it. Montana Rosalle Yeah, yeah. That's usually the issue is that people just don't know. Wyrmworks Publishing Yep. Alright, so one. What What message would you like to give gamers who are looking for a good tabletop gaming group? Montana Rosalle Try, try and try again. I always feel like there's so many times where you can run into bumps in the road when you're forming a group: Scheduling. Just like weird things happening. People have been like, Oh, I got that job and I gotta move to Ontario or like across the world. There's always sometimes you just have a Dungeon Master that doesn't click with the group and you feel like this is your only chance to like find a group. But there is always people out there. Even in your small town of, you know, 50 or 60 people. You can either convince people to least try it, and they'll get into it. Or you can at least just, you know, go online and try and find people that way. I think the more you kind of leave yourself open to new ideas and new ways of being able to play then you'll be able to give your chance to find what you need. I myself had to go through like a good eight groups before I was just like, I'm going to become a Dungeon Master. But even then it was hard to find people and bring them together. It was always asking people that are randomly have been like hey, do you play Dungeons & Dragons, or I play Dungeon & Dragons, and just kind of putting it out there in the world. It's it's very easy to feel defeated. But just like inside of a Dungeon & Dragons game, you're the hero of your story. And if you give up, the adventure ends right there. Wyrmworks Publishing Yep. Montana Rosalle But it is. It is a thing where it is getting groups of people together of different personalities. It's very hard because there's so many different personalities in the world. And it's just about trying and trying and trying and trying. Wyrmworks Publishing Alright what one message would you like to give gamers who already have a good tabletop gaming group? Montana Rosalle Stick with it. I would also say like, you know, try to bring other people in if possible, but my main thing is run a game for your group. If they're really that great group of a group, then they'll going to encourage you with your ideas. They're going to want to help you get to that next step. But I think it's very important that people try to be the Dungeon Master because if you're if you are the Dungeon Master, I guarantee you at one point they do either want to take a break or they want to play themselves and it will help them out and it'll help your understanding of the game and what they're going through. I think just stepping up and running a game for them. Wyrmworks Publishing Alright, so are there any projects you're working on right now that you want to talk about? Montana Rosalle Yes. So we're going to be doing a Dungeon Master workshop. So to help people kind of learn the skills of being a Dungeon Master, creating an adventure or running a module. Right now we're still in the development phase. We're gonna go through some test phases of how the event's supposed to work, but soon enough, we'll have an in person Dungeon Master workshop and an online Dungeon Master workshop. Wyrmworks Publishing Cool. Alright, so we'll have all your contact information in our show notes. But where is the one best place that you'd like to people to start to learn more about you or to contact you? Montana Rosalle Instagram you can contact us through there. YVRDungeonMasters.com or our email YVRDungeonMasters@gmail.com but the best place to interact with us in the community is on our Discord, all of that can be found either by emailing us, looking on our website or going on our Instagram. There'll be a link there to join the discord and even if you're not from Vancouver, we'd love to have you come on board and help out. Wyrmworks Publishing Cool. All right, Montana. Thanks so much for coming on the show everyone check out those links in the show notes. Montana Rosalle Thank you have a good day. Wyrmworks Publishing Always a reminder when we have people available we also include a segment on this show called Playing the Other where people with disabilities, neurodiversity, and mental illness come and talk about their experiences and how that relates to gaming. It's also a chance for, if you're a creator, to tell us about some cool stuff that you've made. And if you'd like to be a guest on that segment, just go to Wyrmworkspublishing.com/contact and let me know that you're interested and we'll get you set up. This summer for our Patreon, we have a four part adventure. The first part has already gone out, but it will be available to new patrons, and and then we'll have a new part of that adventure coming out each month. And we also have some really big Patreon related announcements coming soon that we're very excited about, and so again, link for the Patreon is also in our show notes. And speaking of our Patreon, a big shout out to Nic. Nic, thanks so much for your support. Wyrmworks Publishing If you see the show being helpful and encourage you if you're watching this on YouTube, hit the like button. If you'd like to see more, subscribe to us wherever you're listening to this in either on YouTube or your podcatchers. If you know people who need to hear this, pass it on to them. And if you, like me, think everyone needs to hear this, then pass it on using your social media channels. And don't forget those podcast ratings. It really makes a difference to get the word out. Thanks for your time. And we close with this question. How do you find a good gaming group?