Guild of Navigators Interview - Getting to Know Bo

Meet Bo from the Guild of Navigators!
Guild of Navigators (Bo): https://www.patreon.com/GofN/posts

In this podcast we'll have the opportunity to get to know Bo a little better!

• What he loves most about Table Top Role Playing Games (TTRPG)
• How he got started with TTRPG
• The best thing about being a Game Master
• Improving and getting better

(Miscellaneous Category)

Transcript

Melody [0:00]:
The Game Master Certification Organization had the opportunity to interview Bo from the Guild of Navigators! This podcast will feature an excerpt from that interview allowing us to get to know him just a little bit better. My name is Melody Rainelle and I’ll be your host. So, let’s dive right in!  Bo, I understand you’ve been involved with table top role playing games for a number of years. Tell us, please, what do you love the most about Table-Top Role Playing Games?

Bo [0:35]:
The whole idea of the games and why I started with these is finding stories, finding different places and alternative places or planes even. So I love in games, the way that you can actually be someone different, and be somewhere different. So it's also for some part, I would say it's a bit of running away from the reality of our everyday and setting up a new way of looking at what's happening around you. And it's quite different. You know, when you are a magician, with 20 to 30 spells, you look at the world much differently than when you are a guy who does nine to five in an office. However, we also played games where you were the guy going to office and doing nine to five. So I would say my love to the game. And what I love most is the option of do whatever you want, wherever you want, and find your own ways of having fun.

Melody [1:41]:
Excellent. Please, tell us about how you got started with table-top role playing games.

Bo [1:47]:
Probably I have to say that I'm old guy, so I'm 44 this year. So I started exactly 30 years ago and that was Dungeons and Dragons. I think number two and I really started well as kids you know, you have nothing to do you either play football, hockey, and then in the evenings you meet up with friends and someone just brought it up saying hey, look at it. I found this game and what'd you say about this? I'm like, "What the hell is this? Let's have a look into it. You're making your own warriors and stuff." So to some point, I was already at the time reading books like fantasy books I knew about Tolkien. I knew about what's an orc and what's an elf and what's a dwarf for example, so it wasn't really out of the scope. And then I understood what's the thing about, or what's the setting about, so that was really the way we started playing kind of a Dungeons and Dragons clone. It wasn't really Dungeons and Dragons, but it was called like that in Czech. So in Czech Republic, they came out with a game which was called "The Dungeon of the Dragon" and they created actually a Czech version of it. So that's where we started. And then, of course, understanding that it's a clone of Dungeons and Dragons I was interested in. So okay, so where does this really come from? And what's the story behind it. And then we went with Dungeons and Dragons. And I think that was Dungeons and Dragons, AD&D Three. In those old times, we still had To Hit Armor Class 0 and stuff like that. So it was quite different than Dungeons and Dragons nowadays, with the fifth edition. So that's where I was really starting Dungeons and Dragons clones. And that was the first actually look at how role playing games are working and even trying, being a dungeon master game master at that time.

Melody [3:52]:
Wow, that’s really interesting! Maybe you could elaborate a little more about how you started out?

Bo [3:58]:
During the time, while it was kind of two years after the revolution, you know, in 1989, we had kind of a revolution in Europe, where we changed our system from the communism to democracy and quite a lot of things changed. We had Magna Carta suddenly. And of course, that also meant that there is a lot of more cultural stuff coming, and it was same with role playing games. At that time, there was a company called Altar, which started actually with role playing games. And as for us, Dungeons and Dragons, at the time was probably super expensive. They came up with a translated clone, easier version. So it was quite similar, like Dungeons and Dragons, you had the same statistics, you had the same attributes, it was using the similar dices. And it was quite similar, and much more cheaper, because I remember the first book, which came out was like, 150 pages, and it was just printed pages, no pictures at all. And we had to actually put it together into a book at home. So it was just purely printed pages. And it was like $5, for a book. And you had one part of the book, which was for the players. And the other part was for Game Masters. And already at that time, it was giving you ideas of how to be a Game Master how to actually build a suspense, how to talk to the players how to actually work out your stories, and that was the part you know where we came to even starting with map-making, first, you know, just having a hex paper and just drawing lines and making a lot of funny, dungeons out of nothing, really. So it was quite a start. And when I look back, it was well, low tech, but so much fun. So I would say even at the time, we understood that you need something more than just the game itself to play. So you need some extra accessories, you need some even miniatures, or even paper figures, or, of course, maps to get more deeper into the game.

Melody [6:11]:
Sure, all those little details add up! Let me ask you this: what do you think is the best thing about being a game master?

Bo [6:20]:
Well, I would say it's fun. It's having the joy of doing, of creating, of making stuff. And of course, seeing people using the stuff I create, and seeing people to play with it. And, you know, utilize it in their own games, or even seeing my guys who I'm playing with to be happy about the maps or the tokens for the games done. So I would say it would be fun. Number one is always fun.

Melody [6:50]:
That’s great. Yeah, fun is definitely important, that’s for sure! Tell us, how do you envision your better self?

Bo [7:00]:
My better self. You mean in reality or in the games or in as a GM?

Melody [7:06]:
It’s an open-ended question, so answer it as you like.

Bo [7:10]:
Yeah, okay... Okay, my better self? Well, I would say I'm good as I am, you know, to some point I think we are growing all the time a life is an endless University. I'm always saying that. And in my work, I'm also training and teaching people how to translate how to actually be linguists. You know, this is what I said before. I'm speaking many languages. And this is where my job is I'm actually working with translation in a translation business, global international translation business. I'm always say that you never stop growing. You never stop being on a way to become more you always grow and you're always getting better. So I would say until I feel that I'm doing good with my time I'm busy. And I'm not a person who says "Oh, I'm bored," because I don't really have time to be bored. So I'm going for my better self and finding a way of not just trying to be better but trying to be more; and that's the learning thing. And when it comes even to games, game mastering, finding my better self is, well, realizing that you are there to actually provide fun for your players, a lot of Game Masters I see. And I saw a lot of them are thinking that the game is actually to provide fun for themselves. So the four, five players around are actually the guys who are playing against him, or against the Game Master or are just there to make sure that the Game Master is not bored. But I think it's a different story. And you get better when you realize that the parties, don't be a stickler to rules, make the whole game enjoyable. And you will be a better game master as well, when you will see that the guys you are playing with are coming back. So this is somewhere, I think it's a road and it's an endless road of getting better. So finding my better self is is something that never ends. So I'm already doing good when it comes to game mastering, hopefully, but I'm not the best. So let's continue on this road of getting better, of learning, of seeing how people do it, what people do. I hope I can still be Game Master when I'm a grandpa when I am 40, 50, 60, 70 years, 80 years old, and still can come together with some like minded grandpas and grandmas, and we can run some game of Dungeons and Dragons 15th edition probably.

Melody [9:56]:
Thank you so much, Bo, for letting us get to know you a little better! To our listeners - please check the podcast description for details on how to find more information about Bo from the Guild of Navigators! Next podcast, we will have another excerpt from our interview with Bo where we will touch on: what it means to be a game master and choosing what game to play, so stay tuned! Follow us to receive notifications when new podcasts are released. For more podcasts and information, check out our website at https://www.gamemastercertification.org/. Like what you’ve heard here? Hit the share button to help us spread the word! Thank you for listening!