Christopher Kalos

Technology, Hobbies, and New Ideas

An avid techie since childhood, I've finally decided that it's time to establish my own presence on the web, as opposed to outsourcing it to a bunch of social network pages.

Here you'll find musings, my professional history, and anything that catches my interest.

As will become obvious as this page grows, I'm an Apple user, through and through:  When I work, I use the best tools for the job.  Sometimes that's Microsoft-based, sometimes it's Apple-based, and often, it's Linux-based.  Once I'm at home, though, I find that comfort, simplicity, and ease of use trump all of the flexibility in the world.   

Cool counts for a lot.  Simplicity counts for a lot more.

 

How To Run A Tabletop Roleplaying Game Like A Sales Engineer: On Deadlines

July 19, 2024  /  Christopher Kalos

One thing that’s always been straightforward for any professional: Deadlines.

If you have one, you stick to it, because it’s rare that a customer is going to move a meeting because you’re “not ready.” That means that when you show up, it doesn’t matter if you finished your deck last week, or if you wanted to get some finishing touches on it before the meeting started, it’s showtime, and you get up there and present with the resources you have.

Does that mean that you’re adequately prepared? Not necessarily. Your audience might have a question you’ve never heard before. They might have one that none of your peers have heard before. Either way, you carry on. You can pivot, you can take notes, you can tackle the harder questions afterwards, but the show starts when it starts.

When it comes to games, the same thing applies: I run my sessions once a week, with few breaks. We’ll take a session off here or there for vacations, or due to illness, but I’m approaching 40 sessions since we started late last year, and what does that mean? Each and every week, I come in with a story. I have a deadline, an audience, and expectations, and with those come responsibilities.

Now, I don’t think that everyone needs to run their games like this. Some people are more casual, and even my own players may not mind if I showed up a little less prepared. This is simply my style, and what I’ve found is that when you do it this way, you force yourself to write. The creative juices flow a bit here and there, sometimes with a little coaxing, but they’ll flow, and for me? They’re enough to tell a good story every week.

As a friend once told me, “I think it’s time.” It turns out that not only was he right, but in so doing, I actually forced myself to get better, week after week.

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