Hi, kids, do you like tabletop? (yeah! yeah)
Wanna see me stick Powerpoints through each one of these air drops? (uh-huh!)
Wanna copy me and what I made at the coffee shop?
Try Nerd Nite, and get more fabled than Aesop?
Or maybe you’re waiting for the next think piece, world building, or game review from you one and true blue writer friend? … Well, get outta here, kid! I’m going through writers block.
It’s not as if I havent been active in other ways. … I’ve been creating a new following on Dungeon Delve, the weekly Substack newsletter celebrating the indie #TTRPG scene, including Zinequest/Zinemonth campaigns, quirky tabletop RPG news, and deals on game bundles and dice!
I’ve also been kicking it at a few different improv classes, open mics, and… attending a little monthly get-together known as Nerd Nite!
What is Nerd Nite, you ask?
(not that I enjoy abusing my Dungeon Master powers and play your character for you.) … Well, here’s the summary from the website itself!
Nerd Nite is a monthly event held in 100+ cities across the globe during which folks give 20-minute fun-yet-informative presentations across all disciplines – while the audience drinks along! There are often bands, trivia, speed-friending, and other shenanigans as well. Imagine learning about math feuds, the emu war of Australia, the genealogy of Godzilla, or zombie insects, while having a few.
Sounds fun, eh? Well, I got to do one of these in west St. Paul after going to it for a few months. I said… “Hey! I’m a nerd. I enjoy nights. I enjoy… knights? I enjoy… rolling for initiative!?”
It wasn’t exactly like that, but I became inspired, cooked up a sweet deck, wrote down a crap ton of notes, and stepped up to the plate to take a swing February 2025.
Today I’m going to clear out the cobwebs, show my work, provide a glimpse into something fun, and unpack it in front of you. Perhaps this will serve as a useful case for the rest of you in terms of whats possible (and what not to do) during a Nerd Nite presentation or similar light-hearted pseudo-TED talk, panel, or seminar. Its time for some show and tell!
Check out this sweet deck, yo!
We open on a generic title slide with D6s gracing the right. I indeed began by making the Gary Gygax joke from Futurama. … “Its a pleasure to *rolls dice* meet you!”
There will be some education. Some ranting and raving. But ultimately, the goal of this presentation is to convince YOU, the audience, to seek out new games! Even if you have never played a TTRPG, there is something for everyone!
Of course you have to show your street cred! Its important so the audience knows that you’re … “kind of a big deal. … I’m not exactly working for Chaosium or Paizo, or anybody really. … but its necessary to count your accomplishments no matter how small. Let your nerd flag fly!
Look at this handsome man! Joyful and in their element. Big bearded nerd energy!
Here, we ask the age-old question. How does one articulate the definition of a tabletop RPG? … It can be vast and broad depending on the game and the context. It can certainly attract tomatoes for those who prefer GM-less, solo, or other types of games. Not to worry; we mention that later.
The Dreaded "History" Section
Historical context is good! Its important for the nerd in me, and the nerd in everyone else. Beware my fellow seminar-planner. The pit traps start here!
The immediate trouble with covering history is you’re forced to oversimplify, because real history is thorough and relentless. Take that to the extreme by shorting your time to about 15 minutes for the whole presentation, while feeling compelled to communicate the ideas more fully,… well. The slide looks decent at least.
Since Dungeons and Dragons and TSR were so prominent in this depiction of the earliest days, I provided a visual of all of the Players Handbook releases and their dates. … The goal was to highlight the “Satanic Panic” by pointing out the ADnD (1st Edition) handbook from 1977, illustrating that a God-fearin American seeing their children playing a game with a devil on the front cover definitely raised some eyebrows.
The explosion of TTRPGs from the 80s onwards is also hard to capture in so few slides. And we’re still pretty centered on DnD for a chunk of it. It’s difficult to separate its impact without hitting the deeper part of the iceberg.
All this to bring the audience to the present day, and provide a sense that this journey has taken a while. There’s a lot of context. … But also, now… NOW my friends, is the best time to go out, and seek a new game experience. There is no better time to try something new!
TTRPGs are for everyone!
So begins the demonstration. Welcome to a broad world of games. There are so many to choose from. … TTRPGs are truly for everyone! Regardless of genre preference, professional background, cultural background, and gameplay style!
My notes were graced with short writeups of some of the above examples to be gushed at in excitement and energy. Like a kid in a candy store, or ice cream palor!
The theme is overlap. All games meet multiple genres in nuance. All games touch upon something we’ve learned and have some sort of specialization with, or interest. However, in demonstration, the intent is to open the door to options. A great wide world is out there friends. You just need to possess the will and the bravery to embark!
And when I say everyone, I mean it. Sexuality, orientation, gender, expression. This is a drop in the bucket in terms of all of the content out there, but a display of just a few of the darlings in vogue over the past few years.
Whether it is a standalone game or a setting supplement, each of these are written and driven by creators from and intimately familiar with the cultures and communities written about. Still a drop in the bucket, but its critical to point out that the roleplaying game community is fundamentally diverse. … Truth!
Alas. The Forge forgive me. I’ve taken countless of years of theory postulating, and reduced it to sparse words. At the same time, I’ve made references that will clearly date themselves and transform with more theory-crafting.
And dont forget the awesome rolepunks! … The independent creators, here to throw new modes of play and brain spaces into the ecosystem on a regular basis.
So how did the ACTUAL presentation go?
I’m not going to sugar coat it. It was alright. It was anxiety inducing, in preparation and execution. I wouldn’t classify it as stage fright. Rather, I was struck mid-presentation with an extreme awareness that I bit off more than I could chew.
This is the part where I provide some advice on things to avoid for any seminar or panel, whatever it be. Looking back on the whole thing, I realize what it was I did wrong.
- Too much stuff for 15-20 minutes of presentation intended for an audience of beer drinking nerds and geeks looking for leisure.
- Misread my audience. We were all nerds. ... Imagine doing a seminar about baking to a room filled with bakers. There was no guarantee that everyone in the room played a TTRPG, but this was a topic where the disparity between unknowns, casuals, and deep geeks was wiiiide.
- Not enough room for interaction. This is a peer-to-peer talk, and given the vibe, it should have included humor, or dedicated entertainment, or audience interaction. It was pure data, hindered by the lack of time.
- Untimely Juggling. I was balancing three things in my hands! ... I honestly thought it would just be my notes and the microphone, but I also had to control the slideshow remote too. ... I only have two hands! I couldn't grow a third. ... (Needless to say, I should have found someone to assist me with this.)
- Overreliance on notes. This wasn't exactly a TED talk. Its a neighborhood get-together. However, compound this with the above stuff... I kept losing my place, and couldn't risk wasting more time. I finally had to give up on them, and ad-lib the thing. ... Lesson is: Do a sample run of the presentation in front of test viewers. Always.
- Practice pacing. That darn history section was too much. I ended up spending a disproportionate amount of time on it, and the second half suffered.
- Prep for questions. I was able to answer some without issue, but a reminder: Those last five minutes are for the crowd to get more info, and state their piece.
Conclusion
As you can see, the slideshow was great! … It has a lot of useful info, and solid visuals. As for the presentation, nothing terribly bad happened. My pants didn’t fall down. I didn’t have peanut butter smeared on my face. It was just not planned well for timing and amount. Not lazy, or unprepared. More… misprepared. Misexecuted. A sincere effort and a partial miss.
But I’m my own critic! … Looking back, my efforts felt pretty solid. I just slipped on a metaphorical banana peel. Not enough to get hurt, but enough to make it a lesson in how to do better and what obstacles to avoid.
Thank you for coming to my non-TED non-talk about a non-TED talk!
Matt is just the kind of person to attempt this kind of thing! If you’re interested in more adventures through geekery, be sure to check out some of these other personal endeavors!
- Odd Mart Oddities: JP Coovert’s Nintendo-style TTRPG Zines!
- Twinheim Gaming: TTRPG Events for Charity!
- Last years road trip to see the full solar eclipse and mid-America (Substack)
ART CREDITS:
- Photoshopped image of Dark Souls 2 knight, backdrop photo by Matheus Bertelli from Pexels, and the textbook Quantum Physics: The Foundations of Mechanics, Entanglement, and Wave Theory by Isaac Archer. Inspired by the girl with the “Quantum Mechanics” book in the movie Men in Black.
- Displeased man making face. Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels.
- Presentation template by Slidesgo, including icons by Flaticon, and infographics & images by Freepik.
- Nerds and Knights: a TTRPG “Nerd Nite” Presentation - February 28, 2025
- Odd Mart Oddities: JP Coovert’s Nintendo-style TTRPG Zines! - January 14, 2025
- Doomsong RPG Launches! A Game of Medieval Horror and Biblical Apocalypse - December 20, 2024
