Let’s talk about pumping some iron! It is time to get swole! I want to see it raining gains in here. You better be complaining about DOMS for days.

In full disclosure, I am not a lifter or a gym rat. I do run to stay healthy. I just can’t do the whole gym thing, too much inside time, too many people, too much of a fishbowl. As solo RPGers we also need to keep our minds sharp and our creative juices flowing. One thing that I often come back to time and time again is DM Exercises.

What are they?

There are three places that I’ve found DM Exercises that I like. None of these three are still active but you can still find all of the exercises and go from there. First is DM-Nastics on the Dungeon Master’s Block Forums. It is the one that I have done the most of. Then there is GM-nastics and RPG Challenge both of which can be found on the r/rpg subreddit.

Essentially, they are prompts geared towards getting DMs (or in this case Solo RPGers) to create or remix any number of different aspects of their games and worlds. These prompts range from creating a magical item to creating a god to remixing a class or being given a few pictures and creating something from one of them. In some ways it is very similar to how many Solo RPGs work.

For example, I did Gmnastics #62 which asked you to think about the deeper meaning behind an NPCs dialogue or actions. It provided a few pieces of dialogue and some actions and then you were asked to create the deeper meaning or activity that went with that NPC. I selected one about an alcoholic executioner. 

“NPC Action#3 A known alcoholic executioner during the day of an execution always performs the same routine. He asks the bartender at the Putrid Stump for three mugs of water, and proceeds to drink them all. He hires a local alcoholic bard Gerromy to serenade his axe at precisely 15 minutes before the execution, and he leaves a strip of cloth on the door of his victim’s house.”

And this is what I came up with:

NPC Action #3 – The executioner is a known drunk and that isn’t surprising given his profession. That said, he takes his job very seriously and even sees it as a divine duty. Everything he does before an execution is part of the ritual of his faith. The three glasses of water each represent one of the three Sisters Wyrd. Drinking three glasses of water is an act of contrition which he performs knowing that one day those Sisters will turn their visage upon him. 

The serenade from Gerromy is a blessing to ensure that his axe falls true. The executioner, while a drunk, doesn’t want anyone to suffer from his actions. He therefore ensures that his blade will always fall as intended by having a blessing sung upon it. A mistrike of his axe, for him, would be an affront to the Sisters Wyrd, therefore he does what he thinks is best to keep the blade true.

The cloth is the final piece of the ritual. It is his own connection with the living and the soon to be dead. For him, the cloth represents a bridge between himself and the accused. He places it on the door of the family as a way to show that while the accused has been punished and moved on to the afterlife they, like him, are still connected to that person. This is his way of acknowledging the power of the Sisters Wyrd. Everyone has fortunes, everyone has misfortunes, and everyone dies. His expression of the piece of cloth is his showing of respect to this movement.

Many people would think that an executioner wouldn’t care about his victims, instead this one not only cares about them but feels that each one is a manifestation of his faith in the Sisters Wyrd. Each execution is his way to show that the Sisters Wyrd control the fate of all people, no matter that person’s status.

Why do them?

Not only are they fun and it is interesting to see what other people come up with, but I have found that they are super useful. Years ago I was doing one related to creating a god, DM-nastics #9 Gods Among Us. It had a good template with 16 features of a RPG god. I used it to create Manmaclir and the religion that goes with him. I have continued to develop and use that god and religion since then. One of the characters I currently have in an on-going Ironsworn campaign is a holy person of that religion. I’ve also used it when playing The Lighthouse at the Edge of the Universe. It also finds a way to end up in all of my homebrewed worlds since then. Further, I’ve used that template to create numerous gods since then as well. All in all it has paid out numerous dividends.

The other reason that I like this is portability. Some are fairly quick so while I’m waiting someplace I can bang one out or get the outline of one started. And even if I don’t actually do one or get one started I can use that time to read through what other people have created and maybe mine their ideas.

Sometimes they also feel like little puzzles. I’ll look at a prompt and maybe even start it but it will take a few days of me chewing on it before something comes up that works for me. Those other times they come together in such a way it feels similar to totally rocking a crossword.

Now admittedly I’m not a diligent DM exerciser. There have been times where I’ve done at least one first thing when I sit down to work on something RPG-related. Then there have been long stretches of time where I haven’t even touched them. But I do find that I go back to them for inspiration, challenge, or for mining.

What do you think some solo RPG exercises would look like?