Aftercare Tips for GMs

Running table top games as a Game Master, or GM, is an incredibly rewarding experience. Guiding friends through a fantasy world, encouraging others to lose themselves in the experience, and working together to weave a narrative that is truly unique to the players, the game, and the situation. It can be a transformative, almost magical, experience when the vibes are just right, and leave you feeling almost as though you had actually lived through the adventure that unfolded.

But all of this emotional investment, planning, acting, and reacting can take its toll, not just on the players, but the GM as well. Yes, running a table top game is rewarding, but it can also be tiring and leave you feeling drained and emotionally spent. 

GMs are always encouraged to help guide their players through the process of role play and before and after care that comes with that. Session zeros are a staple of any well-thought-out campaign to lay out the ground rules and safety information to players who may be required to imagine or act out some emotionally heavy situations. A wise GM will also check in with players where appropriate to make sure they have support in cases such as the death of a character or instances where the realm of fantasy strikes a little closer to home. In a collaborative, story-telling experience, there is always an element of uncertainty around where the road might lead you.

There are plenty of resources out there, from articles, to YouTube videos to help new and experienced GMs handle the needs of their players to ensure everyone gets the most out of their table top role playing experience. However, it feels as though there could be more support for the GMs themselves.

Here we have compiled a list of 5 things that a GM can do post-game to make sure they are looking after themselves and allowing necessary recovery time following every game.

1. Allow for post-game conversation

Knowing where and how to end a session is an art form that takes practice. Running a campaign you want to bring the session to a close in a way that leaves players desperate for more, and running a one-shot you want to leave everyone feeling like they have reached a satisfying narrative conclusion. However you choose to bring play to a close we recommend allowing time at the end for you and your players to talk through the events of the game, share in reliving the dramatic moments, and even some post-game analysis.

Allowing for this time provides everyone, even the GM, with a mental cool-down, like stretching after exercise. This may mean ending a session a little earlier so that players with other responsibilities aren't having to leave as soon as the final dice are rolled. Allowing everyone to take a breath and ease out of the characters they have just spent the last few hours playing will help shift your brain back to a more relaxed state. Conversation may wonder from the game itself, and this is absolutely fine. The important thing is allowing everyone time to digest the emotional meal they have just had.

2. Seek reassurance, and then actually listen

Running players through a game, especially one that you have put a lot of creativity into, can be an emotionally vulnerable experience. Regardless of how players reacted during the game, you might find yourself worrying about whether or not enjoyment was had equal to the effort you put in. There is absolutely nothing wrong with seeking reassurance from players at the end. A simple "Did everyone enjoy that?" can sooth any nerves that remain.

The difficult part, however, is knowing how to actually listen to the feedback. Realistically speaking, provided you put the effort in and have a well functioning group of players, there will most likely be positive feedback. When this is given it can be easy to filter out the positive, especially if you have any worries or if you are prone to self-criticism. Make sure you actually listen to what your players say and take their response as what they actually mean. if they say they enjoyed it, take them at their word. Their enjoyment is without a doubt largely thanks to the work you put in.

In the unlikely event that a player comes back with criticism, don't take it to heart. They are sharing because they feel comfortable in speaking to you about something that may help them enjoy the experience more in future sessions.

3. Make notes, but not too many

Without a doubt a session that is part of a longer campaign will have thrown up questions that will need answers by next time. Perhaps there's a new, unplanned direction your players went off in, or they may have angered a hitherto unimportant NPC that could now be plotting revenge. The best time to make note of these is when they're still fresh in your head after the session is over. Get those thoughts down into whatever planning document you're using and then close up your notebook or laptop. Don't get too far into planning ahead, you've just spent many hours "on", it's time to turn off for a bit. Once you've made a note of the really important reminders, draw a line under it and allow yourself time to rest.

If you feel it would be helpful, set yourself some time in the following few days to really review your notes and start making those plans for the next exciting installment. 

4. Turn off and reset

A session spanning a few hours can really take it out of you, especially if things go slightly off the rails (which, let's face it, is most of the time). By the time you're done, even though your players may be chomping at the bit for more, you will no doubt need to rest. 

You've just done a lot of mental exercise and you need to catch your breath. Try to do something that will help you move on from the game and relax. This might be reading or watching TV, or even better going outside for a bit. Make yourself a cup of tea and just allow yourself some time to take your mind off things for a bit.

5. Don't dwell on what could have been

Especially after a dramatic session, possibly in which a beloved non-player character, or even a player character, died, it is easy to worry about the decisions you made as a GM. Or perhaps these decisions were regarding the rules of the game or whether or not to allow a player to do something that bent the rules almost to breaking point.

The death of a character can feel cruel or unfair, especially if you know the player had grand plans for their narrative arch. In the first instance you should always check in with the player to make sure they are OK and understand that the ruling was not personal. Afterwards, you should remind yourself that this danger is what players sign up for and there is no reward without the risk.

If you are worried that a rules decision may have been the wrong call, remind yourself that nothing to so rigid that it cannot be changed. If you decide you would like to change a ruling later on, or make it clear that a specific ruling does not set precedent, make sure to allow time at the start of the following session to discuss it with your players. They are reasonable people and will understand if you explain your reasoning.

Once that decision is made, don't dwell on it. No matter how experience you are as a GM you will still be learning. Allow yourself the same grace you would allow a new player.

BONUS: Comparison is the thief of joy

Thanks to social media and online content we live in an age where we are almost constantly encouraged to compare ourselves to other people. You might have a favourite D&D actual play you like to watch, or follow some professional GMs online. Remind yourself that what you are often viewing is a carefully edited version of real events, or perhaps the players are all professional comedians. However it is, comparing your own games to those you see online will only strip the joy from the whole experience.

Your game is entirely unique to you and your players and that should be celebrated, not compared with others.

Are there any rituals or tips you could share that are helpful to a GM in looking after themselves? We'd love to hear what you do following a session to calm down. Leave a comment below!

Hand Limit 2025 Event: Canterbury Pride Board Game Club

 

Since our last post about our planned 2025 event, we have been hard at work putting together something very special. We are proud to announce that our first in-person event:

Canterbury Pride Board Game Club

10am-4pm Fruitworks Cafe, 2 Jewry Lane CT1 2NP

Free Entry

Hand Limit is a blog which promotes board games as an aid to positive mental health and combating social isolation. Come and play board games with us during Canterbury Pride! This event is particularly aimed at anyone who would like a break away from the hustle and bustle of the main pride event, in a calm and inclusive space. There will be volunteers on hand to recommend games from the Hand Limit collection, but you are also welcome to bring your own to play too. 

This event will be free to enter and will be raising money and taking donations for the Be You Project The BeYou Project - Porchlight. The Be You Project supports and provides safe and welcoming space LGBTQ+ youth. 

Children must be accompanied by an adult.

Thank you to our sponsors, Dice & Destiny, Drawn and Quartered, Fruitworks Coworking and Cafe and Kitsch Flamingo.

If you're local to Canterbury or plan to be here for the Pride celebration on Saturday 7th June 2025, come by and check out our library of games. We will also have games for sale, courtesy of our Friendly Local Gaming Store, Dice & Destiny, and a tombola with fabulous prizes to be won.

It's important to us that we create an inclusive and welcoming event that stays true to the vision of Hand Limit of using table top games to boost mental well being and foster community.

If you have any questions relating to this event, please leave a comment below or get in touch with us at handlimitblog@gmail.com.

Snacks. The Ultimate Table Top Taboo?

In all board gaming communities there is one question that seems to get people riled up more than anything else, and that's the question of snacks at the table when playing board games. There is little more that causes the collective blood to boil, apparently, than the inclusion of any type of food or drink at the table. But is this really justified?

I appreciate that people are protective over their game collection and don't want to see the carefully crafted assets damaged or stained. There are, of course, steps that can be taken to help reduce this by way of card sleeves, but is the risk of some minor damage worth it to increase the social element of the hobby?

Multiplayer games exist specifically to be a shared experience with friends and other hobbyists. In many respects they are perfectly suited to combine with food and drink to enhance the experience. They are primarily in-door activities, they usually involve sitting together at a table for extended periods, during which time people will get hungry and thirsty, and they are both social experiences that we use to bond with those around us.

Commensality is the term anthropologists use to describe the act of eating together, and it is recognised as one of the most commonly shared practices among human beings. However, there is some debate as to what the term actually refers to. Does it mean sharing the food, the table, the place, or the moment? Jonsson et al state that commensality "is first and foremost a matter of sharing the table and, thus, the place and the central material object." In this way, eating together is viewed as a way of creating or maintaining a group, "a way to assert or to strengthen a 'We'". By eating together and sharing food, we are reasserting our connections with each other while also reassuring our brains that we are safe, satisfied, and loved. This naturally floods our bodies with positive hormones. 

If we are looking at commensality as Jonsson et al described it, we can see a strong overlap between board games and mealtimes in the sharing of the table space and how this increases our bonds with each other.

As there is such a clear link between gaming and food, it is entirely natural that we should look to combining the two pastimes. I understand that the owners of board games don't want to see their collections marked or damaged, but by rigidly denying the incorporation of eating and drinking to accompany games, are players losing out?

I don't mean to sound dramatic and morbid but everything decays. We cannot keep everything pristine forever, and to what end are we attempting to do so? Resale value is one thing, sure, but in removing such a perfect partnership as games and food, are players limiting their enjoyment of an activity just to maintain a value that is as much at the whim of the market as it is in the quality of the product?

All game owners must make the decision for themselves about what they will and will not allow at their tables, but I for one will always allow food and drink . In fact, pairing food to the type of game, much like we find thematically appropriate music, is all part of the fun. Let's not forget that publisher Pretzel Games supposedly got their name from their desire to design games that can be comfortably played with a pretzel in one hand!

There is already enough joylessness in the world, let your players eat and drink at the table.

What it’s like to hate a game and then fall in love with it OR why your first impressions of a game aren’t always fair

When I was first introduced to Star Realms, I think I gave it a fair try. In principle, it wasn’t a totally unfamiliar premise - though at that point I hadn’t played too many deck building games. But I understood the premise, and liked the idea of something like a trading card game, but that you only had to pay for once, which was the main reason, at that point, I had not delved into the world of TCGs (fair reader, how things have changed now!) 

I played against Skully, Hand Limit editor, a couple of times, and lost spectacularly, before declaring it was a trash game for trash humans and I would never play again. I played the cards in my hand, I did a little damage to their authority, I chose cards from the marketplace and tapped my currency cards to pay for them, when they eventually entered my hand I used them and did a little damage to their authority again. My opponent seemed to get the better cards, they did spectacular damage to my authority, and it didn’t take them long to get another good card in their hand again and do even more damage. My little 1 hit Vipers were useless and I couldn’t regain authority quick enough to keep up with the damage being done to me. 

Back then I was a novice, a baby TTGer, and I hadn’t fully discovered any skill for forward planning, ruthless competition and dastardly strategy. If I played it for the first time now I think my first impression would have been completely different. 

Skully found a friend who was into Star Realms, and they played happily on work breaks and over the mobile app version of the game for several months. I looked on suspiciously - how can they love this unequivocally terrible game, that punishes less experienced players and affords no opportunity for learning and improvement? 

Eventually, after months or even a year, I was persuaded to give it another go, after several thorough explanations (lectures) on the importance of strategies such as discarding cards (getting rid of the stuff that doesn’t help), building a deck around a specific faction (benefitting from buffs and boosts), and being a sneaky little goblin and trying to purchase the cards you think your opponent will want before they have an opportunity to. 

We played again, and this time I tried implementing the strategies I had been told about and I didn’t lose so fast. I decided to buy cards that matched colours, I discarded the lower value cards by making sure I had some Machine Cult faction cards that allowed you to do this. I played the game as it was supposed to be played. And reader, I loved it. 

So then I had to put my big girl pants on and admit I was wrong. Maybe the problem wasn’t the game? Maybe I was the drama after all? 

I’ve actually spoken about this game in some talking therapy since. It was a neat demonstration of my stubbornness and fixed thinking around things that I perceive as too difficult or beyond my knowledge and skill. If I cannot do something, it is therefore not worth doing and is even a Bad Thing. American psychologist, Carole Dweck’s Growth Mindset theory is a good place to start if you are interested in looking into the psychology of this further. Using this neat little example of a tabletop game as an illustration of this tendency of mine, and being able to unpick my responses and reactions to it, was a much easier and more comfortable task than thinking about an example of this behaviour from work, personal relationships or studies. 

Games are great aren’t they? They teach us how to play nicely with each other, how to share, how to be a gracious winner, how to deal with disappointment. They can also show us things about our own inner worlds and self-limiting beliefs. 

So, if there is a game you really don’t “get”, maybe give it another go one day. You might find out something about yourself.

World's Most Divorced Man Wants to Ruin More Things

You may have heard on the wind recently that the World's Most Divorced Man, Elon Musk, has expressed an interest in purchasing Hasbro as a way of gaining access to the Dungeons & Dragons IP. This follows Musk's public distaste at Wizards of the Coast's (WotC) work to make D&D a more inclusive space and their wishes to distance themselves from the more problematic elements of the game, created by E Gary Gygax.

Musk and his persistent trait of confusing bigotry with freedom of speech took exception to this and suggested WotC "burn in hell" for their perceived trashing of Gygax. After feeling like his criticisms of WotC weren't being taken seriously, Musk took to Twitter to publicly ask "How much is Hasbro?". According to Forbes, shares in Hasbro are currently worth $63.89.

Although it isn't clear whether Musk was serious, or if he was just having one of his trademark tantrums, this would also give him access to toy properties such as Star Wars, Ghostbusters, My Little Pony, Peppa Pig, and Pokemon, among others. Musk purchasing Hasbro just so he can wrestle D&D back into the dark ages might seem ridiculous, but he has already shown the world how petty he can be with his disastrous take over of Twitter.

There has understandably been an outcry from fans expressing dismay at the prospect of Musk getting his grubby little incel hands on D&D, not only because his track record for tanking Twitter as soon as he bought it could spell doom for the hobby, but also because the purchase would likely herald the game becoming a hostile place for minority groups.

While it is easy to jest at the bizarre and manic actions of one of the world's richest men, it must not be taken lightly. D&D has become more inclusive over the years and while WotC still occasionally slip up, there can be no doubt that there has been a generally progressive trend. This would undoubtedly come to an end if Musk successfully purchased the property. One only needs to attempt to write the word "cisgender" into Twitter, to come face to face with Musk's personal brand of free (read: hate) speech.

We are all hoping his tantrum was short lived and will not lead onto anything else, but this story is one worth keeping a close eye on.

An Alternative (but no less troublesome) Perspective

Another take on this is that Musk does not really care about D&D, nor the memory of Gygax, it is just a front that suits the current political narrative for him and his allies. This is just another company that he can strip for assets and profit from the demise.

The exact model is known as the Bust Out playbook and has received notoriety through Bain Capital. The exact plan can be summarised using the seven points below:

1. Identify a target (The Leader).
2. Install or axquire an insider on the board of the company, maybe the CEO/CFO.
3. Spread rumours about the target through the media (The Liars).
4. Create a class action lawsuit against the company.
5. Fire up the printers and flood the market with fake shares of the company, driving share prices through the floor (The Dealer).
6. The company either declares bankruptcy or is delisted from exchange.
7. Perform a leveraged buyout of the company, busts it out, acquires other competition to capture and kill, then when the company is so saddled with debt it can no longer stand, kill the company and let the wolves feed off the carcass (The Butcher).

This is perhaps a grim prediction of what Musk might have planned and very much depends on whether Musk is as intelligent as he wants everyone to think he is, but one that offers even less hope for the future of Dungeons & Dragons.

Personally, I think Musk is not smart, just rich, so I feel it is more likely that if he does get his hands on Hasbro it will be it's ruin through stupidity and political pandering, rather than a grander scheme of venture capitalism.

The Importance of Theme in Table Top Games

How important is theme in table top games? This is a question that arises a lot in board gaming communities and it always splits the party. There are those of us who feel that theme is only important in so far as they make the assets of the game look nice, and there are those who will excuse less exciting game mechanics in exchange for a captivating theme.

When we really get down to studying board games, we cannot escape the fact that they are largely just maths in motion. (I could excuse certain games from this sweeping generalisation, like dexterity based games for example, but then I get to thinking about trigonometry and how really everything can be reduced to mathematics and I start to spiral a bit.) Some games, namely the majority of Eurogames, are more obviously maths games with their theme-light, mechanics-heavy play style.

For those unaware of the different styles of board game, Eurogames are a very popular type of game that needn't be European or technically board games at all. However, they share a set of similar characteristics such as little to no combat, the earning of "victory points" to determine a winner, a theme that does not directly impact the gameplay, and very little chance or luck involved, to name a few. Some popular Eurogames that you might have heard of include Catan and Carcassone. 

Sat opposite from Eurogames is Ameritrash (which do not have to be American, or trash), which conversely favours highly developed themes, player conflict, and usually a high level of luck through dice rolls or drawn cards. Examples include Dune, Twilight Imperium, and Runewars. Interestingly, War Games tend to fill a classification of their own, despite the argument that many would fulfill the requirements of Ameritrash.

Across these different game styles we see a significant difference in terms of how important the theme is to the overall enjoyment of a game. Arguably, a fan of Eurogames would enjoy Puerto Rico just as much as Power Grid even if they have no particular interest in the organisation of national power supply networks, or the antics of colonial island governors. Whereas someone who has little interest in the socio-economic and military politics of Arrakis is probably not going to enjoy an hours-long game of Dune: Imperium.

So what really is the question when someone asks how important theme is to games or gamers? Realistically speaking, the answer lies in the games themselves. The key difference is how the theme impacts the game, and this will always become a matter of how well an Ameritrash game sticks the landing. Games like Horrified have become fan favourites because of how well Ravensburger have incorporated their various themes into the game experience. The theme compliments and builds on the mechanics. Whereas a game such as Firefly: Shiny Dice feels like the theme is battling against a game that wanted to be something else. 

Of course there will always be gamers who will see theme as something that threatens to get in the way of mechanics, and who are we to yuck their yums?

Personally, my real love is with games that allow for storytelling. This spans both Eurogames and Ameritrash, but more often than not is enabled by a strong theme and a significant role of chance in the game. I find that sitting around a game of Colt Express provides a rich storytelling experience that I crave and is responsible for some of the more memorable gaming moments. A game with a theme that feels merely cosmetic, such as Sushi Go, while entertaining, I find won't offer the same level of storytelling opportunity. 

There is obviously no answer to the question posed at the top of this post, but a key belief of Hand Limit is that there are table top games out there right now for everyone no matter what their tastes and interests are. Questions such as this are enjoyable because they help us appreciate what a diverse and expansive hobby table top gaming has become.

So, I ask you know, how important to you is theme in table top games?

5 Pocket-Sized Games for Taking Out and About

 OK I want to get ahead of this and start with a definition of "Pocket Sized". It's term thrown around a lot and to be honest is rarely used literally. For the purposes of this article, we're going to be using the term pocket sized to mean anything that will either fit in a generous pocket or fit easily into a handbag without taking up all the space.

1. Regicide

Regicide is quite literally pocket-sized as it requires nothing more than a deck of ordinary playing cards (which have the bonus of also allowing for a large number of other games), and yet it manages to be a significant game with a solid theme.

Players will work together to attempt to overthrow the royal dictators, represented by the Jacks, Queens, and Kings in the deck. Taking it in turns, players play cards from their hands, dealing damage equal to the card's value and resolving effects dictated by the suit. Together they will slowly work their way through the picture cards, defeating their oppressors, and hoping they don't run out of cards in the draw pile. Should that happen, support from the people has failed and the game is up.

Regicide is a fantastic, well-thought-out game that manages to capture a theme perfectly with only a single deck of cards. The rules are available as PDF so can be easily checked on a phone, making this the most pocket-sized of games.

2. Gloomhaven: Buttons and Bugs

Typically Gloomhaven means table-filling boards, hundreds of components, and a rulebook that could technically be classed as a novella. Gloomhaven Jaws of the Lion, the prequel released in 2020, went some way to condensing this but still remained a meaty game. Then in 2024 Gloomhaven: Buttons and Bugs hit shelves and we had to take a moment to check whether the game was genuinely as small as it looked, or just very far away.

Gloomhaven: Buttons and Bugs is a purely solo experience that amazingly manages to capture the feel of its older siblings perfectly with a fraction of the play-space. This is done through a mixture of making assets as small as feasibly possible (the miniatures are so small I am wary of sneezing near them), and streamlining the game-play to take off every millimeter of fat. 

Even the theme has been downsized. Gloomhaven is a vast role-playing board game that spans an entire nameless realm, Buttons and Bugs takes place mostly within the walls of a single building as your adventurer has been shrunk to the size of a small bug.

In classic Gloomhaven style, the game is still turn based and adventurers play cards to complete actions with an aim to completing objectives before exhaustion sets in or HP is reduced to zero. It effectively captures the feeling of a much larger game despite the board being the size of a single playing card.

While technically not pocket-sized (the box maintains similar dimensions to the huge original but is scaled down) it is definitely small enough to fit easily in a small bag. This game is an must-have, pocket-sized, solo experience.

3. Zombie Dice

Another true-pocket game, Zombie Dice is a push-your-luck dice-rolling game in which players take on the role of zombies searching for tasty human brains without getting shot. The game consists of 13 dice, each showing symbols for brains, footprints, and gunshots, and a dice cup (though we swapped the dice cup for a velvet bag to make it even more compact). Players take it in turns to pull 3 dice from the cup, roll them and resolve the effects. They can then choose whether to pull 3 more dice and keep going, or bank the brains they have and pass play to the next players. The catch is that if a player ever rolls a cumulative 3 gunshots during their turn, they lose all the brains they rolled and their turn ends.

The dice are colour coded to indicate how heavily they are weighted to gunshots or brains, which allows players to make an educated guess regarding their chances on future rolls.

The first player to achieve a total of 13 brains wins the game, which does mean that it is possible for a player to win on their first turn. While this might sound disappointing, the excitement of seeing someone win in this way is worth it!

Zombie Dice is an exciting game and perfect to fill a few minutes of waiting time or even act as a palette cleanser between larger games. The dice feel good quality and the entertainment far exceeds the affordable price tag, which is usually in the region of, you guessed it, £13. 

4. Micro Dojo

Micro Dojo is an adorable worker-placement game in which two players compete to enhance their small town through the purchasing of buildings and completing objectives.

While the gameplay is fairly basic, on your turn you move a meeple one space orthogonally and resolve the action on the space it now occupies, it has a very enjoyable flow and feels suitably low-stakes; perfect for playing at a small cafe table.

While the format doesn’t provide for a lot of player agency, there is room for strategy and planning in blocking your opponent from taking key actions. Furthermore, the game has an automated player 2 for solo play that effectively captures the feeling of playing with a human.

This is a game that easily provides more entertainment than it’s low price tag betrays and would make a good addition to anyone’s collection.

5. Kinoko

Kinoko is a fantastic set-building card game where players work to assemble a set of three mushrooms of the same colour by swapping between players and sets of face-down cards on the table. The one catch? Players cannot look at their own cards, instead they have them facing outwards so that all other players can see them. Using a mixture of deduction, probability, and memory, players assemble sets in their hand, other players hands, or on the table, but as soon as a player feels they have completed their set they announce it to the group and their assumptions are checked.

Quick to play and small to carry, this game is the very definition of a pocket-sized game. Furthermore, set up and game time are both quite fast so it's perfect for when you are out and about. With a cute visual style and simple rules, this game is a must-have for anyone who enjoys a good mushroom.