GM Spotlight: Jay Tilley by Mike Richards

The first question we tend to ask is how did you get started gaming? What is your gamer origin story?

I grew up in a very competitive family, so board games were a natural. All I knew was trying to win, until one of my older brothers brought home Dungeons and Dragons. Suddenly it wasn't about winning, it was about asking the right questions to find the clues to solve the problem. I was always creative, but it was rarely encouraged. I bounced off of D&D in high school when I was bullied over "that silly make-believe game". I didn't have the feeling of self worth needed to withstand the bullying... yet. Needless to say, when my own son showed interest, I dove back in with both feet. 5th Edition had just come out, Critical Role was skyrocketing and DnDTube was the new hotness. I had everything I needed to have my own explosive growth period in the game.

Do you do any other sort of tabletop gaming? Magic, boardgames, etc?

I've played more Magic than any should. I thought I had a chance at real tournament play, but really didn't. (That's still hard to admit.) When I realized Magic was taking too much, I switched to all the amazing board games. My collection sits at about 125 unique titles, though I don't play them much since I've commited to D&D.

My go-tos are Lords of Waterdeep or Stone Age for worker placement. Pandemic: The Cure or Shiny Dice (obscure) for dice games. Smash-Up or Munchkin for deck building (ish)... I won't bother going on, but I will say that I will burn the next copy of Monopoly that someone tries to put in my hand.

You currently run 2 weekly games, stream gaming oriented content 2 nights a week, and write a novel based on your game. Where do you find the time to do all this gaming things?

I am lucky enough that my wife and my older son play in both of my weekly games, so they understand when I take time to prep. The streaming sounds like it would be a distraction, but both streams actually help me prep. TableTalkTuesday is a recap of the good stuff that has happened in game recently, or a commentary on what I've learned. Both of those put me in the mindset of the game and really energize me. I frequently "cool down" after the stream with game prep or writing.

My real secret though is a very strong imagination. Any time I'm stressed at work, needing to destress before sleep or just have some downtime, I will close my eyes and live in the world where my D&D players currently are. I can see myself walking the streets, or put myself in the shoes of an important NPC to think about what they would be doing, or even the Big Bad to ponder how they're advancing their plot. You know, when I put that out there, I sound a little mad. Fair enough.

Speaking of novels, you turned one of your campaigns into a novel, called Saleeci: City of Adventure. Can you tell us a bit about this book?

I thought you would never ask! My favorite topic. Saleeci: City of Adventure is the story of the first big home-brew compaign I wrote from scratch. It was fun because I was transitioning an existing party from Faerun to my own world. I knew I had to give them a one-way trip and it was the first time I asked for their outright trust. I put them in the worst possible place and gave them one way out: Go through the portal to be saved by the half-devil or burn in a river of lava.
That's in the first 5 chapters.
From there they explore a new land with only each other to rely on. Of course, being my players, they immediately found the deepest trouble they could find: The abandoned dwarven city of Doranci filled with undead and the evil Tome that has drawn them there.
It's true D&D adventure with rich world building, developed NPC's and interesting locations. But it is only the first half of the story. Writing the second half has turned out to be a bigger challenge than I expected. We're recommitting this year and hope to have it done by fall. It's got an amazing crescendo climax. Truly heart breaking.

You'll get that joke after to read the book.

One of my favorite things that you do is the terrain that you make for your game. How did you get started making that terrain?

My mother was a very artistic and crafty woman. She and I got along very well. I think I was the first of her sons that was interested in what she did. I learned to knit, crochet, sew, cook. I joke that I am my mother's only daughter. When I started playing D&D as an adult, thanks again to DnDTube, I found a couple people actually building their maps. Black Magic Craft was approachable in the early episodes and made it easy to follow along. I combined that with my own creativity, applying those skills to my own goals. I gravitated to the idea my end product was the result of my imagination and time and not my budget.

The reaction of my players is priceless when I put out a new piece of terrain or a physical prop for them to interact with.

Your crafting of terrain is also very approachable, using basic materials and tools. Why did you decide to go that route with it?

I may have ranted about this on stream once or twice (or seventeen times). I never had money growing up. We always did what we could with what we had. I loved the early episodes of many of the DnDTube crafters because they are just that: approachable. I didn't need the expensive tools, paint booths, hot wire cutting tables... Just some foam, a decent craft knife and some cheap paint could get you about any terrain you needed. Of course, as soon as the channels started seeing success, they did what you would expect! They reinvested in their channel. The problem is, we weren't seeing the success. I didn't have a sponsor buy a crafting table saw for me. So they started losing me on their later projects. I could no longer follow along. I felt betrayed. So when my son finally talked me into streaming my own crafting, I wasn't about to do the same. I am committed to using accessible materials and tools.

It's the same as my overall philosophy for this hobby I love: This game brings me joy. I want to show you how it can bring you joy too.

In your streams you sometimes mention your inspiration from Matt Colville, what is it about Mr. Colville that you love?

Mr. Colville and I have a complicated relationship. I fell in love with him from the beginning. In the first episode of Running the Game he quotes Lawrence of Arabia: I am a river to my people. It's a concise way of expressing my own philosophy. He was, I repeat was, committed to a 'PG' rated channel. I could listen without headphones, in front of my kids and not worry about language. He was also very entertaining.
Key points that cemented me as a Colvillian:
1 - Being a river to my people.
2 - Acknowledging that it doesn't matter how you play, if everyone at the table is having fun, it's okay. (i.e. if you play in a way that I might find toxic, but everyone at the table is okay with it, great! Keep going.) You don't have to play my way to be good or right.
3 - He gives just plain good advice that you can incorporate into your game straight away.

Also, I need his "Leading a Creative Life" video every few weeks. You'll know what I mean when you watch it.

However, he's betrayed his own commitment in his latest videos disappointing me terribly. He's given up on PG content. Again, that's not something you have to worry about with me.

Speaking of streams, you recently started streaming your Saturday evening games. How did you approach that idea with your players? What made you decide to stream your game? (I kinda answered these questions together.)

I am very clear and straight with my players. I think they all expected it as soon as I started streaming my crafting, so it wasn't exactly a hard sell. I just let them know I wanted to start streaming the new campaign and we started talking about the technology.

I let my players know that if any one of them decided they didn't want to stream, we wouldn't. One said he didn't want to be on camera, so we accommodate that, but that's the only resistance.

To be honest about it, my players understand we have a pretty special table. Great players, great role play, good stories... the whole package. I think they mostly wanted to show off <cough, cough> I mean share! They wanted to share our table with friends and family.

You inspire me, personally, with your gaming content. Besides Matt Colville, who inspires you in your gaming?

That is incredibly flattering! It's the fulfillment of my dream. Thank you!

My biggest current inspiration for my game is my players. Seeing their joy and receiving their appreciation for what I do is the best reward. It makes me want to do it again. They like interesting NPCs, creative locations and props with easter eggs? Great! I'll do more of those.

To quote Colville again, "Did you have fun? Then I had fun."

Lately, the amazing reception of our online community and seeing them interacting with each other with love and appreciation is also super-heart-warming. I say it every stream and I could not be more sincere when I say it: I love our community and each member of it individually. They respect each other and show interest and care for one another. It makes me happy.

What would you like our readers to know about gamemastering and playing ttrpgs?

Oh, good heavens. Did you want me to write a book? I think you know my answer here, though. Ha ha ha. I say it enough on stream.

Whether you're the mastering or playing a character, trust the other people at the table. The bigger question is what do I mean by trust?
Trusting your players means being willing to look or sound goofy roleplaying NPCs without fear of being laughed at. (Laugh with all you want! Don't laugh at...) Trust that your players aren't trying to cheat if they misunderstand a rule. Trust that your players will engage with your content at their own pace, so don't push.
Trust the other players at the table: Feel the feelings, enjoy the failures as much as the successes and allow space for each other to play. Really play! Explore your characters. Make some risky decisions!
Trusting your game master means much the same. Trust that they aren't 'cheating' if they fudge a die roll to serve drama. Take the world as they present it, not the way you wanted or expected it to be. Trust that they are on your side, but they serve drama first, because that's their job.

What is coming next for Jay Tilley?

Books. Once we have the stream technology to the point we want it (we're still working out kinks...), I will be able to focus on more books. We have content and plans for at least 7 more novels and, heaven help me, a resource book that would cover the territory presented in Saleeci: City of Adventure. I've had requests for the cities, encounters and NPCs from the first book and that's nothing compared to what you'll get in the second book.

The first (practice) resource book will be a set of 52 one-shot adventures set on "the island" (as my players call it), including a big variety of custom monsters, classes and magic items.

The biggest challenge, however, is going to be the romantasy novel I have in the works. I'm stepping way out of my comfort zone, but I think I'm up for the challenge. PG rated, of course. heh heh

I'm going to keep streaming through the whole process. I love you all too much to quit.

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Jeff Womack is a long-time gamemaster and general nerd. Will haunt a comic shop any day of the week.