Trust among an RP group lets everyone open up and play a game boldly. Distrust results in players holding back, a sense of caution, inhibition. What can we do to increase trust? What creates distrust? This is the subject I'm taking up for today's #RPGaDay2021 prompt.

Have you been roleplaying for a long time? When is the last time you've played with someone completely new to the hobby? Completely new players are great, because they remind you of the promise of role playing, how you felt about it in the beginning before perhaps the habits, rules and culture of role playing started to shape your expectations into something more mundane or routine. If you ever lose the spark of exuberant joy in RPing, a completely new player can wake it back up. Sometimes, with a player completely new to the hobby, they will be a little timid. Sometimes a player is just shy. Sometimes, the "you can do anything" scope is intimidating and the player wants to see how things are done before leaping in themselves. Sometimes it takes a bit to overcome an inhibition or self-conscious sense you're just acting silly, and maybe roleplaying is just a bit embarrassing. What gets those new players over their initial inhibitions are a growing sense of what's going on, honest encouragement and appreciation of their contributions, a confidence that grows with experience, and it is bolstered by trust.

What do participants in a game need to be able to trust in for the game to flourish? At the most basic level, you just need to be able to trust that you are with decent people. Trust that you aren't going to be insulted or mocked or otherwise treated poorly on a game night where you just wanna relax and have good times. This seems so basic, yet at the same time I've seen groups failing even here. There is a saying that is somewhat appropriate, "No gaming is better than bad gaming." I agree with that broadly, but especially at the level of social decency and respect. I have enough friends now that it is relatively easy for me to say, but I don't think it is worth the exchange of accepting poor behavior in your life, just because you really want to engage in a particular activity.

More subtly, I think increasing trust in a play group requires paying attention to each player, trying to form an understanding of what they enjoy and what they do not enjoy. The more you are able to support, or not undermine their play, the more trust they will have that you are a partner that can be worked with to get to the fun places. When players have a good understanding of each other, a confidence about it, it means they are more likely to trust a player that chooses to take a chance or move play in a direction that may seem chancy, strange, or possibly edgy in a way that could go bad. Provided that trust was well placed, it means your games can go further than they would have without it.

As far as distrust, there are a few ways I see it created. I mean, just failing to be a decent, kind person will get you distrusted, and close people off from willing to be open emotionally. Another thing I see is when a player is interested in the fiction and another player mocks it or doesn't take it seriously, turns potentially cool or emotionally impactful moments into jokes, or makes meta-commentary, takes things at an ironic distance. In cases like these, eventually the player interested in playing more seriously can disengage, to the detriment of the game. Cheating at the game as a player or GM can also create a distrust that can potentially anger, or at least lessen the enjoyment and engagement of others at the table. Selfishly deciding to have a character engage in the scenario in a way that does not honor the fictional reality (by playing using Out-Of-Character knowledge for personal benefit, or exploding the situation by having your character put the other PCs in a situation where they can not easily continue) also can kill player and GM enthusiasm and destroy their ability to trust that you have their entertainment or desires in mind at all.

I fear I did not have the most evocative take on this subject, but in conclusion I think my core point is that fostering trust in each other is one of the key factors in bringing the best roleplaying possible out onto the table. Role playing is a collaborative endeavor, everyone responsible for contributing to the overall experience. Can you be trusted to do your part?