Devon Chulick:
Sara, thank you so much for taking the time, I'm really excited to speak with you.
Sara Frost:
Likewise, thanks for interviewing and talking to me.
Devon Chulick:
So, let's start. Tell me your name. A fun fact, a kind of an off-resume fact about you and how you got started into tabletop RPGs.
Sara Frost:
Ok, well, I go by Sara Frost. A little weird fact about me, I went to school for game design and development. I started college at 16. I had dreamed of trying to convert the tabletop experience into a video game experience, but dyslexia and coding just never quite worked out.
Devon Chulick:
How did you get into tabletop RPGs?
Sara Frost:
I initially in sixth grade, a friend of mine was like, "Hey, have you ever heard of D&D?" And I was like, "No, that what's that?" He just sort of shot me through, chit chat while we're on the swings adventure. That was really just the only experience I had until seventh grade, a friend of mine like, "Oh man, my friend in school showed me this great game called Cyberpunk, we should play. Do you want to play?" I was like, "Yeah, I'm down." And so, I started playing Cyberpunk 2020 back in the day and started picking up the D&D books and stuff like that, just getting my own thing going. And before I knew it, I was running games at the library after school and just went from there.
Devon Chulick:
That's awesome. So, if you said you were running games, do you prefer to be a player or do you prefer to be a GM?
Sara Frost:
I love the play, you get that acting chance, but I found that, at least with the groups that I was playing with, and when I was doing that, the kind of big, epic, intricate stories with a lot of detail that just suck you in and you get immersed. I was the one that could run those style games, unlike the other people I was playing with. And I could have just as much fun and get as much acting and portraying in and random characters in as a GM, so I kind of fell into that role and I love it. So, I think I definitely prefer to GM, but I do miss playing from time to time. I think every GM has that feeling where they're like, man, it'd be nice to play every once in a while, but…
Devon Chulick:
Well, it sounds like you really shine when you're GMing. It doesn't have to be the most proudest moments, but what's one of your proud GM moments?
Sara Frost:
I was running a campaign and I had suffered some serious health problems and I was trying to build a pre-built module for my friends in case the worst should happen with my health, so that they would have this great game that they could play with their friends and everything like that. And I started running it for them and there was these, this NPC and he was kind of the senile old elf that was trying to get them to do something good for the world and no one was really listening to him. And over the course of the game, the kind of grew attached to them. And he passed away just like from old age and finally having a chance to rest. And three of my players were just crying in tears at his death. And I felt bad, I'm like, "Oh, man, I'm bringing people to tears." But at the same time, I was like, "Look at what I'm doing, like I can of move people emotionally." And then one of my other players was like, "Man, like in your games you do 10d10 emotional damage.
Devon Chulick:
Oh, man. Well, okay, so was there a moment that GMing just clicked for you, like this is it? You know, it sounds like you were playing in some games, but what was that moment where you were like, "Oh, I'm a game master."
Sara Frost:
It was really my friend. I'd been GMing AD&D basic stuff after school, but I'd also been playing in my friend's games that really I wasn't the main GM. But then my friend drew this great arc of the strange, like Scarecrow-esque magical wizard thing. And it just clicked, I was like, I've got a villain. I've got his story, I want to run this game. And I ran exalted, and the game went for three years.
Devon Chulick:
Whoa!
Sara Frost:
We're still telling stories about the villain and the stuff that they were doing. And I've been running this game for so long. I was like, "This is this is my gig, this is what I can do. I can make people cry, I can make them angry." When they're sitting there after school or know two years later talking about the villain and how "Oh, we finally got killed" and just keeping that level of investment, it made me realize that I could be a really great storyteller.
Devon Chulick:
That's awesome. You write a lot of games. You run Call of Cthulhu, World of Darkness, Cortex, D&D, Cyberpunk, Marvel. What is something you love to run that you haven't played?
Sara Frost:
I wish there was more people into Call of Cthulhu. I've got this great game inspired. I built it for a friend of mine and never got the chance to run it for them. And I just I wish more people played it because you have so much fun with mythos and insanity and messing with people's heads.
Devon Chulick:
What about a game system you've never gotten a GM or play? Like something completely new that you've seen come out lately that you want to try.
Sara Frost:
The Alien system? I've always been a huge fan of the Alien franchise, the whole thing, Alien, Predator, all of it. And the system seems interesting. I would love a chance to jump on that.
Devon Chulick:
Oh, my gosh, that sounds awesome. Yeah. Alien sounds like a lot of fun. Let's talk about Tabletop RPGs as a whole and how they've influenced your life. It sounds like you were going to college at a very young age, and you wanted to marry the Tabletop, I guess not traditional games, but, you know, it must be very impactful. How is it howhas it influenced your life?
Sara Frost:
It's made me friends, great connections with people over time. I think, creating characters and stories where there's a lot of drama and interplay has influenced the way I think and look at situations and grow as a person. Because you can kind of equate like the trials and struggles that people go through in the hero's journey and all that, just everyday life situations and how you want to tackle it. Having to mediate a game and measure rules and talk to people. I think part of GM's responsibility is sort of communicating between the players and keeping things fun at the table. And it's helped me really develop a lot stronger interpersonal skills. Because I used to be really shy and nervous and hated talking to people. But it's like when you're in that seat, it's kind of like you're in your zone and you just feel good and confident and can interact with people. And I've carried that into other parts of my life.
Devon Chulick:
I love that. That's great. Well, then, so it sounds like you prefer homebrew over pre-written adventures. Is that true?
Sara Frost:
Yeah, I do. I definitely like to make my own worlds. I can run in pre-built worlds and settings. I've definitely done a lot of that for Exulted. But I've found that a lot of modules, there's only so much that you can account for and no plan survives the battlefield. When it's your homebrew, even if you're incorporating module stuff, you know enough about the world that you can just ad lib and start improving off of and let things go where they want.
Devon Chulick:
That's awesome.
Sara Frost:
Being trans actually…for a longtime when I would play, I played as female characters in it. For a long time, itwas a way for me to express that part of me before I was even aware of it myself. And that was something games definitely had an impact on my life.
Devon Chulick:
You know, I've heard a lot about that as how Tabletop RPG allows you a lot about how your gender presentation and allows for a lot of freedom.
Sara Frost:
Yeah.
Devon Chulick:
Yeah. So, if you could go back when you first started GMing and whisper yourself a piece of advice, what advice would it be?
Sara Frost:
Don't get hung up on the details. When I first tried GMing one of my friends, he just reamed me, ripped me a new one, tried being like, "Well, how thick is the door. How big is it this way? If it's that size, how does it open?" And it just overloaded me and made me feel really discouraged starting out as a GM. And if I go back and tell myself to worry about, just say that that's a cool looking door and describe the wood. Don't worry about all the mechanics and physics of everything.
Devon Chulick:
I mean, that kind of sounds like, I mean I feel there's still a lot of gatekeeping in any community Tabletop RPGs is not exempt from that. Have there been any forms of gatekeeping that you've run into? Because even things like trying to derail a GM can sometimes be those forms. Have you experienced and how do you how do you approach it?
Sara Frost:
Thankfully, I haven't really experienced any gatekeeping in RPGs or anything like that, even when running at conventions and stuff like that. Just something about my outgoing social personality is always just kind of let me work my way right in and gather up players no problem. I think as a whole with a lot of the gatekeeping…I have this theory, back when I was in middle school and high school, we were the geeks role playing and we were all ostracized, being made fun of for carrying D&D books and kind of getting shit on a little bit by the more popular kids. And then playing became popular and we had all of these new people coming in. And I think that there is this mentality from us older players where we're seeing sometimes the kind of people or even the very people that would make fun of us for doing it, getting into the hobby. And there's the sort of sore spot ,like, "What? You made my life hell for this and now you're just going to come in and take it?" But I think that that mentality sort of excludes the idea that this is fun for everybody, you can connect with them, people grow and change and, you know, don't hold onto that sore spot.
Devon Chulick:
I love that. So, let's talk about some other women that are in the community that have inspired you that you'd maybe like to shout out.
Sara Frost:
Unfortunately, I don't keep up much with the community. I know since I started watching Critical Role, Marisha Ray and I'm trying to think of her name, she plays Jester on Critical Role. They're free, fun loving, jumping right in. They both GM'd a few times and it's been awesome to see how accepting the community is for this. And then you've got Not played by…I'm awful with names, but there's some trans stuff going on with the character being like a goblin and then a halfling and a female played by male. And the whole community has been really accepting of it.
Then there was another…there's a Star Trek stream that I've watched and as I said, I'm awful at names, but the whole community that's in there, seems very LGBTQ and they've talked a little bit about it. And it's super being accepted, they're getting all of this following and it's really inspiring to see more women getting into gaming, whether it's at a convention, online, on the streams or running games. Because I feel like there hasn't been enough welcoming of them into the RPG community. There's a sort of a lot of old blood of it's the guy's game.
Devon Chulick:
Yeah. I mean, I think it's great. I mean, the more people that are in this committee, the more people that see a diverse group of backgrounds joining and then can see themselves in those people. I think it's really important, especially if you want to join because you're like, "Hey, this person I can identify with" that makes me feel like so much more welcomed to join.
Sara Frost:
Yeah, exactly. And I've ran for four trans players and everything like that. Especially role play where you can create anything, there's this great outlet and it just lets anybody get involved and jump in and really have a lot of fun.
Devon Chulick:
Now, is there one thing that you'd like to say to the tabletop RPG community?
Sara Frost:
Everybody should try GMing. Everybody's got stories in their head to tell and don't be afraid of the rules or anything like that. All you have to do is sit down, tell your story, have fun with your friends. Don't be afraid to tell that great story with your friends because they're going to love it. Don't feel self-conscious. Just jump in.
Devon Chulick:
I love that everyone should GM. Well, then what about projects? Is there anything you're working on that you want to promote?
Sara Frost:
Yeah, I mean, I'm trying to get my Startplaying games up, I've got that guy and trying to look for players along with my Andromeda Adventures Channel on Discord. I can send you those links to the transcript. But I really am trying, especially with 2077 having come out and the big hype around that. And Cyberpunk Red having come out. Cyberpunk Red is like Cyberpunk 2020 with the kid gloves on and it's like I want to show people the dark, grippy, night city. I've been trying to get these Cyberpunk 2020 games going of Neon & Chrome where you're just Edgerunners trying to make a name for yourself dealing with all of the Boostergangers and hitting the mean streets of Night City. So, it's on my RPG and it's on Roll20
Devon Chulick:
Awesome. Of course, we'll have to have all those links below and link to your profile so people can come and see what all games you have posted ready to join. Sara, thank you so much.
Sara Frost:
Thank you. Thank you, Devon.
Links
Sara's GM profile on StartPlaying
Andromeda Adventures Facebook Page
Andromeda Adventures Discord Server
