It’s New Gamemaster Month! All month, every Tuesday and Thursday, visit newgamemastermonth.com to read specially tailored articles to take you from “wannabe” to “am” as a Tales of the Valiant game master! (There are several other great RPGs there too! Try more than one!)
As a bonus and encouragement, we’re interviewing some new game masters in our Kobold Creates program. In this program, Kobold Press provides sponsorship funds for digital creators who create and stream their own content using the Tales of the Valiant RPG as a base, expanding in creative ways!
Today’s GM interview is with the Mandii Solano!
Mandii, tell us who you are at the 10,000 foot level.
Hi I’m Mandii, a CRIT Award-nominated professional Game Master and TTRPG writer. My platform is focused on diversity and raising the voices of marginalized creators. My original worldbuilding Actual Play project, Mistlost, airs Wednesdays at 8:00PM EST on my Twitch channel, and the new arc starts on 1/29/25. You can find my work on twitch.tv/themandii and themandii.carrd.co!
What got you interested in GMing?
I got interested after I’d played TTRPGs as a player for a couple of years, and realized after a point, “Hey, I think I’d actually be pretty good at this!”
I’ve always been a writer and a visual artist, and being a GM marries many of my favorite art forms in one. I wanted to be the kind of GM I was missing from my gaming experience, one who made the kinds of stories I wanted to be part of.
Do you make your own setting or use a published one? What’s your favorite thing you’ve created or added to a world?
I have used published settings in the past and still do occasionally, originally being quite the Forgotten Realms nerd. The vast majority of my games today are entirely homebrewed settings. From the high fantasy setting I’ve created for my actual play Mistlost, to the goofy space-faring world of SlimeQuest, I much prefer to build my own worlds.
What’s your favorite compliment you’ve ever gotten as a GM?
I’ve been told that I do a good job of making each player feel accomplished in different ways during my games, and that has always stuck with me. The direct quote was, “. . . I love how you made each of us feel accomplished in different ways during the journey. . . . You really opened up the world for us and gave us opportunities to play on each of our strengths.” (Thanks Sharmie!)
Did you ever feel burned out? What did you do around that feeling?
Oh, absolutely. Mental health is absolutely a factor in all of our lives and burnout is almost inevitable at some point. I have learned to only do projects that fill my cup, things that make me excited. When you’re having fun, it feels a lot less like effort. When I struggle with writing plans for my games, I lean on my ability to improvise. If structure gets tiring for you, my biggest advice is to learn improv skills. [Ed. note: Check out our series on Improv Proficiency!] It might help to switch between structuring your games and having a stream of consciousness. Also worth mentioning: taking a break is OK. You’re allowed to rest!
What advice do you have for someone who is thinking about GMing?
Honestly, go ahead and dive in! I know it seems scary but, go run something for people you trust, and be open to what your players want while considering the safety of the individuals present. You don’t have to know all the rules to have fun, don’t stop yourself because you haven’t memorized the GM Guide of your game. (People usually don’t.)
What’s a story from your first (or early) GMing experience?
I was very fortunate with my first ever GMing experience. This was for a group of people at a prior day job during the slow season. None of us knew what we were doing, and it transformed into a 2 year long home game . . . and a homebrew campaign where I could learn to worldbuild and to tell stories in a sandbox.
What resources or other creators would you recommend to fellow GMs?
Resources I recommend: TTRPG Safety Toolkit (ttrpgsafetytoolkit.com) and Script Change (briebeau.com).
Other creators I highly recommend include the incredible crew at @MagiRPG, @GobletsandGays, @SmokingGlueGuns (whose current campaign is a masterwork), and shout out to @Winterstales’s current project, Castleton, which I am also part of. Any project that promotes diversity and community is one worth watching!
Is there anything you’ve done that you’d like other people to see?
Check out my worldbuilding project, Mistlost, which covers a universe that spans an entire star system’s worth of planets, each planet with its own theme. The Actual Play show for Mistlost is an immersive story about world exploration, found family, finding yourself, and uncovering a mystery that keeps the world from shattering.