#RPGaDay2018: Day 10 - How has gaming changed you?

Years ago, I wrote up 4 characters for Deadlands. The one I was most interested in playing was Solomon Blackbird, a mediator rather than a fighter. I didn't play her, but picked the gunslinger Lizbeth Hunter for the first game instead.

I knew I wanted to play more persuasive characters, though, and I wanted more confidence to do that sort of thing in the real world, so I statted a skald (barbarian/bard cross and a fan-made Pathfinder class), Ylva, but the rest of the group didn't want me to play her because a lot of her boosts wouldn't help them by nature of the skaldic magic, which was fair enough but frustrating.

We started playing Aberrant, and I decided Chrissie was going to have leadership qualities I lack, to help me learn them. It paid off; I felt more confident playing her (helped by the smaller group, I'm sure, and specifically the other people in it). Then I started playing Taji, who is pretty much confidence personified and has no doubt (or very occasional doubt only) in her ability to lead.

And it's really paid off. I was becoming frustrated in the other group, with the 'interlude' to Pathfinder which I'd expected to be relatively low power and short-lived becoming something as epic as the other game, the important game (which I have no problem with, but I didn't like being led to expect one type of game only for the rug to be pulled from under me), and the main game having gone from a diplomacy-based game to one that was very combat heavy, where the player characters don't really interact with each other, and where the newest player was dominating at, it felt, the expense of my stage time (mine and the assassin's, really). We're going back to Pathfinder soon, and I had the confidence to lay out my concerns for both iterations with the GM without worrying I would hurt his feelings. He agreed with me and understood - he's promised to keep the oracle and paladin from dominating, to give me and the assassin time to shine, and to make sure I actually get time with the NPC's even if it frustrates the paladin. He even sought my reassurance he's a better GM now, something I was more than happy to give (he reads a lot of advice, and practices, and all that). He wasn't a bad GM before, just let dominant players dominate the game until it stopped being fun for me, but I contributed to that by not having the confidence to tell him. I have it now, and the confidence to tell the other two to shut up at the table. One of them won't mind (he lives with me; he's watched my confidence growing), but the other might not like it very much!

And it's not the gaming table. I'm confident to tell people at work when they're wrong without lots of hedging (though more diplomatically than "You're wrong"), and able to hold the conversation long enough to explain. My department closes next year, so I'm hoping this new confidence will help me find a new position somewhere engaging.

What about you? If you're taking part this year, please leave a link below!