Ensemble Casts, & Proactive vs. Reactive in Solo RPG's

Ensemble Cast

Since it's October, and Halloween is just around the corner, my thoughts usually turn to Horror this time of year (not that they every really stray too far from it to begin with...).

When my thoughts turn to horror (gaming) I invariably get back around to pondering one of my favorite sub-gene's of horror: The Slasher Movie. I've pondered over how to run one of these as a successful Solo venture before, and have been doing so again as of late.

I'd come up with what I think may be a solution to some of the issues I've foreseen when I got side-tracked last night by Netflix's release of their new series "The Haunting of Hill House" which led me to one of the OTHER sub-genre's I brood over when this mood comes around: The Haunted House, which I'd also like to run.

The ensemble cast of 1963's "The Haunting", the great adaptation of "The Haunting of Hill House"

The solution I've come up with addresses some problems that I now realize BOTH have in common. One is Ensemble Casts. It's a subject I've discussed in the past when trying to figure out to run a "Star Trek" thing. I'll get that in a bit, as it's something I want to discuss at length, all on its own.

But the one that really hit me today when considering both sub-genres alongside each other is THIS: Proactive vs Reactive in Solo RPG's, which is what inspired me to post in the first place. In the past I've discussed a bit about how I thought "mission oriented" RPG's were much easier to run Solo. I realize now what I was struggling to articulate in that view is The Difference Between Proactive and Reactive in RPG's.

That is to say: Proactive would be the so-called "mission oriented" RPG's I mentioned earlier. They give you a goal, someplace to go, and something to do. On the other hand a Reactive one would be one where you wait for things to happen, then you respond accordingly.

The latter of the two are the ones I've struggled with. In order to make Reactive games work you have to have something to react TO. The only way I've ever solved this problem was content generators. Lots and lots of content generators.

It occurs to me as I write this that perhaps the main difference between Proactive and Reactive is the Proactive front-loads all your Random Content, whereas in Reactive you generate as you go, which means you need somewhere to go and something to do until then, since really PROACTIVE becomes REACTIVE to some extent once you start playing, as you roll new terrain, random encounters and so on.

All of this talk of Proactive vs. Reactive might be apropos of nothing, but I do think it is important, and somewhat instructive, to think about which structure the type of game or genre you're thinking of has, so as to look ahead to what some of your needs are going to be.

I think one of the things I've always struggled with in Reactive-type games is: Who is my character? Where am I going? What am I doing? I always likened it to wanting to have no more knowledge than the character. That is to say: the teens in a Slasher Movie don't KNOW they're in a Slasher Movie. The people that move into a Haunted House don't KNOW they're in a Haunted House Movie. Until all the fun starts. I'd like to be as surprised as they are.

I haven't solved that one. Without LOTS of purpose designed random tables (that STILL might produce results that didn't fit well together) the only option I can see right now is deciding what kind of "movie" you're making ahead of time and casting accordingly? At the least you might have to have some kind of random generation of "Who" and "Where" which might suggest (or let something like "Mythic" generate suggestions for you) of the "What" and "Why"?

ANYHOW, the idea that I have is on a way to handle Ensemble Casts, and deal with the Where They're Going and What They're Doing questions to some extent. At least until the "fun" begins.

The idea was inspired by the RPG "The Final Girl". In that game, 3+ players each create 2-4 characters or so, writing them up on index cards, which are put into a "pool". No one owns the characters, but each scene each player picks a character to play for that scene. There are a number of Introduction Scenes where we get to know these characters and establish Connections between them.

I was thinking about how to convert this game to Solo when I had the following idea, for handling scenes with ensemble casts.:

• CHARACTERS: Write each Characters name on an index card. You are either going to play all the Characters, or have one Main Character and play one of the "NPC's" in scenes that this character is not in, etc. If you choose a Main Character you can then pick one of the NPC's to be your next Character if that one dies, etc.
• LOCATIONS: Decide if the game is going to take place over a wide area or a isolated location. These are where your scenes are going to take place, and write them down on cards. For example: if you decide your Slasher Movie is going to take place at  Summer Camp, you might write up the main rooms of the Lodge on separate cards (or make a little sub-table of rooms on a card that just says "Lodge"?), Lake, Woods, Council Fire, Boat Dock, Garage, Barn, etc.
• SITUATION: Write up a number of cards with "Situations" typical to whatever type of "movie" you're playing. Continuing with out Slasher example, let's say: Sex, Drugs, Music, Booze, Dancing, Pranks, Spooky Story, Teasing, Banter, Quarrel, whatever tropes you want.
• NOW:  each scene draw (X) number of Characters (dice for it or decide, whatever), a Location and a Situation. Your Characters and Location are self explanatory. The "Situation" is something that you introduce during the scene. Choose which character(s) the Situation apply to, and feel free to be as liberal in your interpretation as you like (i.e. if you draw "Sex", maybe you chose two characters who run off somewhere to "do it", maybe it's just innocent flirting, or maybe a Character lusts after someone who isn't even aware of their existence).

So there's the idea in a nutshell. I see it as a way to decide at least who's in the scene, where it takes place, and what their motivation is, until your Game Master Emulator of choice kicks in and the session "gets some legs" and  takes on a life of its own, and things start happening.

All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players...And one man in his time plays many parts...

Thus Spaketh The Bard

While I was posting over at RPGGeek.com about my sessions of "Monsterhearts" that I ran over the past couple of weeks, I put into writing one of the thoughts that had been rolling around in my head about the experience:

I do have to say that once I got started I felt less like a player & more like a GM than usual. I felt like a director of a movie or stage play, and all the characters felt more like actors. I felt like I was staging the scenes & giving the actors some direction on where I wanted them to go and what I wanted them to do, & then it felt like "they" were taking it & running it.

Now, that said, I never felt completely divorced from the action, nor ever felt I wasn't in control of my character. I just felt like I was viewing the whole thing through a different lens, as it were.

So, I'm starting to think, in general, this might be a better way to look at Solo RPG'ing than my attempts at simulation, emulation, and "virtual reality", which I have discussed in the past.

I have achieved  this level of detail in the past, but the amount of work it takes can be exhausting, and I'm not quite sure that the amount of effort is equal to the reward (at least on a full time basis).

In these sessions of MH, what I was playing felt more like a TV Show, movie, or book, and less like "stepping into my character and living vicariously through them".

But I'm okay with that.

At some point perhaps you have to accept the limitation and conditions of the medium, and tailor your style of play, as well as your expectations, to meet them.

By framing and playing out scenes in a more cinematic, "only film when something interesting is happening"/"cut to the action" and less an attempt of trying to live the characters life, (as well as using a lighter, more story and narrative driven set of rules), the play may have been more fluid & dynamic, and at the least was just as engaging and entertaining as my previous efforts.

So, it may not be just the rules, tools, and so on, but how you frame and conduct your scenes, as well as your approach and mindset to what it is you're doing, and how you view it, that can  influence the feel of the finished product.

First "Episode" of Monsterhearts Complete

Yeah, alright, so it is kinda, sorta like this. So sue me...

So I just finished my first story arc of "Monsterhearts", my first foray into indie, STORY games. What follows are some of my thoughts.


It was a strange but fun experience for an OG (Old Gamer) like me. I had from old habit started bringing the mentality to the table of trying to do a bunch of prep, gathering tables and charts and such, and found very quickly that, in my opinion, the simulationist style approach that I'm used to DOES NOT WORK OR FIT IN THIS STYLE GAME. It felt much more "natural" and "real" to just "get in the moment" and start "Making Moves" (in game mechanics vocabulary), and let them set off "Chain Reactions" of other moves and see where it all went.


When I was running a solo D&D hexcrawl, I wanted to "live in the skin" of my character almost to the point of a "virtual reality" type experience, where I lived as much of the characters experience right down to the minutia of the weather, the terrain and scenery, overheard tavern and street conversations and so on.


As soon as I sat down to play this, I could see that approach wasn't going to work. With a design that is so STORY driven (and bordering on "cinematic") taking a more "TV or Movie" syle approach just felt right in terms of only "shooting" scenes where something INTERESTING was happening. (Whereas in the above example, EVERYTHING was interesting to me. I wanted to experience the whole WORLD).

Overall, it was an educational learning experience, but also an enjoyable one as well.

It was so loose and free flowing that it almost didn't feel like playing a game. It was (almost uncomfortably) close to "creative writing with dice" as some have called it. Still, there were JUST ENOUGH mechanical components to keep it within the realm of what constitutes a "game" by my standards, and I tried to let the Mythic GME and UNE Universal NPC Emulator run as much of the game as I could.


At first it felt like "cheating" until you realize that you're playing the game the way it was designed and doing what you're supposed to do: driving the narrative and story.


Which is not to say the GM emulator didn't provide me with plenty of twists & turns. Pretty much the entire story didn't unfold much of anything the way I expected.


It could be a fine line to walk with a game design like this between "just making it all up" and "playing the game", but I feel pretty good about the balance I achieved, and feel like now that I have a better grasp of how this type of game plays that I can do even better going forward.


ESPECIALLY if I'm more diligent about using the Mythic GME "by the book" insofar as actually filling out and using the sheets for "story threads", and filling out the worksheets for anther tool that I made some use of in these sessions that I was finally able to "click" with, and think really shone in this type of game: the Covetous Poets's Adventure Creator and Solo GM Guidebook.


I've been wont to use these tools in a fairly loose and free form manor in the past, but feel like a more organized, methodical approach will yield more depth of story and even better results.


One good sign is that I kept wanting to get back to it because, like a good book, I wanted to see "what was going to happen next". And even though I just finished one story arc, there were plenty of unresolved hooks just waiting to be continued, and I'm already anxious to get another session going and see what else develops.

...of Immersion and Verisimilitude: Pull a seat up at the Table

One of the finest examples of Old School Random Tables

Random Tables. I've made no secret of it in the past, I absolutely love them. While still high on the post from last night, I celebrated by buying up PDF's of a ton more random tables from RPG Now. (My version of going out and painting the town red, but with less hangover the next day).

While spending the day browsing all of the new acquisitions, not only was I filled with joy and inspiration (which would be worth it alone even if I wasn't actually using them in play), but I was also suddenly hit with another trendy word from video game design:  Immersion, defined as, deep mental involvement.

While contemplating that word, another one sprang to mind, one that I'm quite fond of: Verisimilitude, or something that gives the thing into which it is integrated the appearance of being true or real.

In this case, it is Random Tables, as many as I can get my hands on, from as many sources as I can, crammed full of all kinds of little nuggets of inspiration and ideas that I wouldn't have come up with on my own, that I can stash away until needed, unremembered, and in most cases UNREAD, that give me the deep mental involvement and appearance of being true or real that helps create for me another of those words mentioned last post: Simulation.

Now the same may or may not work for you, but I think it is worth consideration that you find whatever that thing is that gives your games a sense of Immersion and Verisimilitude and include it.

...of Simulations and Sandboxes

By George, I've GOT it! (I think...)

While stuck at work on a slow Friday night, I've been mulling over the "What I Want To Play" series (#4 is sitting half finished in draft now), D&D, & RPG's in general, when I had another minor epiphany.

While thinking on some of the other games I'd like to play that I haven't covered yet versus D&D, two words burbled up from my subconscious that have been rattling around in my head for a couple of weeks now:

Simulation.

Sandbox.

While re-reading the 4th edition "Pendragon" RPG (one of those "Games I'd Like To Play") and looking up things online in regards to it, I stumbled across one quote that said (paraphrasing from memory) that "Pendragon was less of a RPG and more of a simulation" due to its system of Virtues and Vices to ensure that characters behave in a certain, consistent way, to their beliefs and character.

..."less of an RPG and more of a simulation." I rather liked the sound of that.

I think one of the things I've been consciously seeking, without necessarily being AWARE of it per se, is simulation in my RPG's. I want tables and rules that run the world and everything that happens in it, other than my character. (Hence my recent comment that I want my games to be "virtual reality" and that I want "to control my character, and the game to control everything else".

I know one of the reasons, among others, that I chose D&D for my first Solo was the huge amount of material available for it. Random tables for nearly any occasion and situation if you look hard enough. I think this is one of the reasons it worked so well. That kind of plethora of material powers the Simulation.

The other thing I want (that I've been more aware of) is for all of my games to be like a sandbox. Less "sit down & just have an adventure" and more "go anywhere, do anything, live the life of my character". Again, this is why D&D worked so well. Plethora of material, fits the style of play.

And I think this is also why I've had such problems otherwise (except for the "Monster-of-the-Week thing, which by its NATURE is episodic, thus I DON'T want or NEED a Simulation OR a Sandbox).

The problem I've been having is I want a bunch of the other games I'd like to play to be Simulation Sandboxes.

Star Trek? I wanted to live the life and career of a Star Fleet officer fresh out of the academy with an open world space sandbox to explore and unfold around me.

Superheroes? (Another genre I'd like to be playing) I want an open world sandbox simulation city where my character can and go and patrol like Spider-Man and crimes, events, and THINGS just HAPPEN, while maintaining a personal life, a secret identity, and so on.

Now, to be fair, I have scoured far and wide on ye olde intrawebz, and HAVE acquired a fair number of resources for both of the above (and maybe a few others). Supers in particular I was able to amass a decent collection of "stuff" to enable this type of play.

But for some reason I think I've had a harder time of wrapping my head around a "hexcrawl" sandbox-y style of play for the above. (Though I feel like I'm close to a breakthrough on a Supers game...there's something in my subconscious that just feels like the pieces are ready to fall into play and make sense...)

With D&D, there is so much material available, and sandboxing and hexcrawling are such well trod paths, that it wasn't a huge stretch to get started, to figure out what to do, or how to do it.

With others, even though there IS material available (as stated above), there is still lots of prep to be done, and the style of play for these genres feels like strange, uncharted territory, that when contemplating, I've had trouble figuring out where to start, how to approach.

I don't know if I have any point to make. Just thinking "out loud" here. But I think quantifying and qualifying, putting a label on,  what it is you're trying to do in Solo RPG-ing (and maybe life in general, really) helps in some way to accomplish it. When you do so, it clarifies, sets guidelines, expectations, helps identify what the challenges actually are.

Maybe now that I have a clearer idea of what it is that I really want to do I'll have an easier time figuring out how to do it.

Emergent game play and narrative, a subject worth consideration

In the board game world is where I first learned the term "emergent narrative". There are many pseudo RPG-like board games (like A Touch of Evil :The Supernatural Game) where random elements converge and a form of story emerges from these random details.

Apparently the terms "emergent play" and "emergent narrative" came out of the development of video games, as you can read about in this Wikipedia article, which explains the whole concept in more detail.

Oddly enough, as much as I've discussed solo RPG'ing, it never really occurred to me that this thing and process that I've been struggling to describe, help others with, and implement myself, is really the same thing that I'd encountered and discussed in my other gaming endeavors.

I raise this point appropriate of nothing, other than I think it puts things in the proper context to realize what we're engaging in, when we solo role play, is a form of emergent play, where we're take random, disparate elements, and allowing a coherent narrative structure to emerge.

I don't know if I have any other point, other than having a useful frame of reference when discussing solo RPG'ing, and when considering the process ITSELF. I think it clarifies and crystallizes a something that I've struggled to put into words. The play itself is part of the process. The process itself is part of the play. And the narrative is what emerges.

Baby steps

...one step at a time

As a Solo RPG'er, I've had to learn many lessons over and over. Remind myself of my own advice again. This might be perhaps chief among them.

As a soloist, it is incredibly easy to get overwhelmed. If you are dealing with real life issues  even more so (such as the ones referenced in my previous post, or whatever RL issues you might struggle with in your own lives).

Being a solo player means it's a one person show. (DUH!) Thus all the "work" falls on you. (IF you let it! How much work should there BE? Is it possible to make the work a part of the PLAY? To do mostly play with no work? Topic for another post I think...)

In any case, my recent bout of frustration led me to thinking about my process, and where I went astray.

I think as soloists we're probably all big dreamers in some way. After all, we're all playing RPG's for starters! Add to that we're attempting to do so SOLO, which is a big dream in and of itself, since there are plenty of people who thought (and still think) that it can't be done.

If you're like me, you live in your head a lot. You think a lot. So with all this thinking and dreaming it's easy to get lost. To go astray. To loose sight of what you were trying accomplish, and overwhelm yourself by dreaming big, without having actually DONE much of anything.  (Again, maybe a topic for another time).

Back to the topic at hand...

...not quite

...I do think it's important at some point to just jump in and play (as many wonderful respondents on the previous post reminded me). I ALSO think it can be important to take each thing as it comes, one step at a  time...

...also not quite

..and deal with each problem, each situation, as it arises. I think that was one of the reasons that my most successful solo campaigns to date DID work. That I DIDN'T think about it too much, DIDN'T plan it out, and DIDN'T prepare a bunch.

I did think about it quite a bit at first, just getting stuff together and figuring out my approach to the whole process, since it was my first solo endeavor, but eventually I had to just jump in and DO it.

AFTER THAT came the process of taking each situation and problem as it arose, figuring out ways to solve it, and continuing.

Maybe easier said than done, I know. But I think (for me at least), that I have to come to grips with the idea that solo RPG'ing, if it's going to be something that I do, has to be an elephant that you eat with a teaspoon, not all in one bite.

...don't worry, it's just a cliched metaphor.

It's a mystery

"The game is afoot Watson!"

One of my favorite genres that I do not actively pursue as such is Mysteries. But if you break it down, MANY different genres either incorporate, or flat out evolve into mysteries as the story unfolds, from Action/Adventure and Thrillers,  to Ghost Stories and a number of Slasher films (of the non-franchise variety, where the killer's identity isn't known), for example.

And who doesn't love Sherlock Holmes, Phillip Marlowe, Columbo, Matlock, etc. :)

In a way, solo rpg'ing feels like a mystery when I'm playing. You're proceeding into the unknown, looking for clues, interviewing suspects and witnesses (NPC interactions) and following a trail.

One of the subjects that has interested me is how to conduct ACTUAL Mysteries in SOLO RPG's. How to uncover REAL clues, at least "simulate" doing deduction, and have them add up to a Solution.

It's not a subject I've given a LOT of thought, but have considered in passing. Especially, as said previously, many different genres incorporate mystery elements (the "monster-of-the-week" horror game I ran is another great example).

In any case, here is a link to another blog post on that very subject that has some fascinating ideas that I will definitely be trying in the future.

Tabletop Diversions: Solo Role-Playing Bonus Feature: Handling Mysteries and Investigations

Pay special attention to the comments. The one by Ulfengaard Hrafnson is pure gold.

And as a bonus, here is a series of blog posts that, even though they didn't have the approach to mysteries I was looking for, were an entertaining read and a GREAT example of the Mythic GME in action:

Homicide: Life on the Blog

Surrender to the Oracle

This blog post was inspired by Brian Murphy over at the G+ Lone Wolf Roleplaying group. His question was for advice on how to keep your sessions with the Mythic GME from turning into a novel writing exercise.

As a quick suggestion, if your sessions with Mythic devolved into a creative writing (as is easy to happen), my method is to just jot the barest of notes, let the narrative carry you, and try to keep the action "in your head".

You may very well catch yourself "drifting" back into more verbosity. That's ok. Don't fret. Just reign it back in & keep rolling. Keep the action flowing.

Only stop to jot notes when there is something NOTEWORTHY to write down! Role-playing is very much "theater of the mind" AND "theater of the MOMENT" so just go with it.

The other thing I'd add is if you find your imagination taking over and trying to drive the narrative, surrender to the oracle. Rather than thinking "this happens and then THIS happens", ask the oracle. "DOES this happen?"

It's useful (for me) to think of the oracle as an actual GM. All of my input as to what I see, hear, etc flows from "him", so I have to keep the questions coming.

Think of the oracle and your imagination as partners, working together. Each of them enable the other, but don't let either assume exclusive control.

This is how I do what I do, when I do what I do...

At the request of +John Fiore, author of the 9Qs Solo RPG Engine I'm going to talk a bit about my "process" or "system", which probably makes things sound more orga-na-zized than they really are.

When I first started w/ the B/X D&D Hexcrawl that was my first foray into Solo Gaming, I wanted a big ol' 3-ring GM binder full o' page protected STUFF. The whole impetus of the the Solo D&D game was a longing and nostalgia for "the old days". I wanted an experience that emulated that as closely as possible.

So I gathered all the necessary materials went print happy. The finished product is a hefty tome of awesome. Funny thing was, when I sat down to play, with my huge binder, rule books, dice, and spiral bound notebook to record notes as I played, I found myself referring to the open laptop instead. It was so much easier to manage and find what I was looking for.

(Though TBH I DO enjoy just HAVING that big ol' binder, I like just looking through it, and do still like to drag it out!)

For the next game I tackled (a MiniSix (d6) modern-investigative-horror "monster-of-the-week" style thing) while thinking over what I wanted to do, how I wanted to do it, and so on, I decided, as a thought experiment, to see IF I could play AT WORK, in between calls, issues, tasks, etc. The intention was to just get started there and pick up when I got home and bounce back and forth. I ended up running the whole multi-session adventure at work.

I will probably talk more about that experience in a separate post all its own, but for the purposes of THIS one, I'll finish on this part of it by saying I downloaded a die roller & PDF's of all the required rules and tools onto three different machines at work, so that I could snatch a quick scene here and there.

Which leads me to where I am now. When I first started the crazy-solo-RPG-thing I was very resistant to PDF's (other than as a means to get what I wanted and print it out) and still scoffed at the idea of "e-books", as I had not picked up a tablet or a smart phone yet. (Grandpa was behind the times...).

I was in the camp of "I prefer a REAL book". I always thought that I wouldn't find e-docs as "readable" as a physical book. The idea of digital was still alien to me.

But when I got a tablet (so that my youngest daughter could have her own device when they come to visit), and a smart phone (so that DAD could have a device when they come to visit!) I discovered that not only were e-books VERY readable, but there is a huge convenience and portability involved.

Also, as I acquire more and more materials printing it all off becomes less feasible. Finding a place to PUT and KEEP it all would be out of the question. Finding and fetching what I need is a hassle. And there are places you can't take everything, you may not have that one thing with you, and so on.

Discovering Google Books and Google Drive has been a major breakthrough. I can now access my documents ANYWHERE on ANY DEVICE. So....the intent for the next round of Solo RPG'ing is to be able to play anywhere, at any time, at a moments notice (more or less).

I still like having a few physical documents, like character sheets and maps, but I could do them electronically as well if I really wanted to.

I've discovered (through the D&D campaign) that lugging out all those books, binders, and so on, draws a lot of attention, curiosity, side long glances, and observation. People in the household want to know "what're you DOING?!?". I found that my Solo gaming was something I wanted for ME. I didn't really want to SHARE it with anyone.

SO...there is a strong attraction now, for me, to be able to sit down with just an open laptop, with die roller installed and dozens of PDF's open where I can flick back and forth between them at will, and be able to play a game with no one the wiser. :)

To quickly (too late!) wrap up by answering a couple of the other questions posed, I generally leave all the rules and charts "as is" in their own documents and just skip back and forth as needed, BUT I DID find it handy (necessary really) to write out a "procedure" for my Wilderness Hexcrawl so that I did the same processes in the same order every "game day". It made the process of playing a very smooth and mechanical thing, which I enjoyed.

I think having a process written out for complex operations that can become confusing is a good idea, as it allows you to work through it one step at a time in an organized way, without being overwhelmed or losing track. I've been haphazardly jotting notes off and on with the intention of writing one for Starship Combat, and the actions available to each member of a crew, for example.

As for time to play? I think one can see from the above that I've done both all day sessions (D&D) and "play whenever you've got a second" (MiniSix "MotW"). The goal for me is, ultimately, is whenever, where ever, how ever, I WANNA PLAY!!! :)

Do Eet! Do Eet NAOOOOWW!!!

"Do It! Do Iiiiiiiit!!!"

I had a few different titles in mind for this post. "Nothing to fear but fear itself", "Spread your wings and fly", "Got the nikes on, just do it", etc. But this simple, brutal, direct little ditty by Mr. Rollins & Co. gets the point across the best IMO on a subject I plan on discussing further in future posts:

Getting started in Solo RPG'ing.

It's a daunting proposition I think. Just like the whole concept of "role playing games" was new and uncharted territory to many of us way back in the 80's, Solo RPG'ing is still a pretty new and "far-out" idea now.

Role playing games took a change in mind set. A change in perspective. As silly as it might sound and seem now (even to me, and I was there!) we had to figure out the "how" of how to play these strange, new types of games with the funky dice.

I think the journey toward Solo RPG'ing takes a similar type of shift in thought, "unlearning (some of) what you have learned", and so on.

(I'm assuming here, of course, that you have heard of or learned about Solo RPG'ing, some of the tools involved, & so on. If not, hie thee hither to the G+ Lone Wolf Solo Roleplaying Community and then come back when ready).

My purpose here is to address what was MY single biggest hurdle, and from other posts that I see one that I think others struggle with as well: how to start, where to start etc.

And my biggest, best piece of advice (for now) is just as Hank says above: Do it. Don't be afraid of "doing it wrong". Don't be afraid to tinker. Try things out. Experiment. Practice. Do some trial runs. Start over if at first you don't succeed.

Sitting down & simply getting started, problem solving as I went, just taking one piece, one challenge at a time, figuring out what I needed to do in order to get done what needed to be done, was the single biggest breakthrough I had. Once I DID IT, all the pieces fell into places (more or less).

I have lots more to say on the subject, but all in good time. :)