Free Adventures with Free Previews

[[OMENRPG]Ben]

So as some of you may have noticed, I am the lead developer of OMEN RPG, and we are getting pretty close to releasing our first playable preview pdf. I come to the well-established EN World community to ask your esteemed opinions on what should be included with the free preview.

We already have all of the rules that are necessary to get started, and completed and optimized pre-generated characters to pick up and play, but we're not sure if adding a completed adventure or mission path would be beneficial to the preview.

Our logic is that the system itself is fairly simple to pick up, and we want to encourage people to develop their own stories and missions for their squad, but at the same time, we want to entice veteran players and complete newbies to start playing immediately.

So EN Worlders, do you think including an adventure/mission is beneficial to the game play, or is it just unnecessary text in the preview?

 

[Wicht]

I always prefer a bit of an adventure preview with a free introduction: one which showcases gameplay, preferably.

 

[Wik]

Agree with Wicht. Consider this a chance to show what your system does differently/better than your competitors out there. And be shameless, and even mention how good your adventure is doing those things while you write (Note: Make sure it actually DOES the things you want it to do!).

Since you mention that your game is pretty malleable, why not set the adventure up so that it's sort of incomplete? What I mean is, why not specifically leave points for GMs to make up their own stuff, or maybe give a few different options that GMs can tweak in to better fit their group?

 

[Jan van Leyden]

I'm a sucker for preview adventures, too. You could try to showcase things which make your game mechanically distinct and/or give an impression what kind of stories are well suited to your system.

Personally I'm not interested in another bland toolbox with which I can do everything somehow, but in a game system made to fit a certain kind of story and adventure or to fit a specific background.

Anyway, I wish you all the best with your game!

 

[MatthewJHanson]

I'll add my voice to the chorus saying that you should include a free adventure. Not only does that make it much easier for the GM who has never played your system, it also gives an example of the kinds of stories your system is good at.

 

[Is_907]

The key is definitely to make said adventure be brief but include the elements of your rules system that shine.

That said, I'm a big fan of a short preview adventure. Helps remove some of the overwhelming nature of teaching/learning a new system for an entire gaming group.