Pathfinder 1E RPG Novices and Pathfinder

[Is_907]

I've seen lots of threads on people coming from 3.x or even AD&D to Pathfinder or coming from 4E to Pathfinder... but what I've not seen much of is a discussion of how best to introduce Pathfinder to someone who's played no RPGs whatsoever.

My wife has played one session of Pathfinder back in November, but the campaign didn't take off because, well, we had a baby and didn't have time.

Anyway, that's her only exposure to RPGs, other than a recent addiction to Fable2, which does nothing for tabletop skill.


What are some things you've done, thought of doing, or heard of doing to help complete novices learn Pathfinder?

We are a rules-light group that focuses on adventure and story and experience more than crunch, so I think that will help. She finds a lot of the rules and stats a bit intimidating.
It also helps that the DM's wife is playing and has experience in 3.x.


Thoughts? Links? Rotten tomatoes?

 

[TarionzCousin]

Start with as few rules as possible. Don't plan a combat session until she is comfortable with the d20 basic mechanic.

When teaching RPG's to people with zero gaming experience, I do this:

1. Start with who their characters are. Have them choose from a relatively small list of pre-generated characters, such as "The noble and valiant warrior out to protect the innocent; the sneaky elven thief who owes money to the loan sharks; or the wizard's halfling apprentice who is out to prove that he/she isn't a wimp."

2. Play a story. Have their characters interact with NPC's and just wander around the village/castle. Don't introduce plot hooks yet or prod them to make big decisions. They need time to accustom themselves to playing in character.

3. Set the Hook. Give them something interesting. A missing child is a classic. The villagers are upset and ask the PC's to help.

4. Introduce one mechanic. While investigating, have them use a skill or something that involves a d20. The easiest one I've found is "Sense Motive" while talking to an NPC. Of course, the NPC is lying. You'll need to roleplay the NPC to give them a hint that he's not quite telling the truth. Then tell them their options, one of which should be to make a Skill Check.

5. Solve the Problem.A short jaunt to the abandoned caves outside of the village determines that a small band of kobolds has the missing kid. Combat should be short and sweet. In this example, I would have the last living kobold whine about how they "bought the child fair and square!" If you have time, the PC's can learn about which villager "sold" the kid to the kobolds and go to confront him/her.

In general, the fewer things one has to learn at a time, the easier it is to learn. Build upon what they know. Use as few mechanics as possible. Don't have them build a character, pick their skills, spells, weapons, gear, etc. Many people would be find doing all that, but you are much more likely to succeed with inexperienced gamers getting them hooked on the fun of the game first.

Why yes, I was a teacher. How did you know?

 

[Is_907]

That's some great advice, thanks.

Thankfully the first session we did play my wife was able to learn the core mechanic and only a very little bit of combat.
The combat was smooth and easy and she got some great rolls, so it was encouraging.

We did a lot with skills, and RP, too. Naturally--seeing as how we're all story and RP driven gamers in that group (me, the DM, and DM's wife.)


Well, we're planning on playing our first session with this new game in the next week. We're going to be drawing largely on the classic 3e book Expedition to Undermountain.

 

[hippononymous]

Different players enjoy different mechanics of the game. Find out what she likes most. When my boyfriend and I first started playing D&D last year, we had the most fun wrecking havoc on the townspeople/working against any stable plot. Skill checks were annoying because we had to keep looking down at the page and figure out modifiers and such, though in a group setting, when I was the only one who could do the check (for having the highest modifier), it felt great leading the group.

My friend Laura enjoys conversing with the townspeople and making Diplomacy and Sense Motive checks. I also make NPCs pay the most attention to her when trying to move the plot along.

My friend Jessie enjoys Wild Empathy checks with wildlife and conversing with them. When I DM for her, I make sure to have animals appear randomly so she can utilize them when in trouble.

Another one of my players love when I play along with his crazy schemes (tying up a goblin and throw him at enemies or spotting chandeliers ready to drop, etc)

I enjoy making complicated maneuvers in-battle and love when the DM simplifies the maneuvers to a simple Acrobatics check.

You'll have to (for lack of better wording) feel out your wife in-game, and pay attention to when her eyes light up. Does she enjoy puzzles? Maybe have her start off as a rogue making her way through a dungeon, making disable device and perception checks.

Does she like battle? Make her a badass fighter with cleave - make her enemies easy to defeat to build her confidence.

Does she prefer gathering information? Force her character to explore a town as she looks for people who have information on a crime.

Pay attention when she's getting frustrated or confused or bored. Difficult enemies can be annoying when you first start out, as well as constantly failing skill checks. Make the game as easy as possible for her so she understands why other people enjoy the game. And if there are other people playing, make sure they treat her favorably and aid her in combat (setting up flanks or buffing her).

Let us know how things progress!!

 

[Cyberzombie]

I started my son on Pathfinder a couple months ago. Tarionz Cousin has some good advice. With my son, I had him describe the character he wanted to play. He wanted to be a good version of a villain from one of his video games. The character fought with a sword and summoned monsters. I had him describe the character a bit more and made up an elven specialist wizard conjurer. I made his arcane focus be a longsword, which he thought was way cool. He especially loved the acid dart ability.

So my main advice is don't tell your wife the rules of making a character. Have her describe the character she wants to be and then make the rules fit the character. Pathfinder makes that far easier than the earlier editions. She can learn the rules later; start on the fun now.

 

[Is_907]

Thanks for all the advice, everyone.

Thankfully I've introduced people to RPGs before, just never one so new to gaming in general. (Usually it's video gamers, TCG players, or just nerds in general.) My wife LOVES a good story in a book or film, but hasn't done much interactive storytelling yet.


So we played last night and it went really well. She got to see some fun skill usage as the rogue, as well as some consequences of poor role playing choices...
We went into Undermountain (a homebrew version) without really doing much research or getting any good gear. Then we pursued some minute detail the DM had just thrown out and almost got trounced by a Carrion Crawler, which should have been a pushover.

The DM did a great job of going around the table to see how each of our characters would get from our backstory to grouping up, since none of us knew each other. It was good for my wife to see other players interacting with NPCs and rolling the dice outside of combat. She felt a lot more comfortable explaining what her character was doing after that example.

At the end, she said "I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would," and that she definitely felt better about this than the last session.

So, freedom to play the way she wants and teaching by example win.

 

[Cyberzombie]

So, freedom to play the way she wants and teaching by example win.

Cool. That's the best way I've found to introduce people.

 

[RoryN]

Back when I was playing AD&D 2E, when someone was interested in playing/learning the system, we tried to have them come and watch a session (or part of one) just to kind of see what was going on. Then it was just a matter of doing a lot of what has already been mentioned. I would also sit down with each person and find out what classes and races they were interested in to try and let them know the strengths & weaknesses of what they were interested in, letting them read the descriptions in the PHB as well. Of course, 2E was a bit less rule intensive than Pathfinder, but it could still be a bit intimidating to someone totally new to role playing. The best advice I can give is to be patient with whoever is learning the system and give them time to "get it".