Looking for a Good First Timer RPG

[coyote6]

I'd suggest something that you are familiar and comfortable with. If you know Aftermath! like the back of your hand and can run it like greased lightning, awesome; if you are flipping a coin to decide "success or fail", but you have to look at the rules too often to remember which is heads and which is tails, not-awesome. Even if it was the Best Game In The Universe For Her, if you get confused by some rule or have to stop to look something up, it might impugn the experience for her.

That said, if you are running Aftermath, you might want to go with a selection of pregen characters.

 

[AFGNCAAP]

I'd recommend going with a game that she is interested in, and that you are good at GMing/explaining. Hopefully, there should be some overlap with these two elements. For example, I'd probably use either 4th ed. D&D for fantasy, Star Wars Saga Edition (R.I.P. ) for sci-fi, or the card-based Marvel SAGA for supers.

The classic Basic D&D Red Box worked well for me, and a similar method may work if you or she prefers to start with a 1-player game. However, many tabletop RPGs are about the group play dynamic, so starting her off in that context may be useful (and, it can divine/share the instruction among you & the group).

FWIW, I'd recommend against having her start off in an existing game with existing characters (if she's into gaming, and interested in participating, then it may be a cool way to go).

If you have the 4e CharBuilder, then creating a character is relatively quick and painless (that is if you go the 4e route). Any class should do fine, since the demands of play for each class is the same—it's just the role taken in the game.

In prior editions of D&D, I'd recommend a beginning player starting off with a fighter: it's simple, straightforward, and serves as a foundation of game mechanics knowledge. Other game elements (spells & whatnot) build on top of this, and the level of (relative) complexity goes up.

In any event, I'd recommend that starting off at 1st level/new character start point for non-level games (perhaps as a mini-game, or even a fresh start if that would work out) would be best. It'd provide a frame of reference of how a game starts, and how it progresses. After she gets the feel of the game, then she could create a power/level-appropriate character for the current game, or you could even simply boost up her first character to the equivalent level if she wants to use that PC in the ongoing game (that is if the new game doesn't become the new ongoing game, of course).

 

[Dausuul]

Old D&D also tends to kill you for touching, looking at, opening, or doing the wrong thing with very little or no warning or notice.

Well, that's on the DM, isn't it? I mean, if you load your dungeons down with save-or-die traps and monsters, yeah. But you don't have to run it that way.

 

[pemerton]

Remember that for most games you can get away with only the GM knowing the rules. The players can just describe what they want to do and the GM can apply whatever rules he thinks are best and tell the players what to roll.

I dont' think this is necessarily true for 4e, which is a very rulesy-game, and which relies on players knowing and using those rules to get the game working for them. Good for wargamer and boardgamer types, but maybe not so good for those who aren't into that (of course 4e is an RPG and not a board/wargame, but I can't imagine it being much fun for someone who doesn't like a game where successful play depends upon making an intricate rules system come to life).

Someone upthread mentioned Dread as a good starting game. That makes sense to me. Another might be HeroQuest - character generation involves writing a 100-word description of your PC, and then going through that description to pull out descriptors to which you then assign ratings. Conflict resolution is simply descriptor vs descriptor (eg my "Know-it-all" vs your "Pulls idiots down to size"), with a d20 roll-under mechanic. Very simple and (almost) tactics-free. It can handle a range of genres and conflicts (ie vicious combat is not prioritised over other stuff) and (depending on the tone of the PC writeups) can be serious or light-hearted.

 

[pemerton]

My vote is for Mouse Guard. The book assumes no prior familiarity with RPGs, and the mechanics are very accessible.

I thought Mouse Guard was a Burning Wheel variant? Burning Wheel strikes me as very crunchy - but maybe the found a way of simplifying it for MG?

 

[Pseudopsyche]

I thought Mouse Guard was a Burning Wheel variant? Burning Wheel strikes me as very crunchy - but maybe the found a way of simplifying it for MG?

I am not familiar with the original Burning Wheel game, but my understanding is that the Mouse Guard RPG does simplify those rules substantially. Conflicts are the crunchiest part, but each round each side chooses a sequence of actions chosen from the same set of four (Attack, Defend, Feint, Maneuver) regardless of conflict type (combat, argument, chase, etc).

 

[Dandu]

I hear players have to worry very little about the rules in a game of Paranoia.

 

[Wolf1066]

I hear players have to worry very little about the rules in a game of Paranoia.

Because they are usually too busy worrying about everything else

 

[tenkar]

Looks like I definitley need to pick up Jenga

Some excellent ideas. I thought about Mouseguard too, but I'd have to re-read the rules.

Paranoia works best with a crapload of players.

Afterrmath? Hmmm... er, no! heh

 

[pemerton]

I am not familiar with the original Burning Wheel game, but my understanding is that the Mouse Guard RPG does simplify those rules substantially. Conflicts are the crunchiest part, but each round each side chooses a sequence of actions chosen from the same set of four (Attack, Defend, Feint, Maneuver) regardless of conflict type (combat, argument, chase, etc).

That sounds like a significant simplification. BW has three primary conflict-resolution subsystems - Duel of Wits, Range and Cover, and Fight! - and each has its separate rules for action types (more than 3 for each subsystem, and all different) as well as rules for sequencing and positioning. I think BW would probably be a bit on the crunchy side for my group, and we're former Rolemaster players!