How to introduce people to RPG gaming

[Odhanan]

Both very good points, Jerome.

I share your experience, in the sense that most, though not all, of the people I've gamed with over the years were people I shared other interests with. They were not necessarily 'friends' in the strictest of senses when we started gaming, but we did socialize and share various interests that made us want to enjoy each other's company around other forms of entertainment, like gaming.

I also agree about the notion of introducing beginners with nothing but beginners. It works IME much better. Not that introducing a newbie to a table of veterans is impossible, mind you, it's not, but the opportunity for everyone to learn at the same time as you play is something that can really avoid some frustrations and intensify the pleasure playing the game, because you feel like you're sharing the experience, instead of trying to catch up with the veterans.

 

[Daern]

I'm interested in hearing people's thoughts on design for introductory adventures. I have a thought that introducing fantasy rpgs with a familiar fairytale and myth vibe is a good way to go, kind of like a Jack and the Beanstalk or Grimms tales might be a good way to start as opposed to a straight dungeon.
Anyone have any good examples of their prefered, noob scenario?

 

[DumbPaladin]

I will add to the chorus of people saying that this is all good advice and well-delivered, too.

Honestly, what stood out to me the most is your suggestion that you actually LISTEN to people when they talk to you about your interest. That will always help you figure out whether someone is interested but just never tried, not at all interested, or whatever.

Being a good communicator, and an apparently nice guy to boot, is really the best way to go about finding people for ANY purpose -- not just gaming groups.

 

[Hautamaki]

I love playing with beginners. Beginners are the best people to DM for because everything is novel and cool to them. You can use the most basic, overrused, cliched stuff imaginable and to them it will still be awesome and new. For a first adventure you can just go uber-cliche goblins are kidnapping children from a village and taking them back to their nearby cave for a dark ritual, or bandits are raiding caravans or whatever and it will still be the first time new players have experienced these things and they'll love it the same way you did when you were a first time player.

 

[Odhanan]

I'm interested in hearing people's thoughts on design for introductory adventures. I have a thought that introducing fantasy rpgs with a familiar fairytale and myth vibe is a good way to go, kind of like a Jack and the Beanstalk or Grimms tales might be a good way to start as opposed to a straight dungeon.
Anyone have any good examples of their prefered, noob scenario?

For me, it'll entirely depend on the persons I'm introducing RPGs to. I was answering that question elsewhere, from my point of view, when asked whether I let the dice fall where they may or fudge when I play with beginners. Here's what I answered:

The dice fall where they may, but here's the thing: when I meet people and they show an interest in role playing games, I try to read them. There's often much more going on about their particular tastes than they let out. We all do that: we say something, show enthusiasm for this or that aspect of a game, but many times, we don't really know why. Well with newbies, it's like that, but all the time, for everything, because they don't know anything about the game at all. My job as a GM is to anticipate this sort of thing, with newbies or veterans alike. So I try to understand what makes people enthusiastic about the idea of playing the game, and I try to deliver that.

Say you speak games with somebody, you get to talk about D&D. The person looks at a mini of a wizard, and seems interested by that. I'll test the terrain by asking if you're interested in playing him. Then I'll try to detect what resonates with this particular taste of yours. Like does that remind the person of Gandalf in the LOTR movies, or is it about playing some sort of loremaster for the Name of the Rose, or ...? I might describe some stuff that could happen in the game, and watch for the reaction of the person. You can tell what gets their attention, and what doesn't really interest them. I keep those things in mind, and then when I come up with an adventure, I try to incorporate some things that will remind them of what resonates with them. Like say a guy who likes Indiana Jones, I might have a pit room with snakes everywhere, or a rolling ball trap (maybe that's too cliché about Indy at this point but hey, it would work in D&D). Or maybe it's about retrieving some sort of staff that might lead to a treasure (great staff of Ra or something). And so on.

The thing is, and that's where I answer your question, is that you don't have to fudge to keep people happy. What you've got to do is get them excited. To get them excited about the game, you've got to tweak stuff that resonates with them, that gets them involved with the game. Then you put some threats and problems and so on that will make for tension in the course of play, but you don't have to overdo it, because these people have never played the game before. They won't go 'huh? that's all? A skeleton? That's lame." If you describe the smells, the sights, describe the skeleton in a vivid way that makes them imagine what's going on in the game, that'll be exciting. They've never "seen" a skeleton before. And so on. So you don't need super lethal games to keep newbies engaged, and don't need to necessarily fudge to keep the game "safe."

If I'm concerned about character death, and think that might be damaging to the newbies enjoyment of the game somehow, I might pad the adventure with mood, with clues or NPCs or whatnot that might provide counsel, with maybe a "safe zone" to retreat to in the dungeon that they would find (the image of a torch burning alone in a maze of darkness that repells the creatures of the dungeon comes to mind), that kind of thing. But I'm not going to fudge, no. I think fudging really is the last of the last resort, and it's generally an admission of failure on your part, as a DM. To me it's like saying "ah it, I have no idea how to run this part of the adventure, I really don't know what to do, and I need *this* to happen, so I'll fudge." It's something that shouldn't happen in my games.

To answer your question more directly, Durn, I don't think that the fairy-tale, mythoi game will necessarily be a winner. It all depends what the particular people you're playing with like. And that's where I'm tying into DumbPaladin's comment, here: it's absolutely critical for you to pay attention and not assume too much about your partners in crime, so to speak. There's no silver bullet when it comes to introductory scenarios, and trying to find out what makes people excited about the game will allow you to tailor to these particular tastes, and make it work for them. Some people will like the idea of Jack and the Beanstalk, and in that case, you should totally go for that type of feel! Others will look at the wizard mini I talked about in the quote, and show an interest for movies like the Harry Potter series. Why not start with a game of 0-level characters solving some mystery, Philosopher's stone style, in a School of Wizardry?

As a DM, you should remain open to all sorts of options. You should play attention to what you, particularly, like and feel enthusiastic about, because enthusiasm is the main that sells people on playing RPGs. If you like what you do and feel excited about sharing your enthusiasm, it's half the battle won right there. But at the same time, you should be very mindful about what the other people say, and don't say. What they say they like, and what they mean behind it. Then, when you sit down to pen some notes about the first adventure, draw a dungeon map and add a key, you'll try to blend what makes them curious or excited about the game with your own imagination and what you like about it yourself. It'll create a "superior alloy," as Gary put it, and from there, you'll create a group of people sharing the fantasy.

From there, the sky will be the limit.

 

[Odhanan]

I love playing with beginners. Beginners are the best people to DM for because everything is novel and cool to them. You can use the most basic, overrused, cliched stuff imaginable and to them it will still be awesome and new. For a first adventure you can just go uber-cliche goblins are kidnapping children from a village and taking them back to their nearby cave for a dark ritual, or bandits are raiding caravans or whatever and it will still be the first time new players have experienced these things and they'll love it the same way you did when you were a first time player.

Absolutely! Complete agreement! I remember the very first time I was playing role playing games. My much older brother was playing the game with a bunch of cousins and got bored. He just left the game. I basically begged the DM to let me take over the character. I was eight years old. I remember that I was playing a magic user with 1 HP, a dagger, and a light spell. I was exploring some underground catacombs of the village of Hommlet. I could just feel everything. Hear the droplets going "bloop bloop" in the tunnels, the stickiness of the mud, the darkness around my character. My imagination was on fire. I turned a corner, and BAM. I got stabbed by a skeleton. I died.

That was my first game. I was HOOKED.

 

[nedjer]

Ironically, and counter-productively, not 'fudging' PC death rolls for beginners sucks the grit out of death. Sure, a highly combative game is going to involve lots more potential deaths; but in practice most deaths, even in outright war, are due to disease, malnutrition and infection.

So PC deaths are being fudged all the time - when PCs don't get a waterborne disease everytime they drink from a trough or a stream, or (in an earth like setting) sleep without a mosquito net in a warm climate.

Ideally, you're going to prompt or inform a new player what to anticipate if they continue down the route to a death roll; so that they're aware of the choice they're making and a fudge is neither expected nor offered. However, if the GM doesn't signpost what's coming to a newbie they're not allowing for a skills gap that has to be bridged for outcomes to be considered 'fair' to the new player.

I.e. in amongst a whole load of compromises and negotiations, (that are part of what makes RPGs unique), the unpleasant death of a 7 year old's PC's new pet - through the GM's failure to hint, caution or prompt and by failing to apply a quick, on the spot, fix/ fudge - is maybe the greater 'evil'?

 

[Odhanan]

I.e. in amongst a whole load of compromises and negotiations, (that are part of what makes RPGs unique), the unpleasant death of a 7 year old's PC's new pet - through the GM's failure to hint, caution or prompt and by failing to apply a quick, on the spot, fix/ fudge - is maybe the greater 'evil'?

It might be for some people, absolutely. I think that's another area where the particulars of the game group and what really makes people "tick" around the game table will be very important. There's a sense of what people expect, and what they want out of their gaming, that you can develop fairly quickly, by the way they react to some situations in the game. For instance, some people will feel that fudging some situations reduces the game to a guessing game with the DM, while others will be bothered by the prospect of losing their characters because of some bad dice rolls. I think that ultimately, whatever my personal opinion is on this, what should win is what people around the table need to have a good time (which of course includes me and my likes/dislikes about the game, but I'm also not alone).

 

[Mark CMG]

Two good games for beginner groups are rince Valiant: The Storytelling Game, if you can get a copy for a reasonable price, and The Secret Lives of Gingerbread Men.

[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Prince-Valiant-Storytelling-Greg-Stafford/dp/0933635508][/ame]

http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/the-secret-lives-of-gingerbread-men/580782

 

[Viking Bastard]

As I detailed here, Community's D&D episode worked extremely well for me.