How Do I Escape D&D?

Although I’ve been writing games (and about them) for over 20 years, I haven’t done much for the Big One. I’ve done a few OGL bits here and there, a Dungeon article for 4e, and a run on the dual statted line for 7th Sea. I talk a lot about the other games that are out there on the panels and podcasts I get to be on and there’s always one inevitable question:

"I love this new game that I bought but I can’t get my group to try it. How do I escape D&D?"

That question has come up a lot on social media since the OGL 1.1 leak. Here are some of the options I’ve seen work well when I’ve suggested them to friends. Different tactics work well on different people so don’t be afraid to keep trying even if you strike out at first. I also hope folks will post their success stories in the comment to offer additional advice.

Don’t Trash The Mothership​

In trying to sell a new game, a lot of people make the mistake of comparing everything to D&D. Usually in a negative way where D&D does it badly and the new game does it well. True as that may be, remember that people have feelings about D&D and those feelings are often complicated. It’s better to focus on the positive stuff that a new game does without needing trash talk. Players are already making those comparisons when considering a new game.

Learn To Love The One Shot​

The true villain of any D&D game is logistics. There will almost always be someone unable to make it or nights where the current DM is unavailable. These nights can be opportunities to try out a different game to see if it vibes with a group. There are a lot of great starter sets out there that make this sort of game easy complete with ready made characters and a story that plays out in a session or two. There are also games built for this mode of play like Fiasco.

Check Out An Actual Play Of The New Game​

Critical Role gets a lot of press in this space but there are a few crews who play games other than D&D. Showing one of these games to a group will help them learn the rules and see what you like about the game. Of course, I would love it if you check out my crew Theatre of the Mind Players but there are some other great shows in this space like The Glass Cannon Network and One Shot Podcast Network among others.

Find The Right Fandom​

While there are a lot of fans of D&D, those fans are also fans of other things. Licensed games are your friend here. If you have a member of the group that’s based their current character on Aang or Spock, they are more likely to try Avatar Legends or Star Trek Adventures. Players into a genre will do the work on learning new rules because they want to experience their favorite world.

Switch Either Genre or System But Not Both​

Some people prefer to ease into the pool rather than jump in. For those folks, switching one element of an RPG might help with the change. Play fantasy with a different system like Savage Worlds or Shadow of the Demon Lord. Or choose another 5e game in a different genre. There are some excellent conversions out there like Doctors & Daleks or works like Everyday Heroes.

Build To A Season Finale​

Jumping out of an ongoing campaign can be frustrating to players who have invested into the story and their characters. Take a page from how TV networks run serial stories. Build to a season finale in the story: a big battle, a dramatic trial, a wedding full of intrigue. Give some storylines closure, hint at some new ones to come, but helping the storyline come to an end for not makes it easier to move to a different one. And, if nobody likes the new game, there’s always room for another season.

 

[Jer]

Switch Either Genre or System But Not Both​

In my experience this is not optimal as a fantasy game will constantly be compared to D&D and approached with a similar mindset if you've only been playing D&D which kind of defeats the purpose of trying something new. Switching genres but using very similar systems can do the same thing - see the very first post of "Darths and Droids" for this effect in action.

My advice would always be to change to a different game entirely. Pick something your people are a little familiar with to ease the transition if necessary - Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Superheroes - and it can help make the mental jump.

Related to this though is that if you are asking people to radically switch playstyles, it can be a hurdle to getting them to try new games. Like if you have a group that normally plays combat-heavy D&D games and you try to get them to play an investigative Trail of Cthulhu or Timewatch Gumshoe game, they might hit a wall with them because their comfort level is going to be low all around. Not only are you changing Genres and Systems, but the style of play is going to be different as well.

Sometimes this can actually be good - my players picked up Gumshoe fairly well because it was so different from the D&D they were used to that they treated it like learning an entirely new game. OTOH they bounced hard off of Monster of the Week the first time we tried it because it was similar enough to D&D (playbooks are like classes right? And moves are like my class abilities?) that they were trying to make it play like D&D and it just doesn't. (Of course our group already moved from D&D to D&D-adjacent by moving to 13th Age after 4e, and 13th age already tweaks the D&D framework to be a bit more narrative, so I admit my group may not be representative).

 

[Mercurius]

As we all know, the GM puts in a lot more effort than any other participant - by orders of magnitude. If a GM wants to try a new game, any reasonable (and reasonably mature) player or group will say, "OK sure, why not?" Of course not every player is reasonable or mature, so a little finessing is required.

But the basic principle holds. If you must, say, "I put 98% of the work in, hours of prep, so throw me a bone and be open to a new game. If after a few sessions we don't like it, we can try something else or go back to D&D."

In my 40ish years of playing (and mostly GMing), there are only a few people that would require that statement. The vast majority would respond, "OK sure, why not?"

 

[MNblockhead]

For me personally, one shots don't convey enough . . . gravitas, for lack of a better word, to motivate me to take the system change seriously.

Well, with Paranoia and InSPECTREs, gravitas is not an issue.

Both are great for one shots.

 

[OTHG]

If it was, it was certainly in poor taste. And it's incredibly bad advice, for the reasons Thomas Shey notes...

Ha, my bad again, @aramis erak . Social media is a dangerous place for humor especially sarcasm "in bad taste." I don't tweet for that reason. Too many uptight people in the world.

 

[jhallum]

I've always found the best way to learn a new system is a One-shot adventure at a Convention. Presumably the GM running the event loves the system and has written a good module to explore the system. It's relatively risk free and investment free, the worst you can do is burn 4 to 5 hours on a game that just wasn't for you. Bonus points if you can drag a couple of people from your group to the game as well.

Having been on both sides of the table at a Con both as a GM and as a player, it's not completely risk-free, you might get a terrible GM, someone who may not be completely equipped to run that free-form game that that system requires (the worst GMs I've ever had have been for Pbta and QAGS, where flexibility and yes-and MATTERS). But for more deterministic games where 'yes-and' aren't key to the system, it works really well.

 

[Bayushi_seikuro]

I find in my personal experience, one-offs are definitely where its at for luring players into trying new systems. It's an unfortuate truth in my circles that the bulk of players have very little interest in learning any more mechanics than they absolutely have to.

My rate of actually being able to keep players playing other systems has been frustratingly low, regardless of how much they enjoyed the one-shot.

I think often with one-shots, the GM is also new to the game. I think we all forget how it was to DM D&D when we first started playing. Maybe another option, if your group is agreeable, is to run a two- or three-episode miniseries. It may take a session or two to really find some of the cool mechanics.

 

[EthanSental]

Deleted, wrong thread opening on the iPad, apologies!

 

[Bayushi_seikuro]

I've always found the best way to learn a new system is a One-shot adventure at a Convention. Presumably the GM running the event loves the system and has written a good module to explore the system. It's relatively risk free and investment free, the worst you can do is burn 4 to 5 hours on a game that just wasn't for you. Bonus points if you can drag a couple of people from your group to the game as well.

Having been on both sides of the table at a Con both as a GM and as a player, it's not completely risk-free, you might get a terrible GM, someone who may not be completely equipped to run that free-form game that that system requires (the worst GMs I've ever had have been for Pbta and QAGS, where flexibility and yes-and MATTERS). But for more deterministic games where 'yes-and' aren't key to the system, it works really well.

Cons can introduce you to whole new kinds of games and gaming. I haven't been to Gencon since it left Milwaukee, but I have fond memories of everyone and their brother seeming to want to hock some new system or book and being super stoked about it. Let alone some of the strange games you can find and be a part of that are listed - I don't even remember for the life of me how I got roped into Liveaction Chess, but... it... was an experience. I was a Bishop, as noted by the comfy tea cozy on my head. Pieces died and stayed on the board where they were, which made it AWKWARD when the Queen in her miniskirt ended her move essentially on one of the spaces my corpse was taking up.

 

[GMMichael]

Is 325k enough to make a quality game, even of this style game?

No. It takes about 525,000 journeys to plan. The story never ends.

 

[Umbran]

I think often with one-shots, the GM is also new to the game.

The first time I tried to run the game, I didn't have a GM's screen (this was 1E), and I went looking for the To Hit tables and could not find them. At all. I spent 10 minutes with my players waiting for me to be able to resolve the first to-hit roll, and I just... couldn't. It was a horrible moment for a kid, all of them staring at me expectantly...