[FONT="]Those ideas are all good and well, but why complicate it?
Simple things tend to create more satisfaction around new players.
Now, for my 2cents, I will copy-paste some of an adventure I've run.
The first part is copy-paste from a very strange (and strangely good) book, named Nymphology, Blue Magic, from which I took the idea.
"It hadn’t been easy making it over the wall of the college and out into the town but the scraped knees, undignified falls and multiple asthma attacks had been worth it once they had got to the tavern. Our money had bought a hearty meal and heartier ale the likes of which the college kitchen’s thin-lipped cook disapproved of. The music played, the drink went down smoothly, the pipes came out and sweet smelling smoke filled the air as the collected students relaxed and congratulated themselves on a good night out."
Now, part of the campaign 'diary'. It was a thing one of the players had, he wrote down everything that happened even if terribly tainted (or improved?) by his own POV.
" The last week had been a downright bore[…]. I wouldn’t know what to do if [evoker] didn’t ask us all on a night out. It sure lightens the mood to be drinking and spending the night with my friends, beats homework anytime. […] [Conjurer] just went flying by the window and out after he and [evoker] tried a chitchat with the pretty girl on the balcony. Uh-ho, big guy at five o’clockohDIVE! A chair! A frikking chair! He threw it at me, at ME! It went flying right over my head, much like [conjurer] did with the window. Oh my god, this guy’s huge! Wait, [transmuter] and [enchanter] are going to talk to him. I better stop writing or he might trash my book or something. [/FONT]
[FONT="]Midnight.[/FONT][FONT="] The guy turned out to be pretty cool and invited us to stay at his barn, near the city limits. You see, [evoker] forgot to bring the rope so we are pretty much stuck outside until the gates open, sometime around the morning. [Transmuter] is so beautiful and smart, she always comes up with the best plans. She and [enchanter] had talked to the big guy a lot, it turns out his name’s Johnny and he’s a soldier at the king’s army. He tells the coolest stories! […][/FONT]
[FONT="]End of the night.[/FONT][FONT="] [Transmuter] held my hand a little while back. I can’t believe it! […] We were running from a group of monsters, orcs I think. [Conjurer] said they are goblins, but I said orcs and he hit his head anyway, so his opinion doesn’t count. […] Oh yeah, Johnny is dead… I can’t grasp it yet… I-I need… I want my mother. And my father. […] I don’t want to die.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Early morning.[/FONT][FONT="] […] Everyone is okay thanks to our magic. We were even able to scare away the rest of the monsters. […] Not bad for a bunch of students!"[/FONT]
[FONT="]The idea was pretty much to present the players some, or all, of the below:[/FONT]
[FONT="]1 - The rules and how they worked.[/FONT]
[FONT="]2 - Magic, what it was and how it worked.[/FONT]
[FONT="]3 - The setting and some background about it.[/FONT]
[FONT="]4 - A nice story to follow up later adventures, since each character became, later on, an adventurer.
With each specializing in a different area, it became quite fun to summon them forth as merc chars (to fill up party gaps and such).[/FONT]
[FONT="]5 - A nice simple and easy one-shot game that everyone enjoyed.
I think you should focus on that approach. When you talk about new players and one-shots it doesn't fit very well to go out mystery solving or demon summoning. Those are best left for more complex and challenging adventures. It's best to start simple, like a bunch of kids going to the nearest pub and picking a fight and scaring away a bunch (5) goblins. Also, ale and wenches to everyone, except the girls.
PS: Note that [conjurer], [transmuter] etc are names I'd prefer not to reveal as some of them might be around here. I can't tell, really.[/FONT]
[FONT="]PPS: The [abjurer] is the one telling the story.
PPPS: I am still alive? Nah, sorry about the huge wall. I thought it might be useful for you.
[/FONT]
Simple things tend to create more satisfaction around new players.
Now, for my 2cents, I will copy-paste some of an adventure I've run.
The first part is copy-paste from a very strange (and strangely good) book, named Nymphology, Blue Magic, from which I took the idea.
"It hadn’t been easy making it over the wall of the college and out into the town but the scraped knees, undignified falls and multiple asthma attacks had been worth it once they had got to the tavern. Our money had bought a hearty meal and heartier ale the likes of which the college kitchen’s thin-lipped cook disapproved of. The music played, the drink went down smoothly, the pipes came out and sweet smelling smoke filled the air as the collected students relaxed and congratulated themselves on a good night out."
Now, part of the campaign 'diary'. It was a thing one of the players had, he wrote down everything that happened even if terribly tainted (or improved?) by his own POV.
" The last week had been a downright bore[…]. I wouldn’t know what to do if [evoker] didn’t ask us all on a night out. It sure lightens the mood to be drinking and spending the night with my friends, beats homework anytime. […] [Conjurer] just went flying by the window and out after he and [evoker] tried a chitchat with the pretty girl on the balcony. Uh-ho, big guy at five o’clockohDIVE! A chair! A frikking chair! He threw it at me, at ME! It went flying right over my head, much like [conjurer] did with the window. Oh my god, this guy’s huge! Wait, [transmuter] and [enchanter] are going to talk to him. I better stop writing or he might trash my book or something. [/FONT]
[FONT="]Midnight.[/FONT][FONT="] The guy turned out to be pretty cool and invited us to stay at his barn, near the city limits. You see, [evoker] forgot to bring the rope so we are pretty much stuck outside until the gates open, sometime around the morning. [Transmuter] is so beautiful and smart, she always comes up with the best plans. She and [enchanter] had talked to the big guy a lot, it turns out his name’s Johnny and he’s a soldier at the king’s army. He tells the coolest stories! […][/FONT]
[FONT="]End of the night.[/FONT][FONT="] [Transmuter] held my hand a little while back. I can’t believe it! […] We were running from a group of monsters, orcs I think. [Conjurer] said they are goblins, but I said orcs and he hit his head anyway, so his opinion doesn’t count. […] Oh yeah, Johnny is dead… I can’t grasp it yet… I-I need… I want my mother. And my father. […] I don’t want to die.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Early morning.[/FONT][FONT="] […] Everyone is okay thanks to our magic. We were even able to scare away the rest of the monsters. […] Not bad for a bunch of students!"[/FONT]
[FONT="]The idea was pretty much to present the players some, or all, of the below:[/FONT]
[FONT="]1 - The rules and how they worked.[/FONT]
[FONT="]2 - Magic, what it was and how it worked.[/FONT]
[FONT="]3 - The setting and some background about it.[/FONT]
[FONT="]4 - A nice story to follow up later adventures, since each character became, later on, an adventurer.
With each specializing in a different area, it became quite fun to summon them forth as merc chars (to fill up party gaps and such).[/FONT]
[FONT="]5 - A nice simple and easy one-shot game that everyone enjoyed.
I think you should focus on that approach. When you talk about new players and one-shots it doesn't fit very well to go out mystery solving or demon summoning. Those are best left for more complex and challenging adventures. It's best to start simple, like a bunch of kids going to the nearest pub and picking a fight and scaring away a bunch (5) goblins. Also, ale and wenches to everyone, except the girls.
PS: Note that [conjurer], [transmuter] etc are names I'd prefer not to reveal as some of them might be around here. I can't tell, really.[/FONT]
[FONT="]PPS: The [abjurer] is the one telling the story.
PPPS: I am still alive? Nah, sorry about the huge wall. I thought it might be useful for you.
[/FONT]
