Attracting new people to gaming -- ideas and strategies

[DungeonmasterCal]

It's not always easy to set up games in libraries, bookstores, and the like, at least where I'm from. Where I live, there's one chain bookstore--Hastings. For awhile, they allowed kids to come in on Saturdays and play CCG's, but when some older kids began hanging out, bullying the younger kids, and when a really, really, REALLY creepy smelly old guy and his equally creepy smelly wife began hanging out and trying to get kids to come out to their car and look at what they had to trade, they shut the thing down, and have no interest in allowing anything else like it (CCG's or RPG'S) again.

The local library...forget it. It's a new facility with tons of space and small conference rooms that are barely used. But when I approached them about running games on Saturdays there, they told me I have to pay a large deposit and schedule it 90 days in advance. Further talking to them just cemented the fact they wanted nothing to do with the project because they try to keep the rooms open for the "scrapbooking, quilting, and stamper clubs that people find more normal." Yup. "More normal."

There's not really an FLGS in my town. There are a couple of college age kids who have a tiny little shop attached to their mom's vintage clothing store where you can come in and game in the evenings, but that's all the store has going for it. Virtually bare shelves they have no intention of filling (they'll special order, but they don't want to stock something in case they can't sell it) and some really chewed up used books and games that the LAST FLGS couldn't unload on people. The gaming area is two folding tables that is always occupied by the two guys and a friend of theirs who sit and loudly proclaim the virtues of d20 Modern and Exalted as the only games worth playing, and if you're not there to play those you may as well just go home.

I run games for my son and his friend (both 12 years old). But they can't get any of their friends to play. One kid said "adults who play pretend games are losers" (meaning me, the DM) another kid's mom immediately told her she couldn't be friends with my son and his buddy because D&D is bad for you (despite the fact this same kid's parents let her watch R rated movies and play M rated video games). But, that's the drawback to gaming in a small town in the southern USA, I suppose.

 

[Ace]

I wrote this list for the Guild Companion and ICE boards a few years back. It was directed at Rolemaster Standard System but it applies to other games just as well. I tweaked it a bit -- hope these help


One of the toughest challaenges we faced was getting players new to gaming settled in and the game moving along.
Recruiting and retention basically

We had a great excel spreadsheet for chargen and a talented GM but the lengthy character generation process and the need to explain the combat system frreked a lot of newbies out

I came up with a few startegys to help with future recruitment efforts and though I would share them

#1
Gives the new guy enough oomph to survive bad rolls and the occasional blunder. In addition the charcter is skilled enough to do stuff

#2 Make the character a human rogue or fighter. or other simple easily understood archetype The other types are fun but either too specialized or too complex.
New charcters in our game when given the choice always chose Rogue for some reason and I think it is a good choice. This also gives people something to do in the game

#3 Build the character carefully and build for a mixture of surviveablity and versitility. Give him a few skills and a few monor spell casting magic items (if D&D) so he can try all the different systems out.

#4 Feat should be selected as follows
3 skill increase'
2 survival increase
1 kewl power

#5 Have everything ready on the needed charcter sheet including a picture if needed. Yoo would be shocked by how many people who came and went played Non Descript rogues. It is hard to get attached to a cipher

#6 use fate points. Even if you don't use them let the new guy have a few to make up for gaffs beyond his fault. For systems that don't fate points, give the new player two anyway. This way if they screw up they get another chance -- Feel free to let them know its a one time thing

#7 Have everything (minis etc) ready at her place. She will appreciate the effort and it speeds up combat a lot

#8 Designate a mentor or two to teach the ropes. This means someone who will give up a bit of their time to help out. Not everyone can or will do this so pick carefully
If its a new gamer get someone to show them how to play. If they have experienced gamong before teach them the system

#9 Run a scenario where the new guys gets extra stage time. Normally I try to do scenarios where everbody get an equal chance to shine or everyone will get a scenario where they get to be the star. With a newbie give them more stage time. Take the time to let them get into the game

#10 Help them out and give them slack. This applies to experienced gamers too

#11 Treat the new guy nicely. Gamers are an endagered speices in this computer world

#12 Make a "recruit kit" of the stuff I just talked about it and take it where you meet gamers. We play at our FLGS and if there new people there. Hook em in. Rum demos. Run at cons. Nag your friends till they try it. There is no need to defend your system du jour from the usualy charges simpley tell the detractors this "It is more fun than a lof games out there arnd you should try it"

#13 Don't be picky about which game you play. Pick a game that fits the personality fo the players in the group and a system that works with the choices that everyone will want to make, You can start with BUffy if you like or L5R RPG if they are a card flipper or Savage Worlds if they are minis crazy, or just D&D. Just make the the group is into the rules. If the group is having fun positive peer pressure means the new guys will likely have more fun too

#14 Show them where to buy stuff at your FLGS.Buy something and if gaming clicks (and you will tell after a session or so) and encourage them to buy the mainbook. Once they start to think of the FLGS as "the place to get cool stuff" they are more likely to be a buyer as well as a player.

#15 Stay active in the community.

#16 Don't bash other games. It never works. Don't like x system have a personal grudge against xyz designer so what keep it to your self. A better approach is to emphasize the strong bits of any game you play. If they seem to like gaming but not the system get them to try another game. If they don't play your game but they still game (and they buy)its a net plus for gaming. We are all in this together

 

[Seonaid]

1) Showcase the pretty people. It's cool that Vin Diesel plays/played, but it's not cool that Wil Wheaton plays. It's cool that hot Asian chick plays, but it's not cool that geeky white boy plays.

2) Remember that "RPG" involves more than just D&D. Modern (for example) would be a lot of fun for people who might shy away from "D&D." Once you have them playing {game of choice} it will be much easier to get them into {game of choice}.

 

[dougmander]

Here's how one might go about giving D&D mass appeal:

About four years ago, I watched Yu-Gi-Oh devour the attention of the middle school, and then, through the process I call the juvenilization of cool, it trickled down to their little sibs in elementary school and devoured us all. (I'm a teacher). It was a cartoon, a card game, a computer game, a manga, and there was a time and place where and when each one of those media was optimal, whether on the bus, at school, or at home. No Yu-Gi-Oh fan was ever more than their back pocket away from living the experience of the brand. Before that, it was Dragonball Z. Before that, Pokemon. (One Piece is going to be the next one).

By contrast, WotC is sitting on a brand with incredibly wide recognition and history behind it, and yet can't seem to present it across various media in anything like a coherent fashion. It reminds me of Marvel, who were sitting for decades on incredible brands like Spider-Man and lent them out to half-hearted, cheesy live action and cartoon series. They clung to the idea that the comics were the core of the brand, when they should have been seeing comics as only one of many media to carry the brand experience to the public. Finally, they have started making great movies, they have HeroClix, they have collectibles, they have computer games, and the actual comics, even though just a shade of their old selves in terms of sales, are not in danger of going away, because they promote the other media, play to the most ardent, longstanding fans, and serve as an incubator for future properties that could translate into more lucrative media.

Here's my plan for WotC: get a new D&D cartoon on the air, aimed at 6th graders. Call it D&D: Eberron, and make it as in-your-face, action-packed as you can, focusing on three or four teen characters with kewl powers, including, let's say, a warforged, a cute elf, a smartass human, and a short-tempered dwarf. Create manga-format comics that detail the further adventures of the cartoon characters. Have a Mage Knight-style minis game at the ready, a computer game, and a CCG. And, oh, by the way, there's this D&D game that older kids play, but, you wouldn't be interested in that, would you?

If you think I'm being facetious, consider this: in the after-school D&D group I run, most students had seen the D&D movie, played Baldur's Gate, but had never even known that the traditional RPG existed before they heard about it from me or from older students who already played. Now they think they're the cool because they play D&D "old-school". Having experienced D&D in other media, they know the brand before they try the game, and that helps carry them through those first sessions. One player actually wrote down quotes from the characters in Baldur's Gate and brought them to the first few games, until he felt comfortable improvising!

Or else, you could just introduce new people to D&D by inviting them to your game group, or running D&D classes at your local continuing ed center or retirement community. In that scenario, D&D is destined to join the two other great "brain games" of the 20th century (crossword puzzles and bridge) as pastimes for a tiny but devoted audience of graying fans. I'm happy either way.

 

[TheLe]

I started a The Le Games gaming group for my area, Cuyahoga Falls (next to Akron). First I am running some Heroclix tournaments.

Later I hope to do some classic games like Clue, Monopoly, Scrabble, and other tournaments.

By Spring I hope to find some GMs and do some "intro to D&D" games.

I am using a local community center for free and will be buying local newspaper ad space for about $20 per ad.

~Le

 

[DonTadow]

By contrast, WotC is sitting on a brand with incredibly wide recognition and history behind it, and yet can't seem to present it across various media in anything like a coherent fashion. It reminds me of Marvel, who were sitting for decades on incredible brands like Spider-Man and lent them out to half-hearted, cheesy live action and cartoon series. They clung to the idea that the comics were the core of the brand, when they should have been seeing comics as only one of many media to carry the brand experience to the public. Finally, they have started making great movies, they have HeroClix, they have collectibles, they have computer games, and the actual comics, even though just a shade of their old selves in terms of sales, are not in danger of going away, because they promote the other media, play to the most ardent, longstanding fans, and serve as an incubator for future properties that could translate into more lucrative media.

Here's my plan for WotC: get a new D&D cartoon on the air, aimed at 6th graders. Call it D&D: Eberron, and make it as in-your-face, action-packed as you can, focusing on three or four teen characters with kewl powers, including, let's say, a warforged, a cute elf, a smartass human, and a short-tempered dwarf. Create manga-format comics that detail the further adventures of the cartoon characters. Have a Mage Knight-style minis game at the ready, a computer game, and a CCG. And, oh, by the way, there's this D&D game that older kids play, but, you wouldn't be interested in that, would you?

See my post, I completely agree. If its going to grow on a mass scale it needs to go from our little hobby we share here and there to something that can be seen as somewhat cool by young kids. Thats the problem, its just not cool. I like the D&D Eberron approach. The D&D sounds a bit cooler than the full name and if marketing it became a problem they can shortten it to Eberron.

 

[DonTadow]

It's ashamed Wotc marketing execs aren't thinking of this stuff , and are instead creating magazine ads that offend The Persian.


http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=146646

 

[dougmander]

It's ashamed Wotc marketing execs aren't thinking of this stuff , and are instead creating magazine ads that offend The Persian.


http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=146646

Wow, stereotyping your own core audience -- way to go, WotC. They should have gone ahead and bought a D&D product placement in "The 40-year Old Virgin" (I've heard that Steve Carrell's character paints minis; is that true?).

 

[Bibliophile]

A lot of good points have been made in this thread, but I'm doubtful about how well a cartoon would work. The cartoons mentioned are Pokemon and Yu-Gioh. These cartoons and associated games have one very large thing in common: competition. The cartoons portray heroes to cheer for when they beat their enemies. The games support this attitude. If you make a D&D cartoon, and get all the kids around into playing a wizard or fighter and beating up that tribe of orcs or slaying the dragon, who among them would want to DM? After all, the cartoon they started on portrays the characters as heroes, but I don't see any way for it to portray DMing in a similar "cool" light. How to solve this? Good question.

 

[Mark CMG]

"Castratia Balzak"

he heh heh

Gencon 2005 Iron DM
Iron Dunneon Master Dreads

I was in room 211 at table one prepping my 2pm slot when they announced the names of the various DMs. I was at the other table near the door, opposite your table. I had wondered who won that competition. I noted you are a laptop DM. Well done on the victory.