"Can my spouse play for an evening?"

[Wolf1066]

Ah yes. Killing off PC's and taking their girlfriends.

Hehe. It does sound sinister, I know. But in this case the GM was female and her husband was one of the other players.

But isn't that what gamers do --

Kill things and take their stuff?

Damn straight!

 

[Jasperak]

Some good thoughts here, thanks, although there are also some things I don't agree with or just wouldn't work for my situation, but I won't do a blow-by-blow.

One thing that quickly became clear from reading this thread is that the details do make a difference. I mean, as a general rule I would always be open to having someone new try the game out, especially if I was looking for more players. But let me add some details into the mix:

1) She has no interest in joining as a regular (afaik) and probably couldn't because they have a baby and we rotate where we play, so unless they brought their baby (which would not be ideal) they couldn't both play.

2) Not including myself, there are already five regular players and two who are on the verge of joining--and that doesn't include this spouse (or other Curious Spouses who want to give it a try, and there are one or two others!). In other words, we're already bursting at the seems for how many I feel comfortable DMing.

3) One of the above mentioned new players may be starting during this session. So I am going to have two new players in this session, neither of whom I know well.

I did end up inviting her because it seemed like the Right Thing to Do (I don't know her well, it is the first time I'll be at her house, etc), but if I'm honest, given the above circumstances I'd actually prefer if she didn't play. But when I make a choice like this I will welcome her with open arms and hope she has a good time.

Has her husband (or SO) played with her one-on-one or taught her any of the rules?

 

[Mercurius]

I think she is totally new to it and probably just wants to play out of curiosity.

 

[Saeviomagy]

Let her play.

If it's 4e, make sure her character has some sort of default "I hit it with my sword"-type at-will attack without needing to resort to a basic attack. Don't, for instance, make her choose between shield bash and footwork lure. If it's 3.5 or earlier, avoid spellcasters.

In general, try to make the character durable. A glass cannon has a high possibility of dropping early or being ineffective due to lack of understanding or tactics. A meatshield almost always has an impact, even if it's making a spectacle and drawing fire with some crazy plan.

 

[TarionzCousin]

I was in a game where they guy who organized the whole game got kicked out after the first session. Here is how it happened.

He put up fancy posters at all of the local game shops.

He interviewed about 30 people and weeded out the ones he didn't like.

One of the people he picked volunteered to run the campaign, as the organizer didn't want to do it.

He held the first session at his new apartment. He and his girlfriend had decided to live apart, so she had recently moved out. But she was still in the game as he thought they would still date.

He was wrong. She dumped him.

So he told the GM to kick his girlfriend out of the game. The GM said "I like her better: you're gone."

Ah, good times.