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How constrained do you feel by D&D "canon"
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<blockquote data-quote="maddman75" data-source="post: 3474415" data-attributes="member: 2673"><p>As someone who has tried (successfully) to get people to try other games, I disagree. They may often say this, but this isn't the root cause. I've found three assumptions that, if you address them, can make people a lot more agreeable to trying a new game.</p><p></p><p>First, they may assume that if they agree to play a game, they will be agreeing to play it for months or years. As this is the default for D&D games, this is a natural assumption. When I pitch a game I usually tell them upfront how many sessions I expect it to take. That way they know that if they like we can go back to D&D, keep playing the new game, or try something else. Whatever.</p><p></p><p>Second, they may assume that these other games will be as hard to learn as D&D. There's a lot to know about - all the feats, skill uses, obscure little rules, and hundreds of spells. Most games are not this involved, and players will be competent after a very short period. Not all games are like this - Exalted for instance is easily as complex as D&D. But the majority are a bit simpler.</p><p></p><p>Third (this is related to the second one) they will assume that they will have to all buy books in order to play the new game. While it is always handy, most games (especially those with simpler rules) do not require this. I've ran yearlong games where I was the only one with any books at all.</p><p></p><p>If you can imagine yourself as a paladin or halfling rogue, surely there's enough imagination in you to handle a vampire slayer, or giant robot pilot, or cowboy, or whatever else. Just be clear to your players that you aren't condemning them to never playing their favorite again or committing them to spend a bunch of money on stuff they don't want. Make it clear that the goal is to have fun. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="maddman75, post: 3474415, member: 2673"] As someone who has tried (successfully) to get people to try other games, I disagree. They may often say this, but this isn't the root cause. I've found three assumptions that, if you address them, can make people a lot more agreeable to trying a new game. First, they may assume that if they agree to play a game, they will be agreeing to play it for months or years. As this is the default for D&D games, this is a natural assumption. When I pitch a game I usually tell them upfront how many sessions I expect it to take. That way they know that if they like we can go back to D&D, keep playing the new game, or try something else. Whatever. Second, they may assume that these other games will be as hard to learn as D&D. There's a lot to know about - all the feats, skill uses, obscure little rules, and hundreds of spells. Most games are not this involved, and players will be competent after a very short period. Not all games are like this - Exalted for instance is easily as complex as D&D. But the majority are a bit simpler. Third (this is related to the second one) they will assume that they will have to all buy books in order to play the new game. While it is always handy, most games (especially those with simpler rules) do not require this. I've ran yearlong games where I was the only one with any books at all. If you can imagine yourself as a paladin or halfling rogue, surely there's enough imagination in you to handle a vampire slayer, or giant robot pilot, or cowboy, or whatever else. Just be clear to your players that you aren't condemning them to never playing their favorite again or committing them to spend a bunch of money on stuff they don't want. Make it clear that the goal is to have fun. :) [/QUOTE]
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