How hard is learning a new TTRPG system?

[Nebulous]

We mostly just play 5e. I dabbled minimally in DCC, which I really, really loved, but when I tried to get the players on board they waved it off. To really get a good "feel" for DCC would have taken months of gaming, and they didn't want to invest that time into a secondary game. I ran the Alien RPG a couple years ago, and while we enjoyed it, I never felt like I fully understood the rules as much as I should have. I like 5e well enough but am wanting something else, but for my group currently it's impossible to get them to switch. I wouldn't even mind going back to low level 3rd edition, which I still think is a fantastic game.

 

[Wolfpack48]

I never understood the attachment players have to system over setting or the campaign hook. If the setting is interesting, who cares what system we use?

 

[Thourne]

I never understood the attachment players have to system over setting or the campaign hook. If the setting is interesting, who cares what system we use?

As long as whatever system you use can work with the narrative of the setting, I agree.
I've seen to many attempts to force a favored system into a setting it poorly functions with.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Its hard for me to fairly assess this, because I'm part of an extended gaming group that has probably picked up over a hundred systems across 40 years. When we were younger we did so pretty regularly (we also gamed a lot). Now, I'm not going to say every system is equally easy to learn (I've noted I can pick up a system with a consistent design throughout (like most BRP derivatives) a lot faster than systems with a lot of exception based design (like, say, Chivalry and Sorcery) but it just never seemed the incredible chore some people seem to feel it is.

But I recognize that's us. Not everyone is going to take to such things as easily. But the inverse of that is the assumption that everyone is going to struggle doesn't seem that well founded, either.

 

[dragoner]

If someone says they don't want to learn a different system, I say that is cool and let it ride. Often the statement has baggage which doesn't need to be unpacked, and much of it being they are in their happy spot, which is cool.

 

[Tutara]

No harder than learning a new board game or video game or any other pastime. I’m a slave to novelty though, so I actually enjoy trying new stuff and so do the people I play with, so it’s not a massive imposition.

 

[Velderan]

The 2 biggest hurdles I’ve seen are 1 player being willing to run it which often means they’re the one who needs to know enough rules to get a game going and getting past the “I just want to play D&D” hurdle. Like what you like and all that, but it’s a little hard to say “this game is the best” when you’ve not given other games a chance to see if you like what they do differently better. I’ve had players willing to dabble in older editions of D&D before they were willing to try a different game or even a retro clone. B/X? Sure, let’s give it a try. OSE? Silly Velderan, there’s no ampersand on that book..

Thankfully the group I’ve played more or less weekly with over the last 4 1/2 years will basically play whatever nonsense I offer to take the time to put together for them, so I’ve gotten to explore different systems. By far, the thing that makes me the happiest is when I take the time to prepare something and a few weeks later I get asked “when are we playing that game again?” It makes it harder to continue trying new systems when you get repeat requests for games, but I’ll take it any day over “I just want to play D&D”.

 

[Hand of Evil]

 

[Cadence]

I wonder how much of it is the variability to which different people are creatures of habit. Some people like sticking to the familiar in restaurants and foods, and others like trying new things.

Relatedly, maybe its the way things are slotted in ones head. If it is a D&D group or a bridge foursome or a chess club or... (pick one thing) then there is psychological momentum for that one thing. If it is a board game playing club or a card playing group or (pick a general type of thing) then there is a push to learning the new ones.

It probably doesn't take much to learn a new RPG - but it might take making peace with breaking a habit or fighting momentum.

 

[Reynard]

One interesting difficulty is when games are close but not exact, like new editions that keep a lot of the same terminology but change the definitions, or games that diverge from a common core like 5E vs Pathfinder 2E. "Close" is often more confusing than wildly different.