New players: your recruiting standards

[Jd Smith1]

This came up in another thread, but I didn't want to drift the topic, so I thought I would start a new thread.

For face-to-face groups, what are your dos and don'ts for new players? What do you look for, who do you avoid or seek, what standards do you apply?

My current group is a bit older than average; the core members have been gaming weekly with me since 2002. We tend to be vulgar, abrasive, and incorrect. As roleplayers, the players are motivated by petty-mindedness, spite, greed, and illogical reactions to random NPCs; this cuts across all settings.

Our recruitment standards are, in no particular order:

1) Be male. The reason for this is that back in the 80s when I was dating my wife, she joined my gaming group, her only tabletop RPG experience. From that experience, she carried away the conviction that gaming was a means to meet women. So when we relocated to our current location, and eventually I formed another group (in 2002) she vetoed female participation. I haven't bothered to check if the ban is still in effect because we've never had a female gamer inquire.

2) Be on time. If you are going to be late or can't make it, let me know in advance.

3) Be involved. No experience is required, but if you can't be bothered to do a little between-session reading to learn the rules and basic setting data, we don't need you.

4) Have a thick skin. Most of us are veterans, and everyone is from a career field that caters to the terminally insensitive. Our sense of humor is vulgar and abusive.

5) No alcohol at the table.

6) There is only one GM. The GM never changes. All hail the GM.

7) Have a laptop. We use a VTT.

8) Bathe before each game. You wouldn't think in this day and age this would be an issue, but it has been. Briefly, at least.

9) No PvP, no stealing from PCs or party. You can bad-mouth the party leader, but you must follow orders. You can talk smack about players and PCs, but no harming the latter.

10) The party leader changes every campaign. You will have to take your turn. Griping about having to do it is expected.

11) Work together; if the group dies, they die as a team. Recriminations are acceptable, whining is not.

12) Arguing about events that happened in a different campaign eight years ago is acceptable in moderation.

 

[Doc_Klueless]

Recruitment Standards:

• Don’t be a jerk. This covers a plethora of things: be on time, no pvp, team player, etc.
• Be prepared for some silliness. We do NOT take RPGs seriously.
• Be prepared for PG13 language. I cuss. F-bombs will drop. I don't try to rein it in. Deal with it.
• If F2F, don’t smell.
• If VTT, have a mic. Camera is VERY optional.

 

[Doc_Klueless]

@Jd Smith1 , I see that you're in Texas. I'm in San Antonio which has a huge number of Veterans so my groups tend to have a fairly high percentage plus a lot of Health Care Professionals (as I administer Anesthesia). Damn, do we have a macabre sense of humor! Language can be quite blue.

 

[Bagpuss]

1) Be male. The reason for this is that back in the 80s when I was dating my wife, she joined my gaming group, her only tabletop RPG experience. From that experience, she carried away the conviction that gaming was a means to meet women. So when we relocated to our current location, and eventually I formed another group (in 2002) she vetoed female participation. I haven't bothered to check if the ban is still in effect because we've never had a female gamer inquire.

LOL so many weird issues going on there. If you want to meet women a RPG group in the in 80's was the last place you should look.

We haven't recruited anyone in years (there are just the four of us). So I'm not sure what our recruitment requirements would be. I think the main one would be

1) Willing to play to 1am on a Sunday evening, with possible 30 minutes drive home after. Although admittedly we try to finish by midnight most weeks. I think that is enough to put most people off.

 

[Nagol]

1) Be at least 16, preferably 18.
2) Listen to my spiel about DMing style. Understand I'm not blowing smoke about being disinterested in party direction, not having an expected narrative, and not protecting PCs from themselves or the world. Be comfortable with that.
3) Listen to my spiel about the campaign. If it isn't to your taste, say so and step away. I'll invite you back when it next changes.
4) Understand and accept the table expectations (arriving sort-of on-time, being prepared, and be civil).

 

[Jd Smith1]

LOL so many weird issues going on there. If you want to meet women a RPG group in the in 80's was the last place you should look.

Back then my group was half or more girl gamers, and no less than two marriages came from the group. That was a unique situation, and never replicated before or since. But since is was my wife's only gaming group...

I doubt she would care now, but the situation has never arisen in any case.

 

[John Dallman]

We rarely need to recruit, since our turnover is slow: three out of seven have been in the group since it started in 1998. Generalising from the last few recruits:

• Be someone known to a group member, who they think will fit in. That filters out the dicks.
• Be decent at the performance side of roleplaying; system knowledge is much easier to teach.
• Be quick-thinking and have interesting ideas.
• Be reliable about turning up.

 

[Ulfgeir]

I can't remember when we last took in a new player (group of 8 so technically too large group as it is), but it was a number of years ago. No idea how the player got in contact with the GM at the time (the guy whose apartment we always play in).

* I don't think it is a requirement, but all the people in my group are guys. I know some of the others have played in a different group where there were some women as well (including the wife of one of the current players, but she does not get along that well with one of the other players as far as I know. No idea of the reasons). This of course does lead to some jargon.

* Should be someone who doesn't clash with the group (too much). Yes, we have conflicts sometimes. One of the players recently asked that we didn't talk politics when gaming or in the discord-channels we have. He felt it could potentially lead to too much drama, which could ruin friendships. He does have a point, but I do think he is a bit thin-skinned in that regard.

 

[Lanefan]

* - Be already known outside of the game to at least one current player (or better yet, the DM) so both you and we sort-of know what to expect

* - Be thick-skinned enough to handle some 'foul' language and ribald humour at the table; and to handle bad things happening to your character(s) in the game because it's inevitable that they will, sometimes frequently

* - Be willing and able to keep things in character particularly when the in-party firefights erupt (and be willing to accept that they will erupt now and then) - keep the drama in the fiction

* - Have a sense of humour...repeat, have a sense of humour

* - Be willing and able to show up for the games when you can, knowing that if you don't your character will still be involved just as it normally would be, with its rolling done by someone else

 

[the Jester]

Basically, are you compatible with our play style? This means you need to be okay with a bunch of things:

• We have frequent drinking and pot smoking from some members of the group. You don't have to participate, but if that's a deal breaker for you, we're not the group for you.
• I am a tyrant DM of the old school, and maintain strong control over details of the setting. You want to define part of the setting? The way to do so is through your actions in game. If that's a deal breaker, we're not the group for you.
• We cuss, make inappropriate jokes, and are often juvenile. If that's a deal breaker, we're not the group for you.
• My campaign, by 3e standards, includes "vile" content, including cannibalism, human sacrifice, sexual content, etc. It's not that that stuff is the focus of the campaign; it's that it is in there and I don't shy away from it, and even offer some player-side content to support it (such as a cannibalistic druid circle). If that's a deal breaker, we're not the group for you.
• I run an "Everyone Starts at First Level" (ES@1) game. Even if other pcs are higher level, when you start, you are first level. If that's a deal breaker, we're not the group for you.
• I use fumbles (albeit designed to not screw over higher level pcs because they have more attacks). If that's a deal breaker, we're not the group for you.
• I don't allow content just because it's published by wizards. Drow aren't pcs in my game, they are monsters. Healing spirit? Not just no, but F no. If that's a deal breaker, we're not the group for you.
• We play irregularly but fairly frequently, though I run multiple groups. (Most have significant player overlap with the others.) If that's a deal breaker, we're not the group for you.

If you aren't down with any of that, no hard feelings, but we're probably not a good fit.

On top of that, are you a jerk? If so, we're not interested in having you join our group just to screw up the dynamics we have developed over (mostly) years of playing together.

EDITED TO ADD: Oh, this is an important one- I am a high-lethality DM who doesn't intervene to save the pcs, and I run a pretty hardcore sandbox. If your first level pcs go to the dungeon no one has returned from in two centuries, expect to die.