performance anxiety/new group
- Thread starter alsih2o
- Start date
Well Mr. Potter, that's such an amazing group of players, why not run a d20 Modern game where the players play souped-up, cinemafied versions of themselves? With an adventure featuring the Village People --perhaps where they square off against the Village People in a John Woo/Tsui Hark/Buffy battle to the death-- being a must...alsih2o said:
In all half-seriousness, even though you indicated that its going to be a fantasy campaign, a real-world setting might help the new players get over the whole "willing suspension of disbelief" problem --and who coined that g-d awful phrase, an Esperanto-speaking Martian?? I think new players would be less hung up on "the rules" if they were taking more familiar actions: like pulling guns, running people over with SUV's, taking cover behind dumpsters in garbage-strewn alleys [err, not that I'm suggesting your players are personally familiar w/those actions].
Plus, they'd gain some experience with the d20 mechanics.
I realize this probably isn't helpful, but its the best I can do on one cup of coffee...
apocalypstick
First Post
I don't have any real advice over and above what others have said, so instead let me just wish you luck, 20x over.
Psionicist
Explorer
1) Do it like the Lord of the Rings movies, if the players are familiar with the movies and concept.
2) Rather superheros than Dork Tower. Cinematic is the key word here.
3) Rather few rules than a Caliban campaign.
4) Rather a short session (couple of hours) than a long one (9 hours+)
5) Balance hack and slash with story telling and interaction.
6) Don't game TOO serious. Rather "an excuse for friends to be together" than "I AM Morgoth!!".
7) Take a few breaks now and then for OT discussions, food, snacks and such.
2) Rather superheros than Dork Tower. Cinematic is the key word here.
3) Rather few rules than a Caliban campaign.
4) Rather a short session (couple of hours) than a long one (9 hours+)
5) Balance hack and slash with story telling and interaction.
6) Don't game TOO serious. Rather "an excuse for friends to be together" than "I AM Morgoth!!".
7) Take a few breaks now and then for OT discussions, food, snacks and such.
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SJ
Explorer
go, man go!
This is great, I wish you the best of luck!
I've done this before only twice (running a game for BRAND N00B players), and it was back in 1e days. I think you benefit from the 3e stuff. A few things I noted I'll share, YMMV.
*) use mid-level characters. while 1st level dudes are simplest, they may lack a cool feature that excites the players/adds uniqueness a bit. 10th level would be too complex.
*) be prepared to stretch a rule in favor of them. they don't know what everything is, so cinematics/descriptives trump 'which square are you in?'
*) try to use some visuals, a weathered document, a gemstone prop, a painted figure.
*) be obvious with hints and NPC traits. stereotyping the bad guys is okay.
And you've already said, don't get frustrated if somebody isn't into it. You are not ultimately responsible for whether someone has fun or not, regardless of the entertainment medium.
one last thing, and this goes for all groups, IMHO. Enthusiasm is contagious. If you're having fun, it's likely so will they.
Let us know how it goes!
--Shana
This is great, I wish you the best of luck!
I've done this before only twice (running a game for BRAND N00B players), and it was back in 1e days. I think you benefit from the 3e stuff. A few things I noted I'll share, YMMV.
*) use mid-level characters. while 1st level dudes are simplest, they may lack a cool feature that excites the players/adds uniqueness a bit. 10th level would be too complex.
*) be prepared to stretch a rule in favor of them. they don't know what everything is, so cinematics/descriptives trump 'which square are you in?'
*) try to use some visuals, a weathered document, a gemstone prop, a painted figure.
*) be obvious with hints and NPC traits. stereotyping the bad guys is okay.
And you've already said, don't get frustrated if somebody isn't into it. You are not ultimately responsible for whether someone has fun or not, regardless of the entertainment medium.
one last thing, and this goes for all groups, IMHO. Enthusiasm is contagious. If you're having fun, it's likely so will they.
Let us know how it goes!
--Shana
Rel
Liquid Awesome
It is always cool to introduce new people into the hobby. I've got a friend of mine who will be gaming for the very first time at the upcoming NC Game Day II.
I tend to start out with character creation because I think it helps folks start getting used to how the rules are based and looking things up in the PHB. But you know these people and we don't so I completely trust your judgement on the pregen characters.
The pre-gaming get together so everyone can meet and greet is a great idea. I would definately try and break out the characters at that meeting and, at very least, introduce each person in the role they'll be playing in the game ("Everyone, this is Bob the Geologist. He'll be playing Bragg the dwarven warrior with a mighty hammer and a heart of gold.").
I can't believe that I'm disagreeing with Piratecat about any facet of DMing, but I'm not sure I'd go along wholeheartedly with the "tell me what you want to do and I'll show you how it is handled in the rules" method. After a few sessions, I think that is a great idea and a good way to introduce more intricate rules like Grappling, Bull Rush, Tripping or Sunder. But I think that for the first couple of sessions or so, the players will be having a lot to absorb with just reading their character sheets, getting used to the "acting" that comes with NPC interaction and understanding the basics of combat like initiative, attack rolls, armor class, to hit bonuses and all the spells. Your best bet may be to tell them up front that the game accomodates a lot of complex actions but that, since everybody is new, it might be best to keep things as simple as possible early on.
The only other thing that I'd recommend is to stop the game well before the end of the "session". This will give you time for everyone to talk about what they liked/didn't like, any rules questions they have or other questions that are bound to crop up for beginner gamers. I know that for too many of the folks who I've introduced to gaming, the toughest thing was that they weren't used to doing anything that required their attention for 5 or 6 hours in a row. Shorter sessions would have been easier to deal with as well as allowed time for them to ask questions.
Good luck and please let us know how it turns out. You too, Morrus.
Do I smell fresh meat over at the Story Hour forums?
Edit: I almost forgot one other important suggestion. I recently read Robin Laws' Robins Laws of Good Gamemastering and I can't recommend it highly enough, especially for this type of situation. In particular, try to find out what makes each player tick as a gamer. Are they there for the action? The chance to be an actor? To challenge themselves tactically? Just because they want a chance to socialize with the group?
The answer to that question for each player will give you the knowledge of what will make them a happy player and how you can weave that into the story you present them with. I've been DMing for over 20 years now and that one part of the book is going to make me a much better GM now that I understand and have codified for me, something that I've been doing a somewhat haphazard job of for a long time.
I tend to start out with character creation because I think it helps folks start getting used to how the rules are based and looking things up in the PHB. But you know these people and we don't so I completely trust your judgement on the pregen characters.
The pre-gaming get together so everyone can meet and greet is a great idea. I would definately try and break out the characters at that meeting and, at very least, introduce each person in the role they'll be playing in the game ("Everyone, this is Bob the Geologist. He'll be playing Bragg the dwarven warrior with a mighty hammer and a heart of gold.").
I can't believe that I'm disagreeing with Piratecat about any facet of DMing, but I'm not sure I'd go along wholeheartedly with the "tell me what you want to do and I'll show you how it is handled in the rules" method. After a few sessions, I think that is a great idea and a good way to introduce more intricate rules like Grappling, Bull Rush, Tripping or Sunder. But I think that for the first couple of sessions or so, the players will be having a lot to absorb with just reading their character sheets, getting used to the "acting" that comes with NPC interaction and understanding the basics of combat like initiative, attack rolls, armor class, to hit bonuses and all the spells. Your best bet may be to tell them up front that the game accomodates a lot of complex actions but that, since everybody is new, it might be best to keep things as simple as possible early on.
The only other thing that I'd recommend is to stop the game well before the end of the "session". This will give you time for everyone to talk about what they liked/didn't like, any rules questions they have or other questions that are bound to crop up for beginner gamers. I know that for too many of the folks who I've introduced to gaming, the toughest thing was that they weren't used to doing anything that required their attention for 5 or 6 hours in a row. Shorter sessions would have been easier to deal with as well as allowed time for them to ask questions.
Good luck and please let us know how it turns out. You too, Morrus.
Do I smell fresh meat over at the Story Hour forums?
Edit: I almost forgot one other important suggestion. I recently read Robin Laws' Robins Laws of Good Gamemastering and I can't recommend it highly enough, especially for this type of situation. In particular, try to find out what makes each player tick as a gamer. Are they there for the action? The chance to be an actor? To challenge themselves tactically? Just because they want a chance to socialize with the group?
The answer to that question for each player will give you the knowledge of what will make them a happy player and how you can weave that into the story you present them with. I've been DMing for over 20 years now and that one part of the book is going to make me a much better GM now that I understand and have codified for me, something that I've been doing a somewhat haphazard job of for a long time.
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