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Untitled Document
Roleplaying Tips Weekly E-Zine Issue #66
How To Get New People Hooked On Roleplaying
Contents:
This Week's Tips Summarized
How To Get New People Hooked On Roleplaying
- Help Prepare The New Player Beforehand
- Start With A One-On-One Session First
- Use Pre-Generated Characters & Jump Right In
- Use Visual Gaming Aids & Props
- Hook New Players Up With Veterans
- Help New Players Create A Vivid & Engaging Character
- Keep Initial Game Sessions Short & The Commitment Small
- Get An Idea Of A New Player's Style & Preferences
- Make The New Player Comfortable & Interested
- Make The New Character Comfortable
- Put A Cliff Hanger At The End
Readers' Tips Summarized
- Use Modelling Clay For Miniatures
- Clever Use For Wallpaper
- Fiction As Inspiration Tip
- Roleplaying Demonstration Story
- Always Keep Your Roleplaying Books In Sight
Return to Contents
A Brief Word From Johnn
Reader's Tips As Main Tips
I just wanted to get your feelings on the last two issues' use of readers' tips
as the main tips article. Specifically, I'm thinking of issue length and tips
brevity.
The readers who submitted their excellent feedback haven't had the opportunity
to write 60+ issues of tips. Therefore, some entries take a little while to get
to the main point-- which makes for longer issues. I do some editing, but it's
tough making changes without losing the flow of an entry.
My preference would be to take your tips and paraphrase, or re-write them, and
then give submitters credit and thanks at the end. This also solves another problem:
duplicate tips. Whose do I publish? And it takes the pressure off of you from
having to write perfect prose. Just crank out your tip and send it along.
So, what do you think? Can I use your tips as inspiration for each issue and re-write
them, or would you prefer that I post them as-is? If I do re-write your tips and
give you credit, would you be less inclined to send in tips? That would be a shame
as you have a lot of collective knowledge to share and help with! Let me know:
johnn@roleplayingtips.com
Warm regards,
Johnn Four johnn@roleplayingtips.com
Return to Contents
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Return to Contents
How To Get New People Hooked On Roleplaying
- Help Prepare The New Player Beforehand
From: Heather Grove
http://www.burningvoid.com
An excerpt from The Burning Void Roleplaying Resources Newsletter, Volume
1, Issue 6, Make the New Guy Welcome. [Read
the whole article, republished with permission. Highly recommended!]
Make sure the new player understands what sort of game you're running and
is interested in it. You don't want to bring someone in to play "Vampire:
the Masquerade," only to find out that he thought it was a variant of "AD&D"
and is quite miffed that he doesn't get to kill vampires with his +5 sword.
The caveat here is that just because a prospective roleplayer only knows about
"AD&D" doesn't mean he won't enjoy "Vampire," or vice versa. Explain the differences
to him and let him decide whether he's interested.
Make sure the new player knows ahead of time what sorts of things he should
bring to the game. If he'll need his own dice, tell him where he can buy some.
Consider giving him a small handful as a "welcome to the gaming group" gift
(after all, dice are cheap). If someone will be willing to loan him some for
a week or two until he knows whether or not he likes this gaming thing, tell
him so.
Give your new player a brief written or printed sheet of any "house rules"
you have. This includes rules of the game that don't match those in the books
you just told him to buy. It also includes any rules like "don't use out of
character information in character," "if you bring food, bring some to share,"
or "when you enter the gaming room, hop on your left foot twice." Okay, maybe
not! But you get the idea. Sit down with your new player for five minutes
and go through each item just to make sure he understands them.
Return to Contents
- Start With A One-On-One Session First
From: Markus W.
Perhaps you may host a special session for an all-beginners group. This will
avoid the usual in-jokes, rule discussions or technical terms from coming
up, which will deter newcomers. Afterwards, you may try to integrate those
willing to participate further into your group.
From: Jillian A.
I have always hooked new players by inviting them to check it out and starting
them off away from a gaming group. I explain that it's like writing a story
with several other authors, but instead of everyone just deciding where the
story will go, every author takes one main character and decides what they
will do and what part they will play in the story.
A lot of people who don't play roleplaying games seem to think that pretending
to be someone else seems silly, but once I explain it is like writing a story,
they seem to see it a bit differently.
Once I have their interest, I keep them away from a gaming group for a while.
I take the time to help them create their 'main character' according to the
laws of their universe (game rules), encouraging them to add as many details
and nuances as they can come up with.
Once they have their character thought out, I show them how to use a character
sheet to quantify the character and how to use it as a 'quick reference' for
their character.
Once that's done, their first two adventures are completely solo - just me
and the new player, working with their character and their character's personal
story. Admittedly this is a slow method, but it gives the new player time
to become accustomed to playing without the pressure of other players. By
the close of the second adventure, they are usually eager to join the rest
of the players.
From: Ivo, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
I would like to comment on the problem of getting new players hooked on to
the game, which in our case is AD&D. Our group had the problem of people leaving
and our gaming group was becoming rather small, so I introduced one of my
friends to AD&D.
A lot of potential new players get scared because of the 'kill all enthusiasm
with too many rules' effect, so I decided to make a small extra adventure
for just the new player and one of the more experienced players.
I used and explained only the core rules and I emphasised the roleplaying
part. The newbie became more and more excited because he noted that what he
was doing really had an effect on the surroundings he was in. The actions
of the more experienced player also showed him what was possible in RPGs.
This way he really got hooked on to the game and I could introduce him to
the campaign world.
Working with only two players was great because there was a lot of one-on-one
roleplaying and there was lots of time to explain things.
Because it was only a small adventure there also wasn't any time pressure.
Finally I could use the adventure myself as a training for winging it ;).
I don't know if making a sort of tutorial works for everybody but in my case
it worked very well.
From: Joshua L.
I never try to introduce people who are new to roleplaying directly into a
game. Once they want to try gaming, I invite them over to get an introduction
to gaming. I try to have three people: the GM, the novice, and the best friend
the novice has, who already plays role playing games. Hopefully, the friend
and I have discussed ahead of time what will happen, so we are "reading off
the same page".
Then, I talk a little about role playing in general for 5-10 minutes. Then
about the setting they will be in (maybe another 5-10 minutes). Then I let
them choose between two or three (much simplified and shortened) character
sheets. While they choose, we discuss what the character sheets mean, which
takes 10-20 minutes. After they choose, I ask them to customize their character
by adding a few notes on personality. (A simplified character sheet is key
to their understanding at this point in time.)
Then the three of us run a couple of scenes. In a "D&D" type world, I usually
play "Zombies in your basement", which starts out with some human interaction,
but ends up killing a zombie.
From: Caeman
Gamers can be an eager bunch. Sometimes, too eager. We enjoy what we do and
do with it with much zeal. That zeal can scare a new player who is timid about
"acting" a persona out.
Possibly the best intro game to run is a fantasy dungeon crawl. Second to
this is a super hero adventure. A dungeon crawl doesn't require in-depth roleplaying
to accomplish since it is mostly action and caution. As for a super hero adventure,
we've all seen cartoons. Some of us read the comic books. We all, at one time,
dreamed of being able to fly.
Return to Contents
- Use Pre-Generated Characters & Jump Right In
From: Seth J.
Just thought I'd take a second and share my Number One Rule for introducing
non-gamers to games of any sort, whether they be RPGs, board games, or card
games of any stripe: keep their first exposure simple and accessible.
Don't take new players through the thirty-minute process of writing up a character;
have a character pre-generated. Save your thousand-NPC battle for later in
the campaign; design an adventure that will introduce them to game concepts
as simply as possible. And of course, you should never, ever kill off a first-time
player. You may teach them that your world is one of perilous adventure, but
they'll quickly teach you that they have better things to do on Game Night.
From: Samir
Now at any location we play in I require a computer to be available with the
proper Character Generator program so that we can easily design and print
out a character sheet for new players. It looks more professional than the
hand written ones and prospective players are more apt to stay when we use
this tool.
From: Joel M.
Prepare them to jump right in. If the new players show up and you spend the
next two hours creating characters they're going to be bored and not enjoy
themselves. You have to hook them right away. Explain what mechanics they
need to know and have them make their characters well in advance so that when
they get to the game you can start playing immediately.
Return to Contents
- Use Visual Gaming Aids & Props
From: Ruben S.
The group I am in, L.A.R.P., ran a D&D 3E demo, and it went really great.
The deciding factor? My friends and I took a "ton" of miniatures, and I borrowed
a bunch of that nifty dwarven forge dungeon stuff from a friend of mine. Set
it up, and voila, people came. And loved it.
I guess the bottom line is: use visual aids as much as possible.
This may be a bit gimmicky, and a bit out of some people's price ranges, but
Dwarven Forge makes this great dungeon tile set. They all fit together, are
super customizable, and really seem to draw people in.
One other thing that seemed to work. Be lenient on the stats. And as far as
D&D 3E goes? Use that character generator. Nothing turns players off more
than a complicated set of character creation rules. I may be able to make
a character in about 10 minutes, but it takes new players over an hour, and
many of them just give up.
Return to Contents
- Hook New Players Up With Veterans
From: Rev. Tim M.
Having the presence of really good, experienced role players sets a good example
for the newbies. My old hands are leading by example, and are definitely helping
the newcomers get into the game much more quickly than they would otherwise.
[Johnn: As mentioned in Tip #2, veteran players are a great help in making
new players understand the concept, the rules and the spirit of roleplaying.
Try to sit new players between your veterans at the game table.]
Return to Contents
- Help New Players Create A Vivid & Engaging Character
From: Angela R.
I have recently introduced my sister to role-playing. The thing that interested
her the most was the character creation process. For old-hat role-players,
I usually expect them to do this on their own, including any background they
want to make. But for her first time, I walked her through step by step and
forced her to do the background as well.
The most helpful tool was a list of questions I found on the net that were
designed to assist a GM in creating a well- rounded NPC, but I have encouraged
my players to use it themselves. As we went along, I would ask her the question
and give several ideas to help spark her imagination, but then give her time
to jot down her own ideas.
By the time we made it through the entire list, she had a real person in front
of her--someone that she was interested in and wanted to see develop. In other
words, before she even played one session, I had her personally tied to a
part of the story. This process even sparked my own ideas for the party, so
I highly recommend anyone trying it.
From: Rhiaghnoz
Often I'm (enthusiastically) telling [new players] things about the war-torn
world, or just explaining the basics of the game, like what RPing IS.
This gets them inspired. So after telling them those things I jump on the
case and ask them to take a character from a favorite movie of theirs, just
as a guideline to their own PC, and think about what type of character they
would like to play.
Return to Contents
- Keep Initial Game Sessions Short & The Commitment Small
From: Markus W.
Many people may be deterred by the fact that role-playing is rather time-consuming.
If you can convince new people to come and play, DO NOT host an eight-hour
non-stop session. If the guy or girl is interested, he or she will come back
and want more.
From: Joel M.
You could try running a small adventure first so they can see how they like
it and get a feel for how the games work without feeling like they're being
pressed into a two year campaign. Playing once a week is all that the first
time role-player is going to be interested in so don't try to make more commitments
on their time than that.
Return to Contents
- Get An Idea Of A New Player's Style & Preferences
From: Rhiaghnoz
I ask around about tastes in movies, games, books, tv series (cartoons etc.)
to get an idea of what my stories should be like.
From: Joel M.
Do something other than fantasy. If people have heard of role-playing and
weren't interested in the past there's a fairly good chance it was the subject
matter. They might associate role-playing with Dungeons and Dragons and could
care less about playing a wizard or a mighty warrior who can cut down a dozen
orcs. I've used Paranoia, Call of Cthulhu, and Toon as "gateway" games in
the past, but those certainly are not the only options.
From: Caeman
Pick a genre they know well. Comfort level the first time is important.
Return to Contents
- Make The New Player Comfortable & Interested
From: Rhiaghnoz
Get him/her interested in the progress of the story immediately - create a
sense of progress (i.e. keep up the pace, story development, an XP start)
and influence (i.e. choice impact, lower NPC's follow -minor- orders).
Keep rules simple and straightforward--DO NOT LEAF AROUND IN MODULES--it scares
the heck out of someone who just wants to play a game.
Find out as much as you can about the PC and the player's style - note, note,
note everything.
From: Joel M.
Keep it simple.
Along the same lines, new players are not going to be up for running out and
buying the rule books for the game at first. If the player has to read through
the entire rule book to have enough background information to play the game
then you could wind up losing them.
If the player has to understand the arcane mechanics of the system then they
are going to be spending more time puzzling over rules than trying to role-play.
In my experience, it's better to tell a new player "roll a d20" and do all
the mechanical work yourself so they don't get confused.
From: Amir
The most important thing to consider when you are facing the task of playing
with a new player who is also new at roleplaying games is that he is unfamiliar
with the game. Truth be told, if he is not coming from a strategy game background,
his interest in the mechanical and statistical aspects of the game (AC, TACH0,
HP, et cetera) is going to be minimal.
Moreover, his knowledge and ability to interact with those figures is next
to NIL.
That is why you have to keep the die rolls to a bare minimum, and concentrate
on the psychological-aesthetical points of the game. Mainly, playing "make
believe". Apply here all the tips you can gather about how to roleplay well,
while neglecting all the "statistical management" tips (map making, chart-drawing,
HP tracking, et cetera).
To still keep the player in the game frame, take over the character's rolls
and stats. I'd even say make up the mechanics.
[Johnn: you can also make new players comfortable by:
- Introducing them to the other players.
- Writing player names and character names on a cheat-sheet for them.
- Giving them positive feedback, praise, encouragement and/or compliments
during the game.]
Return to Contents
- Make The New Character Comfortable
From: Rhiaghnoz
Get him/her used to its common surroundings, NPC's - describe things colourfully,
tell him about his friends, family, what they do, etc. shortly.
Get the PC in contact with the other PC's - weave each PC's thread into the
plot so they'll encounter each other, have each PC chase/be chased by/search
for the same thing.
Return to Contents
- Put A Cliff Hanger At The End
From: Rhiaghnoz
Make him/her want to play again and again - keep it in the player's taste,
and have a cliff hanger at the end.
[Johnn: this tip is short and sweet. Nothing brings 'em back better than a
nail-biting cliff hanger.]
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