Introducing New People to Role Playing

Role playing is a rewarding and entertaining hobby. As you may have noticed, it's also considered somewhat unusual by the plebs. The more people that play these games, the closer it will come to being mainstream, and the more the art form will advance. We'll have a large selection of products to choose from, and our families will stop asking us when we're going to grow up and stop playing those stupid games every holiday. For the past ten years. Like I'm some sort of deviant for enjoying the occasional escapist fantasy. Nobody questions my cousin Jeff's fantasy football habit. No, that's a perfectly healthy preoccupation for a mature adult....sorry, lost my train of thought.

My point is, it is in every gamers best interest for new people to start playing our reindeer games. So how do you induct new people into role playing? First find somebody whose interested in learning, preferably several somebodies. Then, find somebody to run a game. This could be you, or it could be one of your more gullible friends. Then, get the aforementioned people together and play a game. That's really all there is to this. Like any other game, the easiest way to teach someone how to role play is to play a game with them.

Everything I've said before about game mastering is appropriate here, as is my article on running your first game. If you haven't read that article, take a few minutes and do that. If someone else is going to run this hypothetical game, direct them here. Seriously, I need the traffic. I got kids to feed. Well, not kids, but pets. Okay, technically there my roommates, but I spend enough time cleaning up after them I should get a tax deduction or the right to hit them with a rolled up newspaper.

Two unproffestional digressions in one post. I'm losing my touch. With reality, that is.

Choosing the system is probably your most important decision. You want it to be something easily grasped, but that they'll be playing for a long time. Whatever you usually play is probably the best bet, unless it's something hideously complicated. HERO would be a difficult first game. GURPS would require you to make the characters for them. Templates would be very helpful.

I have to mention D&D, even though it's not my favorite system, simply because it's so universal. I have yet to meet a gamer who hasn't at some point played it at one time. The rules are for the most part simple enough, especially the new 4e. As starting games go, you could do worse.

WoD would be acceptable, if you're into that sort of thing. It might traumatize them horribly, though, so consider the players carefully before you choose this.

As far as running the actual game, your only real concern should be making sure that everyone has fun and wants to do it again. That means you should avoid pulling out anything terribly nasty, like D&D's rust monsters. You don't want to frustrate these people.

One final word of advice: if there's a girl in this group, stay frosty. I know the instinct is to give her special treatment. Don't. Don't flirt with her. Don't faun over her. Don't stop to make sure she understands every little detail. She'll probably find it condescending, and even if she doesn't it'll be irritating to your other players. By all means, chat her up afterward. Once the dice go away, cry havoc and let slip the dogs of libido. But during the game, keep professional. You're there to teach other people how to play. Stay on target. Mav out.