I read a post today about someone wanting to play an OSR game and then cooling on it quite rapidly because the GM presented them with a river to cross and they couldn't work out how to do it.
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@Printdevil I think for absolute beginners, the hard part to understand is never 'roll the big dice and look at the numbers to see if you succeed at doing a thing'
But then I did once run a game for someone who wasn't familiar with fantasy and thought that he was wandering around a town with a bag full of rabits killing homeless people.
Origins: A Carrier Bag Full of Rabbits
Origins is a series of posts in which I reflect upon my relationship with RPGs as well as the events that have shaped my tastes and understanding of games. The rest of the series can be found here. A boardgame-player asking for recommendations as to their first RPG got me thinking about how accessible roleplaying…
Taskerland (tasker.land)
To be honest that sounds like my players after 40 years of gaming.
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@Printdevil I think for absolute beginners, the hard part to understand is never 'roll the big dice and look at the numbers to see if you succeed at doing a thing'
But then I did once run a game for someone who wasn't familiar with fantasy and thought that he was wandering around a town with a bag full of rabits killing homeless people.
Origins: A Carrier Bag Full of Rabbits
Origins is a series of posts in which I reflect upon my relationship with RPGs as well as the events that have shaped my tastes and understanding of games. The rest of the series can be found here. A boardgame-player asking for recommendations as to their first RPG got me thinking about how accessible roleplaying…
Taskerland (tasker.land)
@Taskerland @Printdevil @satsuma I think fantasy RPG in particular assumes "you've read a lot of fantasy books, wouldn't it be great if we mashed them all together, so the Gray Mouser running from latest mark rounds the corner and bumps into Conan?" (IIRC this was pretty much the original pitch for the _Thieves' World_ anthologies.) The early games won't give you the feel because they assume you already know it. The recent fantasy games are just their own thing and I'm not sure how you're supposed to get to know it.
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@Printdevil I think for absolute beginners, the hard part to understand is never 'roll the big dice and look at the numbers to see if you succeed at doing a thing'
But then I did once run a game for someone who wasn't familiar with fantasy and thought that he was wandering around a town with a bag full of rabits killing homeless people.
Origins: A Carrier Bag Full of Rabbits
Origins is a series of posts in which I reflect upon my relationship with RPGs as well as the events that have shaped my tastes and understanding of games. The rest of the series can be found here. A boardgame-player asking for recommendations as to their first RPG got me thinking about how accessible roleplaying…
Taskerland (tasker.land)
@Taskerland @Printdevil @RogerBW @satsuma "…he had spent three hours wallowing in a horrific fever dream where Warwick Davis wandered around a council estate with a garden gnome and a carrier bag full of rabbits who were all eagerly encouraging him to murder a bunch of homeless people with a fire axe…"
A perfectly normal concept for an indie game these days.
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@Taskerland @Printdevil @RogerBW @satsuma "…he had spent three hours wallowing in a horrific fever dream where Warwick Davis wandered around a council estate with a garden gnome and a carrier bag full of rabbits who were all eagerly encouraging him to murder a bunch of homeless people with a fire axe…"
A perfectly normal concept for an indie game these days.
That's just my games. Ask @devilsjunkshop
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That's just my games. Ask @devilsjunkshop
"An erotic version of Last of the Summer Wine punctuated with exasperated violence and non plussed villains wondering why their plans don't get more traction"
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@satsuma This wasn't about understanding the mechanics though... this was about understanding that it's a fictional world and it's okay to go 'Is there anything that we might be able to use to fashion a raft?' Understanding how to push dice is a skill that should come after the basic processes of engaging with a fictional world. @RogerBW @Printdevil
@Taskerland @RogerBW @Printdevil It was more of a “It’s a bright, sunny morning on the ranch - what chores need doing? Do you need to round up the cattle, or maybe you’re idling and throwing horseshoes at a pole?” This should set the expectation that they can choose what they want to do and maybe it will lead to a skill roll where success isn’t certain.
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@Taskerland @RogerBW @Printdevil It was more of a “It’s a bright, sunny morning on the ranch - what chores need doing? Do you need to round up the cattle, or maybe you’re idling and throwing horseshoes at a pole?” This should set the expectation that they can choose what they want to do and maybe it will lead to a skill roll where success isn’t certain.
I think Crpgs often handle this well. "What were your characters doing when you were 13"
Fallout 3 etc. A session Zero of just going over the rules would be a good opener for lots of reasons.
Of course a lot of players bring big concept to the tablet for the characters and it's hard to do that. I suppose you could have them all play normal villagers the first week who proceed to die horribly.
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I think Crpgs often handle this well. "What were your characters doing when you were 13"
Fallout 3 etc. A session Zero of just going over the rules would be a good opener for lots of reasons.
Of course a lot of players bring big concept to the tablet for the characters and it's hard to do that. I suppose you could have them all play normal villagers the first week who proceed to die horribly.
@Printdevil @satsuma @Taskerland First example of this I saw was a CoC cRPG in about 1990. During character generation, for men, it would ask "what did you do in the War", and you could choose from among four options. More front line service would give you more fighting skills but less sanity. Point is, it also conveyed ideas about the setting.
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That's just my games. Ask @devilsjunkshop
@Printdevil Some of them are a lot like that, yeah
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I think Crpgs often handle this well. "What were your characters doing when you were 13"
Fallout 3 etc. A session Zero of just going over the rules would be a good opener for lots of reasons.
Of course a lot of players bring big concept to the tablet for the characters and it's hard to do that. I suppose you could have them all play normal villagers the first week who proceed to die horribly.
@Printdevil @Taskerland @RogerBW when I ran Tales of the Old West at Furnace I asked everyone what was the one thing they really wanted to do as a cowboy, and someone said that they wanted to lasso a bad guy, so of course the opportunity arose at the showdown!
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@Printdevil @satsuma @Taskerland First example of this I saw was a CoC cRPG in about 1990. During character generation, for men, it would ask "what did you do in the War", and you could choose from among four options. More front line service would give you more fighting skills but less sanity. Point is, it also conveyed ideas about the setting.
All the games I did with my old group before having to go our separate ways began with formative years section. Everyone just enjoyed the backstory, and it made "meeting up after University to be Eaten by The Crocodile with Human Eyes" more credible.
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@Taskerland @Printdevil @RogerBW @satsuma "…he had spent three hours wallowing in a horrific fever dream where Warwick Davis wandered around a council estate with a garden gnome and a carrier bag full of rabbits who were all eagerly encouraging him to murder a bunch of homeless people with a fire axe…"
A perfectly normal concept for an indie game these days.
@BigJackBrass @Taskerland @Printdevil @satsuma I like the idea of a CoC investigator party gradually realising that they _are_ the violent murderers, killing people and burning down houses based on the most superficial evidence, and so on… but (a) it's not much fun to _play_ and (b) it's kind of been done.
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@BigJackBrass @Taskerland @Printdevil @satsuma I like the idea of a CoC investigator party gradually realising that they _are_ the violent murderers, killing people and burning down houses based on the most superficial evidence, and so on… but (a) it's not much fun to _play_ and (b) it's kind of been done.
That's the problem with all narrative surprise reveals. They are very samey. There's a lot to be said for simple plot and building stress and let the players take care of the "being mental"
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@Printdevil I think for absolute beginners, the hard part to understand is never 'roll the big dice and look at the numbers to see if you succeed at doing a thing'
But then I did once run a game for someone who wasn't familiar with fantasy and thought that he was wandering around a town with a bag full of rabits killing homeless people.
Origins: A Carrier Bag Full of Rabbits
Origins is a series of posts in which I reflect upon my relationship with RPGs as well as the events that have shaped my tastes and understanding of games. The rest of the series can be found here. A boardgame-player asking for recommendations as to their first RPG got me thinking about how accessible roleplaying…
Taskerland (tasker.land)
@Taskerland @Printdevil @RogerBW @satsuma loved this post, thanks! It reminds me of conversions I've had with folks who simply do not know (and may well not care) about fantastical things but are doing their best to socialise. I do still know some people in that bracket.
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@RogerBW @Printdevil I'm reminded of when I started drifting back towards the hobby, I decided to run Mines of Phandelver and I was *horrified* by how bad an introductory adventure it was.
The first encounter has a load of Goblins attacking you, forcing you into mass-combat as your first encounter with the rules.
If I were to write an introductory adventure for a broad audience, I would start with the fundamentals of engaging with a fictional world.
@Taskerland I ran this for the family group and it was fine, although to be fair we'd done "Warlock Joe's Dungeon for Babies" as a starter. There's only four goblins in the ambush and they won't kill you, so at least there's that.
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All the games I did with my old group before having to go our separate ways began with formative years section. Everyone just enjoyed the backstory, and it made "meeting up after University to be Eaten by The Crocodile with Human Eyes" more credible.
@Printdevil I have so many questions. How does thr crocodile got human eyes. Is it just a regular ass crocodile with human eyes or humanoid crocodile? Or maybe crocodiloid human? Are the eyes only human element or are they just the most outstanding?
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@Taskerland I ran this for the family group and it was fine, although to be fair we'd done "Warlock Joe's Dungeon for Babies" as a starter. There's only four goblins in the ambush and they won't kill you, so at least there's that.
(Bearded Resident of Dragonsfoot) "You aren't running those goblins right then"
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@Printdevil I have so many questions. How does thr crocodile got human eyes. Is it just a regular ass crocodile with human eyes or humanoid crocodile? Or maybe crocodiloid human? Are the eyes only human element or are they just the most outstanding?
GM makes little wet clicking noise with mouth.
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@satsuma This wasn't about understanding the mechanics though... this was about understanding that it's a fictional world and it's okay to go 'Is there anything that we might be able to use to fashion a raft?' Understanding how to push dice is a skill that should come after the basic processes of engaging with a fictional world. @RogerBW @Printdevil
@Taskerland @satsuma @RogerBW @Printdevil this is a plus point for adventures that start off with, say, waking up in a room with a locked door and a key on the table.
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@Printdevil I'm hooked.
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