@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.

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.

@RogerBW @satsuma @Taskerland

@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.

@RogerBW @Printdevil

@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?

@RogerBW @satsuma @Taskerland

@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

GM makes little wet clicking noise with mouth.

@vdonnut @RogerBW @satsuma @Taskerland

(Bearded Resident of Dragonsfoot) "You aren't running those goblins right then"

@devilsjunkshop @Taskerland @RogerBW

@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.

@Printdevil You know me, I only ever run things By The Book...

@Taskerland @RogerBW

I think again you can only do things like occasionally. I remember a point in the mid 80s when every scenario seemed to be "the players awake captured by" or "there is a single door and you can't remember how you got there" and general amnesiac things.

@shimminbeg @Taskerland @satsuma @RogerBW

@Printdevil @shimminbeg @Taskerland @satsuma I've seen a CoC adventure in which it turns out each PC is a personality facet of a a single mad person, which again is a good conceit but you can't really do it twice.

By the Bok?

@devilsjunkshop @Taskerland
@RogerBW

@Printdevil When in doubt, change characters to orange smoke?

@Taskerland @RogerBW

The idea that you can be in the hobby long-enough to be involved in playtesting scenarios for a magazine and have an entire group of characters drown themselves in a river because there's no 'pass river' skill is really worrying.

Those people probably have 150k followers on YouTube.

I think again you can only do things like occasionally. I remember a point in the mid 80s when every scenario seemed to be "the players awake captured by" or "there is a single door and you can't remember how you got there" and general amnesiac things.

@shimminbeg @Taskerland @satsuma @RogerBW

@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.

@RogerBW @BigJackBrass @Taskerland @Printdevil @satsuma

A lot of the best rpg ideas are not very fun to play and, instead, better off as books/comics.

(I had a coworker run the 'you should have everyone die in a standard D&D campaign and then tell them they take off their VR headsets and go cyberpunk'... no... no, it sounds AWESOME, but that's how you get people walking off in disgust.

@Printdevil @Taskerland @satsuma @RogerBW oh yes, I just mean in the sense of having a simple realistic interaction to deal with ("I unlock the door with the key, I open the door") as a starting point for interacting with the fictional world. And one it's hard to get a TPK out of. It could easily be your own room in the tavern with a perfectly clear memory.

The bearded dragonsfoot reference person did that to us in a game and we walked off in disgust.

@DarkestKale @RogerBW @BigJackBrass @Taskerland @satsuma

@Printdevil @DarkestKale @BigJackBrass @Taskerland @satsuma Oh yeah, never liked that bait and switch. Particularly since in asking people to play the game I'm essentially promising that the stuff in the game "matters", it's real to these characters even if it's not real to us. If you then say "no it's not", there's an inevitable implication of "har har silly you for taking it seriously". Which is basically the same feeling I get from Ocean's Twelve, in which (spoiler) the resolution is "we did the actual crime a month ago, everything you have just watched was fake even to us"..