Teaching 6 people the game - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Teaching 6 people the game

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
malbur
Apr 24, 2009 1:34:19 Hey everyone, in another post I mentioned that I'm attempted to get a bunch of people to be interested in the game. So far we've had 3 meetings (first one was character creation) and I gotta say it's proving really difficult. Not only is this my first time GMing but also, nobody really has time to read the book very much so what has chiefly resulted is 2 meetings of talking to various people. Generally I'm following the Urban Arcana system and am trying to figure out how to get things going. Any advice what so ever for a newbie GM would be GREATLY appreciated!
#2
atanakar
Apr 24, 2009 6:24:19 Its difficult to answer because you don't give us enough details.

You have to work from the ground up. You have to give the story some direction. For exemple. Design a race against the clock story. If characters don't do X by Y time something terrible will happen.

Normaly your players will feel compelled to succeed. Now that you have the train going your story should require that your characters use every aspect of a character to succeed : skills, talents, combat, etc.

As for not reading the rules I've seen that before. Its a dauting task for beginners. Be patient. Alote of people prefer to learn by imitation rather than by studying.

During combat have the the enemies use all the tricks in the book. You will see that your players will want to use the same tactics after they've seen what theses aspect o the game can do.

Good luck
#3
DwarfFighter
Apr 24, 2009 6:51:23 What seems to be the biggest problem? Getting them started with their characters, getting them involved in the game or running combats?

Characters
To get the players up and running with characters you might want to do this: Make a set of pre-generated characters (e.g. one level 1 character from each of the basic classes). Just leave the skills, feats, talents and occupations blank for now.

Then as each player in turn what sort of character they want to play and hand them the appropriate character sheet. Remind them that this is just an excercise to let them get a feel of the options available. If they want to change their character later then that will not be a problem

Once everyone has gotten a character, help each player in turn select skills, feats, talents and occupation. Again: This doesn't have to be right straight away.

When you run the game, each player can opt to swap out a skill, feat or talent he hasn't used yet for the most appropriate for the current situation. This way the players won't get locked down by poor design decisions and will also get a better idea of what he is actually going to use.

Getting the players involved
Well, this is a major topic in itself, but the major issue with new players is that they don't realise what they can do, and so do nothing. It may be a good idea for each encounter to ask each player in turn for a new suggestion as to how to deal with the situation. It doesn't have to be a great idea or even solve anything: it just has to be applicable to the suggestion and something the others havent already come up with.

For example, the PCs need to get past a bouncer and get into the club.

Player 1: I say we bribe him.
Player 2: I say two of us pretend to start a fight as a distraction.
Player 3: I say we get in line with the other party-goers.
Player 4: I say we check out the back entrance.
Player 5: I say we leave and come back tomorrow morning.
Player 6: I say we shoot our way in!

Just get some options on the table and the players will be looking to see what skills and resources they have and perhaps come up with other ideas. You want them to think "How can I do this?" rather than "What do I do now?"

Combat
Combat is rules heavy. Stick to basic combat actions to start with, and be generous with the PCs. You assure the players that their characters won't get killed in these first sessions.

For the first two sessions, characters are restored to full hp after each encounter. For the next two sessions, characters hat have been reduced to less than 0 hp are restored to 0 hp after each encounter. After this the normal rules for damage and death apply.

Hopefully this should give the players a feel of how the system works, how much damage their characters can take and what they can do to improve their chances of surviving.

-DF
#4
tharpe
Apr 24, 2009 15:01:46 My 2 cents:

First of all, don't try to teach them the whole game from the get. Information overload may overwhelm your players and turn them off from the start. In all likeliehood the game is going to seem extremely complicated to your players when they start so it is your job to make everything seem simple. "You want to do what? OK, roll DX and add your X bonus," then tell them what happens and why it happened the way it did. Keep in mind that most people learn much easier when they do or observe something than just having it explained to them.

Also, make sure the first few sessions have a good balance of problems to solve and threats to face so your players get a chance to see most of the game mechanics in action. I would also suggest you not have them level up until after you've played a few times so they have an idea of what areas in which their characters are lacking and can make meaningful improvements when they do get the chance to level up.
#5
malbur
Apr 26, 2009 19:47:22 Yeah I've tried that. Unfortunately I feel that D20 is more about thinking "outside" the box. This isn't easy to teach people to do. So far they've been tasked with tracking down the disappearance of 3 people after they visited a dockyard and mysteriously vanished. So far they've talked to people on the docks but for next session they're planning to start following them. I was hoping that they'd get to this point faster but it's taking a while. Ultimately they know who took these three people but they haven't spent enough in game time to figure it out beyond suppositions. I also want to get some combat worked in but that isn't as easy obviously... I might have them have to assault an apartment complex that is taken over by the group they're fighting to get to the boss or something... does that seem like a decent idea?
#6
atanakar
Apr 26, 2009 19:53:04
I might have them have to assault an apartment complex that is taken over by the group they're fighting to get to the boss or something... does that seem like a decent idea?

Then you should download this free PDF : The Peterson Counter Strike
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20modern/oa/20030911a
#7
tharpe
Apr 27, 2009 14:14:17 I would suggest saving the apartment assault for after your players get a taste of combat and a better idea of what their characters are capable of. If they're taking too long to get their investigation moving, I'd say that gives their target(s) time to get wind that they are nosing into their business and have them bushwhacked. Not only would you get a little combat worked into the game, but it would lend a sense of urgency to your players and introduce another avenue for their investigation.
#8
malbur
Apr 28, 2009 19:04:18 Unfortunately, since we're playing at school we're liable to have a 4 month hiatus because we all live in different areas of the country. I dunno if it'll live to next year but even if it doesn't I'm sure someone will start a campaign then too...
#9
layla_minogue
Apr 28, 2009 19:33:05
Unfortunately, since we're playing at school we're liable to have a 4 month hiatus because we all live in different areas of the country. I dunno if it'll live to next year but even if it doesn't I'm sure someone will start a campaign then too...

Two things can help that: a really good cliffhanger, or the promise of a really good sequel.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 malbur Apr 24, 2009 1:34:19	Hey everyone, in another post I mentioned that I'm attempted to get a bunch of people to be interested in the game. So far we've had 3 meetings (first one was character creation) and I gotta say it's proving really difficult. Not only is this my first time GMing but also, nobody really has time to read the book very much so what has chiefly resulted is 2 meetings of talking to various people. Generally I'm following the Urban Arcana system and am trying to figure out how to get things going. Any advice what so ever for a newbie GM would be GREATLY appreciated!
#2 atanakar Apr 24, 2009 6:24:19	Its difficult to answer because you don't give us enough details. You have to work from the ground up. You have to give the story some direction. For exemple. Design a race against the clock story. If characters don't do X by Y time something terrible will happen. Normaly your players will feel compelled to succeed. Now that you have the train going your story should require that your characters use every aspect of a character to succeed : skills, talents, combat, etc. As for not reading the rules I've seen that before. Its a dauting task for beginners. Be patient. Alote of people prefer to learn by imitation rather than by studying. During combat have the the enemies use all the tricks in the book. You will see that your players will want to use the same tactics after they've seen what theses aspect o the game can do. Good luck
#3 DwarfFighter Apr 24, 2009 6:51:23	What seems to be the biggest problem? Getting them started with their characters, getting them involved in the game or running combats? Characters To get the players up and running with characters you might want to do this: Make a set of pre-generated characters (e.g. one level 1 character from each of the basic classes). Just leave the skills, feats, talents and occupations blank for now. Then as each player in turn what sort of character they want to play and hand them the appropriate character sheet. Remind them that this is just an excercise to let them get a feel of the options available. If they want to change their character later then that will not be a problem Once everyone has gotten a character, help each player in turn select skills, feats, talents and occupation. Again: This doesn't have to be right straight away. When you run the game, each player can opt to swap out a skill, feat or talent he hasn't used yet for the most appropriate for the current situation. This way the players won't get locked down by poor design decisions and will also get a better idea of what he is actually going to use. Getting the players involved Well, this is a major topic in itself, but the major issue with new players is that they don't realise what they can do, and so do nothing. It may be a good idea for each encounter to ask each player in turn for a new suggestion as to how to deal with the situation. It doesn't have to be a great idea or even solve anything: it just has to be applicable to the suggestion and something the others havent already come up with. For example, the PCs need to get past a bouncer and get into the club. Player 1: I say we bribe him. Player 2: I say two of us pretend to start a fight as a distraction. Player 3: I say we get in line with the other party-goers. Player 4: I say we check out the back entrance. Player 5: I say we leave and come back tomorrow morning. Player 6: I say we shoot our way in! Just get some options on the table and the players will be looking to see what skills and resources they have and perhaps come up with other ideas. You want them to think "How can I do this?" rather than "What do I do now?" Combat Combat is rules heavy. Stick to basic combat actions to start with, and be generous with the PCs. You assure the players that their characters won't get killed in these first sessions. For the first two sessions, characters are restored to full hp after each encounter. For the next two sessions, characters hat have been reduced to less than 0 hp are restored to 0 hp after each encounter. After this the normal rules for damage and death apply. Hopefully this should give the players a feel of how the system works, how much damage their characters can take and what they can do to improve their chances of surviving. -DF
#4 tharpe Apr 24, 2009 15:01:46	My 2 cents: First of all, don't try to teach them the whole game from the get. Information overload may overwhelm your players and turn them off from the start. In all likeliehood the game is going to seem extremely complicated to your players when they start so it is your job to make everything seem simple. "You want to do what? OK, roll DX and add your X bonus," then tell them what happens and why it happened the way it did. Keep in mind that most people learn much easier when they do or observe something than just having it explained to them. Also, make sure the first few sessions have a good balance of problems to solve and threats to face so your players get a chance to see most of the game mechanics in action. I would also suggest you not have them level up until after you've played a few times so they have an idea of what areas in which their characters are lacking and can make meaningful improvements when they do get the chance to level up.
#5 malbur Apr 26, 2009 19:47:22	Yeah I've tried that. Unfortunately I feel that D20 is more about thinking "outside" the box. This isn't easy to teach people to do. So far they've been tasked with tracking down the disappearance of 3 people after they visited a dockyard and mysteriously vanished. So far they've talked to people on the docks but for next session they're planning to start following them. I was hoping that they'd get to this point faster but it's taking a while. Ultimately they know who took these three people but they haven't spent enough in game time to figure it out beyond suppositions. I also want to get some combat worked in but that isn't as easy obviously... I might have them have to assault an apartment complex that is taken over by the group they're fighting to get to the boss or something... does that seem like a decent idea?
#6 atanakar Apr 26, 2009 19:53:04	I might have them have to assault an apartment complex that is taken over by the group they're fighting to get to the boss or something... does that seem like a decent idea? Then you should download this free PDF : The Peterson Counter Strike http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20modern/oa/20030911a
#7 tharpe Apr 27, 2009 14:14:17	I would suggest saving the apartment assault for after your players get a taste of combat and a better idea of what their characters are capable of. If they're taking too long to get their investigation moving, I'd say that gives their target(s) time to get wind that they are nosing into their business and have them bushwhacked. Not only would you get a little combat worked into the game, but it would lend a sense of urgency to your players and introduce another avenue for their investigation.
#8 malbur Apr 28, 2009 19:04:18	Unfortunately, since we're playing at school we're liable to have a 4 month hiatus because we all live in different areas of the country. I dunno if it'll live to next year but even if it doesn't I'm sure someone will start a campaign then too...
#9 layla_minogue Apr 28, 2009 19:33:05	Unfortunately, since we're playing at school we're liable to have a 4 month hiatus because we all live in different areas of the country. I dunno if it'll live to next year but even if it doesn't I'm sure someone will start a campaign then too... Two things can help that: a really good cliffhanger, or the promise of a really good sequel.