Contract From Below
Today marks one of those odd occasions where my academic and fan interests align. Assuming I pound the keys and avoid a complete mental breakdown, Spring 2023 is the semester where I will defend my dissertation and earn my PhD in Digital Media (thereby assuming my final form as Dr. DM). Unfortunately, that means much of my mental energy regarding the OGL saga is devoted to cranking out academic prose. I haven’t got the heart to write this mess twice.
Therefore! Rather than rehashing my thoughts on our community’s imperiled status as, “An engine of cultural production rooted in the unique culture of collaboration inherent to TRPGs; one which posits transmedia itself as a form of play where participants can imagine themselves as active contributors to their own culture,” I thought a bit of pragmatism might be in order.
Whatever your take on corporate deviltry and avenging ORCs, the fact is that certain threads are popping up all across the net. They’re full of titles like “Welcome Newbies” and “How Hard Is It To Learn This Game?” The most immediate effect of the drama? A spike in system exploration and immigration.
So rather than focus on the negativity and relitigate intellectual property law, let’s talk about ambassadorship! When you’ve got an influx of new blood into your system, how do you go about showing hospitality and making folks feel welcome? And coming from the other end of the relationship, what are the characteristics of a good gaming pilgrim seeking to put down roots in a fresh community? Give us all your dos and don’ts for switching systems down in today’s comments!
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Though most folks will have a set of dice, I always have the “company” dice (in fiesta-ware avocado green, tomato orange, and yellow) for folks to use if they need extras. I try to keep the document design of the character sheets and handouts clean and in easy-to-read fonts and pica sizes. There’s paper and a pencil and a coaster at each spot.
–Basically, I lay out a similar welcome and etiquette that I would on the first day of school as a classroom teacher.
Likewise, if we’re gaming with just old friends, we can talk over each other and let niceties go a bit since all know each other so well. If we have new folks at the table, though, it’s always a good idea to make eye contact with who you’re talking to and call them by their character’s name for in-play information and descriptions and by the player when requesting another stout from the kitchen. With new folks, I also try to make sure that I make eye contact with them now and again when delivering exposition so as to make them feel included. Sometimes I’ll throw in an extra save or a skill check if I think the newbie hasn’t had much to do for a little while, just to keep them engaged.
Are the company dice to give away or to loan?
Oddly enough, I’m trying to teach some folks a minis game this weekend. A lot of this biz still applies.
Oh, loaners, strictly loaners–I sometimes run some homebrew games that require loads of extra dice, so I keep lots on hands. That said, I have the veritable bucket-o-dice collection in my study, and someone new who becomes a regular at our table has been known to receive a Christmas, birthday, or hobbit-birthday present of a Crown Royal bag, a set of dice, a pocket notepad, and a mechanical pencil (plus one really cool die of some kind).
I ask because I’ve considered doing the “pound of dice” thing for the express purpose of giveaways.
The ones that I give to folks are deliberately cool (and in their favorite color if I know what that is): I picked the solid colors from my parents’ kitchen in the 70s for the lending dice. Everyone’s grateful to have ’em on-hand; nobody wants to keep them. 🙂
Hostwise, I’d do the same as every other time I host a gaming night: provide snacks and drinks (with giving a nite ahead, what kind of snacks and drinks we’ll have at home, so special dietary needs can be covered or mentioned by the guests ahead), provide tools I don’t expect to people to invest in if they are not a veteran (I have about 10 sets of dice specifically to hand out to others). If it would be a longer session, either provide proper dinner (my wife makes a killer currywurst), or provide a short list of places we can order takeaway from.
Gamewise, if the system allows, hand out a bunch of pregens the players can choose from (noting that names, genders and looks can be naturally chosen or changed by the players), and run an introductory adventure, explaining the rules as they come up – and explaining that trying the game first with pregens would give them a better understanding of what can be done, so when they make their own characters, they can be created better suited for what they want to do. I would ask about their former experience with games (rpgs or boardgames) they have played before, so I can have a list of stuff familiar to them I can refer to when explaining mechanisms and rules. (“You played 5e? Well, the Wild Die is similar to how you roll with advantage there.”) If possible, prepare handouts and other helpful accessories (i.e spell or power cards, one page or smaller quick references, etc) they can use to look stuff up themselves, so they won’t feel embarrassed over “asking too many questions”.
I also mention a couple times that it’s okay if they don’t remember everything, experienced players often have to look up stuff too and we all make mistakes.
What I certainly don’t do is sending them copies of all the rulebooks and tell them to read sections of it ahead of the game (unless they specifically ask for that).
Everything else depends on the actual people.
Currywurat? My Berlin senses are tingling. Or possibly that’s my stomach growling.
Good call on the rulebooks. I think a lot of hobbyists are guilty of “it’s not that much reading” mindset. People that aren’t already into the hobby see that “fun reading” as “homework.”
Long ago (1987-1990), when we were stationed in the UK, I used to run an “Gaming Open House” at the base rec center every now and then. Which essentially was the group moving to the big open room that was used for events and running an “open” game.
This was essentially a very basic AD&D introductory game, with every one running one of a pile of pregenerated characters. We would stop and explain what we were doing to anyone that wandered in and invite them to grab a character and join. I had a bunch of basic 7 die sets available and we always got at least a few that joined. Most would just watch and ask questions though.
It was also a time to explain what AD&D was to the “pearl clutchers” that were determined we were going to hell and trying to corrupt their children.
My bible was ALWAYS very visible.
I seem to remember picking up some stuff from the TSR store in Cambridge for those sessions too, but old mind is foggy on that.
I wonder if a sign would help in this setup?
“Wanna learn the game? Grab a character and play!”
Gotta wonder what style of session works for randomly 4-7 players. I’m guessing it’s pretty open-ended exploration with lots of random encounters?
Yep. My homebrew is open world and pretty much the groups are explorers instead of “save the world” heroes. They still get a lot of “save the xxx” type encounters or mini-story arcs, but the games isn’t based around them.
And yes I did have a sign in the lobby pointing people to where we were and what it was.
Most of the people didn’t want to actually play, but there were lots of questions and explaining. All the ones that did take a character ended up joining my group which took my from 8 to 12 players. We split the group a couple months later and I was back to 8.
Yep. My homebrew is open world and pretty much the groups are explorers instead of “save the world” heroes. They still get a lot of “save the xxx” type encounters or mini-story arcs, but the game isn’t based around them.
And yes I did have a sign in the lobby pointing people to where we were and what it was.
Most of the people didn’t want to actually play, but there were lots of questions and explaining. All the ones that did take a character ended up joining my group which took me from 8 to 12 players. We split the group a couple months later and I was back to 8.
Dang it, need a delete button.
Here for you with that “delete” button. 🙂
Everyone wants Lord of the Rings, but I think The Goonies might be more fun. Good on ya. 🙂
Hey, virtual high five! I hope to be finishing my own masters degree this semester. Good luck, we’re almost there!
Regarding making new players welcome, we always try to introduce more than one person to the game at once, so that way the pressure is less on them and more distributed. We walk them through building characters, with more of a focus on concept rather than the nitty gritty details. Asking questions is strongly encouraged, and any necessary kit is provided. Then we dive right in! Generally though, we are extremely picky about who we invite to our ttrpg games, so we already know the new players pretty well by the time we fold them in.
One of my players recently asked me what I thought about the whole OGL thing, and whether I thought D&D could be rebuilt. I replied that our next game will likely be pathfinder 2E haha.
Cheers, my dude! My your thesis flow freely and your hair not fall out!
Nice tip on the “multiple newbies” thing. Always tough to be the loan new guy.
As GM:
Prepare relevant dice for systems where a couple of d4-d20 sets won´t do (Such as in d10 based games or games that uses Genesys).
Prepare an introduction to the systems rules and what it is about. Many books have this at their start, so make sure to spread this among the players.
Depending on the system, prepare some cheat-sheets for the players, with the most common rules, actions and so forth. So that they have an easy overview of what they can do.
Depending on the group, make some pre-made characters for them so that they can get easily into the game.
As a player:
Read the rules.
Make a character. Possibly with aid from a more experienced player/the GM.
Ask questions and play the game.
Bring Snacks.
For Both:
Look the game up online, and watch some actual play of it. This especially helps me when it comes to the more narrative focused games (Such as Powered by the Apocalypse), as I can sometimes have difficulties wrapping my head around their structure.
Go in with the intention of having fun with friends.
Make sure to calibrate the groups expectations.
If I am a senior member of the group, introducing a new player to a system, I generally try to act in a guiding background role. I let them have most of the spotlight, while trying to steer it along the DMs course. Or encourage them to go a bit off-track, if that is whats needed.
As far as “read the rules,” I’ve been finding a lot of YouTube explainers lately. Nice AV version of “here’s how to play” cleaned up and condensed into 10 minutes or so.
Of course, that’s more for board games. I wonder if there’s equivalent stuff for RPGs?
I have seen some here and there. I personally mainly look at them, when dealing with indie RPGs, as I find there is a lot less written/community content for many of those. A friend got into “Flying Circus” (A PBTA RPG about Pilots in a post-apocalyptics Ghibliesque non-Germany) after stumbling upon 11dragonkids channel, who goes through the mechanics of the games and the various features.
I do like channels like that, when it comes to RPGs that are out of my wheelhouse (Such as anything PBTA), as it helps getting a better understanding of just what is going on. But for most rules I personally prefer just reading them.
Oh sure. But I think the explainers feel like less of an ask.
It’s on my mind since I’m teaching Stargrave to some folks this weekend. Directed them to Guerilla Games:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz9_pjTw6mM
My ambassadorialship runs towards running game for them (when I have time) and helping newb GMs out with rules and “How To Run Game” questions. What has worked and what hasn’t worked for me, what kinds of things they can expect when they break the ‘rules’, etc.
Because so many new-to-this-game GMs always think they have ‘new and innovative’ ways to break out of the system structure and ‘run outside the box’ without ever actually just trying the box first.
The best part of GURPS is it’s not a “one-size-fits-all game system”, it’s a toolbox to chose tools from to run your version of GURPS, so this usually means some level* of work on the part of the GM.
I do see a lot of GMs come to this realization and then turn around and head back to the other games where less is asked of them.
.* GURPS frontloads a lot of work onto someone†, either the GM or the Players.
Usually most of the work is on the GM’s shoulders if they’re good, but newb GMs usually don’t understand this and off-load that work ont he Players not realizing Players are there to play not ‘do the work’.
.† Or the genre treatment author, which is why I also usually steer new GURPS GMs towards running a genre treatment like Dungeon Fantasy, After the End, Monster Hunters, or Action where a lot of the work has already been done in choosing rules and building templates. Or if the GM is ambitious, one of the 3e genre treatments, since 3 and 4e GURPS are very, very similar 3e worldbooks are 95% compatible with 4e.
Perhaps a point of comparison would help? What’s your take on the “optional systems” of something like 5e vs the “choose your rules” of GURPS?
Can’t make that comparison as I have next to zero experience with 5e D&D.
What little of it I experienced when it first debuted had no “optional” systems, so unless something has shifted since… and I haven’t looked at the system since then as the groups I’m playing in have no love for D&D systems, they pretty much exclusively play GURPS (I have to find new rando groups to try non-GURPS games, which is fine). The one foray into 5e was with a rando group with a terrible GM, so I made it to less than a full first session, but 5e kept the worst parts of 4e (lock-stepped skill progression and faux-multiclassing), so I wasn’t particularly enthralled.
So you understand my stance: 3e was the best D&D system due to the manner skills were handled in and true multi-classing. I mean it’s still levels and classes which I hate, but it a more “open” system to doing what you wanted.
I feel like one of the big “draws” in playing multiple systems is the ability to articulate what you like in terms that other gamers can understand.
I’m probably the most introverted and socially awkward guy in my gaming group, and said group fits most gaming stereotypes pretty well. So I mostly roll up a kindly old cleric and hope for the best.
Having someone experienced to handle critical roles is important.
Rocking a support character as an experienced gamer is just smart. That mess is rewarding, even if newer players would rather play strikers.
As somebody who exclusively runs not D&D, my ambassador skills are frustratingly poor eheh. Most of it is just “would anybody be interested in trying X System?”
Have you tried, “I will buy you pizza?”
Best of luck with the dissertation, Claire.
I’m rooting for you! ^_^
Appreciate the support! Truly, you are my rock. 😛
I’m pretty sure Laurel is, really, but I appreciate the compliment. ^_^
Claire: Dr. DM isn’t even MY FINAL FORM!!! 😛
Print that on a shirt and use it at graduation if you want 😀
I think best way to make people feel welcome is to be kind with them and patience, answer their questions is important, not everyone knows the same than you. Also make them part, don’t leave them aside. Share jokes and memes with them. It may sound deceptively tautologic but best way to make people part of the group is making them part of the group 🙂
I’ll have to see if I can’t get Laurel to do some t-shirt design for me.
Good call on patience. That mess is key. Nobody likes to get an eye-roll and, “I just told you your attack bonus two seconds ago.” That is a sure way to turn off the new kid.
I’ve brought in a fair number of new players (or at least new to Pathfinder, slightly familiar with 5e players). Usually, I give them a good amount of attention before their first session to lay out the situation and help them build their character by giving them general options and then narrowing them down to more specific classes and playstyles. I am always careful when helping someone build a character to give them several options and the pros and cons of each, so it is still theirs.
What TTRPGs are -> d20 basics (attacks/saves/skill rolls vs AC/DC) -> meanings of STR/DEX/CON/INT/WIS/CHA -> Magic/Martial/Mixed -> one-sentence breakdown of relevant classes -> race options -> weapon/spell style -> some feat options -> paperwork details
A while back, I also made this document for people familiar with 5e who were trying Pathfinder 1e (which is what I DM), pointing out where the significant moment-to-moment differences between the two are. I suspect that there is about to be a big rush of 5e players to Pathfinder, though more likely towards 2e, which you sort of have to start explaining from the beginning.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LKatdGghHK3u-lSDL2mB3mwl3HaHGWXGW1R1Fwatg7Y/edit?usp=sharing
I know Laurel is starting her first full 2e experience, and I’m anxious to catch up. I’ve heard lots of good things.
I’ve been running Lancer virtually for some friends, and all of us are pretty new to the system. I’ve run some test encounters so I have a little more experience, but it really helps to have the hyperlinked rules reference for everybody and make it clear that stopping and checking stuff will happen.
It also helps that we’re all fans of giant robot battles!
The other thing that helps is introducing things a bit at a time—their first session was them on an empty map, moving to an objective they had to retrieve. They got a chance to learn how initiative works (not like dnd!), how movement and boosting and the action economy works, and get comfortable with things.
Then, when they reached the objective, the trap sprung and a bunch of enemies shower up! The enemies were designed way more for slowing the PCs than for killing them, because they wanted to take them alive. This way, I was less worried about killing them in the first session! I did throw in one overpowered “commander” sniper NPC though—both to seed some future Medium Bad Evil Guys and to help teach the players that standing and fighting isn’t always the best choice; since the objective was to get the metaphorical football and escape, they only had to get to the evac zone to win, and ended up only killing one enemy (unlike most dnd: play the objective to win, instead of deathmatching).
Then in the next tactical encounter they got to hold a position against waves of enemies and feel really badass.
Met some gamers at karaoke last night.
“The last group I gamed with was so into rules. They had a grid and everything, and they were just into telling you what you weren’t allowed to do. Our new group is much more free-form and improvisational!”
Setting those expectations is absolutely key. I prefer a flowing style as well, but I also love me some crunch. A lot of new players despise the latter because they don’t get the appeal. So good on ya for giving them just a bit at a time and explaining slowly. 🙂
Congrats on the almost PhD. I hear it stands for ‘Probably has Degree’. 😉 Will you be demanding your players refer to you as ‘Doctor Dungeon Master’ (with an appropriate amount of snootyness)?
Has been quite awhile since I have truly intro’d a noob to the world of RPGs myself. My son has started playing with his friends a bit back at an after school D&D club and one at the library. He tells me stories now and again of the things they did. His fave class seems to be Artificer which kind of fits him I guess as he says he wants to be an engineer when he hits college. He’s been exposed to gaming pretty much all his life since I play regularly and I guess it rubbed off. He just jumped into it on his own.
I’d be curious how the young gamer deals with teaching his friends. I wonder how much of the experience has changed with the media landscape? Lots of video explainers and digital tools these days.
Assuming it’s a quote from your dissertation, I think you’re missing an ‘of’ in “as a form play”.
Thanks for the catch. It’s a bastardized cut-up of a couple of different jargon-laden lines, hence the bad grammar. I’ma add the ‘of’ back in anyway. 😛
It’s hard for me to say; I’m not the most out going, grow my hobbies sort of person.
But I will say for sure that oh btw, if you play with me, I own all your stuff ‘cuz reasons and if you find a new way to play with my things I own that too is a GREAT way to piss literally everyone off.
I think OGL 1.1 might dethrone the WotC/TSR debacle that hung over 3e.
Any help on a history lesson for “the WotC/TSR debacle that hung over 3e?” Is there a good explainer out there?
So y’know how TSR owned DnD and WotC purchased it?
At that age in prehistory, ’twas determined was the end of all things dungeons and/or dragons. WotC was reckless with giving players too much power (FEATS!? MY GOD) and had stricken down several ancient taboos (ANYONE can be a Paladin now!?)
I mostly remember hearing OF such things. It is important to keep in mind I wasn’t allowed to play DnD-for in house conservative religious reasons, and gaming groups ‘you can’t play DnD with us because X’ reasons so I have more of an awareness of things.
I did play Rifts at the time, so I caught the gist of what was going on. The fans were outraged, the one true DnD was 2e/ADnD, 3e was an abomination, Wizards was going to turn DnD into a spinoff of MtG, etc.
The 3e/4e furor was similar too, although I think people wanted to like 4e but it just didn’t work.
The 4e debacle is closer to the current situation. WotC, having released the OGL, attempted to get rid of it and shot themselves in the foot.
They weren’t confident/stupid enough to try and actually retcon the license out of existence at that point. Instead, they made the new 4th edition so different from what had come before that you couldn’t use the OGL to make content for it, even unofficially. They then introduced a new license for 4e content, and one of the restrictions was “you agree never to make anything using the OGL again”. The idea was that the players would move to 4e, the publishers would have to move to 4e because that was what people were playing, and to do that they’d have to swear off the OGL permanently.
Instead, though, the 4e system was rubbish, partly because they’d changed so much to avoid it being OGL compatible. And it didn’t have any decent content for it at release, because none of the third party publishers had wanted to give up the OGL for a new system which might not be popular. So everyone kept playing the out of print 3e instead, using third party OGL content.
WotC’s recent strategy is an attempt to prevent that disaster happening again, by changing the OGL even if you write for older versions.