In the last couple of months I’ve managed to take part in a couple of one shots at virtual cons. The Princess Bride was great craic and we all had a good laugh. Playing Doctor Who yesterday was a real bore though (issues with the GM rather than anything else).
So does anyone have any ideas for ways to get into a game as a beginner? Any virtual events you know of that are coming up that have beginner friendly events? Or games that are easy enough to get into in a family environment?
Right here, not been a lot of interest but you never know.
More generally, hmm. At conventions in normal times most events are beginner-friendly; if it’s not D&D/Pathfinder, which are 90%+ of the market, it may well be sponsored by a company that wants you to buy the rules. Certainly the GURPS demos I run always say something like “no rules knowledge needed”. If it’s a new system (like The Princess Bride) there will probably also be an assumption that most people don’t know it yet.
If I can be that person for a second, the game really depends on what you want to play and who you play with.
I know beginners that are looking forward to dip into 14500 pages of rules detailing every aspect of dice manipulation, and experts that can’t stand that.
I personally introduced new players to a first game with The Black Hack or with Forget Me Not, because the first wanted a DnD-esque fantasy adventure, the other ultraweird David Lynch-like improv collaborative storytelling.
What I am saying is that if a game looks interesting to you, that’s probably the game for you.
For playing, I know that the Gauntlet Community - an online gaming community focussing on indie games- is doing a series of beginners games, to get people playing while in isolation.