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At some point or another most GMs will run a game for a new player - a genuine, freshly minted gamer, wide eyed and innocent, curious, keen to get into this weird, new hobby. All of us were new once, and if you're first time was anything like mine, it was an exercise in frustration, confusion and wondering why the hell nothing made any sense. Now, recently I read an amusing web page about a GM's "PC Dodo" as he puts it (if you're curious, see here - http://www.angelfire.com/rpg/michelle/mc1.html), and I started thinking. You see, whilst this player's early behaviour would have been pretty annoying in an experienced gamer, I realised that most of it was easily explained by sheer ignorance. Now when most GMs pick up new players, they're hoping two things. First, that the player will turn out to be a good, entertaining member of the group; and second, that if they're good they'll stick with the hobby. What many GMs don't seem to realise is that it's partly up to the GM to help the player learn how to be good at it, and to make things enjoyable enough for them to stick around. Now, not everyone who tries gaming will like it, no matter how cool the game, and even people who like it may not like your particular style of gaming. I know I'd still hate my first game, after years of practice - basic hack'n'slash D&D just isn't my thing. I don't think that there's one true way to roleplay, but if you have a new player, I'm assuming that you're probably trying to teach them to game the way you like it. They'll likely develop their own opinion later. I've run for my fair share of new gamers in the past, and I hope I've learnt a thing or two about what to look out for (usually the hard way), so after a little thought here are some tips for dealing with new players. If you have any suggestions of your own please feel free to send them to me! Ignorance is not Bliss The first thing to remember about new players is that they don't know things. In fact, when it comes to roleplaying they know very little indeed - they probably only know what you've told them. There are many, many things which experienced gamers just somehow know, without being told. Your new player does not know these things. Players differ in how quickly they "get it", and some lucky people will hit the mark right away, but most wont. The first trick to running for a new player is to avoid getting annoyed with them for their ignorance. They'll do things which in an old hand would be infuriating - getting cross with them will only frustrate them. When you find your temperature rising, let this be your mantra - "They don't know any better." They're confused. Try explaining things, calmly, and in as much detail as they need. Also beware of giving them too much information at once, it will take them a while to absorb it all. Be Nice This can apply to a whole range of things. First of all, as above, don't get angry. This is just a game, and they're playing it for fun. Secondly, keep a tight rein on your other players - don't let them rant and rave at the newbie, and don't let them abuse their ignorance. In fact, encourage them to give the new player slack above and beyond what they usually give each other. Likewise, give them slack in game yourself - go easy on the consequences of their actions. This is not to say that there should be no consequences - you still want the game to have conflict and interest - but don't crush them with anvils from heaven just because they did something foolish. It is a good idea to warn them about foolish actions as they come up, along with an explanation of why something isn't a good idea. If you hand out unequal XP at the end of the session, cut them some slack here too, or even consider giving them a flat rate for their first few games, until they get the hang of it. Finally, encourage them to ask questions whenever they're confused, or to let you know if you're being too patronising! How Do I Win? The first thing many people want to know about gaming is how to win. Most games of the traditional variety have victory conditions, often with a competitive element. If you're running a hack'n'slash style game the answer isn't too hard - you win by staying alive, killing the most monsters and getting the most treasure. If, like me, you're more into a story and character oriented approach, things get a little trickier. Part of the problem is in the term "game". Try describing roleplaying as collaborative story telling, where the players control the actions of one character each and the GM controls the world and supporting cast (or whatever variant suits your play style). This gets rid of the whole "winning" question, and helps put your player on the right track. As a side note, I've had people try roleplaying when it was described like this, who had always avoided "gaming" because it didn't sound like their thing. If you're trying to recruit players who will be into character and story, this is a much better way of attracting their interest than talking about "games" with dice. Powergaming? What's that? Winning, part 2 As a follow on from the question of winning, many new players want success, and dislike failure. Failure is a part of most roleplaying games, (though for different reasons depending on your style) we use it to create tension and conflict, and in many games failure is just as interesting a thing to roleplay as success. Now, I've met very few experienced gamers who want constant failure, but it's worth remembering that many new players don't want any failure at all. You should expect this, and be sympathetic to it. If it's appropriate, try explaining that characters often go through terrible lows before they finally come out victorious - use examples from books and movies. Remember that they have probably never identified so much with a character before - failure in roleplaying (especially in the story/character oriented kind) is much more personal and intense than what you experience whilst reading a book or watching a movie. This is doubly true for LARPS. Because of this, many new players get very protective of their characters, and avoid taking the kind of risks that make the game more fun. Likewise, they might avoid taking any "disadvantages" or try to nullify them. Watch out for this - most experienced gamers view this as "power gaming", newbies generally have no idea about this heavily censured aspect of gaming. Explain that flaws make a character more interesting, either because they make a character more rounded, or because they make gaining success more of a challenge, or both. Certainly avoid slamming them the way you might an old hand who pulled this stunt. Explain that it's not the done thing to try to get around your character's flaws like that. Genre Assumptions Roleplaying games usually reflect genres that also appear in books, movies, TV shows and comics. However, the reality is that they tend to have major differences. For a start, most roleplaying characters are much less powerful than their counterparts in other media. There are a number of reasons for this, here are a few of my theories, should your newbie ask
Your new player will probably try to do the kinds of things the characters in major movies and books try to do, and get upset when it doesn't work. They're not being stupid - they just don't know their limits yet, and have inaccurate assumptions. Be patient in explaining the difference, and don't be surprised if they're disappointed. Likewise, movies and books generally (though not always) have one main character, whereas RPGs usually have a group of equally important characters. For this reason, many new players act like loners, don't involve the group in their activities, and get confused by the need to share the spotlight. If this comes up, try mentioning the difference, and point to more group oriented stories like Tolkein's "Lord of the Rings". Social Contract For those of you who haven't run across the term, "social contract" is the set of spoken and unspoken assumptions of a roleplaying group. It includes things like play style (Hack'n'slash? Angsty? All styles have a set of assumptions about what players are trying to achieve & how they should go about it), how much out of character talking is acceptable, how seriously people take it, how realistic the game is supposed to be, what happens if your character screws up and many, many more. Even things like who arranges dinner (if any) or whether it's acceptable to be late or miss games are part of social contract. Some of this stuff is stated at the beginning, but a lot of it is just assumed. Any player who's new to your group will be tripped up by some of the things they don't know, but a player who's new to gaming in general will be clueless about most of it. Try to think about what your expectations are and discuss them with the group. I'd recommend writing them up somewhere, and giving this write up to new players as a hand out. The biggest trip up here is how seriously you and your group take things. Most social events in everyday life are fairly laid back affairs. If you can't make it to a movie night, it's not the end of the world, and if someone loans you a cool book, they usually don't mind if you take a few months getting around to reading it. Likewise most modern social activity requires little expert knowledge. Many roleplaying groups, however, take it a little more seriously. If you miss a game, or are late, it can seriously mess things up for everyone else. Likewise, if you don't know the rules, it makes things less fun for everyone. Roleplaying is more like having a regular bridge game - if you don't show the game can't happen, and it doesn't work if you don't know the rules. Most people aren't familiar with this kind of thing, and you'll need to explain what level of commitment you require right at the outset. Whilst you'll want to avoid scaring them away by telling them they'll need to understand all the rules straight off, it's still fair to point out that you'd like them to learn the main rules over the next couple months. If you expect them to read things you give them before the next game, tell them so - it may not be obvious. Worldframe Knowledge This really should be obvious, but remember that your newbie will be tripped up again and again by basic pieces of worldframe knowledge. They don't know that no one who touches the altar of despair survives. They don't know that they can't fly (but Vampires can fly, right?). They don't know that the creepy guys are minions of hell and telling them to "bugger off" is a really bad idea. This is particularly a problem in popular games that have been around for a long time - such as Dungeons & Dragons, which most gamers have played before. Cut them some slack. Explain things as you go. Even if they've read the source book you loaned them (you did loan them the basic book, right?), there's probably a lot of information they have yet to absorb. When you give them reading material, it can help to bookmark the most important stuff for them - that way they know what to focus on. Try running an introductory session for them, where you expose them slowly to basic concepts of the world in game. For people who don't absorb information quickly, it's probably a good idea to give them a concept that has an in game excuse to be ignorant. As a caveat though, giving them a significantly weaker character than everyone else may just frustrate them, and not give them a good idea of how "cool" their character can be. A good example is giving a new Vampire player a Ghoul (vampiric servant) instead of a Vampire - this can actually be quite complicated and limiting - better to give them a Neonate (newly created vampire), who is likely ignorant, but can quickly get into the meat of the game. Mechanics Knowledge (& Realism 101) A huge stumbling block for new players lies in understanding the mechanic - especially if it's complicated. The mechanics chapters of books make boring reading, and the whole thing can seem incomprehensible. I recommend running a new player through the basic mechanical actions in a "test session" before the game, so that they can get a feel for it without all the pressure. Explain things to them as they go, and don't be surprised if they don't remember how to do things straight away. Beware of your assumptions when explaining things - they won't necessarily know what "damage" is, or why they should "soak" it. Avoid jargon and go back to basics. Some people will want to know why they're rolling something, others will just want to know what to roll, and will work out why as they go along. Pay attention to these preferences - people learn in different ways. The second stumbling block here is that no mechanic is perfect (and they all have different strengths and weaknesses). Your new player will pretty quickly try to do something that they know works in reality, or which works in genre movies, and will find that the mechanic doesn't support it. This will probably piss them off, as their suspension of disbelief takes a hit, and it will piss you off when they refuse to accept that they can't do it. It can be particularly irksome if not being able to do it is very bad for their character. Again, you'll need to talk your way through this one, but don't be surprised if it takes them a while to develop the same blinders that experienced players have for mechanical glitches. Keep an open mind - they might actually have a point. At any rate, try to save lengthy discussions on the ins and outs of gaming mechanics for after the game. Lack of Practice Even taking ignorance into account, new players will sometimes still make stupid decisions. I remember talking to roleplayer friends before I was a roleplayer myself, and I was often surprised at how carefully and thoroughly they thought about situations. They were quite good at coming up with plans on the fly to deal with quite odd hypothetical situations. I suspect most of us are so used to seeing the stupid things that experienced roleplayers do that we forget that thinking creatively about bizarre problems is actually something that most people are not very good at. I think that if you look at the differences between the way roleplayers and non-roleplayers analyse movies you'll start to see what I mean. How much do you second guess the characters in a movie, or get stressed because they casually tossed away some resource that looked like it might be useful again later? On top of this, most gaming groups develop a shared understanding of how the world works, and what is and isn't a good decision (which may or may not bear much resemblance to the real world). Your new player doesn't have this unspoken understanding of what you, the GM, will think is a good idea. Be open minded about the things they suggest, and if what they're doing really does seem foolish, don't be afraid to occasionally give them some advice on other courses of action they might take. Just be wary of telling them what to do at every turn, they still need to be allowed to make their own decisions. Fear of Looking Stupid New players, unless they have a background in theatre, are probably going to be self conscious about acting like their character. This won't be an issue in some games, but for the style of play I like, being "in character", and acting like your character is very important. This includes all the usual elements of performing a role, such as taking on a different voice, assuming mannerisms, expressing in-character emotions and performing physical actions (more or less depending on whether the game is LARP or tabletop - even in a tabletop game you can take an in-character posture, even if you stay seated for the entire session). While some of us may have always been shameless, or have forgotten what it was like to worry about what we look like in the middle of a game, most new players will be embarrassed by attempts to act. Many theatre groups will go through a set of exercises, where they do a whole heap of ridiculous and silly things, before a rehearsal to get over just this kind of self consciousness. You need to encourage new players to give it a go, and reassure them about their efforts. Likewise, you need to avoid criticising their early attempts - even though roleplayers are not professional actors, and some are better than others, you might be surprised at how much better than the general non-acting public we can be (after all, most of us have a weekly practice session...) So, if your new player's first attempts are tentative and awkward, give them some slack. It can help here to let them watch other confident players at work. Likewise, occasionally you can specifically ask them to "act it out" when they tell you what their character is saying - just don't put them on the spot too much too soon. Fear of Other People Looking Stupid This one was a real surprise when I first encountered it. Some people are so embarrassed by the acting that goes on in roleplaying that they seem to get embarrassed on behalf of the other players and GM as well. They will actively try to interrupt scenes that get too intense, often with jokes and out of character comments. Believe me when I say that this is spectacularly annoying, because they'll become the most distracting when the acting gets most interesting. Again, it's highly unlikely that they realise they are doing this, or even know that they shouldn't - the tension gets high, and they break it. The only solution here is to explain to them that they shouldn't do this, and ask them to let people have their moments. In and Out of Character This one is a biggy for inexperienced players. The most important thing here is to make it clear that you, as the GM, will likely play NPCs who are nasty to their character, and who yell at them, and do horrible things to them. It may seem obvious, but for some people it can take a while for them to realise that you really are just "playing pretend" and you're not upset with them - especially if you're a convincing actor yourself. Even other PCs being stand-offish can seem off putting to someone who isn't used to it, and that's without getting into the quagmire of sleazy characters flirting with them, or extreme scenes of horror. Always be aware that it will take them a while to relax and understand that in and out of character are not the same thing. This also goes for their own roleplaying. It isn't immediately obvious that you can't use information that you the player have, but which your character has no way of knowing. You'll probably need to remind them a few times, before they start to get the hang of it. Likewise, they may easily go too far the other way, and not moderate their roleplaying choices in the interests of fun (something which even experienced players often forget to do). For example, in my third roleplaying session ever the GM gave me a cyberpunk character who was literally insane, and apparently I impressed the socks off her by acting convincingly like I was paranoid and suffering hallucinations. Alas, I also decided that I didn't trust any of the other PCs and spent all my effort trying to avoid them - which was a problem given that the only reason provided for me to join the group was a chance meeting. Given that character now, I would try to think of a reason for her to want to talk to the group, but as a new player it didn't even occur to me. It probably helps to give new players nice clear motivations and plot hooks, and perhaps a few sessions in, to talk about skewing their roleplaying in a direction that helps the game to run smoothly. Everything Takes Time Finally, when running for a complete newbie we need to remember that they won't learn everything all at once. There are so many mechanics, assumptions, world-frame factoids and Things That Are Not Done that it is ridiculous to expect anyone to get a handle on them straight away. If this article has a main point, it is that you need to be patient, and cut them a whole lot of slack. When explaining things, try to do it only a couple things at a time - that way they'll be more likely to remember what you've said. Consider giving them a dedicated one-on-one practice session for complicated things (such as combat mechanics, and using their powers). Give them information that they can take away and read at their leisure, particularly the basic source book for whatever system you're running - these usually have some kind of primer for new players that may be a great help (or, if the primer isn't one you'd endorse, tell them so, so that they don't end up with incorrect assumptions). Be aware that they will forget some of the things you tell them, not because they weren't listening, but because there was just so much to remember. So, in conclusion, be patient and calm with your nascent gamer, and keep in mind how frustrating it can be to be totally bewildered by something that everyone else in the room understands. |
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