Introducing New Game Systems to Your RPG Group

My group is not always sure what game I am going to be bring to the table. One thing I like to do when reviewing any game is play it. Reading through a rulebook gives a certain feel for the game, but actual play brings to light the uniqueness of the game, and why it does, or does not, stand on its own. This regular introduction to new games has led to the need of learning how to present a new role-playing game (RPG) system to the group.

Many convention gamers know what it is like to sit in on a game they have never played before, but there is a difference between playing at a con and playing with your home group.

Most convention games are designed to be played at one sitting. There are the leagues and societies that allow play of outside characters in a shared world, but when you step away from those tables the RPGs you're getting involved with are broken down into two other areas: the familiar game you don't get to play often and the new games that interest you. But, again, these are usually designed to be played at the con. How these games are presented to players works well for conventions and there are ideas that can be used with home groups.

Pre-generated characters are almost a must for convention games. When running a one-shot adventure with players who are not familiar with the system in a limited amount of time means you need to get things up and running. The game master (GM) therefore prepares the characters ahead of time with the pertinent information for the player. I saw the opposite done a year ago when a Shadow Run game was working to help new players create characters before the game. They spent almost two time slots, total of 6 hours, to complete a 2 hour adventure. At the end the new players I saw leaving the table had fun, but were done with the game because it took too much in time and mental energy to get started.

Getting the group started is the key. The difference with the home group is the GM is usually setting up an adventure that will go to go longer than one gaming session. I used to think it was acceptable to spend an entire game session preparing characters to start the next week. I found I was wrong. My players were showing up to the game to play. Learning how to create new characters, and spending all the gaming time creating new characters, was a waste of an evening for most of the players. In learning that, I thought it would work to give people a time frame to have characters created to start on a certain day. That failed. There will always be situations keeping people from getting the character built. So, I stepped back to setting things up like a game for a convention. There are some does and don'ts.

Don't treat your home group play like a convention game. Convention games are fun. They are one-shots designed to heighten the experience of the game in a short adventure. I only know of a couple of gaming groups that like playing one-shot adventures on a regular basis. Players like to have long-term characters they can work with, develop, and keep playing. More of the problem I have seen is people like to have their own characters. If your players are like mine, they want the character to be something they created, not a pre-generated one where they are playing the personality someone else created. This creates a problem when introducing a new system to your group. You need a quick start with something that introduces the game and be continuous with characters they built.

From the trials and errors of introducing new games on a fairly regular basis, my group has come up with a system that is working well. This process takes a little bit of time outside of the gaming session, but then provides a quicker, easier start when the game gets rolling.

Provide a rough sketch of the system to the players. The players need to know enough about the system/setting so they can follow the structure, even before they are completely comfortable with the system. I now give my players a quick write-up about the system in a couple of paragraphs. Start with what is familiar and then provide the basics of what makes the system unique. Give only a synopsis. Too much information usually leads to a quick death of starting the new game.

Provide a simple explanation of character types: abilities, classes, advancement, etc. This provides the players some ideas about how the characters tie into the premise of the game. Again, don't go into a lot of detail about everything, the details will develop as the group plays and learns the game.

The GM then gets the players to tell what type of character they want to play. We do this in simple terms. Usually in a discussion after a game, phone call, text, email. Don't try to get a full backstory on the character. For a new campaign I am building the responses have been as simple as, "a field medic with military background," "a street thief," and "a scientist who is trying to prove he's not going crazy."

The GM now does the harder part of character creation. Take the system to be introduced and build the mechanics of the character to fit the information you were given from the player. Don't create the backstory or personality, just the mechanical parts. Giving this back to the player on the start of the first game session allows them to drop the personality they started onto the framework.

An example of how this works.

I think everyone is familiar enough with the Star Wars universe. The presentation of the setting is simple: players are going to be rebel special unit sent out on missions against the empire. The mechanics are dice based with a pass/fail system that is open to stronger narrative from players and the GM. Characters are developed on using a skill based system tree-system, higher branches in the skills require pre-requisites.

The players then could say the basics of what they want to play. There could be the sniper, melee combat specialist, the force sensitive, a pilot. The GM takes the information and builds the character's skills to the desired level to start and then gives the character sheet to the player to drop the personality on top.

If the players give some clues to a backstory they are developing, the GM can add those into the mechanics of the character. "I am a geologist wanting to prove I am not going crazy because I suffer from claustrophobia."

I have found when I give the character sheet to the players, they have been working up the personality of the character since they told me about it. They can think about the personality without having to write it down. Now they have a place to write it down, and, usually within a few minutes players are ready to start the adventure and experience a new game system.

There are a lot of great games out there. I know some people don't want to try new ones. But if you want to give a go on all of the possibilities of gaming, give it a go. Check out the myriad of experiences you can have with your friends at your gaming table.

If you have a comment, suggestion, or critique please leave a comment here or send an email to guildmastergaming@gmail.com.

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Playing One Game System or Many, Part Two

The first part of this series of articles was about the benefits of choosing to play one role-playing game (RPG) system. This installment looks at the reasons for choosing to play multiple RPG systems.

Most games are written to fit a specific genre, style, or setting of game. When I bring this up in discussion, I usually get a look and a nod that says, "Duh." Yes, Star Trek is written for a specific game and setting, while Star Wars is another specific setting. I'm sure this isn't surprising to anyone. I have played both of these settings (in several different editions) and they don't cross over. So, if you are a fan of science fiction and not just one of the settings, you will need to learn both to play both.

Playing two systems like this at first doesn't seem like an advantage, but it can free up the gaming group. I have seen this work great when two members of a group traded off running their games.

I was invited to a weekly game where the group had two game masters (GMs) running very different settings: Shadow Run and a high magic Dungeons and Dragon campaigns. One GM ran his Shadow Run adventure. He ran it over several weeks until we completed the adventure.  Then the other GM took over at the table on the following week to run his adventure. When he completed his, we switched back for the next one in Shadow Run.

The switching between systems gave the GMs more time to prepare. After completing an adventure, they each had around a month to work on the next one, removing a lot of pressure. This allowed them to work on encounters and adventures that were a lot more in depth. Each GM could take notes from their last adventure, ask questions of the players, and weave more into the plot lines of what they were working on. This, in turn, gave us, as players, a lot more to work with during the gaming sessions.

Different systems support styles of play designed for the setting, which leads to greater creativity. Even when the settings are similar, like being in the same genre, you can get a different perspective of what you want to do because the system focus is going to be different.

Our main group has a side group that meets on an irregular basis. This is a family group that plays more on a spur of the moment basis. Then there are times when others of us join in. They play Rune Quest, which uses a percentile, or d100, system. The main group plays D&D 3.5, or a d20 system. Knowing both systems has led to some carryover of concepts from one system to the other. The players start trying actions that are more applicable for one system when they are facing a situation in the other. It doesn't always work, but it is fun to see what comes out of the attempt.

This creativity carry-over even happens in more diverse games. When playing a space opera you come into regular situations of dealing with zero gravity. When playing a multidimensional campaign (think like Sliders or Stargate) you are dealing with having to explore new settings without much beforehand information. Yes, some of this may already be in your fantasy or superhero game, but the focus of the game is different. And, like similar settings, after playing something it is a part of your personal background that you can bring into a new game and a new setting.

One of the biggest carry-over experiences I've seen has been from going between higher narrative games and higher strategy games. We have played some narrative heavy games where the description of the event is more important than the rolling of dice for determining the outcome of an encounter. When returning to a game focused with higher levels of mechanics, the extra description might not drive the outcome, but, it pulls the players into the event and they give a higher level of description of events based on what the results the dice are driving.

As you play more games it becomes easier to pick up new games. I talked to a person in a game store who was interested in playing an RPG they saw, but they were concerned it was going to be hard to learn a new system. The first game system may have been hard enough. The second may also be hard. Then, as the number of systems you know (or just familiar with) grows, the next one is easier to learn. A base of knowledge develops that can be drawn upon. More reference points have been created to start from when learning the variations in the new system.

For me, the greatest advantage of knowing more systems is moving beyond needing a system. I've seen this happened in two ways.

The first is being able to run a game on a complete narrative basis. Once you get the players away from being tied to a particular system for their game, they don't need a system to play. I've also had this work with players who don't know any system and want to learn role-playing, thus, not being tied to a system. I've used this when doing one-shot adventures. The group decides on the genre and characters are built with only basic description. The GM then provides the starting setting and the game is underway. Without the confines of a rule set, the group is doing improvisational role-playing—the adventure unfolds as the story is created by everyone. This is a narrative driven by the descriptions given by the players, including GM, around the table.

The other way is being able to build a game system to fit your particular campaign. Our group is always coming up with different ideas of game settings. They might be part of a larger genre, but more in the obscure corner, hiding under the blanket, behind the dresser. Our GMs can take their ideas and build on them without having the concern of how it fits into a set system or gaming universe. One such campaign was a post-apocalyptic mutant setting. Each player was playing a mutant, designed from the earliest edition of Gamma World, skills were develop using ideas from GURPS, then to top it off we were using a pass/fail system for advancing a character's skills. It might sound confusing, at first, but it worked.

For me there is no wrong way of playing RPGs. There might be a wrong way for playing an RPG, but I would rather have the fun of the socialization than working through the particulars of a given rule set. So, I lean towards playing all sorts of different games and systems. It doesn't make my way right, it's just who I am. Each of us has to find what works.

I encourage you to get a feel for what you like, what your group likes, and run with it. You don't have to be like me with over a hundred game systems on the shelf. You don't have to tie yourself into the one system that you were introduced to. Just be you.

Grab some dice, if they're needed, some friends, and have some fun.

If you have a comment, suggestion, or critique please leave a comment here or send an email to guildmastergaming@gmail.com.

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Playing One Game System or Many, Part 1

My current gaming group likes to play a lot of different games. We play all types of games: board, card, strategy, dice, role-playing.  For this series of articles, however, I am focusing on role-playing games (RPGs). A group I used to play with liked to play only one game, Dungeons and Dragons. The contrast between these two groups came to light for me recently in a discussion where people were talking about which style of group is better. Of course, if you have read much, or any, of my writing on these types of topics you already know my answer is what works best for you and your group. Now we have taken the short route to get to the answer, let's explore what is each style provides.

Why Playing Just One RPG is Good

When I first started gaming there wasn't a lot on a store shelf to choose from. There was more out there than I originally knew about because it was well hidden within the community as the creation of the minds of the people that played them. When meeting some of the early RPG pioneers I felt like they had poured their souls into their creations. They not only enjoyed playing the games they had, but the games and the systems were a part of their being.

That same level of support is still out there today for games. There are people who will throw themselves into single game system and that is all the only one they want to play. I am not just talking Dungeons and Dragons like my older group, but I have met people who have this feeling for games like Star Wars and Star Trek, Shadow Run, Call of Cthulhu, Blue Rose, BESM, and other. In fact I am willing to bet there is a dedicated group for each and every game system.

Groups are devoted because the game provides what they want. If you have everything you want on the table in front of you, why go looking for something new? That was one of the main aspects of the gaming group I was in before. The group even told me they would be interested in playing a different game, but if it was a fantasy, then it had to be done in D&D. A couple of us introduced new games. They would play one maybe two sessions and then want to get back to their fantasy characters.

Eventually I understood they had a comfort level with D&D they enjoyed. The group got together to play D&D because they knew the system. As time went on, they knew it better and better. They understood the nuances and the house rules developed to get around those nagging questions left open by incomplete descriptions. They knew how to create characters and how they fit into the setting. They knew what needed to be done to defeat an encounter, virtually every aspect of how monsters were supposed to act and how each was vulnerable. They liked what they knew, and the comfort that knowledge gave them.

At even tried to introduce different settings that were a part of the D&D system. We played Ravenloft, Spell Jammer, Dark Sun, and a couple of other settings. Those also lasted a few sittings at the table before the consensus was to get back to "the game." The comfort they had gave them the chance to fall completely into the characters and to design in a system they wanted to play.

Running a game is easier in a world you understand. I have almost always had a group with a certain level of "open" or "sandbox" gaming. There were campaigns where characters were dedicated to a series of adventures ran by a single GM. But, also, we each had a folder of characters we could call upon when any person took the reins of GM and announced they had an adventure they wanted to run.

Knowledge allowed them to build between game sessions. By knowing the system, they could spend time building an adventure or a new character. They could do it on the spur of the moment. They could start putting together ideas in piecemeal, five minutes here, five minutes there. Then they could push their note pages together and have an adventure that could be ran with minimal information on the written page in front of them. They were good to go.

Groups playing a single system have these advantages. Basically, everyone knows the system.

Another older gamer told me they have had, roughly, the same gaming group for thirty years. There have been the same core people playing, while others have drifted in and out. The only game they play is Advanced Dungeons and Dragons—the original hard cover books. They've only included information written for that first edition. Admitted, there is a lot of material from that time (a lot that has been reintroduced into later editions). But, they think of themselves as purists to the system. And, they enjoy it.

Groups into one system, no matter which system they play, have the ability to dig deeper into the game. They build on the basics of what is presented, learn the subtleties that make the system special and explore them to the level of detail that makes them experts.

Don't confuse these people for rules lawyers. Where a rules lawyer is usually looking for ways to exploit the system and push the game in their favor. These RPG system purists are wanting to keep the game going in its true form. They have no reason to shop the shelves at the game store looking for the latest editions, newest systems, or variants providing tweaks to what they have. They already have what they want. They have a game that provides for their desires and their enjoyment.

If you are a player of a single system, take pride in it. I understand you enjoy it and you consider it the best one out there. Your enthusiasm can be contagious when introduced to the right person and it is that enthusiasm that helps build this hobby.

If you have a comment, suggestion, or critique please leave a comment here or send an email to guildmastergaming@gmail.com.

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