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Old 02-13-2015, 06:04 PM   #1
Raekai
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Default Sorry, but how do I initiate someone into fantasy/rpgs/etc?

Hello, beautiful people.

I have been gone from the forums for quite a while, but I have made a return. I know this really isn't the right place for this, but I need help.

(Forum Gods, please move if necessary.)

One of my friends is a virgin to this stuff. She's never seen Star Wars. She's never seen LOTR. Those are the common staples! What do I do? How do I explain laser guns and swords or what it means to be a fighter/thief/mage?

A visual guide is preferred. As much as I like articles, I'm not sure of how much fun it is to read an article with another person. A video (YouTube, etc) would be preferred. I've seen so many good guides on there, but I can't find an intro the the fantasy genres or to rpgs. One of my biggest things that I want to explain are the ideas of generic fantasy classes. Those are fun! I feel like the degree of separation from sci-fi is less of a hurdle. We're all humans with lasers and there are usually aliens.

Anything helps! Thanks!
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Old 02-13-2015, 06:20 PM   #2
FireTigeris
 
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Default Re: Sorry, but how do I initiate someone into fantasy/rpgs/etc?

Like one of these types:

http://www.zenhex.com/quiz.php?id=2899
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Old 02-13-2015, 06:44 PM   #3
Peter Knutsen
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Default Re: Sorry, but how do I initiate someone into fantasy/rpgs/etc?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Raekai View Post
(Forum Gods, please move if necessary.)
Yes. This seems to not be at all particular to GURPS. So it'd fit in better in Roleplaying, and perhaps even better still in Geek Culture, since it seems to be more about genre than about the interactive process of participating in a tabletop RPG.



The question is, though, why do you want to introduce your friend to fantasy and science fiction?

Unless she's like 10 years old, which I regard as somewhat unlikely, there are probably strong reasons why she has avoided non-muggle fiction so far. I won't say good reasons, because I'm not convinced that the reasons of a person in such a situation will be good. But I am saying they might be strong.

Many people find it hard to get into worlds that are different from the one they live in themselves. They find it extremely difficult, requiring an immense effort, to "engage" with characters who live in a world in which the "possibility space", the strategic and tactical options available to the characters, differ from those available to real-life people, due to the presence (or absence) of technology, or due to the presence of magic.

Some jump to the very drastic conclusion that the only alternative to a world in which the rules are like they are in our world is a world in which there are no rules. A world in which anything can happen, no barriers, no limits, the author (or indeed the GM) being able to pull random and arbitrary crap out of his ass, at any time.

And while that is a very drastic conclusion, some fiction is actually that profoundly retarded.

Much more fiction is not, but can easily give the wrong impression because the author doesn't tell the rules of his world to the audience in a direct, lecture-style fashion (because that is blunt and intrusive, and makes his core readership feel talked down to), but instead will use subtle means that are almost guaranteed to go right over the head of someone who isn't already familiar with the genre and with the genre's traditions for conveying setting-vital information from inside the POV-character's head to inside the reader's head.

Even worse, some people find it hard to wrap their heads around worlds in which the socio-economic possibilities are the only ones that differ from those of out world. Even with no magic, no strange tech, such people will bounce off, hard and painfully and very early, any world in which a perfectly legitimate solution to a character's problem is that he goes and buys (or rents) a slave to solve it for him. Simply because slavery is a socio-economic phenomena that is outside the mental frame of reference of a person who is very strongly wedded to the here and now.

There can be all sorts of reasons for why your friend has never really gotten into non-mainstream fiction. Some people don't even like mainstream fiction much, having, for whatever odd reason, little or no apparent need for escapism.

I touch upon these issues in some of the entries on my OdinsDay blog, but none of the blog entries are directly pertinent to this, so I am not going to single out one or a few posts as suggested reading.
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Old 02-14-2015, 04:07 AM   #4
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Default Re: Sorry, but how do I initiate someone into fantasy/rpgs/etc?

Find a popular movie or television program that is fantasy or science fiction. Star Wars or a few episodes of Game of Thrones would be good choices. Watch it with your friend, and then play through a short adventure in that setting. Both of these works have RPGs based on them, if you prefer a purpose-built system, or you could use GURPS if you'd rather stick with what you know.

This will make the introduction as unthreatening as possible. They start with observation and then move to participation. (The next step would be creation in their own right, perhaps by designing an adventure of their own.) And they get to do it in a setting they have at least heard about.

Last edited by Johan Larson; 02-14-2015 at 04:23 AM.
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Old 02-14-2015, 04:54 AM   #5
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Default Re: Sorry, but how do I initiate someone into fantasy/rpgs/etc?

You could make them watch Dark Dungeons. :)
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Old 02-14-2015, 06:47 AM   #6
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Default Re: Sorry, but how do I initiate someone into fantasy/rpgs/etc?

Different suggestion: leave the SF or fantasy gaming aside for the moment, and introduce her to roleplaying first through a genre she does understand. What does she watch/read?

Detective/police procedural cases? Design a scenario where she is a modern-day Miss Marple - the world has no rules, societal values, etc. she doesn't already know because it is the modern world. Tel her that her character has lost a friend, the Authorities rule it is accident or suicide, but she doesn't believe it. She needs to uncover the truth. No truth drugs, no spells compelling truth-speaking, just using her own wits to follow a trail of clues to reveal some deep dark plot.

Survival shows - celebrities in the jungle? Announce that she's survived a plane crash and she's in deepest jungle. She has to use the knowledge she has picked up from them to survive and navigate her way back to civilisation.

Once you have found a genre that she enjoys, worked out how to adventure in that world, and had a few sessions playing scenarios, you can start introducing other elements. Third case: it turns out that the missing cousin wasn't murdered after all, but kidnapped and flown out to Drugland as a hostage to ensure someone else's behaviour. Her investigation leads to an Alphabet Organisation which will provide backup: Jake's the comms guy who can give her the bugs to place in the bad guys' car, Billy-Bob is the muscle to protect her - and we're into character classes.

And then into the fantasy or SF genres, when the time is right.
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Old 02-14-2015, 08:58 AM   #7
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Default Re: Sorry, but how do I initiate someone into fantasy/rpgs/etc?

Just sit down and play the damn game. It's not mind-blowing stuff. You're not Morpheus offering two pills or anything. ;-)

If she likes it and gets into it, cool. If not, oh well.
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Old 02-14-2015, 09:00 AM   #8
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Default Re: Sorry, but how do I initiate someone into fantasy/rpgs/etc?

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Originally Posted by Stripe View Post
You're not Morpheus offering two pills or anything.
Dammit, there went my campaign premise! Now what do I do?
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Old 02-14-2015, 10:33 AM   #9
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Default Re: Sorry, but how do I initiate someone into fantasy/rpgs/etc?

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Dammit, there went my campaign premise! Now what do I do?
Scratch a secret mark on the door. Send dwarves.
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Old 02-14-2015, 11:17 AM   #10
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Default Re: Sorry, but how do I initiate someone into fantasy/rpgs/etc?

She probably played some form of "Let's Pretend" as a child. Even if it was just "Tea Party" or some such she has that experience. Explain that RPGs are just "Let's Pretend" for grown-ups with rules that are written down and some form of a referee to settle disputes and run the world.

Then, as suggested, find out what interests her and play to that. I don't know that you could RPG a romance novel easily but it could be done and that is the most extreme female cliché I could think of. If she is a fan of Survivor, introduce her to a Survival campaign, of CSI then a crime campaign, whatever it is it can be done.

Friend of mine, whose house we play at, married a Filipina and tried to introduce her and her question was "You just sit around and talk, right?" and when we had to say "Yes" she lost all interest. So, be prepared either way.
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