Hooking New Players at the FLGS?

Territan · 07-28-2013, 07:04 AM

So what I have so far:

Pre-gens: Not only accepted as read, but pretty much mandatory. I also had the idea of writing two or three paragraphs of character history to "introduce" the character to the player. For each character presented on the table, I'd have an index card behind the GM screen with their complications and plot hooks, for blending into the game du jour.

Peter's "lens" idea is intriguing, and I may try something like that, only smaller. Say, 10% of the character left unspent and five optional builds (check one) under the character notes.

Advertising: DAT, your link to the demo posters worked and I think those will come in handy.

System Briefing: This isn't the first time I'd felt the GURPS demo bug, so I have a one-page system briefing written up. Given that I might actually go through with a demo, I need to fine-tune the crap out of that.

Genre: Therein lies the rub. While the shop attempts to carry a wide swath of different games, out of necessity and demand it carries darn near every current D&D and Pathfinder product. I'm inclined to agree with some that the dungeon fantasy is not the way to go, but then again, I would have about 2-3 hours for each demo session (the window for this would be 6–9 PM), and that's not enough for a proper dungeon crawl anyway.

If I run it as a demo series, then nothing's stopping me from running a different genre each trip. Pulp adventure one night, planet-hopping the next week, an ISS adventure the week after, a Banestorm set the week after that, blah blah blah yakkity schmakkity. GURPS, Smörgasbord-style. Yes, it's to showcase the richness and variety of the system, but also to keep them guessing. (I hate being predictable.)

I also had the semi-devious idea to run a major alteration of the dungeon crawl fantasy game. Set it up as a GURPS Space game, but the mission is to regain contact with the fortified underground installation the survey team set up to monitor the medieval-tech-level locals, because something has gone Horribly Wrong™.

07-28-2013, 07:04 AM	#13
Territan Join Date: Sep 2004	Re: Hooking New Players at the FLGS? So what I have so far: Pre-gens: Not only accepted as read, but pretty much mandatory. I also had the idea of writing two or three paragraphs of character history to "introduce" the character to the player. For each character presented on the table, I'd have an index card behind the GM screen with their complications and plot hooks, for blending into the game du jour. Peter's "lens" idea is intriguing, and I may try something like that, only smaller. Say, 10% of the character left unspent and five optional builds (check one) under the character notes. Advertising: DAT, your link to the demo posters worked and I think those will come in handy. System Briefing: This isn't the first time I'd felt the GURPS demo bug, so I have a one-page system briefing written up. Given that I might actually go through with a demo, I need to fine-tune the crap out of that. Genre: Therein lies the rub. While the shop attempts to carry a wide swath of different games, out of necessity and demand it carries darn near every current D&D and Pathfinder product. I'm inclined to agree with some that the dungeon fantasy is not the way to go, but then again, I would have about 2-3 hours for each demo session (the window for this would be 6–9 PM), and that's not enough for a proper dungeon crawl anyway. If I run it as a demo series, then nothing's stopping me from running a different genre each trip. Pulp adventure one night, planet-hopping the next week, an ISS adventure the week after, a Banestorm set the week after that, blah blah blah yakkity schmakkity. GURPS, Smörgasbord-style. Yes, it's to showcase the richness and variety of the system, but also to keep them guessing. (I hate being predictable.) I also had the semi-devious idea to run a major alteration of the dungeon crawl fantasy game. Set it up as a GURPS Space game, but the mission is to regain contact with the fortified underground installation the survey team set up to monitor the medieval-tech-level locals, because something has gone Horribly Wrong™.