Need Advice: Making GURPS Approachable For the Non-gamer/Non-geek

[GameBuddah]

Last weekend, I tried to run a Dungeon Fantasy RPG game for a friend and his sister. After the session, my wife and I did a little post game analysis, and talked through the issues of the game, and the thing we had to be honest about was that the friend's sister, a middle aged professional, had absolutely no domain knowledge of anything that would give her a "way in" to RPGs. She doesn't read or watch fantasy of sci-fi, action movies, or any of the media from which RPGs draw their tropes. She's never played any other RPGs, so "hit points" and "character classes" are completely new things, and the character sheets generated by the GURPS Character Assistant (GCA) I handed out are long and intimidating.

I want to start over in two weeks, so I'm looking for ways to reduce some of the complexity, having even thought about reducing the PCs to the 3rd edition NPC character cards, and using GURPS lite for the rules as a way to eliminate some of the complexity.

Last weekend made me realize how much stuff we just assume people know. I can't even say things as simple as "your character is a wise old wizard like Gandalf or Dumbledore..."

If you've been in this situation yourself, or really anyone who has any advice, please let me know.

[Dalin]

When I run games with complete novices, I often use a greatly simplified character sheet. Mook has some excellent ones. Here's a version of Tishala Taabu, a sample character that Kromm posted in the DFRPG Forum. She was one of the harder ones to convert to this format because she had an extensive grimoire that I needed to simplify. This format, though, makes it quite easy to find pertinent information.

[Gold & Appel Inc]

Originally Posted by GameBuddah

Last weekend made me realize how much stuff we just assume people know. I can't even say things as simple as "your character is a wise old wizard like Gandalf or Dumbledore..."

If you've been in this situation yourself, or really anyone who has any advice, please let me know.

This may be more prep time than you want to put in, but for a crash course in a specific genre tailored to someone who hasn't seen any of those movies, you could always... show her those movies. Worked great when my group did our Classic Gibsonian Cyberpunk campaign with a broad mix of players - The first "session," before we made our characters, was a marathon viewing of Blade Runner, Robocop, etc.

[GameBuddah]

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

This may be more prep time than you want to put in, but for a crash course in a specific genre tailored to someone who hasn't seen any of those movies, you could always... show her those movies.

Thanks for the suggestion, it's something we've done in the past when our gaming situation was such that we could entertain folks at our home, but won't work in this situation, as our home isn't handicapped accessible, and our friend's sister doesn't have a TV at her place.

I'm mainly looking for ways to make the rules a lot less daunting.

I thought the GURPS Combat Cards might help, but my wife looked at them and told me flat, that if I showed them to her, she'd completely shut down and give up.

[GameBuddah]

Originally Posted by Dalin

I often use a greatly simplified character sheet. Mook has some excellent ones.

Thanks for sharing. This might be great.

[Shostak]

Newcomers take more work, but, if you avoid some of the game's complexities, it can be relatively easy work. Instead of focusing on rules, it might be worth having players focus on their characters, and to get them to understand that the game is about their improvising the reactions of their characters to unfolding events. Having a few sentences of plain-language description of who their character is, what is important to them, what they are good at, and what compels them into action in the story that you are collectively creating can be extremely helpful and you can refer back to that frequently. If a player doesn't understand the character they are playing, they are going to have a hard time, so it is worth investing the effort into getting them to have a good sense of their character's personality and motives.

When it comes to actions, help them by pointing out drivers like Disadvantages or Quirks that might have an influence on their behavior (e.g. "I see you have Overconfidence--do you think you need to get help, or do you want to try to go it alone?"). If their character wants to pick a lock, ask if they want to do it quickly or if they want to spend extra time to do it carefully, which will make it easier to do. If they want to use Fast Talk on someone and they have a skill at a higher level that might make that easier (like Sex Appeal), ask if they want to use that first to pave the way. If they say they want to attack someone with their knife, ask if they are stabbing or slashing and if they want to aim for a particular body part (difficult) or just hit them anywhere (easier), and if they want to go all-out on their attack or do a little feinting first to try to fake out their opponent. And don't worry so much about things like Hit Points--just tell them that they are burned or bleeding pretty badly or that it is a minor injury and encourage them to run with it, or add detail like "You are pretty sure that you would likely die if you took another hit like that." In short, they describe what they want to do, and it is your job as GM to apply the rules to determine the outcome.

Character sheets are great for the experienced, but I agree that they can be visually overwhelming with so much information crammed onto a single page. It could be useful to just have one side of a page with their Skills listed in alpha order and for you, the GM, to have a similar table with Skills that you expect to get used a lot in the game but that some players might using at a default and have those defaults listed for each character.

[thrash]

Really relevant random roleplaying romic.

May I suggest GURPS Ultralite or my more upward-compatible version? The advantage here is that you don't have to focus on anything more specific than "wizard" or "thief."

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by GameBuddah

the friend's sister, a middle aged professional, had absolutely no domain knowledge of anything that would give her a "way in" to RPGs. She doesn't read or watch fantasy of sci-fi, action movies, or any of the media from which RPGs draw their tropes.

This strikes me as the big problem. One of your players has no apparent interest in the subject matter of the campaign. It doesn't matter how friendly or not the rules are if she isn't into the themes of the game. What I'd recommend is to find out something she's into and trying that so that she's got at least some familiar signposts. You've mentioned not being into fantasy, sci-fi, and action adventure, all of which do not bode well. But what is she into when it comes to movies and fiction? Westerns? Romances? With the right GM and approach, you can do just about anything with GURPS, but you need to find the right subject matter to engage your audience. That's step one. Step two follows from that.

[maximara]

Originally Posted by GameBuddah

Last weekend, I tried to run a Dungeon Fantasy RPG game for a friend and his sister. After the session, my wife and I did a little post game analysis, and talked through the issues of the game, and the thing we had to be honest about was that the friend's sister, a middle aged professional, had absolutely no domain knowledge of anything that would give her a "way in" to RPGs. She doesn't read or watch fantasy of sci-fi, action movies, or any of the media from which RPGs draw their tropes. She's never played any other RPGs, so "hit points" and "character classes" are completely new things, and the character sheets generated by the GURPS Character Assistant (GCA) I handed out are long and intimidating.

Don't forget GURPS can do role-playing in historical periods as well: Age of Napoleon, Cops, and GURPS WWII cases in point.

Since GURPS doesn't use "character classes" I don't know why you would even use that term with someone who doesn't know RPGs. Professions (scientist, lawyer, etc) would be more fitting for GURPS.

As for "hit points" perhaps "injury tolerance" or something similar might make things more understandable.

Originally Posted by GameBuddah

I want to start over in two weeks, so I'm looking for ways to reduce some of the complexity, having even thought about reducing the PCs to the 3rd edition NPC character cards, and using GURPS lite for the rules as a way to eliminate some of the complexity.

Last weekend made me realize how much stuff we just assume people know. I can't even say things as simple as "your character is a wise old wizard like Gandalf or Dumbledore..."

Relate to characters/things they know. ie "your character is a detective like Sherlock Holmes, Lieutenant Columbo, or Miss Marple." or "your character is a beat cop who has just been promoted to sergeant (akin to very early Dick Tracy)"

[Stormcrow]

Originally Posted by GameBuddah

I'm mainly looking for ways to make the rules a lot less daunting.

The way to make the rules less daunting is not to present them with any rules.

Make characters for them. If they want to decide on their own characters, take descriptions and make a character to match.

When you give them a character sheet, give them one with more or less full details, but don't include point costs at all. Point costs will be useless and distracting information. Don't include lots of extra information either. If you like sheets that include hit-point tracking boxes or listing several different kinds of movement, don't include them for the newbie. Just include the basics, and let any unneeded and derived information go.

Don't include any information on the character sheet that they won't actually need to read. If they're playing a soldier, you don't HAVE to write Military Rank on their sheet. It's not information you need to reference during play.

Don't ask them for maneuvers. Ask them what they want to do, then tell them how many turns it will take. Then handle each turn for them, telling them what they're doing and what they need to roll. Make some decisions silently for them if they don't contradict what they want to do, like deciding to Attack and instead of All-Out Attack, so that they'll still have defenses.

And here's the really big bit: don't play games with complicated character types like Dungeon Fantasy. GURPS DF and DFRPG are all about playing around with the dungeon fantasy genre. It presupposes you've got some idea what dungeon fantasy is all about. If you've got someone who has absolutely no appreciation for that genre, don't play it.

Play something simpler. Try "Caravan to Ein Arris" or something along those lines: it's got people doing normal people things. Try a Cliffhangers game without too many cinematic options in play. Try something from the Action series, but without relying on too many tropes. Try a setting like "Lands Out of Time" where the PCs are ordinary, modern-day people trying to survive in a world of dinosaurs. Run a setting that doesn't rely on tropes.