Introducing the Game

As noted, I have recently introduced the game to a group of new players. Having done that, I have some thoughts about how to proceed:

1. We Learn by Doing: The first and most basic thing is that it's generally a good idea to get new players actually playing as quickly as possible. So give them pre-gen characters to use, give an overview of some real basics, and then get on with the game!
2. Bite-sized Pieces: One of the consequences of the one-hour format is that time is at a real premium. That being the case, I definitely didn't want to spend an hour going through lots of rules details! Therefore, at the start of each of the first few sessions I quickly introduced some aspect of the rules, and then we went on with the game. To date, we've had five sessions, so the topics covered have been:
   • The types of dice. Basics of the character sheet (ability scores, attack bonuses, skill bonuses)
   • The three types of rolls (attack rolls, saving throws, attribute checks). More on the character sheet (class and race abilities, mostly)
   • Combat actions. The last of the character sheet (traits, background, alignment)
   • Spellcasting
   • Levelling up
3. Simplify, then elaborate: Starting out, nobody will have a really good idea of how things work. As far as possible, it's a good idea to abstract this out. You can then add more detail later. (My particular example would be spellcasting, where in the first session the Wizard was allowed to just cast any of his spells. The next session I added the "X per day" limit, and then in session four we introduced spell preparation.)
4. Do Something New Every Time: Ideally, every session should introduce something new to the game, until you're confident you've covered everything. So start with a basic combat against goblins, then add a bit of interaction, then add a bit of exploration, then a boss battle, then level up, and then open things out to be more player-driven...
5. And don't sweat it: Bear in mind that new players mostly just want to have fun, so don't worry too much about doing it 'right'! That may mean simplifying some rules for speed, it may mean letting them do something cool that their character normally couldn't, or it may just mean not worrying about how you present things. The key, after all, is just to have fun.

Of course, those are just the things that happen to have worked for me, this time. Next time might be different, and they may not work for you at all!

A Wider World

One of the things that the "Star Wars" original trilogy and the "Lord of the Rings" films do very well is that they give a sense that there's a whole wider world out there. Star Wars, in particular, actually has very few locations - the backwaters of Tattooine, the Death Star, Alderaan, and Yavin - but it gives the impression of a much wider canvas.

The primary way in which this is achieved is simply by referencing those other places and events: "I'm a member of the Imperial Senate...", "if there's a bright centre to the universe, you're on the planet that it's farthest from...", "Dantooine. They're on Dantooine."

Likewise, the "Lord of the Rings" films mention locations that aren't ever shown, and also make reference to thousands of years of carefully worked out history. Of course, they had the big advantage that Tolkien had meticulously worked out thousands of years of history (mostly because his passion was "The Silmarillion", rather than "Lord of the Rings").

What does that mean for RPGs?

Well, it's actually pretty straightfoward - during those early adventures, when the players are being introduced to the world, you're not going to have much opportunity to show them the larger world in which they are adventuring. After all, that would very quickly be overwhelming. And it's highly unlikely that the players will have read the setting guide (which is a very mixed blessing anyway), so you're very likely their only real conduit for setting information.

But what you can do, and probably should do, is seed little bits of setting information here and there. Make reference to them being on the road from one place to another, and name both places. Even if you don't introduce the local ruler, have someone mention him by name. Say something about local festivals and quirks (food is very good for this), and perhaps then contrast that with what the PCs are used to.

As noted, it's important not to overwhelm the players with a huge info dump, not least because all of this is less interesting than most DMs think it is. A little goes a long way! And, as with adding salt to a meal, bear in mind that it's always easy to add more, but it's really hard to take it out again!