I've commented before (somewhere) that I felt that Wizards of the Coast have dropped the ball with their introductory RPG products. Mostly because they elected not to reprint them, and also partially because they've become so wrapped up in making them look good that they forgot to make a good introductory game.
It's also the case that Wizards of the Coast are pretty much the only company who can do an introductory product for their games, since none of the other companies really have the resources. That being the case, the onus for bringing new players into the hobby necessarily falls on the shoulders of existing players.
That being the case, here are a few guidelines I use for introductory adventures:
1) Never drop a new player directly into your ongoing game. The usual mix of years of backstory, convoluted houserules, and in-jokes will just frighten him off. The best thing to do is run a one-off with the new player (or, better still, a group of new players, possibly supplemented by a single old hand in the Gandalf role).
2) Remove all your houserules. Then take the main rules of the game, and strip out everything that isn't absolutely necessary. Simplify, simplify, simplify. Bear in mind: it's not the rules that make the game fun. Get the player hooked on the fun parts, and then gradually introduce more complex rules.
3) Use pre-generated characters. If possible, discuss with the new player what sort of character he wants, and create that for him, but don't try to explain character generation to a newbie: it's usually really dull. If you can't tailor the character to the player's specific desires, build a battery of suitable characters, and let the player choose the one he likes.
4) Before the game starts, take a little time to explain the major resolution mechanics, and especially the various marks on the character sheet. This will help immeasurably in the actual running of the game.
5) Give the characters a very clear indication of what they should be doing. This is why D&D is better than most games as an introduction - the rules are more complex than most things, but it's really obvious what to do when you're an intrepid treasure hunter in a dungeon.
6) Make the game fast and exciting. Don't worry too much about characterisation. You're not going to get Hamlet out of a new player - but you might get Die Hard. And, they're more likely to come back if you give them a well-done Die Hard than a badly done Hamlet.
7) Don't fall into the trap of thinking that just because you're not expecting much of them, that you don't have to put in the effort yourself. If anything, you need to be better prepared for a newbie adventure than a normal one, since you have to keep the game going, you have to take charge of knowing the rules for everyone, and you have to make the whole thing look seamless.
8) Give each new player a single Get Out of Jail Free card. Allow them to trade this in to take back one really bad decision, avoid one character death, or otherwise escape one time only. After that, don't go any easier on them than on anyone else. The game is only really exciting if there are consequences to people's actions, so you need to make sure there are. Still, allowing that one mistake can make the difference between someone coming back, or forever giving up in disgust.
9) Make sure your adventure isn't more powerful than the group should be handling. If you've given out 4th level characters (new players should probably use 1st level characters, but that's another rant), run an adventure suitable for 4th level characters (or, maybe even one for 3rd level characters). Remember, what's easy for a group of role-playing veterans is far from obvious for new players.
10) I don't have a point ten; I just wanted to get to a nice round number.
Once your new players have gone through their first adventure, it's time to start integrating them with your main group. Gradually expose them to the rest of the rules, and generally bring them up to speed with the full game. The goal at this point is not to have someone else to act as cannon-fodder for the rest of the group - it is to graduate your new player to become a full member of the group.
And there it is. Comments?
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