Image Source: PM himself with a little help with a South Park creator, I would guess.
Chatty DM: Welcome to the first of what I hope will become a series of posts by PM. PM is a friend of ours who has yet to succumb to the sweet call of RPGs, but the Evil Overlord in me can sense him weakening by the hour. He’s quite good and I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I do.
Leave comments, I’m sure he’ll appreciate.
There are strange people around us… If you know what to look for, eventually you may notice that friends of yours, or maybe even family members close to you, assemble with others according to an obscure calendar.
They will be seen carrying strange books, and you may hear a strange rattling noise coming from their pockets every step they take. Are they small bones intended for a dark ritual?
What mysteries are enclosed within these worn-out pages? You’ve heard about them, you know they exist. They’re Weekend Wizards.
Whatever the actual name of the game, it usually revolves around acting out a fantastic or supernatural character, using dices that may or may not be cursed by the GameMaster. At least, that’s what I was led to believe. Sounds exciting to you? Cuz it sure does to me.
I’m what I call a closet Half-Orc; someone who has never made the jump to Roleplaying games but has always wanted to know what it was like. Through a short series of articles, I want to discuss why I’m still hiding in the dark and what I can see through the crack in the door.
Today my focus will be on two of the reasons why I’ve preferred, until now, to stay in my closet.
The Rules
I’ve read a couple of RPG rules books and I think I can make some sense out of them. I understand the concept and I find them straightforward enough but it’s still a lot of information to digest. The friends I could play with have had up to 24 years to learn all the rules and I don’t want to ruin everybody else’s fun by doing something foolish.
I can just picture myself running away from a puny monster and throwing an important crystal phial to a companion only to discover that because I’m running away and my dexterity is so poor, it’s impossible to roll a success. The phial then shatters to the floor and 2 minutes later the entire party is wiped out. (And I’m stuck with the pizza bill).
I admit it’s not so much the rules as my ignorance of the rules that cools down my enthusiasm for the game. That’s good news because my knowledge of the game’s mechanism can be improved with a little help from experienced and empathic players. It’s all about finding a comfort zone that will allow me and people like me to get to know the game without feeling like a nuisance.
Genre Savvy
Because they’ve been playing the game for so long, players in my circle of friends have acquired knowledge of the genre that’s completely alien to me. I’m talking about a type of metagaming so subtle, it’s usually invisible to everyone.
Put in simply, I have no clue what the difference is between a red dragon and a silver dragon. To me, a dragon is a dragon… it’s probably a pest to at least one small village somewhere and a dead dragon is always something good to put on your adventuring resume, right? Well, from what I’ve read around the intarweb, it’s not always a good idea to kill a dragon. Obviously, it’s something incredibly hard to do but sometimes, if they are of the right color, they are actually potential allies.
My first glimpse into the RPG world was in the GURPS universe. To my surprise, there were futuristic role-playing games. Awesome! I know sci-fi, I can hold my own in this genre. Boy was I wrong! My ego took such an awesome hit that it knocked my inner half-orc back to sleep for years.
GM: “You come out of hyperspace but something went wrong and you are lost”6
Other guy: “I calculate our new position based on of exit vector and relative speed to the wormhole interstice”
GM: “Ooh good one. You realize the space folding has occurred earlier than planned.”
“…”
Me: “Uhm.. s’cuse me.. What just happened?”
This may not be a direct quote, but only because I cannot fathom what was actually said in that event.
As a complete beginner, I need to know I will be able to repair the ship’s engine with a roll of the die. Not by figuring the warp field theory of the Heart of Gold.
Eventually, I may become knowledgeable enough to refrain from picking up a duck in a dungeon, but I’m not there yet.
Good work PM.
It’s clear to me that in Friday’s introductory game, it’s going to be mostly about the fluff and I’ll keep the crunch to a bare minimum.
I’ll post a special ‘Adventure Prep’ post tomorrow about introducing adult players to RPGs in general and D&D in particular.
Can’t wait to see the next ones…
Oh boy! I’m so glad to see that i wont be alone to feel a bit uneasy in my ignorance of the subtlety of the gaming. It’s been so long since i flexed my RP muscles that i fear to be rusted… Can’t wait for that introductory game next Friday hehe.
And keep those Guest Post coming PM! You know how i love to read your stories and you have such a talent to make ’em enjoyable!! 😉
I think you did a great job of summarizing some of the key points that I’ve heard over and over from friends who are apprehensive about joining the game. The rules can be so overwhelming at times.
I remember having the anxiety myself back in the day. Nearly all the guys in the group had been playing for years and year (and years and years) and seemed to know absolutely everything. But I still truly believe that most of us are pretty nice people who are willing to answer the questions and help out when needed.
Keep it up, PM! I’ll be interested to see how things go!
The whole space folding analogy mad me laugh but also made me wonder about gamers’ conditioning.
We take stuff for granted like ‘no matter how disgusting that corpse is I’m searching it for loot.’
Oh well…