How do you teach a person gaming? Back when I was in high school, it's no surprise I was a bit of a nerdy outcast. Lunchtime was a big concern, even more so than in middle school. The mix of kids there was different, and many of my friends from former years had gone to different high schools - even the two of us at Never Say Dice, were split up. However, this time I was fortunate: a group of card players sat next to me. As creatures of habit, we pretty much stuck to those same seats throughout the year. Every day while they ate, they’d play round after round of Spades. Occasionally they might mix it up with poker, hearts, or some other game, but Spades was the go-to. After a month or two, one of them was out sick and the rest were bummed that they wouldn't be able to pursue their favorite pastime. Showing unusual courage and social acuity, I piped up and offered to play a hand. I’d never played before, but had picked it up by watching them. From then on, I was always an alternate for the group, picking up hands when someone was out or had to jump up to use the bathroom. That isn’t always one learns gaming, though, and certainly, to someone on the outside, tabletop roleplaying games can seem particularly daunting to jump into. So how do you teach a person about tabletop roleplaying? Deborah Ann Woll has seen a lot of nerd attention recently for “getting them playing” by throwing an interviewer into a Dungeons & Dragons scenario on the spot. As we’ve discussed on the blog before, D&D isn’t always everyone’s preference, though - so here are a few suggested pitch scenarios from us here at Never Say Dice. - A
The Classic Ninja
A: This one has been around for at least 20 years. Put THEM right into it. Imagine we’re sitting here chatting just like we are right now, and suddenly a smoke bomb starts filling the room as ninjas crash in through the window... what do you do? Seriously you, as a person, with your own approximate skill set and the things around you. Of course, you’re also free to start making something up. That's the whole point of gaming.
B: With some prospective gamers, you could turn it the other way round, of course. Imagine you’re a ninja (or spy, or commando, or…) and you’ve been told you need to infiltrate a compound or fortress to complete some objective like stealing plans or rescuing prisoners. How will you go about it? What would you do to get ready? If someone comes up with a particularly elaborate plan on the spot, though, you may well be talking to a future GM.
The Familiar Setting
B: If both you and the prospective player are both fans of a particular media property, it’s easy to drop them into the action. I had a great experience improvising a single-player Star Wars game for a young person when none of my regular group showed up - the only prep he had to do was come up with a character and I’d handle the rest. Inspired by the West End D6 system, where the GM sets difficulty targets at their own discretion, I'd think of some appropriate difficulty number when it came time for any kind of skill check, and have our young player roll a D20 to see what happened. Before long, his mother came along and joined in as well. It was a fantastic success, and even though he sold his mother out to the Imperials at the first opportunity, the two of them left eager to try a full session.
B: Even if you can't find something specific, if you can find a broad genre you both enjoy, you can land pretty quickly on the appropriate tropes. If you're an older, or at least more experienced, genre fan than your prospective player, you might even be able to pull directly from a classic a newer fan might not be familiar with. I don't think Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, or Agatha Christie will mind if you do an unauthorized adaptation of one of their works to introduce a mystery fan into the idea of gaming, for instance... just don't tell their estates.
If you do want to try working with prospective players (especially younger ones) entering a scenario as themselves, rather than a character, you may want to take a look at the original line of Choose Your Own Adventure books. I've been researching recently them for other reasons (that may or may not become a future NSD post), and they can be a masterclass in giving just enough detail to include the reader in a story, but fill in all the specific details from their own lives.
A: Of course, throwing someone into the deep end of a scenario isn’t always going to be the best option. Some people learn better by watching, just like my own story in the intro. Others might do better with reading about a particular game (if you’re willing to loan them your rule books), and some might prefer a simple analogy ("it’s like G.I. Joe versus COBRA on the playground, only with dice!"*) or they may have a different method of learning altogether. Generally, though, getting someone playing with a “what do you do?” after you’ve had some minor direction on what their "character" might be, is a hard thing to beat. At the very least, it's not as scary as your uncle throwing you off the pier into the cold deadly waters of the lake one frosty March morning to try and teach you how to swim, and you still don’t hear right out of your left ear. Now let us never speak of him again. Until next week, enjoy your dice and your tables... even if they’re lunchroom chairs, cars on a road trip, or the bleachers at a sporting event.
Send questions, comments, and any "what if" scenarios compelling enough to distract a police officer or IRS agent to neversaydice20@gmail.com or tweet us @neversaydice2.
* Substitute your own era-appropriate reference here.