Home ›
Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
This forum is in permanent archive mode. Our new active community can be found here.
Trying an RPG at a gaming convention
I'm going to a gaming convention in Vermont in about a month. (Link to convention.)
At this convention, you can pre-register for which games you want to play. I'm a boardgamer, and I've never played an RPG in my life. I thought that maybe it would be fun to try an RPG for just one session. While it won't happen this year, since I've already sent in my pre-registration form, I still have some questions for the possibility of trying next year.
1) Is it possible for a complete RPG newbie to try a game at a convention, or is that like an amateur golfer signing up for a professional tournament?
2) How do you identify which games are appropriate for a newbie, if any?
3) How do I identify which games to stay away from?
I'll give an example. Here is a game that is scheduled for Friday from 1pm-5pm:
Into the Mouth of Milu!:
Eathquakes and volcanic activity rock the Big Island of Hawaii. A team of scientists and local guides investigate. The team embarks on an adventure from the lava plateau at Kilauea volcano, across the rugged slopes of Mauna Kea, through underground caverns, and sacred Hawaiian burial grounds. Time is running out. They must do something before the island is destroyed. Can they find a way to stop the forces of nature? Or is there more happening than just natural events? There are six courageous characters ready for souls daring to challenge the native gods.
Okay... that's nice. But it doesn't really tell me what I need to know and/or must have in order to play. Some games say that they need "second level characters" or something similar, but I don't even know what game system it's referring to.
Any thoughts?
By the way... if you click on the link for the pre-registration book, it lists all of the events at the convention. It's pretty impressive for something in Vermont.
At this convention, you can pre-register for which games you want to play. I'm a boardgamer, and I've never played an RPG in my life. I thought that maybe it would be fun to try an RPG for just one session. While it won't happen this year, since I've already sent in my pre-registration form, I still have some questions for the possibility of trying next year.
1) Is it possible for a complete RPG newbie to try a game at a convention, or is that like an amateur golfer signing up for a professional tournament?
2) How do you identify which games are appropriate for a newbie, if any?
3) How do I identify which games to stay away from?
I'll give an example. Here is a game that is scheduled for Friday from 1pm-5pm:
Into the Mouth of Milu!:
Eathquakes and volcanic activity rock the Big Island of Hawaii. A team of scientists and local guides investigate. The team embarks on an adventure from the lava plateau at Kilauea volcano, across the rugged slopes of Mauna Kea, through underground caverns, and sacred Hawaiian burial grounds. Time is running out. They must do something before the island is destroyed. Can they find a way to stop the forces of nature? Or is there more happening than just natural events? There are six courageous characters ready for souls daring to challenge the native gods.
Okay... that's nice. But it doesn't really tell me what I need to know and/or must have in order to play. Some games say that they need "second level characters" or something similar, but I don't even know what game system it's referring to.
Any thoughts?
By the way... if you click on the link for the pre-registration book, it lists all of the events at the convention. It's pretty impressive for something in Vermont.
Comments
Why these two? Because the people who play these games expect character death at every corner and will not be overly upset when things go wrong. Gamers of the D&D ilk (never die/uber characters) tend to get very irritable when things go wrong at a CON game.
Try to find a game that is being run by someone who is trying to sell the game. Generally speaking, games run by fans for fans more often will require more prior knowledge and experience. They will also often be less welcoming to total nubs. These are usually involving people who take their shit seriously.
Now, if you were to play in a Burning Wheel game with Luke Crane, or a D+D game run by a WotC employee, or any other game run by someone who has an interest in selling the game, then it is pretty much guaranteed to be nub friendly. They want your money, so they will be friendly, helpful, and welcoming. They will accommodate you in every way they can, and do their best to make sure you have fun.
Again, this is not a rule. There are many nub-friendly fan-run games out there. However, just about every game run by a salesperson is guaranteed to be nub friendly.
A while back, a friend and I went to a Games Workshop to get a demo of Warhammer 40k from one of the associates. The dude trounced us horribly. After the initial clash, whenever we asked what moves we could do, most of the options he gave us were "flee" or "expose your guys to enemy fire," the latter mostly ended in death. By the time the scenario ended, all our guys were dead or had involuntarily fled. We had managed to hit his guys a couple times, but because of their armor, they weren't even damaged.
I don't expect someone selling me a game to kowtow to my every whim, but I don't expect to be emasculated either.
I (when demoing games) try to keep the game tight until the last few turns. I have sold many games after running a demo when the game was tight and I beat them. Players have more respect for a game (and the demo) if they feel they are being treated to a fair game.
In fact I have sold many copies of Quartile this way. Even though I do not lose a demo game I always insure that it comes down to the wire. The players do not expect to beat the game designer but by coming close they feel like they did win. Kind of like coming in second in a free throw competition against Michael Jordan.
I also make a point of showing players better placement choices in the early part of the game. Like Scott says, I want them to buy the game thus I will insure they have a good experience playing the game.