I’m your host sateen Phoenix co-creator
of Mazur Khanna and a dungeon master on
Fury’s reach today’s theme is new
players
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but the different games available
nowadays the different styles and rules
and character sheets playing any RPG can
seem daunting it’s our duty dear game
masters to provide a safe environment
for these new players some will have
been video gamers than idea of RPGs and
some might have no experience at all
that shouldn’t stop any of them from
learning my friend Christine woo asked
me about Tandy and I ran her through a
quick game with no character sheets or
planning and only one died role I could
have scheduled a game with her and
walked her through the players handbook
but that’s not the essence of RPGs in my
opinion she had so much fun in that
moment as she ended up getting the books
and reading up on the game on her own
because she connected with the heart of
the game you know it isn’t easy for a
lot of people to come out of their shell
and perform in front of others but there
seems to be a resurgence of people
playing now I’ve seen a lot of new
players stop playing after only 1 or 2
sessions because of how overwhelming it
can get or how they feel they’re too far
behind to catch up that’s absolutely not
the case let’s take a look at different
ways to ease new players into our
favorite hobby before the game talk to
them and find out what kind of character
they are interested in playing do
explain to them the benefits of this
kind of race class combination don’t
overwhelm them by suggesting all the
things you think are badass they’re
there to play the characters from their
fantasies once they get the hang of it
introduce them to other combinations
give them the basic information and
abilities
once they seem to understand the order
of actions and get the hang of the way
you and your friends roleplay then give
them more abilities before the next
session don’t overwhelm them by asking
them to calculate tons of numbers help
them by pre calculating and modifiers so
they can experience the play and
roleplay rather than spending gobs of
time with their heads in the character
sheet hand them the exact dice will need
for rolling attack dice damaged eyes etc
so they don’t get confused trying to
find the right die
I say this over and over and I’m gonna
keep saying it until it seeps in
tell the players your house rules so
they know how to play with you let them
know to trust you with environment and
PCs and situations in the end all they
really need to do is tell you what they
want to do the game master guides them
to what they should roll to make the
intention happen during the game you and
the other players are their guide the
new player will learn from watching what
other players do show them the
possibilities by role-playing with the
other characters and allowing them to
see the players play then give them
specific moments to try their hand at
role-playing decide how much influence
you want the other players to have in
teaching the new player during the game
this is considered medic gaming draw a
lines that the players don’t take
advantage of being able to met a game
outside of this specific case in your
game it can quickly get out of hand I’ve
seen it on this note be careful how you
reprimand other players rules are set
for ease of play but aggressive
reprimanding can also deter a new player
from the game role-playing games are fun
don’t lose track of that there are a lot
of rules and boundaries that navigate
and with lots of practice you’ll get
better at it rules how much is too much
rules heavier rules light they still
need to be communicated I find that
giving them a basic rule rundown of
things they can do before the game
starts and then gradually teaching them
as they go is optimal
a lot of people learn by being put in
situations rather than having to
memorize so be patient with them
I could roll on but instead let’s
discuss this with writer master of the
gauntlet a musical improviser with robot
teammate Chris Bramante hello thank you
for coming for having me sateen you’re a
fantastic game master
thank you I saw it with my own eyes oh
you were a fantastic player you are the
man in charge of the gauntlet yes yes I
was very impressed it’s very fun and
lively and easy to play well I’m glad
that it was yeah gauntlet is designed in
order to let new players come in that
day you can create your character but
you don’t create a character sheet we
have a character sheet already built for
you and you just use your weapons and
your you know your will and your
fortitude but beyond that stats aren’t
that important to the show it was really
cool because you asked me what do you
want to play what kind of character do
you want to play and it was that was as
simple as your character sheet seemed to
be like oh I want to play a wizard or oh
I want to play a paladin of some sort
and you’re like okay well that idea fits
into this character sheet and you had us
make backstories and stuff but it was
actually very simple so how did you come
up with that easy character sheet so you
have all the different classes each of
them have kind of the best weapon that
matches that class best is obviously
subjective but what we did was we took
three different kinds of weapons each
person gets just to come in fill out
your name as long as you know who you
are
everything’s there for you and just it’s
a hack and slash I think is the term
just a dungeon crawl you’re going from
room to room you’re escaping you’re
killing these creatures you’re
collecting skulls which is why I’m the
skull giver I montiek the skull giver
and so I didn’t even do that because I’m
pretty new to GME myself the first time
I ever GM was live on Twitch that’s cool
it was pretty nerve-wracking until it
started happening until I sort of just
sort of rolled back into my head
you know eyes disappeared came back as a
Monty ah command I thought
but before that it all seemed kind of
overwhelming but then it just gets
natural as it goes on just like I
suppose life is and so I want people who
have never played to be able to just
come and have fun and fantasize and
improvise and do their thing and one of
the ways you do that seems to be with
having a light-hearted game yeah so you
mentioned something before about you
your view on comedy and your view on
being playful with players can you talk
about that
one thing that I always think about
comedy but also taking something
seriously is I don’t want too much like
meta fourth-wall breaking because I am a
lord of the Rings fantasy head I love
that stuff but I also don’t want things
to be the same so what I try to bring to
the gauntlet is this ridiculous almost
Mel Brooks ian silliness exactly that’s
exactly it was writer on Mel Brooks yeah
thank you
like I’ve be missed the no clops is one
of the characters I like to play he was
a cyclops and then he was blinded by
neuron Dean the night boy so now he’s
the no klopse
just like dumb stuff that makes me laugh
but I try to treat it as if it’s super
serious and some of the times where I
struggle in the show is if a performer
doesn’t act like their life is in danger
mm-hmm because I what I always feel
about if you’re going to make believe
you must believe and one of the most
freeing concepts for me as an improviser
was when a teacher told me don’t try to
be funny don’t think that you’re funny
don’t be thinking in that way choose a
character be that character and then
just believe that you are and then see
what happens so for me that’s how I want
to perform in a show so when we’re doing
a live twitch stream it’s different
because it’s a show it’s not
just it’s not a long-form campaign you
don’t have the time to really think it
through in the way that you would when
you’re getting together with a group
without people expecting you to keep
their attention so what I want to do is
create a situation in which you can just
tap in believe who you are know what
your weapons are and how to use them and
then just keep moving and keep going so
the rules for the game Pathfinder
Dungeons & Dragons or whatever they’re
pretty intense
yes how did you simplify it to
communicate to the new players that come
in on your come in to your game so that
they would understand it easier what I
do is if someone’s never played at all
the way I describe it to them is think
of this as verbal storytelling in which
the dice is a conduit to chance
that’s what that’s all it is we’re going
to talk about what’s happening I believe
it’s second is a GM you’re speaking in
second person which is you this you that
and usually once they understand that
and then the basic concept of can I hit
and what does it do mm-hmm and then
describe what you’re doing walk us
through it
once they get that and we do a couple
practice rolls like I have it in columns
it’s like you’re always going to strike
then you roll the die explain to them
all they’re dice and at first you can
kind of see like this like math and like
the way that you’ve simplified it not
just for the players but for you so that
you get the players through the dungeon
because one of the things I noticed that
when we were playing your game is I
didn’t even think about the rules the
way you showed it to us it was what are
you doing and we were just kind of
moving and it it was second nature but
that’s playing and that’s what
role-playing games are is I’m doing this
what are you doing this is what the
other guy is doing and it’s just the
that really fluid movement through the
adventure yeah and your group is so
fluid because you have a relationship
together all right
you came in there and it was I could
even sense it was such a pared down
version for you like Cayenne Midian and
& my linh
magic ARRA what a character it was just
instantly you guys were just flowing
through it and I try to bring in groups
that at least have one person that they
know because an established rapport
takes it to the next level the times are
I’ve brought in individuals that don’t
know each other it’s definitely a roll
of the dice in terms of will they
connect or will they freeze up will they
not engage and then even though they
write out these bios of character
explorations based off of questions I’ve
asked them they don’t necessarily use
the information because sometimes it
feels like it’s probably just the brain
as processing like am I doing this right
yeah do you have anything else you want
to say about this um
yeah people I always want to make sure
that that just the realm is kept within
like if you want to do meta
earth jokes you can do them but do them
in this world like we had someone who
initially wrote a sheet and they wanted
to be a surfer in Santa Monica and the
way I phrased it to them is even though
Amontillado is over a thousand years old
has died many times and has gone to all
different sorts of dimension
he knows what Santa Monica is but you
guys don’t so he did a quick edit of it
and then it was he was a turtle rider
from Montes Anika oh gosh and so he can
still do his comedic performance in that
way but with making it true to this
world which is a realm I called eros
although now we’re in the alternate
dimension of hey hey rose and then some
people get sucked into the all horse
version of that dimension which is hey
rose fun funfun it all kind of just
comes up as it’s happening
yeah that’s gaming and that’s improv so
I’m gonna ask you three questions three
quests just same questions I ask every
guest questions three answer you these
questions three yeah let’s see if I can
do it
what is your pregame house rule the
pregame house rule is to like each other
to the players like each other you are
all together you’re on the same team
you’re not attacking each other you will
never any point in the rules of this
game draw a sword against another player
so why have a sword of words these are
your friends we try to do a few improv
warm-ups beforehand make eye contact and
then of course like I was saying believe
believe that you are who you are the
stakes are high you are not in Earth
right now you are in darros that’s the
rule let’s play awesome what is your
favorite GM moment my favorite GM moment
was when the chat created an emote of my
head and I what that did to me was
sometimes I feel like things make sense
when you see that it makes sense to
someone else so I grew up as a punk rock
kid I used to sing in a punk band called
the mashed potatoes I was never quite a
metal or goth person but I always hung
in those realms but big fan of the
misfits growing up and so when I play in
fantasy realms even though I am a
pacifist in a very peaceful person who
doesn’t even I don’t play violent video
games the only time that any sort of
violent urge just kind of naturally
pours out is in fantasy roleplay games
where it’s like oh I just described a
gross flaying of an orc
I guess that’s in there somewhere but
when they created the emote as I am a
montiek the Skull giver someone I was
looking at the chat I always begin it
with my little intro scream that you’ve
entered the gauntlet and I looked at
chat and all of a sudden there is me
with the robe and my hair sticking out
and then a skull for my face and I was
like okay they understand what I’m
trying to do and now I understand what I
was even doing
so it was a conversation and that the
chat kind of helped me become what I
wanted to become in there creating of
that emote that’s awesome no a quick tip
to the audience doesn’t have to have
anything to do with what we talked about
today oh great do I look to you or do I
look to them you can look to whoever you
want okay
hi so look to you a quick tip would be
something that robot teammates improv
coach taught to us which is to dig your
heels sometimes when we’re creating an
improvised story live in front of a
crowd things go off the rails the story
we were the story we were intending to
tell is not being told
sometimes the instinct is discomfort and
nervousness and looking to each other
and you can sense this kind of like oh I
wish I wasn’t here why are we doing this
people are looking at us expecting to be
entertained to be satisfied so what our
coach taught us was especially when that
happens double down even further even if
it has gone fully crazy and angels are
coming out of your ears and babies are
singing and lasses dig your heels into
the dirt as if it was exactly your plan
and so that is something that I try to
do in life and definitely do in GME
that’s an excellent GM tip thank you
thank you that is the end of our show
for today
thank you for watching GM tips on geek &
sundry and thank you Chris for being
here oh thank you for having me
where can we find you on the Internet oh
you know places I’m Chris Tremonti you
can find me as a montiek on Twitter
Instagram and YouTube as well as every
Thursday on the gauntlet on twitch.tv
slash hyper RPG you can find me on
Fridays at 9:30 on geek & sundry twitch
where we do gather your party with
robots you mate and those are the places
to find me it’s true I’ve seen them on
those places as always I’m Satine
Phoenix you can find me at Satine
Phoenix and you can catch me every
Sunday on twitch.tv slash maser kana and
orphan echo and Tuesday is dungeon
string Furies reach on twitch TV / D&D
and on SOG is a sundry dread on project
alpha comm Chris mmm
are you ready to GMs out of here oh I
hope so
to all you creatures seeking quest your
whims and wits now face a test the story
needs you take the helm guide us through
your mythic realm trust your dice expect
surprise conceive believe and improvise
construct a world consumed in conflict a
Forgotten forest danken haunted
imagination use it wanted confront the
fire face the gauntlet find the
adventure hiding within the time is now
so just
you
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