Observations on Onboarding

The few chances I had to crack open the dusty ol' tomes and partake in adventure gaming has been on the refereeing side of the table. Normally with some green recruits on the other side. Checking my notes on the number of sessions I participated as a Player versus the ones as a Referee, there is about a 1:3 ratio. So I'm more often than not running.

Albeit me favoring the take from someone arriving fresh and new to the hobby, rather than a veteran grognard, I ran into some friction when on-boarding new players. This post is collecting some of my personal Observations on Onboarding (new players, that is).

People come to the table with all kinds of backgrounds and expectations. I've had players that have never watched Lord of the Rings/Game of Thrones/Harry Potter - these are rare but they happen. Even cultural pillars of entertainment media as they were. We need to adjust your Common Framework to the media and stories your players are familiar with.

I still don't know if it's better to a) play on Middle Earth. Or b) Middle Earth with the serial numbers filed off - a la Sword of Shannara. Or c) something completely mashed together from different sources - either kitchen sink style, or with a strong vision from the Referee and buy-in from the players.

And let's face it - TTRPGs are a very strange medium and form of entertainment:

• There are rules, but they are constantly modified and interpreted by the play group during (and outside of) the act of play itself.
• It is assymetrical, because the Referee/Game Master is a special player that carries a lot of weight in the whole experience.
• Depending on the Common Framework, the expectations and knowledge taken by the player to the game will be wildly different. If you have watched or read LotR, you will expect dwarves and elves to be a very particular way in the game world.
  

Accept that you as the Referee/Game Master are the most invested player in the game, by a wide margin. This is the way of things. Accept it! instead of trying to herd cats. You spent hours understanding the rule book. Bought an adventure module, or even worse spent more hours creating one. Even a simple dungeon will take time to muster or understand. Players, especially new ones, see TTRPGs as an alternative to boardgame night. Or chatting over a Netflix show. It's just another form of collective entertainment.

Allow for tactical infinity. Combat is very codified in most Old School systems. It has more rules to it, owing to the wargaming roots of the hobby. Which in turn means that the flow of the game is changed to a turn-by-turn sequence with codified options. The beauty of RPGs however is that you are not constrained by a set of actions (attack/move/cast spell). New players come to the table with a lot of creativity, and few or none bad habits. So outside the box solutions will flourish. Encourage creativity and ad-hoc refereeing. Otherwise we might as well be playing a videogame like WoW or similar.

Stop fussing or sweating about character and story continuity. Say a PC dies mid-dungeon. Don't waste time explaining why their cousin suddenly appears as a replacement character in the middle of the dungeon - they just do. Having Hirelings help in this regard, since they are just replacement characters waiting to rise to the opportunity. If we have 2h to play per week, the last thing needed is time and momentum wasted.

Some questions and situations that have come up in my games more than once:

• "How do I/we win? There is no win condition!? WAT!"
• "Why are rolls so different? Why is opening doors 1d6 roll 1 or 2 (low), but Thief rolls d100. And then hireling reaction is 2d6. But combat is d20 roll high? Why?"
• "What happens if I kill the Mayor?"
  "But hold on, he's hiring you to rescue the orphans from the <Insert Mook type>."
  "I don't care, he's an ass, I stab him."
• "Why do we need Torches? Can't we just use sticks on the floor?" - What follows is an awkward explanation on ressource management, realism, and outdoor survival.

Five Inspirations, Issue 2

In no particular order, and with no cohesive fabric between them, here go five sources that have I have consumed, and provided great inspiration for roleplaying. Go read part 1's five inspirations if so inclined (heck, it's been how many YEARS already?!?!). Each in this new batch is probably worth a post of its own.

As my disclaimer usually goes, these are things that I personally like, paid with my own money, and nobody is pushing them my way. Other than the sophisticated advertisement apparatus of the tech giants, of course.

1. Thorgal

Thorgal is a great comic book read from the early 80s. If I were to describe it in a few simpleton words it would be "soft Conan, padded with historical curious and psychedelic dimension hopping". 

Art is tremendous.

There are enough planar adventures and science fantasy shenanigans. The titular Thorgal traveling to the land of the dead, discovering ruins that are not what they seem at first, etc.

2. Piranesi

The following is an excerpt that starts around pg 29 in the hardcover version:

I saw a vision! In the dim Air above the grey Waves hung a white, shining cross. Its whiteness was blazing whiteness; it far outshone the Wall of Statues behind it. It was beautiful but I did not understand it. The next moment brought enlightenment of sort: it was not a cross at all but something vast and white, which glided rapidly towards me on the Wind.

What could it be? It must be a bird, but if I could see it at such a great distance, then it must be a bird of much grater size than the birds I was accustomed to. It swept on, coming directly towards me. I spread my arms in answer to its spread wings, as if I was going to embrace it. I spoke out loud. Welcome! Welcome! Welcome! was what I think I meant to say, but the Wind took my breath from me and all I could manage was 'Come! Come! Come!'

The bird sailed across the heaving Waves, never once beating its wings. With great skill and ease it tipped itself slightly sideways to pass through the Doorway that separated us. Its wingspan surpassed even the width of the Door. I knew what it was! An albatross!

Still it continued, straight towards me, and the strangest thought came to me: perhaps the albatross and I were destined to merge and the two of us would become another order of being entirely: an Angel! This thought both excited and frightened me, but still I remained, arms outstretched, mirroring the albatross's flight. (I thought how surprised the Other would be when I flew into the Second South-Western Hall on my Angel Wings, bringing him messages of Peace and Joy!) My heart beat rapidly.

The moment he reached me - the moment that I thought we would collide like Planets and become one! - I gave out a sort of gasping cry - Aahhhh! In the same instant, I felt some sort of pent-up tension go out ouf me, a tension I did not know I had until that moment. Vast, white wings passed over me. I felt and smelt the Air those wings brought with them, the sharp, salty, wild tang of Faraway Tides and Winds that had roamed vast distances, through Halls I would never see.
...

This book's setting is ripe for implementation as a depth-crawl, a la Gardens of Ynn.

3. Atlas Obscura

This website probably requires a dedicated post. A trove of inspiration that highlights the most bizarre corners of our planet and history. Temples, shop, sites, curios.

There is also a hardcover book which compiles a good selection of articles.

Because sometimes the most imaginative inspirations are right in front of our own noses.

4. Dead Cells

Not one for videogames, whilst everyone and their mother is raving about Elden Ring and their ilk, I decided to restart an old favorite of mine: Dead Cells. A roguelike metroidvania game, it is part of my holy trinity of essential masterpieces (Hollow Knight and Blasphemous being the other two, thanks for asking).

Once again, I remind myself of how much we can learn from it and others in this genre, when we think of elfgames. Moreso megadungeons.

5. Scavenger's Reign

The implied setting is imaginative to no stop. The planet is the main character, and I was taking copious notes. Will probably rewatch very soon, lots I missed for sure. Go watch!