RPG - Advice needed as I have no idea :(

[Denial]

Hi guys,

A few of my friends have recently shown an interest in trying an RPG, like dungeons and dragons. None of us have any experience in this. I also guess it is down to me to try the dungeon master role as the others have not been big gamers in general before and want me to lead.
The trouble is I haven't had any experience either!!!


Has anyone any suggestions for a good starter game? I had a look on BGG and there are hundreds...

So I need a basic entry game please.
Also, if you know of any links to help or video tutorials on any of your suggestions then I really appreciate it.

Thanks all

D.

[Emp]

I guess your group will have to decide in wich era they want to rpg first. Are you in to elf's and dragons swinging swords or are you more into spaceships and lasers?

[SovTech]

Or western and zombies?

Maybe you could answer these questions:

How old are the people in the group?

What theme or genre would you find most interesting? (Horror, fantasy, western, science fiction, big brother)

Do you prefer realism or heroism? (should people be able to die in a scenario?)

Do you like complicated rules, that lets you specialise your characters or do you prefer easy rules where a wizard is a wizard and a paladin is a paladin?

Cheerio,
ST

[jimbal]

i have a gamer group and we play religiously every sunday. If its a first time you really cannot go wrong with D&D or Pathfinder(which is basically D&D anyway). We have been pretty happy with pathfinder and the d20pfsrd.com site is amazing for first time gamers as it has pretty much everything you need to try it out without having to buy all the books up front. If you find you enjoy it grab the core and a few other ones.

We have just introduced 3 new players and they have found it really easy to get into the pathfinder rules. Since you have never played any of them D&D version 3.5 and pathfinder are very similar and a lot of the stuff is interchangeable without much mucking about. You likely wont need anything more than the site i mentioned above though if you go with pathfinder.

As far as a first time DM it will be a good idea for you to get pretty familiar with the basics and the site so you can quickly find info on spells and other stuff like feats. Another good thing for a first time group is to get an adventure path so you dont have to spend weeks or months writing your own storyline just to have the group decide they arent into it and quit. That is something a lot of first time DMs have complained about. So look for an adventure path like Curse of the Crimson Throne(this was the first serious game we got into and played through to completion), its an interesting enough story and you can run through it pretty quick if you use the fast leveling experience options with pathfinder. We had a blast as there was only one experienced player and the DM was running his first game, so we were all learning together and getting into crazy antics.

I have never DMed a game so thats about all the advice I can give you specifically, but as a player I have been playing every week for several years now. You should make sure your players actually spend a little time thinking of a backstory for their character. It makes getting into RP a little easier because they flesh out their characters past which directly affects how they would act in the present. The first character I ever played I wrote a really basic backstory and it made it harder for early game RP because I hadnt really thought about how he would act since I had no real idea how he was brought up. Since then I have wrote pretty detailed backstories including stuff like names of family members, friends, and even stuff like favorite teachers or other role models(and in some cases wrote short back stories for these npc(non playable characters) so my dm could use them as he saw fit. This will make your job a lot easier as the DM since you will have more well rounded characters to react with using your NPC characters. We have been using alternating DMs and both have their own styles. One meticulously plans his NPC characters with full character sheets and levels them when they need to be but leaves the actual storyline very basic and lets the players really control where we go and what we end up actually doing. The other is pretty much free falling with his npc characters but likes to make a very specific story and goals that have to be accomplished.

Aside from that, for the players, it will benefit them greatly to read over all the classes and what they get as they level up. Also make sure they read the leveling up info and have agood understanding of that before they roll up a new character. The thing that always slows us down the most is new players who havent looke dover anything about the classes or the leveling process as they need a ton of help.

The last thing I will say for now is be prepared for a long term commitment. Our first game(the adventure path mentioned above) ran for about 9 months, since then our games have been taking over a year to complete. Granted we havent been using the faster experience tables all the time but still, even on the fastest it will take quite a while. I know I have gone on forever, but I would have loved to have someone who played a lot to help us out in the very beginning so if you have any questions post here or PM me I will be happy to help any way I can. Even if its a bit long winded.

[Old Dwarf]

As Emp & SovTech indicated to be helpful we'll need to know what interest your Group.

OD

[Denial]

Awesome replies all!!

I think the fantasy is what we thought of. However, now you said zombie horror I am intrigued...
We are all mid thirty to mid forty. I guess the rules need to be basic to start with but can be adapted and advanced.

[mqstout]

My go-to recommendation for someone who's never played before is the Dragon Age product line. It's a competent RPG, easy to learn, sold in a box, and comes with (as well as sold separately) enough high-quality adventures for one person to pick up and run the game for enough time to get into it (6+ sessions from what I could tell). It's also pretty cheap and only requires D6s to start.

Why not D&D (and Pathfinder)? D&D has an overwhelming omnibus of books that players will be drawn towards and feel the need to pick up and explore, quickly derailing any depthful learning. D&D has "rules for everything" which can stunt a new Game Master's development of his own abilities (adjudication, winging it when necessary, etc).

To be continued when I don't have to rush to put shoes on and catch a bus

[SovTech]

Hi again Denial,

Ok, first off I think you guys should be ok with some complexity in the rules. I started my rpg career with D&D (Dungeons and Dragons) back in the late 80ies, went over to AD&D (Advanced Dungeons and Dragons), went on to Warhammer (the "other" D&D ), Vampire the Masquerade, Rolemaster (Do not ever go there!), GURPS, Werewolf (Good Dog!), Call of Cthulhu, Mage, Warhammer 40k, All Flesh Must be Eaten, Deadlands etc.

Moreover our gaming group have gone through several stages starting with:

Hack n´slash
Whoohoo I am a level 12 Flamemage with speciallity in fireball! Burn, loot, level up and kill more monsters... Basically Diablo but around a table.

Adventure:
As I plunge my sword into the evil kings throat I cry: Freeeedoooom... And then I pick up the princess on my shoulder. This is the basic storytelling, but very much set within the rules of the game, and with the specific goal of developing the characters (levelling up).

Inter-group play:
"What do you mean you're in league with the demon? You can't backstab me, we're in the same party..." This is where we discovered that inter-group play and conflicts can be just as fun and rewarding as the adventure.

Non-system roleplaying:
"All 4 of you are sitting in the room. An officer enters: Hello. We know one of you is a traitor to the regime. I will leave, and when I come back you will name that traitor, or all of you will be executed." This kind of roleplaying game are highly rewarding, but I would not recommend it for campaigns. It builds especially on the ability of each participant to engage herself in the role the person recieved.

Genre roleplaying:
Well... All of the above but moderated to the specific genre. If you play Deadlands you create varieties of western stereotypes, but with a twist, and you play a game that is 50 percent horror and 50 percent gunslinging. If you play vampire, you are mingling a lot of pretty heavy stuff like political intrigues with goth, with mystery and horror. And so on...

Well, as jombal mentioned most people start with D&D or Warhammer (if you want to go that way I would recommend Pathfinder). This is easy rules, and it is very much Adventurelike. There is different worlds for the system, as an oldtimer I would recommend Forgotten Realms or Dragonlance (but what do I know of the game today).

Then there is Call of Chthulu. Cultists, horror, insanity, zombies and inevitably doom for all mankind. It is the best known horror rpg and most people have a few good stories about. I like it a lot, but mostly for the stories you tell when you play it. It can be hard to have a long campaign with this game, as most players will go mad or die (or cause the doom of our planet). Creepy, creepy. Imagine playing LNoE, but with the players trying to find out which of the elder gods caused the zombie outbreak and how do we stop it!

Deadlands. This is one of the games we still play. There is something wrong. History isn't as we know it. The year is 1876 and the civil war between the north and south are continuing. Mad science and steam punk are running amok, while gunslingers come back from the grave as harrowed, and poker players known as hucksters do magic with their cards. But there is something darker and more mysterious behind this. Werewolves and walkin' dead prowl the prairies, ghost towns have blurred inhabitants, and sometimes the veil is so thin that our nightmares come alive. Welcome to Deadlands, hope you have you hogleg ready partner, for this will be a ride.

Vampire the Masquerade. Ever wanted to play a vampire? Ever wanted to bask in the power of undeath, and be one of the seven clans that uphold the Maquerade that the humans believe: That they are the movers and shakers of this world? Ever wanted to outgamble your friends in a political, economical and cultural game that will leave your clan on the top of the power pyramid... That is unless you are being played by others. The other clans and the Anarchists? Those we do not talk about my childe. This is one of the best storytelling games we have tried. You can play it in any setting, and any time (although I would discourage playing it in the future) and it very much builds on characters competing and cooperating, backstabbing and saving. It can be truly epic.

And if you want to play the roleplaying equivalent of LNoE: All flesh must be eaten. Zombies, zombies, everywhere. In the book there are included all rules you need, some different settings you can use, but very few adventures (you have to do your own fantazising

Let us know what you would like...
Cheerio,
ST

[j0hnnn]

I support almost 100% Mqstout's opinion....

Dragon Age is a very solid rpg... lacks variety in the characters build... but it is a great system and has a solid product line indeed.

I do like D&D/Pathfinder better however stick with D&D 3rd version and the early versions of pathfinder and also only with the core rules...

If you're in zombies and want that sort of stuff i would direct you to the All flesh must be eaten... that gives a HUGIC variety of options for campaings featuring the undeads as villains... But works almost only with zombies. Besides that other cool dark scenario is the one of the New World of Darkness in this case pick the 4th edition that has got a lot more balanced and solid than earlier ones...

Hope it helps...

[SovTech]

Oh btw. If you have watched A Game of Thrones (Or even read the series A song of Ice and Fire), there is an RPG by Green Ronin that takes place in that world. It is very much about flavour and theme what you chose as your roleplaying game.

Cheerio,
ST