Recently, there has been talk on the blogs about the info dump for new players via (Necropraxis, The Nine and Thirty Kingdoms, and Chicagowiz’s Games), starting with the idea of “no homework”. And like all the other bloggers linked, I share this ideal. No knowledge of the rules and no knowledge of the setting required to play in my games! I like to hand out randomly generated characters and let players explain the lore to each other as we play. Oral history, *in game* and *out of game!*
Chgowiz also mentioned a *one page player handout*. And I have a similar thing: a page for new players. Here’s what I would use, based on the one I had for my last campaign:
No need to bring anything. *If you do bring snacks*, please bring something healthy. We’re usually swamped with unhealthy stuff. Help stem the tide of chocolate, cookies, chips and bring some fruit instead. 🍑 🍓 🍉 🍍 🍊 🍇 🍒 🍅 🍈 🍐
We have (ugly) *dice and pencils and paper* and all that. Feel free to bring your own, of course, but there’s no need to buy anything until you feel like it.
You’ll be able to *pick from a bunch of pre-generated characters*. You can also roll up a character at the table instead, no problem.
The rules are simple and we will be happy to explain everything as we go. If you prefer to take a look at the rules, no problem. We’re using the *Halberds and Helmets* house rules (PDF).
The **game starts at 19:00**. I’ll be here at least half an hour before that, so don’t be shy and ring the bell: Schröder/Frei, [my address], near the [...], near the [...], near the [...].
I’ll send out *a message via Threema before every game*. When you install Threema, it will guide you through the creation of your ID. Send me this ID via email and I’ll add you.
RSVP! Let us know whether you can make it to the game or not. If we don’t get three players, we’ll cancel the game. If we get more than six players, we’ll have to talk about seating arrangements or perhaps one of you feels like taking a break.
If anybody needs to *cancel at the last minute*, send a message to the group so that we can coordinate.
If you decide you want to *quit the game* and found that talking to the other people at the table doesn’t help, play along for the rest of the session, go home, write a friendly good-bye email, and be done with it. There’s no need to argue – sometimes people just don’t fit and that’s ok. It’s the spice of life. Conversely, if I feel it’s not working out, I’ll do the same thing.
There can be good natured *competition and treachery* between characters, but please talk about it at table before you do it. Not everybody enjoys a little player vs. player.
Talk to the other before *splitting the party*. I think I can handle it, but sometimes other players have a hard time abiding their time. Don’t bore the others sitting at the table. As an extension of that, no solo missions.
This campaign is about [...]. If you don’t like [...], then you’ll need to convince us all to change direction – or find another game. Don’t undermine the game the rest of us signed up for.
Players are responsible for their character’s *motivation*. If your character has no reason to come along, change characters.
This page for new players has all the things I think are important:
This is all *out of game* information.
The rest is on the campaign wiki. When my last campaign ended after 67 sessions we had 283 pages. If one of the players had wanted to dig in, they could have. Or if they wanted to search it while we were playing, they were free to do so.
Like Chgowiz says, my players hardly ever write anything on my campaign wikis. But it’s how I keep track of things, how I get into the groove when preparing new stuff. But really, this is the kind of stuff that I wrote about in 2011: people don’t like reading session reports, let alone creation myths, histories or any other setting material. 😄
people don’t like reading session reports
#RPG #Old School