Starter Sets and Introducing RPGs

[MetalDog]

Wow!  That's great, Bison!  Is your wife just being a good sport?  Or has she shown some interest?

[bayonetbrant]

I recommend you dunk $6 into this one
http://www.nobleknight.com/ProductDetailSearch.asp_Q_ProductID_E_15925_A_InventoryID_E_2147952724

Not that you'll ever use the rules, but because the back half of the book is the BEST GM/DM guide I've ever seen.  A ton of great ideas on building campaigns / worlds / adventures and running sessions.  It's great advice and it's very practical.

It's hard to find b/c it's 25 years old, but it's cheap b/c there's been a lot of updates to the parts people care about - the game rules.  I have no idea if the newer editions have the same sourcebook info in the back, but you check out the FLGS and thumb thru it and see.

Still for as cheap as this is, it's totally worth taking a flyer on it and seeing if the back of it works for you.  And if not, bring it w/ you to Origins and I'll swap you for something.

[Bison]

I'll give it a look at the FLGS, but I doubt they carry anything like that there.


MD - The kid asked and told her how easy and fun RPG are to play and she said yes.


Good session of Pathfinder was had.  The rules in the beginner box are not bad at all as far as complexity.  Pazio did a great job of breaking them down and explaining them, as well as simplifying them for new and younger players to understand.  In fact, I was struck by just how much the set up of the manuals reminded me of the old red box.  And of course a good 50+ pawns for encounters is nice too.  I need to read the D&D 5th ed rules again just to see how trimmed down certain aspects are compared to Pathfinder, but no one was overwhelmed at the table tonight.  Just the typical new player type thing of not knowing they could or could not do something.  What the different stats and skills do.  Adding bonuses to the rolls, but not too bad.  The starting adventure should give us at least another 2 or 3 sessions. 

[MetalDog]

That's really awesome, Bison. 

[Nefaro]

I recommend you dunk $6 into this one
http://www.nobleknight.com/ProductDetailSearch.asp_Q_ProductID_E_15925_A_InventoryID_E_2147952724

Not that you'll ever use the rules, but because the back half of the book is the BEST GM/DM guide I've ever seen.  A ton of great ideas on building campaigns / worlds / adventures and running sessions.  It's great advice and it's very practical.

For GM guide recommendations, I often see this Mutants & Masterminds GM Guide listed as one of the best around, covering a wide range of aspects on the topic.

Amazon Link

I picked it up awhile back, with the latest M&M rules.  It covers the whole range of GM'ing.  Browsing through it, and reading some of the sections, it certainly looks to live up to the hype.

[Bison]

There are a number of good resources for GMing.  It depends on what you need more help with for the game.  General tips on how to run a session or plan for an encounter or different than tips for a campaign setting.  I know that many people may suffer from Forgotten Realms fatigue, but when it first came out and really replaced Greyhawk as the main campaign setting the source books were really great idea builders.  I never really delved into a full fledged Greyhawk/Forgotten Realms setting but borrowed an number of ideas and settings from them for my world. 

But I think for the GM beginner, it's better to not get overly fixated on the specifics of the campaign world.  Just general themes and a basic starting setting.  The "home" town/village and surrounding area.  There are hours of learning and fun to be had in a small geographic area that can be expanded in time.

[Nefaro]

But I think for the GM beginner, it's better to not get overly fixated on the specifics of the campaign world.  Just general themes and a basic starting setting.  The "home" town/village and surrounding area.  There are hours of learning and fun to be had in a small geographic area that can be expanded in time.

Definitely.

The GM guide I was referring to (and probably Brant's) is mostly tips, for both beginners and experienced types, regarding the basics.  Not necessarily some huge world-building stuff, but advice like that we've seen in these recent threads.  Albeit more in-depth and covering more sub-topics.

I think the handful of essential tips can be had for free, from veterans doing vids and columns on the 'net.  But there are some good reads, which cover far more, if one wants more advice and help organizing & running them.  :)


My few early forays into GM'ing, long ago, turned out to be mostly poor attempts.  All except one, IIRC.  It was due to not having some of the extremely useful advice I've read in recent years.  The GM suggestions which came with GM guides, back in the old days, was generally crap from what I recall.

[MetalDog]

As I go through the 5e DMG, there is a lot more in the way of world building tips than the versions I am most familiar with.  So much so, that I think I might actually be able to fake my way through this ;)

[Bison]

Yeah I'm probably nostalgic when I think about the 1st ed D&D, but in reality the information was always very general and vague on "how" to DM.  I think somewhere along the way RPGs in general went the way of a novel.  Where every detail about towns, wilderness, NPCs, and monsters were detailed in great depth and often a player would outpace a DM and then there would conflict between the facts of the details of the world.  I at one point had a Waterdeep box that had like 12 3X3 maps or something like that to lay out for the entire city.  It was very awesome, but incredibly impractical for most gaming sessions.

[Nefaro]

Indeed.

I've found the more generalized tips more useful.  Such as all the recommendations on how to prepare for and keep the story flexible, different NPC personality styles & ways to run them, and other such tricks of the trade.  Straight from GMs who are far more experienced than myself.  A wide variety of suggestions & ideas on how to make your sessions fun.  For everyone involved.   O0

The old RPGs didn't really include GM sections dealing with stuff of that nature.  Some still don't.  They were pretty sterile in that sense.


I've been impressed with how tabletop gaming has generally evolved for the better in the past decade or less, compared to my younger days.  Not only physical quality, but the ideas & writing on the subject. 8)

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Get Aftermath! or Freedom Fighters from FGU.  Those are nice, light RPGs...

[Nefaro]

Get Aftermath! or Freedom Fighters from FGU.  Those are nice, light RPGs...

:o


Is Aftermath! still around?  Or is it just old out-of-print stuff still floating about?

Vaguely recall that from my youth.  Seemed a bit of a mess, but was still an intriguing read.  Probably because there wasn't much like it back then.

[Bison]

Ill be all in learning SW and Pathfinder and D&D 5 Ed.  Even if those games were any good I've got more game rules learning than I can handle.

[Bison]

I was able to physically see all three SW core books today.  Besides the $60 price each I was frankly a little annoyed after the fact.  I get the sales model but they needed to make a players hand book and game master guides with the guides for the different settings.  I really have a hate and less hate feelings toward fantasy flight games.

[Dammit Carl!]

Get Aftermath! or Freedom Fighters from FGU.  Those are nice, light RPGs...

Is Aftermath! still around?  Or is it just old out-of-print stuff still floating about?

Welp...you cats are in luck!
http://www.fantasygamesunlimited.net/shop/ or
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/12/Fantasy-Games-Unlimited/subcategory/70_97/Aftermath

And if you are feeling particularly masochistic, may I suggest Living Steel or any of the other games by the now defunct Leading Edge Games.