Regarding my favorite way of learning a game, solo play and oracles all the way. It lets me get familiar with the rules, experiment with the mechanics, and even have some characters, locations and worldbuilding concepts in the toy box to use for a future group. There's nothing like a coherent world put together through a patchwork of gradually collected ideas.
I like to play to learn. But the work game we just started includes a woman who has never played, hardly in touch with fantasy as a genre at all, and she demanded the book, read it from front to back, chose a wizard, and is dominating as the group's leader. Takes all kinds! I'll watch an actual play!
I'm the only veteran player in a new work game and this is true, the new people are all about investigating every option before initiative is rolled. I'm just there to rage and make sure their decisions are backed up with barbarian and a funny voice
@@chriswolfe403 that's funny I also play 'the body guard' in a game so other people can do the decision making in an effort to not be telling them what to do.
I have found that simple systems are the easiest for new players, but sometimes are harder for many players who are experienced with a more crunchy style, as they often have to unlearn relying on the rules to tell them what they can do.
To me, the simpler the system, the easier it is to explain to a completely new player. What's weird is that when trying to explain to a 5e player how to, for instance, roll up a character in White Box, the simplest version of D&D I know of, there's a lot of confusion for some reason. With the system having so few moving parts, what should take roughly 10-15 minutes for a new player somehow takes almost an hour for a 5e player to understand. Have you had this experience, and if so, why do you think this is?
I like to learn through playing, sitting down and reading rules tomes is a big turn off! My current group plays OSE and even after a year and a half I couldn't answer any rules questions if you asked! I just say what I wanna do and let the DM work out the mechanics!
Regarding my favorite way of learning a game, solo play and oracles all the way. It lets me get familiar with the rules, experiment with the mechanics, and even have some characters, locations and worldbuilding concepts in the toy box to use for a future group.
There's nothing like a coherent world put together through a patchwork of gradually collected ideas.
You are not the only one :)
This is exactly how I learned and how I run my games !!!
Glad to hear I'm not alone.
I like to play to learn. But the work game we just started includes a woman who has never played, hardly in touch with fantasy as a genre at all, and she demanded the book, read it from front to back, chose a wizard, and is dominating as the group's leader. Takes all kinds!
I'll watch an actual play!
Kids and noobs do so well with avoiding combat, solving puzzles and having creative solutions.
I'm the only veteran player in a new work game and this is true, the new people are all about investigating every option before initiative is rolled. I'm just there to rage and make sure their decisions are backed up with barbarian and a funny voice
Young players and noobs are built different and I love it.
@@chriswolfe403 that's funny I also play 'the body guard' in a game so other people can do the decision making in an effort to not be telling them what to do.
I would love to hear some actual-plays of Strangeville!
It'll happen. It just takes time and prep.
I have found that simple systems are the easiest for new players, but sometimes are harder for many players who are experienced with a more crunchy style, as they often have to unlearn relying on the rules to tell them what they can do.
It took me forever to get the hang of 5e, because I kept comparing it to older games.
To me, the simpler the system, the easier it is to explain to a completely new player.
What's weird is that when trying to explain to a 5e player how to, for instance, roll up a character in White Box, the simplest version of D&D I know of, there's a lot of confusion for some reason.
With the system having so few moving parts, what should take roughly 10-15 minutes for a new player somehow takes almost an hour for a 5e player to understand. Have you had this experience, and if so, why do you think this is?
That's an interesting paradox.
I like to learn through playing, sitting down and reading rules tomes is a big turn off! My current group plays OSE and even after a year and a half I couldn't answer any rules questions if you asked! I just say what I wanna do and let the DM work out the mechanics!