Introductions to role-playing games: are they ever useful?
storyteller:
I think its good to include a paragraph or two, if nothing else it exposes your philosophy on role playing and prepares the reader for your style and emphasis.
My Precious:
I've always been partial to the "example of play" style of introduction. It would make it immediately apparent what an RPG is to those who don't know, and it would also show the particulars of how your game works.
dindenver:
Andrei,
I like to put a brief "What is an RPG?" section in my games, partly for noobs, but partly to make sure that someone reading my book knows where I am coming from.
You can say, "It is a Traditional, rules-heavy game with a lot of fluff and crunch" and some players will get it, or you can describe in broad strokes what players do in your game and everyone will get it.
David Artman:
Quote from: andrei on January 23, 2012, 09:56:59 AM
I think everyone who got into tabletop role-playing started off by playing computer RPGs, then went into the genre via D&D, Warhammer or perhaps the White Wolf books...
Heh.... I got into RPGs when "computer games" were Adventure running on an IBM mainframe and "RPG" meant blue-book D&D or Traveller (outside of VERY rarefied communities, who had access to marvels like Blackmoor and Chainmail.
Quote from: JoyWriter on January 23, 2012, 05:43:45 PM
You don't need to introduce people to role playing games, you just need to introduce them to your game! Defining an rpg is actually not needed at all, just define what it means to sit down and play your game and you won't have to worry about generalisations etc.
This. Describe at a high level what players of your game will be doing, what someone walking up and observing for a few minutes would perceive (but in the second person, not third person, of course).
Then do it again (or at least do a HEAVY edit on it) without all the jargon you put in unconsciously. ;)
THEN take it to someone you have no doubt is clueless about RPGs and ask them what they think JUST the text describes, i.e., only let them see that section of the book... which BETTER be on, like, inside-left page 2 if it's to serve as entry point; otherwise, the suggestions above for doing it on one of the back panels is best. So maybe you have a "flavor" back panel that is highly evocative of the play; an intro back panel that talks about the act of playing; and a third panel with super-jargony summary for the experienced.
At the least, edit heavily and have a couple of test readers that aren't gamers (computer, tabletop, or otherwise).
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