How to Help New Roleplayers Become Comfortable

[atgxtg]

[Jedi Skyler]

Yeah, if you can keep the vets from pushing, you can have a really positive experience.

If you don't want to have a game with just the girls, then try making some situations where their characters' particular skill sets come more into play...even if that means their characters have to split off from the guys for a bit...and make the guys be quiet when their characters aren't around, so the noobs have more time to learn how it works.

[cheshire]

And if you've got a veteran player that keeps getting in there and not quite letting the newbie shine, you could suggest that the veteran play a droid that belongs to the newbie player. At that point if they're playing the droid well, then they'll take cues from the newbie, or perhaps the droid may say, "Master, might I suggest..." but without dominating the game.
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Before we take any of this too seriously, just remember that in the middle episode a little rubber puppet moves a spaceship with his mind.

[atgxtg]

One tactic that I found effective for dealing with veteran players who couldn't leave the newbies alone was to point out every single mistake the vet made no matter how minor. It wasn't a nice thing to do, but it helped to displled the illusion that the veteran players "knew the right thing" to to. It made the newbies feel a lot better about making a mistake after hearing of some of the really boneheaded moves the 'experts" had made. It also made the vets shut up, for fear of my dredging up something even more embarrassing. ANd the other experience players were more than happy to offer up more examples and help fill in all thew details for the bits I missed or glossed over.

Any veteran player worth his D6s easily has a few outrageously bad "judgment calls" on his record to eliminate blindly following his suggestions as a viable option.

[cheshire]

Yeah, the newbie we have in our d20 campaign right now has this doubt of, "I don't know the rules really well... did I do the right thing?" And we keep affirming her telling her that the character did the best thing possible with the information at hand. Inevitably you're going to see things you could have done differently, but in the end we're here for fun and to do the best we can with what we've got. In the end, so long as you're thinking about what you're doing, not trying to be a "one character army" and taking unilateral action, cutting each other out of decisions, or sabotaging the group, you're probably not going to do the "wrong thing."
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Before we take any of this too seriously, just remember that in the middle episode a little rubber puppet moves a spaceship with his mind.

[Dromdarr_Alark]

Good point. I frequently make jabs at my experienced players' mistakes. One in particular is when one of them decided to openly proclaim to be a member of the rebellion at a busy Imperial space station without encrypting the signal.

Recently, the other experienced player used most of the anti-vehicle grenades I gave him to disable vehicles that were not a threat to them. I guess he didn't expect that local authorities would have AT-STs and tanks...

I bring these up at appropriate times to diffuse anxiety. The experienced players don't mind because they know they can do the same when they GM for me.
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"I still wouldn't have a roll for it - but that's just how I roll."

[atgxtg]

[garhkal]

[atgxtg]

[quote="DougRed4"]Good advice about slowing down the veteran players, at.

And I think having a movie night and watching a Star Wars film (or two) is an excellent idea! [/quote

I'll admit its not the nicest thing to do to a player, but it does solve the problem quickly and IMO is one of the least disruptive ways to handle it.

Another was handling the GM screen and books over to the player. I usually saved that for when a veteran player tried to take over character creation for a newbie, or started telling people (not characters) what to do during an adventure.

[cheshire]

If you want a movie night for a gaming group get The Gamers: Dorkness Rising. It's the best gaming movie ever made. Look past the mediocre acting and EXTREMELY low budget and you've got a lot of great stuff in the script once the movie gets going.
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Before we take any of this too seriously, just remember that in the middle episode a little rubber puppet moves a spaceship with his mind.

[DougRed4]

I just watched the first one again (hadn't seen it in years), after borrowing it from one of my players.

So the sequel is really funny? I almost picked it up at Emerald City Comic Con a month or so ago.
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Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green

[cheshire]

IMO it's funnier than the original. The original has its moments, but Dorkness Rising is a stronger film overall. Plus there are a few in-jokes about the first one. Mark reappears, but says he's refused to play ever since "the incident." Of course, he's the ONLY character to reappear, though you may recognize a few actors. For example, the college girl who was trying to study reappears as a goddess.
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Before we take any of this too seriously, just remember that in the middle episode a little rubber puppet moves a spaceship with his mind.

[garhkal]

saw some gamer related vids at a local store.. inc one from Australia..
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Dromdarr_Alark]

Hi all,

I thought I would give an update on how things were going. We just had our final session before a summer-long hiatus.

The players are still trying to become more comfortable, but they are able to voice the parts of the game that they like.

One player, whose character's name is Dezorah, prefers dialogue and considers combat to be a somewhat of a chore.

The other player, whose character is Gir'Dri, is just the opposite. She enjoys combat and avoids verbal roleplaying.

I am glad they enjoy the game and wish to keep playing, but now I am faced with a new dilemma: they loathe the aspect of the game that the other loves!

How should I balance that?

I think one thing I should do is ask specific questions for clarification. What else should I do, besides that?
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"I still wouldn't have a roll for it - but that's just how I roll."

[Raven Redstar]

Just make sure there are plenty of opportunities for each of them to get in enough time doing each, and each will have to accept that the part they don't like is an important part of the game.
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RR
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