Honest Avdvice Requested.

[FANTASYFAN1968]

Reviewed my previous post, and of course found that I had allowed myself to go off-topic. I hope this post will be more to the point. I'm thinking that before anything else, you should regard your minister friend much as you would anybody else you were going to invite to join an established gaming group. For example, consider the following:

1. Will the newcomwer be able to fit in socially with the existing group? They were here first, after all.

2. Will the addition of the newbie disrupt the playing style of the group? If so, can you as the ref still come up with adventures that will be interesting (and, perhaps most of all, FUN) for the entire group?

3. Do discussions of a religious, political, or otherwise "touchy" nature come up often in your gaming sessions? IMHO, this is the sticking point. If your friend is treating this as a game (a social occasion), and everyone agrees ahead of time not to engage in discussions of such a nature, I think this can work.
Some of the most successful games I've been in have involved quite a diverse group of players - religiously, politically, what have you. We all had the understanding that we were there to have fun, and any out of game discussions that interfered with that goal were not to be tolerated.
The old rule about not discussing religion or politics at work can also apply to a gaming session.

 

[PapaGolfWhiskey]

My advice: (avoiding religio-polictical issues unrelated to the task at hand)

1) Learn (if you haven't already) what sort of stories your Cleric enjoys? what books does she read? what TV shows? what sort of things do her heros and heroines do?

2) Introductory gaming. Explain how such games work. One of my favourite tricks is to throw away the dice and the books for about 20 to 30 minutes and just talk your way through a simple session based on what you learned above.

(I still remember one time in such a session that that the player decided to be a secret service agent and at loss for ideas I took him to the back seat of cadilic in dallas 1963... "I run for the grassy knoll!" -- sorry I digress)

Anyhow just show her one to one by talking out a scenario she might be comfortable with.

2) B) During Chargen, make the wonderfull lengthy "past history" die roll session another role playing session. Invent RP fluff for each 'event' -- ie don't just tell a military character "well since you were an aide this year,next year you get to pick your assignment" say instead something like "After a year of keeping the old grizzly's appointments in line and filling out his routine paperwork and making sure the right people saw him and the wrong people didn't you come away with a much greater understanding of how the Navy works (Admin+1) Sometime before you leave the Old Admiral asks you. "Well Son, You've done good work for me this past year, where would you like to go next?"

This is also a good place to describe the milieu


3) Prep your friends, ask them to be on their good behaviour. best foot forward and all that. once everyone get's comfortable things will get more relaxed but it doesn't hurt to mind your manners at first.

4)ENLIST your friends. get them in on the "Let's convert the newbie". By inviting them into the project of bringing this lady into the fold you have the pottential to make the 'burden' of being on good behaviour fun. Ask each to provide their skills. Maybe you have a 'rules lawyer' who can keep her from pitfalls, thus allowing you to play your role of impartial ref a little more honestly. Maybe you have someone who REALLY get's into character or who is extremely funny. try and get them to bend their talents into making it fun for the Lady.


5) uh... keep your fingers crossed? Follow the other advice listed on this thread? hope this helps.


As for Religious Professionals in Traveller: I forgot weather we are talking CT or T20.

If using just the three black books... you're best bet is either the Other, or making 'cleric' a military chaplain. Swap out some of the more military skills for extra leadership and personal skills. If they get decorated tell the story as one of her selflessly saving the life of a comrade.

If you have 4th ed. or Citizens or Mega traveller options about. Maybe your Cleric is some agent extraordinary for a religious group. Law Enforcement or Agent (whatever a particular addition calls it.)

An evangelical Preist especially one with a huge following is probably best emulated with an 'Entertainer' career. The cleric may see themselves as more than a 'mere' entertainer but the skills, lifestyle and other features of the career are stunningly similar.

Your day to day cleric might be professional (I think that's actual a T20 class)

An Academic or Scholar is very suited to a theologically inclined cleric and/or Field agent for religion backed archeological digs.

And don't forget the Noble. Traveller characters who make a Career out of their noble titles are usually involved in Diplomacy, Interplanetry Civil Administration and other tasks that could equally be the province of a high flying cleric.

With all of the above you may have to tweak a skill here or there (unless playing T20 or GT they (I think) are flexible enough to allow you to actualy create a cleric/preist/minister.

Hope this helps.

 

[Ran Targas]

May I offer this anecdote:

When I was in college, my GM buddy really wanted to get one of his professors into gaming (as well as other things). She had written her masters thesis on heroines in modern media, specifically Ripley from Aliens. My buddy thought running a bug hunt adventure and letting her play a Ripley clone would be the hook. He crafted characters for all of our normal group to play and went through great pains to get every detail right. I got to play the evil company rep, with orders to get one/all of the party infected.

The game would have gone well if my buddy and our group were not under so much pressure to make a good impression. The GM became very irritated when things didn't go as planned and his professor became very bored with our idle chatter. All in all, it wasn't fun, we never finished the adventure, and she didn't play again, ever. I don't think he got what he wanted either.

My advice: Don't push to hard and be very patient and loyal to your regular players. If they aren't having fun, you'll lose their support very quickly.

Also try pairing her with one of your more patient players as early as possible. That way you aren't overly focused on her and she has someone else to ask questions of.

 

[Keklas Rekobah]

Ah, patience. What a concept!

It ranks right up there with Love, Joy, Peace, Kindness, Temperance, Tolerance and other ideals of social science.

Hey, waitaminnit! Whir's muh sope bocks? Eyes gotts mi sum preechinn tuh gitt on...