Intro game for locals

[Leitz]

I'm thinking of setting up a Marine boarding party as an "Intro to Traveller" game for the LGS. I tend to use CT with Striker and we'll not do a lot of detailed chargen stuff. "Here's your character. That person is playing the Squad Leader. You hear an explosion, what do you do?"

I'd like to get some ideas from the crowd. 15 or 25 mm figures, assuming the game might turn into a larger thing that's not just shooting? Manufacturers?

The other thing I'm pondering is setting up some guidelines for MCUF, MCG, and SEH awards and having a discussion after the game to "award" those to players and characters who did well. Partly to avoid stupid stuff in the game, and partly to give them a taste of being in the service. Thoughts?

 

[flykiller]

how well does a "here's your character" assignment work in introducing new players to the game?

 

[aramis]

how well does a "here's your character" assignment work in introducing new players to the game?

Usually, it's better to go, "Here are 7 pregens... pick one."

 

[DickNervous]

Usually, it's better to go, "Here are 7 pregens... pick one."

I would go with pregens for sure.

Also, you could go with characters that are 90% done, leave some skills for them to assign as they want (or from an appropriate list) to let them feel like they customized it a bit, to make it "their" character.

For my regular group I have 2-3 characters that are "extras", basically the characters of people who left the group, that someone who just wants to try the game out can play if they want and jump in for a session. Then, if they like it we can roll up a new character.

 

[Leitz]

Using Striker and CT the characters won't be that diverse. There will be fire team and squad leaders so the players elect them. Using PreGens will get people shooting things quickly.

Depending on how this goes I may run other "one offs" with other careers so the players can get a feel for the different things Traveller can do. When I've done a few of these the players and I can sit down with CharGen and they'll have a much better understanding of what they want to play.

 

[flykiller]

Using PreGens will get people shooting things quickly.

certainly, for experienced players who just want to simulate a wargame. but at core it's an rpg with characters, not a wargame with impersonal units, and a new player especially will want some buy-in (even if they don't know that).

characters that are 90% done, leave some skills for them to assign as they want (or from an appropriate list) to let them feel like they customized it a bit, to make it "their" character.

how I'd do it. I'd try to let them pick a spot on the team too. "this guy is the saw, he's the primary firepower of the fire team, these guys are the riflemen who protect him and cover anything else that comes up, this is the fire team leader and he has a grenade launcher, this is the squad leader who directs the whole thing, what do you want to play?"

 

[whartung]

A couple years ago, we had a group that was trying to get a game back going, but it was under a new rule set.

We had a DM (I think the game was Pathfinder), and he was asking us what we wanted to do etc.

I told him: "If we're not killing monsters within 15 minutes of showing up, I'm out."

It's a new game, I had no intention of reading through pages and pages of rules etc. I had no intention of sitting there for 4 hours rolling up characters and dreaming up a life story.

I wanted to be immersed in the mechanics. I wanted to learn by doing. It's an RPG. It's combat. I'm going to swing my sword, or cast my spell, or whatever it was, and going to see what happens. Give me a character, give me some dice, and let's get going.

Sitting around yammering with the local innkeeper and getting immersed in Lore, no. Uninteresting, at least right away.

Many a solid book or movie starts with some "action sequence" to get the viewers invested.

Your game should start with the characters tooled up and in the dropship. Mission briefing (with emphasis on "brief") in flight, then the door opens on a hot LZ. They can talk about their wives, kids, and girlfriends among themselves later. Right now, lets get out of this killing ground and through that door.

I should say that the DM was taken aback by my request, and the group never quite got together. I don't think it was an unreasonable request.

 

[flykiller]

I had no intention of sitting there for 4 hours rolling up characters and dreaming up a life story.

fair enough. but between 4 hours of chargen and "here's a pc sheet, 3 2 1 go", there's some middle ground.

maybe instead of dumping new players into the middle of a firefight some other kind of introduction can be made. perhaps moving on a single sniper, or a dynamic entry, or even just a simple ambush where the players don't have to worry too much about raw survival but can concentrate on learning game mechanics and basic tactics as they go.

 

[Leitz]

I wanted to be immersed in the mechanics. I wanted to learn by doing. It's an RPG. It's combat. I'm going to swing my sword, or cast my spell, or whatever it was, and going to see what happens. Give me a character, give me some dice, and let's get going.

That's pretty much the idea; give them an introduction so that decisions in CharGen make more sense. The first adventure is combat mechanics, teamwork, technology, and fun. One of the other things I'm thinking about is posting signs at the LGS in the time prior; news snippets in game, a little bit of world info, maybe a "Dear Jane" letter or something just to add flavor.

 

[mike wightman]

Is the purpose to get them into role playing games or small unit wargaming?

At the risk of repeating myself I would use Death Station but modify it.

The lab ship (interstellar government, megacorp or local planet sponsored you choose)has been out of contact for a few weeks - it made an insystem jump and has only just been detected hidden in the rings of a gas giant in the system.
The scenario begins with the players as the ship crew sent to find out what has happened.
The players can choose from a selection of pre-gens:
ship crew
boarding party grunts
boarding party engineer/scientist types

 

[Leitz]

Is the purpose to get them into role playing games or small unit wargaming?

They will likely be mostly adults who already game, and many of them seem to be playing board type games as well. At least the LGS has a bunch of different types of games and is still in business.

I'm taking a scenario already in play in the PbP game here; Marines vs Pirates. The idea is fast adventure, Traveller mechanics, and then we can talk about the next step. Start to finish would be 4 hours at most. That includes hot wash. What I don't want is a higher barrier to entry nor to spend a lot of time on a campaign that never goes anywhere.

Of course, an excuse to buy miniatures is nice.