First-time DM and newbie players.
Is it a good idea to pick alternate-history based on Earth setting, for the ease of familiarity?
System: Fiasco is an amazing system for new players. It’s a GM-less system to get roleplaying with the training wheels on. Once people are comfortable RPing, then move on to any system you know the rules for. It can be played in basically any setting.
Setting: Whatever your players are into and you want to run. Whether it’s sci-fi, fantasy, alternate history or anything else, ask and get a feel for the genres your players like. Stuff like favourite TV shows & movies is great to get an idea.
Thank you! This looks really interesting, I like the training wheel idea to kickstart everyone’s roleplaying skills.
I would go for a good old Call of Cthulhu style investigation. It’s more interesting than fighting monsters, and % system is fairly easy to understand.
Rather than a specific system or style, I think the important thing is what gets you and your players excited. Pick a genre or theme that you are your players are into, then find a system that matches that. Once you get into it a bit more you can start digging into different styles of RPGs because you’ll have more context for what it all means and some idea of what you all like.
I like rules light systems because they’ve got a shorter “time to table”, but if everyone is very excited to play DnD, then DnD works because it’ll keep everyone motivated and engaged.
Some ideas:
Sci fi horror game along the lines of Alien: Mothership
Hardscrabble, fools forced to delve into dangerous dungeons and weird woods to make a living: Cairn
Grannies solving murder mysteries a la Miss Marple: Brindlewood Bay
A gang of thieves in a Dishonored-esque whale oil powered city: Blades in the Dark.
A gang of thieves flying a space ship in a star wars or firefly styled galaxy: Scum and Villainy
A doomed world undergoing heavy metal apocalypses: MÖRK BORG, or CY_BORG for the cyberpunk version of that.
Buffy and friends taking down vampire threats, or Mulder trying to find the truth that’s out there: Monster of the Week
Personally I’ve had really good luck introducing new players with Mausritter. The physical version is gives people a tactile card based inventory, the digital version is totally free. It’s super easy for people to get into the head space of tiny mice! There are also tons of fantastic modules to run which makes your job as a DM a lot easier.
This comment got a bit away from me, but I’ve run and played a ton of different systems, so if you have some idea of what you think you and your players will be into I can maybe point you in a more specific direction.
Thank you for such a rich reply. So many things to check out! I think we’re gonna try Fiasco first, see how that goes. Assuming positive response, I’m gonna make a strawpoll from your suggestions and see which setting is in favor.
I love Mausritter and it certainly is great for new players!
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