Introducing Story Telling Mechanics

One thing that I like to do is play a variety of different games.  One game over and over again has a tendency of making me stagnate and it is when that occurs that I begin to suffer from burn out.  It is why I always read new games and imagine the best ways of applying them.  Of course there are some classic combinations that are hard to beat and I have found one of them that applies to the “new guard” of story telling mechanic games that allow for quick and involved play and for introducing players to certain systems.

I decided that my first role playing night should look at this style game, FATE Core in fact, but flavoured with something that has a hook in it to grab the attention of the players that arrived.  In the end it was only three players, none of whom had heard of FATE beyond me talking about it.  One of them was completely new to role playing games in fact and was a bit nervous about the whole thing.  The final player was familiar with grittier systems like D&D and Burning Wheel so was keen to experience something new.

I had thought long and hard about the way to introduce the system.  I have a FATE module I have written and I could have run that but it is not really newbie friendly.  Instead I went with a version of the game that I had run before.  A version that takes the softly approach to aspects for the characters.  I chose the Demolished Ones by Brian Engard to bring them into the world of story telling and FATE.

I am glad I did too!  They all liked it and the next day I had the opportunity to talk to two of the three players.  They loved it and saw the potential for it.  One already was planning other FATE characters from their experience.  The new player had the other player buy the game and a set of FATE dice with the idea that they would be playing FATE Star Wars before too long.

Do you have any classic combos that you like to use to introduce systems, or even new players to the role playing hobby?  I would love to hear about them.  Until next time, keep rolling!