i’ll be running a one-shot for some friends tomorrow, all of which are fairly new to RPGs.

i’ll be running a one-shot for some friends tomorrow, all of which are fairly new to RPGs.

i’ll be running a one-shot for some friends tomorrow, all of which are fairly new to RPGs. They are all extremely worried about their abilities to create new characters. Does anyone have any resources they could recommend?

14 thoughts on “i’ll be running a one-shot for some friends tomorrow, all of which are fairly new to RPGs.”

  2. If they are new to rpgs consider having them play themselves but translated into a different world.

    Or roll up some inspiration from NPC random tables in the core rules, perilous wilds, or funnel world to give them some ideas.

    Hope you and they have fun!

  4. Andrew Alwood i was considering that, have you had any experience with players playing themselves working?

    i was also somewhat toying with that, but i worry that the random tables could gve them something they don’t want

    Marcolo DelMare I am using dungeon world, and they’re not worried about making character sheets, but the character concepts themselves. For example, they’re all competent with writing out a Thief’s poisons or a Cleric’s spells, but describing the Thief’s lust for gold or the inner workings of the Cleric’s religion is intimidating for them.

  5. The steps for creating characters are on the standard play books, in small text. Perform character creation as a group. Start by spreading the play books out on the table and let the players choose. Give every player their own copies of the basic and special moves sheets, and just do what the rulebook says.

    dropbox.com – DW_Sheets.pdf

  6. Mark Weis​ on The Gauntlet episode 34 or 35 Jason Cordova​ mentioned the Dungeon World beginner’s pack or something. The name eludes me but gives advice on this topic.

  7. Mark Weis so ask super targeted questions. Not “thief, what’s the hierarchy of the local thieves guild like?” but instead, “thief, you once stole something important to Brinko, leader of the local thieves guild. What was it?”

  8. For my one shot demos, I start out by explaining the characters available. The Sky Rider is the jet fighter pilot. In a species that’s afraid of heights, the Sky Rider is crazy enough to mount up on a pteranodon. Every one of them knows they’re the hottest thing airborne. Without that arrogant bravado, they’d never leave the ground. Now the player has not only the profession, but the personality and attitude that goes with it.

  9. Upon further reflection, the majority of their fears comes from inexperience and unfamiliarity with the mindset one must be in to play these games. They’re worried that their character concept will be stupid, or even that they’re unable to come up with an original character concept or ideas in general.

    I would use, and have used, Aaron Griffin’s idea of asking targeted questions, but the answers are often “I don’t know” or “I never did that”. My point here isn’t that i’m incapable of getting information out of them, it’s that pulling this information out of them is harder than pulling teeth.

    I know it is a difficult topic to ask advice for, but does anyone have tips for inspiring player originality?

  10. If they are afraid of not having an original idea then they need to travel back in time a ways. All the character types have been done. They just need to find one (or several) that they like and go with (combine) those. Or if you have an idea of your world’s background or history you may throw that at them and see if they can use that to come up with something.

  11. Here are some random questions I ask my players also.

    1. Where was your character born?

    2. Who are your character’s parents? 2a. Are the parents still alive and are there more relatives?

    3. What did your character do before?

                             

    4. Why did your character leave?

    5. What did your character leave behind?

    6. What does your character want?

  12. Think less, play more. There is no “stupid” backgrounds as long as players like having them, dm should be able to mix them into his setting.

    Making the few first chooses in character sheets which have already few ready options, it will flow from there.

  13. Mark Weis when they say “I don’t know”, give them options. “Maybe you stole X or Y?” Just keep going with it. They should learn how to do this. If they don’t, DW might not be for them

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