Getting People Started

I've been doing some stuff this week to help get new Camarilla players started. It makes me wonder how people are generally treated when they first start (live) roleplaying ?

Last session while we were playing 'Shadows' (tabletop) a potential new rolegamer started to ask us about the hobby. It was really difficult though to relay to him what the h*ll it was all about. We're in the seventh (?) year of the Shadows campaign, we don't use a published system to play and the plotlines are complex and weird enough to make you sound like you're even more of a loony than the 'average' hobbyist if you start getting into explanations... ! I felt quite sad that we couldn't give a coherent good impression of the hobby to this newbie, who eventually wandered away back to his CCG.

I got started roleplaying because I'd already vaguely heard about the hobby and fancied a go. I don't recall being bewildered by my first session, but then I never did grow out of my dressing up box... The same sort of process applied when I started live roleplaying too.

How I generally explain it to the uninitiated (like relatives or mundane friends) nowadays is that it's like the Murder Mystery weekend thing. That seems to answer most of their questions straight off, except they don't get the idea that there isn't a 'win' at the end in most of the games I play these days (It's quite literally not the winning, but the taking part that matters!).

Going back to the topic of the potential new player, though... this wasn't a complete newbie, and my 'pat' answer wouldn't have worked for him. He wanted to know about the actual experience, and maybe about the mechanics ? I'm still thinking about how I might best have answered him, and how best to serve the needs of new Cam players too.

Gaming Resources

If you are in Manchester, please do drop into Fan Boy 3, which can be found at 17 Newton Street, Manchester (just off Piccadilly Gardens). It's an excellent shop filled with all manner of goodies. The staff are very pleasant and know their stuff. The store also provides space for gaming in, which I feel is really valuable to the gaming community in the city, so it's a place to meet new people and generally hang out as well as somewhere to spend your hard earned. If you're lucky you might even bump into me whilst you are there, since I seem to be in there every 2 or 3 days.