A Helping Hand

New players need a helping hand, not a knife in the back. You want to ease them into Tabletop gaming before you begin flaying their characters or introducing them to concepts like “permanent injury.”

Three years ago one of our players introduced us to Zak, the most hilariously chaotic evil bard on the planet. His sole motivation was money and he literally didn’t care at all how he got it as long as it was his. He used charm magic on NPC shopkeepers for better deals, he lied to party members, he ignored combat to loot weapon lockers, and he released dangerous prisoners because he didn’t want to worry about losing any of his newly acquired “prison swag.” In some ways his legacy has infected all my current players.

Certainly my newest player, Sarven Sylmaris (you may have heard of him), has latched onto this lifestyle after hearing the many stories I and my compatriots have to tell of Zak and his antics. To Sarven those are all stories he is hearing second hand. To the rest of my players those are legends they saw first hand. Three of my players are veterans of my campaigns. They have survived running the Gauntlet of Chokers. Only two fell to the terrible fury of the Carafe. Still they speak in loud, obnoxious tones about my Elven southern accent (I was young and foolish).

Sarven is brand new, carving his own youthful path in a party of old farts. Having a new player is kind of nice. He doesn’t have their hangups. He doesn’t know to fear every dark corner and every treasure chest (though he’s learning quickly). But he’s new to Tabletop Roleplay in general which made me sit down and consider how I was helping incorporate him into the usual rhythm my cohort of insane friends has cultivated.

Lists … lists … everywhere and now you get to read:

• While they’re doing that, what are you doing? Each time I focus on one player’s role play antics (it’s always in a tavern) I make sure to pause and ask each of my players in turn what they’re doing at the same time. Most players want to be active in some way. Let me put that another one. Even if all Sam-MuRye is doing is leaning against the bar, watching everyone, he wants to tell me that. In some ways he needs to tell me that so that I can incorporate him into my plans. While Carolina Braxwell is conducting a negotiation with pirate captains Zugg the Half-Orc and Sarven are torturing a gnome bard. It’s side plot but it’s still important and it lets them awaken their Roleplay side without having to be directly in the spotlight. It helps. Trust me.
• Think about it, I’ll come back to you. Sometimes my players aren’t ready. Sometimes they need a second to think. Sometimes they’d rather see another player do something. Sometimes they just weren’t quite paying attention or didn’t imagine they could even be doing anything. Giving them a little wake up and then giving them time to think about something is all it takes, now and again. Maybe they come up with something mundane like drinking and playing cards. Maybe they go shark-fishing with a gnome bard. It’s really very subjective. Depends on the mood that day.
• Paint me a word picture. This is an expansion of the One-Away Rule I stole from Mike Krahulik. If you roll 1 short of a monster’s DC I give you a chance to still hit by describing your action. How do you break through their defense? How do you distract them? How do you avoid hitting your comrades? Paint me a word picture has become common lingo at my table. Sometimes my players can even anticipate it when I take too long to tell them if they’ve hit. Sometimes Ree Singga, the monk, preemptively tells me exactly how he’s ending some poor barbarian’s life.
• Let’s roll some backstory. Coming up with character backstory can either be the most exciting part of character creation or the most stressful. It isn’t as cut and dry as determining statistics and powers and feats and spells. Where did your rogue come from? Why did your cleric become a cleric? What exactly is your barbarian afraid of? What’s your wizard’s one annoying vice? Simple things like that can completely change the way a player plays their character. Alcinia the Illusionist wouldn’t be as interesting if she weren’t lazy as can be and terrified of spiders. It wouldn’t be the same. Sarven Sylmaris wouldn’t be as interesting if he weren’t a fame-whore pirate who’s afraid of drowning.
• Dice and a mini? Four bits! These one-shots we’ve been running and I’ve been hinting at throughout writing this blog have been a rejuvenation for our Tabletopping group. We all love the game but we wanted something different and we wanted some fresh blood. Hence Sarven. He was brand new to the game when we invited him along and that meant he had no dice and minis to speak of. So we bought him some. A set of dice pulled from the bargain dice bin and one of my own old minis I rarely used since I had replaced it. It helped bring the new player into the group even more. It made certain to that person that we enjoyed having them at our table and that we wanted them to keep coming back. It helped that he got suuuuuper addicted to the game and printed way too much stuff out for it. But what are you gonna do?
• Nemeses. I’ve already done an article on Nemeses but I’m going to include it here as a method of retaining new players. A good nemesis means good motivation to come back and learn more of the story, to have one last duel on the tavern floor, to get revenge or finally wipe that smirk off their face. Give your players, new and old, something that will bring them back to the table week after week.

What’s my one rule? New players need a helping hand, not a knife in the back.