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~xFellWardenx~
2014-05-11, 10:11 PM
How do? Help! I'm trying to introduce two groups of my friends to two systems none of us (including me, of course) have played before (Exalted 2.5e and Ars Magica 5e) and since none of us have ever worked with the systems in play before we don't really have anything to fall on. Like, I'm used to starting DMing groups of experienced players of whatever the system is who can help me and offer constructive criticism, or bringing new players into systems I already know well, but I've never done something like this!

Tips???

Lord Raziere
2014-05-11, 10:23 PM
oh god. I have no advice for Ars Magica, but whatever you do, make sure the party all has artifact armor in Exalted 2.5 and a perfect defense as backup. don't let the Solars try to be jacks of all trades they work best specialized, and whatever you do don't select a Grand Goremaul as a weapon, it will destroy everything you attack with it in one hit. Exalted 2.5 is an easily breakable system that can devolve into rocket tag if you aren't aware of it.

Rhynn
2014-05-12, 01:32 AM
Start with as few books etc. as possible. Read them thoroughly, take notes of the rules; you should not need to leaf through rulebooks during play. The GM needs to know the rules and teach them to the others through play. I usually write myself a short primer when I'm learning a new system, so I can just Ctrl+F the file for a rule I can't remember.

It's perfectly doable; in 20 years, I have never played a game before GMing it (with the exception of Mentzer Basic D&D at age 10), and in 90% of cases my players have been unfamiliar with it as well, before the game.

BWR
2014-05-12, 02:15 AM
Ars Magica splats tend to add a lot of new rules. Mostly they're fun but they are not at all necessary to run a game. Stick to the core book until you feel comfortable with them. Fluff-wise, every single AM 5e product I've seen has been no less than good, often great and sometimes stellar. As for running it, remember that it works off different assumptions than most other games.

Firstly: The Covenant is the main character. Remember this and work around this while preparing for play. The Covenant, its people and well-being are the focus for all stories, it is the common thread which binds the PCs and grogs together, it is the lifeblood of the magi (how else do they get money for those horribly expensive labs?).
Make sure people understand this. It doesn't mean PCs can't disagree about what to aim for or how to run it, but the players should ideally agree what works best for them.

Secondly, magi work best somewhat specialized. Getting Arts high enough to be a good generalist is hard, so you are are better off finding one or two things to focus on, at least to begin with, and advancing other things later. Techniques are far more useful than Forms, and are generally a better thing to focus on. A good Vim specialist is very nice because you can never have too much Vim vis.
Magi are also hard to pry away from their labs. You will notice that in almost all cases they will learn more from study than from adventuring, so unlike D&D they don't really need to go around killing stuff to level. The best way to get a magus out of the lab is make sure he needs some exotic ingredient and he can't really trust an underling to find it for him. Threats to the Covenant, politics (both mundane and Hermetic) and the need to make money are also good ways to get people out.

Companions and grogs are almost more fun to play than magi. Magi are more powerful, but companions will be doing most of the heavy lifting of traditional jobs - local politics, running the Covenant, fighting bandits. Grogs are by nature expendable so you can play them and not worry about them getting into sticky situations or even dying (at least as a player). Make sure the group makes a decent stack of grogs with fun personalities and just play them almost exaggeratedly. Some of the most memorable characters we had in AM were companions and grogs. Magi are powerful and tend to make an impression for that reason, but the most interesting personalities and stories happened mostly to companions and grogs.

Jay R
2014-05-12, 08:12 AM
Read the core books one more time.

Really. The biggest problem when they haven't absorbed the rules is that you will have to rule on everything. Know the rules better.

When you've done that, my next piece of advice will be, "Read the core books one more time."