GF's first tabletop game

[Silus]

Well I managed to get my GF to come with me to a gaming con and suggested she try playing one of the 1-hour Pathfinder demo games there (I'll be playing as well so it's not like she'll be on her own).

She's not really a gamer and has no experience with any tabletop game that I am aware of (Though she's shown interest in World of Darkness). I've the feeling she does not know what building a character entails, because when I asked her what kind of character she'd like to play, she replied with "Smeagol".

Does anyone have any tips for introducing a non-gamer to something like Pathfinder (Or TTG in general)? I'd like her to have a good time, but I don't want her to feel overwhelmed, but at the same time I don't want to hold her hand through the whole thing. The game is a standard dungeon delve, but I don't know much beyond that.

[ClothedInVelvet]

The fact that she knows Smeagol's real name is a great start. I think you could make a good character around that. Halfling rogue, greedy little guy.

While you're playing, try to help her recognize opportunities for her to act. For example, when you need to enter a house, maybe suggest that she goes around back and sees if she can get in a window. A little solo adventure for her might help her achieve her independence.

And no matter what you do, DO NOT criticize the way she plays. She may make stupid decisions, even TPK the party, but it's part of the learning experience and she won't enjoy feeling like you're pressuring her to act a certain way (even if it is the best way).

[Silus]

I was indeed considering running a solo game for her, probably around the time of character creation. Something simple, like "The goblins have captured farmer Ed's pig. Go into that cave and get it back." followed by "Find a way to break up a bar brawl" or some sort of social bit. We've got like a month or so until the convention, so I suppose we could squeeze in a few more games after that if she's up to it.

I'm also thinking of running through all the base classes and whatnot with her (As in just the Player's handbook, not the Advanced Handbook or Ultimate books), but do you think that would just confuse her (In a "Too much info at once" way)?

And the keeping my mouth shut bit may be hard....Always had that "Oh God I wanna tell you this thing but I can't 'cause of meta-knowledge and ARRRRRRGGG" thing. I'll do my best though >.>

[ClothedInVelvet]

Running through the core classes might be a good idea, but keep the descriptions short. Maybe just read the "Role" paragraph for each one.

Keeping your mouth shut is imperative. I had a guy who brought his girlfriend and basically got frustrated when she didn't act as his backup/extension. So that's what she did, and she didn't play very long. If you want a cohort, take leadership. If you want another player (one who enjoys playing), treat her like you do other players at the table and let her do whatever she wants.

[Silus]

Most of the "Keeping my mouth shut" stuff stems from obvious mistakes that are mostly meta knowledge. Flanking bonuses, kill steals, looting in combat (Oh God I'm likely to blow a gasket if someone pulls this at one of the con games), that sort of thing. Nothing like "You should have done X and THEN Y. You screwed it up!" Now if I see something like that, then I may inform her to consider her actions before she rushes in. Like a hallway of traps with a treasure room at the end. Newbies might be all "omg treasure" whereas anyone with some experience goes "I check for traps" before rushing off to the gold and swag.

Though two things I'll try to teach her are:
1) What would your character do, not what would you do?
2) Situational awareness and planning ahead.

IMO, you get those two down and you're quickly on your way to being a good player.

[Krazzman]

You could try running We be Goblins with her. It pretty cool as you don't need to make a character, have skill challanges, encounters, traps and if you do it right fun.

[ClothedInVelvet]

I once wrote an adventure inspired by Tucker's Kobolds for new players. Basically, let a group of level 5 adventurers go through a dungeon run by kobolds, but make the dungeon non-lethal. That way, they can learn some of the game basics, but when they mess up, only their pride is hurt.

Some of the highlights:
•pit traps half-full of sewage
•a trapped room that closes the door when they're inside and fills up with gas that makes them incontinent (they had to search for the hidden door to escape)
•a small tunnel that they had to crawl through while being poked through holes by kobolds whose spears were poisoned to make their tongues swell
•forcing the players to talk with their tongues hanging out of their mouths
•a portal that removed all body hair

[Totally Guy]

I think the concept of roleplaying is more intuitive than you all seem to think.

If I were her I'd give the GM a heads up on it being my first time out of politeness and then get on with it. In fact that was exactly what I did when it was my first time playing.

[NikitaDarkstar]

Look, she's going to need help with character creation, not because she doesn't know what she wants to play but because it's pretty darn complicated for a newbie.

After that keep your mouth shut (I mean it, keep it shut!) unless she asks for advice, or if she seems stuck some prodding can help, but that is the DM's job mainly. If you absolutely want to give meta-game help, make a character that would know about those things in-game (a warrior would be familiar with flanking for example) and give hints about it ingame. There's a pretty big difference between character A telling Character B to go left and he'll go right and you'll catch the guard by surprise. Compared to Player A telling Player B that there's a +2 flanking bonus.

And yes, informing the DM that there'll be a newbie at the table is a good idea, he's going to find out anyway as soon as she starts to get confused about which dice to roll when. (Which honestly seems to be the biggeft problem for newbies.)

[Silus]

Look, she's going to need help with character creation, not because she doesn't know what she wants to play but because it's pretty darn complicated for a newbie.

After that keep your mouth shut (I mean it, keep it shut!) unless she asks for advice, or if she seems stuck some prodding can help, but that is the DM's job mainly. If you absolutely want to give meta-game help, make a character that would know about those things in-game (a warrior would be familiar with flanking for example) and give hints about it ingame. There's a pretty big difference between character A telling Character B to go left and he'll go right and you'll catch the guard by surprise. Compared to Player A telling Player B that there's a +2 flanking bonus.

And yes, informing the DM that there'll be a newbie at the table is a good idea, he's going to find out anyway as soon as she starts to get confused about which dice to roll when. (Which honestly seems to be the biggeft problem for newbies.)

Well good thing that I haven't played a TTG in almost a year, I'll likely be more concerned with remembering all the fiddly bits for my character than reminding her about flanking bonuses and such. "Oh God why did I forget to make that tumble check?!" kinda stuff.

I'll try to introduce her to the basics, take things slow and maybe give her some cheat sheets or something.

And I figure explaining what each bit on the character sheet means in layman's terms might be a good idea. And we're doing the Pathfinder Demo Box game, which I can only assume is for new players and such.