A good first game for a new group.

[Tentreto]

Hello other Playgrounders,

I have frequented these forums for a bit, and have been toying with joining a game of some kind. Recently, a few friends have shown some interest in starting up a game, and I have said that if they got together, I would run it.

This gives me the problem of choosing the system to use, as the others in the group (probably 3 or 4) have no experience in this genre, and I only truly know the broad overtones of a few systems.

Therefore, I ask what systems are good for a somewhat savvy DM with utterly new players?

My current thoughts are:

1: D&D, the most well known and readily available. Probably what they mostly expect to play. Also has a lot of resources I can use.

2: Burning wheel: One I actually have a little experience with, having seen half a campaigns worth. Might be better for the roleplaying side?

3:Paranoia: Possibly the one that might be better for a night of fun, although I have heard nightmares about getting it to work.

Of course, with my limited experience, I definitely need more advice. A fantasy setting is probably more in line with what is expected, but anything is good.

Any help provided would be incredible!

[Trask]

I've asked this question a few times and one good answer I've gotten that I can say was a good choice is http://www.basicfantasy.org/
Its very very simple and super easy to pick up for pretty much every player. For completely new players its a good choice. Ive reared new played on games like Pathfinder and D&D 5e and while the latter was much better than the former they're both kind of a headache for new players to wrap around especially with character creation.

Alternatively you could use http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/feat...dnd/basicrules the 5e basic rules which are really simple. I would also suggest maybe some pregens. But tips for the game are basically fast, loose, keep players interested and say YES. Even as an experienced DM ive forgotten this sometimes, new players dont want to have their choices limited by mechanics, for some it can really kill the game for them.

[ExLibrisMortis]

If you do go for a game like D&D 3.5 or Pathfinder, definitely go with pregenerated characters. Use some ToB/PoW or list-caster classes, print out maneuver cards/spell tokens, use tokens for swift/move/standard action (e.g. tap card X when you use action X), in short: visualize the economy of play. It's much easier than looking at six lines on your character sheet, deciding which ability worked on what action, and whether you've used them already.

[Koo Rehtorb]

Dungeon World. Your players won't have to worry too much about the rules with that, they just have to describe what they're doing.

[Benthesquid]

Here as usual to plug the Powered by the Apocalypse Engine. Heavily roleplay driven, with a very simple dice mechanic (roll 2d6+relevant stat, 10+ succeeds, 7-9 succeeds but... 6 or lower fails).

Specific games using the engine include

The Aforementioned Dungeon World, appropriate for you general D&D setting.

Apocalypse World- the original system the engine was built for, for all your Post Apocalyptic Mad Max setting needs.

Monsterhearts, if you want to play sexy angsty teenage monsters.

And a plethora of others.

[Gastronomie]

D&D 5e has free basic rules, and it's fairly simple (at least in comparison to other TRPGs).

Paranoia is a game of its own genre, and requires the UV (GM) be good at inappropriate jokes of all kinds, but if you do it right it's hilarious. Like, at the start of the day, one of the players suddenly has his head explode while he's washing his teeth, because of his nuclear energy toothpaste.

Nuclear energy toothpaste.

[SirBellias]

I'd not use Paranoia, as its rules and methodology are (if you bother with them) about as cumbersome as D&D 3.5/Pathfinder. Anything Powered by the Apocalypse could be good, especially if you see them being able to make driven characters. I'd probably use 5e or Monster of the Week, if they like hunting monsters in the modern world.

There are ways of streamlining 5e (there's a character creator app that makes the mechanical side really easy), and it's the right genre. Anything else usually is too cumbersome or off genre.

I have heard many good things about Dungeon World, though I haven't gotten to play it yet.

[Gastronomie]

I'd not use Paranoia, as its rules and methodology are (if you bother with them) about as cumbersome as D&D 3.5/Pathfinder.

The difference being, while in D&D optimization matters, in Paranoia it has nothing to do with your survival rates at all.

But I do agree that Paranoia is a difficult system to manage for beginner players.

[RazorChain]

Just choose a system YOU are comfortable with, they won't know the rules anyway.

I started with newbs in Gurps and they are doing just fine in a crunch heavy system. I just use open rolls in combat, explain what the bad guys are doing and what modifiers they get to their rolls and give the players tips on sound tactics.

As the game progressed I introduced more complexity and gave them less tips.

[BWR]

Focus on what sort of game you want to run and don't worry too much about the system. As long as you are familiar with the system, the others will pick it up fairly quickly. I mean, back before the internet was ubiquitous entire generations of new gamers managed to pick up a game where no one in the group knew the rules or had easily accessible advice and made it work. If one of you knows the system somewhat, everything should be fine.

If you can't decide, give your players some options and see what they want.

[weckar]

If your group is entirely new to roleplaying I would suggest starting with a very light system that can be explained and a full story played in a couple of hours at most. For this purpose, depending on what your group likes genre-wise, I usually suggest playing either Everyone Is John or Durance. Both are excellent introductions to roleplaying and interaction while having rules that can be explained in 20 minutes or less and have a definitive ending.

Oh, and it helps that EIJ is free :)