RPG recommendation for beginners

Green Lantern wrote:

Shellhead wrote: I'm sure that I could have started playing D&D at a younger age if someone had shown me the game and taught me how to play.

This audience is precisely what the Pathfinder box was intended. Kids can pick up the books and learn step by step without an experienced gamer there to hold their hands. I remember trying to learn D&D from the red box back in the mid 80s as someone new to RPGs and I was completely lost. That thing was not designed for a kid to pick it up and start running. The Pathfinder box is and it does an outstanding job in teaching the game in a fun manner. Hell, the introductory adventure is essentially modeled after the old choose your path books and is an awesome way to get young gamers interested in trying out a table top game.

My friends and I struggled to learn D&D from a combination of the blue box, the Player's Handbook and the Monster Manual. Compared to that, the red box edition was a model of crystal clarity.

Thanks all for your great and varied suggestions!

A little more background: my kids are 12 & 15, and although it's been a few years, they did play HeroQuest with me a handful of times. My oldest remembered our house rule for movement (everyone could move 12 spaces, if injured then 2d6 were used) and that the stories weren't memorable.

Although I'm concerned about complexity for both player and GM (me, most likely), it's probably just fear of the unknown.

@Jason I did bring up TotAN and there seemed to be some interest. I've downloaded Lady Blackbird and will have a closer look at it.

@Pete You're a doll, I would probably be the one to kiss you hard on the mouth.

I'll have a closer look at these, and I'll probably consult the kids after I narrow down a couple of choices.

No tongue, this doll has ethics on a first date.

But just wait for the second date. Pete will show you the "Mamba".

Seriously thought, I couldn't grok D&D 3.5 after starting with 4. It's just so damned easy and intuitive.

I did a bunch of reading on Savage Worlds and it looks very straightforward.

There's also the Dragon Age box set (levels 1 to 5) which seems like it would fit the bill (I've only read it, not played it).

D&D Next is still free, comes with pregen characters, classic adventures and is really really easy to run. WotC is getting into the retro clone thing a bit with it.

Hard to go wrong with free and 30 mins of DM reading the rules.

I've run literally hundreds of people though their first RPG experience and D&D Next is by far the easiest system I've done it for. 5 mins max spent talking rules and we're off. Everything is simple and intuitive, for players all they really need to do is get the basic d20 concept of rolling to do stuff and adding a number, and the rest is pure storytelling. For the DM it's really easy too.

stormseeker75 wrote: But just wait for the second date. Pete will show you the "Mamba".

How you think he lost that weight? I worked that shit. Made his asshole look like a wizard's sleeve!

Pete, we really need a love fest (aka Game Day). PM me motherfucker.

MattLoter wrote: D&D Next is still free, comes with pregen characters, classic adventures and is really really easy to run. WotC is getting into the retro clone thing a bit with it.

Hard to go wrong with free and 30 mins of DM reading the rules.

I've run literally hundreds of people though their first RPG experience and D&D Next is by far the easiest system I've done it for. 5 mins max spent talking rules and we're off. Everything is simple and intuitive, for players all they really need to do is get the basic d20 concept of rolling to do stuff and adding a number, and the rest is pure storytelling. For the DM it's really easy too.

I thought about suggesting D&D Next, as it is probably the best pure TSR->Wizards version of D&D ever. I left it off because while the materials they are including in the test are great, they aren't quite edited. I suspect you kind of need someone who is versed in AD&D, 3.5, and 4 to translate. You and I can look at it and translate it immediately.

The reason I bring this up is our 13th Age experience. It is another D&D mish-mash of mostly 3.5 and 4. My wife had never played D&D since AD&D, and was struggling with the numbers a bit too much. Everyone KNOWS by now that a STR of 18 converts to a +4 to the D20 roll.

Dragon Age is actually another decent boxed set. It is a VERY simple 3d6-based system. The nifty twist is that one of your dice is the Dragon Die. If it matches another die and you hit, you can spend the dragon die points for perks. It is a nice twist. The rest of the game leans heavily on Warhammer 2nd Edition (never a bad thing, same designer.) My oly complaint is the adventures for the system are mired in the dark age fantasy themes of Dragon Age. They aren't fun. Warhammer was fun, and a lot of the Pathfinder stuff is purely awesome (We Be Goblins!).

Yeah just had a look at the DnD Next stuff and there is a shit ton of stuff. Frank or Matt could suggest what documents (aside from the DM) I should look at to get a basic game going?

It's amazing that I feel so clueless about this side of gaming.

Another vote here for the Pathfinder Box. I don't even like Pathfinder, but the sheer awesomeness and design chops that went into the box is undeniable. It has a ton of fun bling. The character options strike the perfect balance between variety and simplicity. The art is very slick, if you or your kids like the kewl "buckles, spikes, and straps" aesthetic that currently permeates high fantasy art. And the price is incredible.

Dragon Age is good but probably best played with people who like the setting.

Dr. Mabuse wrote: Yeah just had a look at the DnD Next stuff and there is a shit ton of stuff. Frank or Matt could suggest what documents (aside from the DM) I should look at to get a basic game going?

It's amazing that I feel so clueless about this side of gaming.

Actually if recall correctly, I'd skip most of the DM packet till I played some more. The How to Play doc lays it all out pretty well I think. There are some wonky editing bits, but it's a pretty loose system with a lot of DM autonomy to begin with, so if some detail doesn't make sense, interpret it how you think it should work and run with it.

But again, as Frank points out, I've been reading D&D rule books since I could barely even read at all so my ideas about what is easy to pick up or not might be a bit skewed. Though I do stand by my assertion that at the very least, in play for everyone but the DM, you can learn it with no RPG experience other than knowing concepts from video games like HP and AC in 5-10 mins well enough to play quite a bit.

Getting things going and dealing with details is really the best way to teach/learn any RPG anyway. Get the general d20 concept, get advantage/disadvantage and you're pretty much good to go for 90% of what you'll deal with most of the time. Just skip and/or BS your way through shit you have no idea about. No one but the DM need know they have no clue what they are actually doing... roll a d20, is it a high number? Congrats. Is is a low number... oh well bad stuff happens or you maybe just fail.

For D&D Next, the way to approach it would to rely on the starter sample characters. Character creation and choices are the hardest thing to both learn and teach. As Matt points out, the How to Play doc is the only one you really need.

Then start referencing and skimming over the other docs as you get comfortable.

This is where the Pathfinder Beginner Box shines, as well as the better boxed sets. In general, you hand out the characters, scan over the rules, and then the bundled adventure text walks you through the process of what to tell your players, how and when to roll initiative, how to initiate a skill check.

The model is much closer to a video game tutorial level. We all hate them, but if you had never played a modern videogame they would be essential. If you've never actually played an RPG, you need at least a good section of handholding to walk you through that.

I skipped one other boxed set which is actually one of my favorite RPGs ever. It is Sandman Map of Halaal and it was always my go to RPG for teaching new players. It is.....different. There are maybe two pages of actual rules, no character classes, and a solidly linear adventure I could run with my eyes shut. Players also start with amnesia and journey through a screwed up world set in odd dreams and literary references. Too erudite for 12 year olds, but The first Sandman session starts without needing to teach any rules or handing out character sheets or anything except to open your GM book and begin talking. By the way, there are no character sheets. It was indie before indie was a thing.

Awesome, thanks gents!

DCC is pretty hard to beat in my book. I ran one game and it went over really well, was easy to get, and was fun, but we had a couple of people who we were "trying it out on" as far as getting a group together, and they kind of murdered the fun. So, RPG night is probably not going to happen.