RPG Advice Needed

So, I moved back to the town I grew up in and had visions of reconnecting with old game group buddies and reliving the times of back to back games of TI and other long epic sessions. Unfortunately with jobs, kids, and other such responsibilities we don't even have a regular group of 6 players to commit to such shenanigans. Dune and TI mostly are off the table, so I guess we will be playing a lot more Runewars instead as the player count will hover around 4 most of the time. While this makes me a bit sad, it also gives me an opportunity to start with something new I've always theoretically enjoyed but never tried... pen and paper RPGs. My only experience at all was the play by forum here that Josh Look ran for a while, I loved it but can see how via forum is not the best way to play.

So any advice would be great. I think overall I'd enjoy being a player and non-GM role more, but for the first go I'm prolly locked into running the game. I have come up with two systems that interest me. The first is World Wide Wrestling which is a wrestling RPG running on the Apocalypse engine. This one is pretty narrative focused and while I love wrestling, I think for a group of true first time RPG players it may be a bit much to ask. So I thought something a bit crunchier with rolls and a more clear cut overall goal would likely be a good transition for board gamers to get into role-playing. After a bit of internet research I think the system that is might fit what I want is a funnel adventure via Dungeon Crawl Classics. I know it is very highly regarded on this site which pushes me more toward it as my tastes tend to align well with the posters here for the most part. So is it a good idea to pursue this as a first time GM with new players? What about things to purchase other than the Core rulebook (right now I'm planning on at the very least buying the WWW and DCC core rules)? Player count will likely be myself and 2 other people very consistently with another 1 or 2 rotating in and out of playing, does this greatly change anything?

DCC is a fine choice for newbs. Everything you need is in the book; it comes with a funnel adventure in the back so you don't need to buy anything else. Although SAILORS ON THE STARLESS SEA is generally considered the best funnel and full of awesome.

The challenging part about running funnels is the large number of PCs -- you're looking at around 20 PCs depending on players. However these are very simple PCs. No one has any special abilities or spells. Basically they can roll to hit, make the occasional skill check, and that's it.

The rotating player thing is the bane of RPGs, because you have one of the stars of the show who temporarily drops out of the story. There are five general approaches, all of which leave something to be desired:

1. Another player plays the absent player's character. Can get abused. "Oh, Jimmy heroically leaps in front of the dragon flame for love of my character!" So the GM must arbitrarily smack down dumb things. I've had some success with mechanical bribes: you get half the XP that Jimmy's character gets, but only he survives. Still not desirable because of the bookkeeping; not all groups are fine with power disparities caused by earnin XP at different rates.

2. GM plays the absent player's PC. Can be challenging to play meaningfully and separate out all your knowledge of the scenario. Also you have enough on your plate.

3. Absent player's PC stands quietly in the back of the party the whole time, neither helping nor hindering. Monsters magically do not notice that PC. Next week when the player is back, things resume as normal. This is kind of lame and stretches believability, especially if the PC contributes quite a bit. Can also cause the party's power level to plummet, and things that were a beatable challenge become suicidal.

4. Play mission-based RPGs where every session of play ends with the PCs safe and sound. Have a good reason why a PC might not be there next time. Disadvantage: most of the popular RPGs do not lend themselves well to mission-based play.

5. Play one-shots, where every game is wrapped up in an evening. Disadvantage: you lose the epic scope and character development of an extended story arc.

My group has a couple problems that hamper the traditional campaign style play of RPGs.

1. Gaps between play sessions that lead to extended 'What we did' summaries.
2. Some player rotation between sessions.

After reading the 'Spirit of the Century' source book, I realized that Episodic Play was going to be the way to go. It supports a rotating cast of players easily and I can have a story arc completed in one session so the players have a sense of accomplishment. Hopefully, one of the rotating player will be me at some point.

I also adopted a narrative structure that always keeps a deadline approaching so my group does not needlessly dawdle and has to choose between goals. Failing forward has succeeded for us as well as I found it does not lead to dead end branches for me and fun complications can get introduced.

I think that some of these ideas may help bring in first timers.

The system that works best for me has been Savage Worlds. It is very flexible and the settings that are available have great color. I'm running a Rippers campaign where the group is a tactical team that investigates instances of Mad Science, Monsters, Magic, etc. for the Crown.

I've wanted to start a Mouse Guard game as well since that is also more episodic than a traditional RPG.

Good luck with your group.

If you want a sci-fi setting and low overhead, try Wreckage. It has the advantage of having integral miniature combat rules. Very fast-paced, doesn't slow the RP part of the G down too much. It's really an RPG first and skirmish game second, but the skirmish rules are so damned good...

You could also do Strange Aeons, which is far less built around an RPG, kind of like Diablo. Characters are persistent, world is persistent, and if a player's "list" of characters drops out because that player's running the bad guys for that game, it's no big deal.

I can confirm that Mouse Guard is a great episodic game. It's what I'm running now. We have five players (plus me) but no more than three players have been able to make it at any given time. Works seamlessly.

The other great episodic RPG is Pendragon. Each game session is one year in the game. You go to Camelot every spring, hob-nob with nobles, and then get an assignment. Sometimes it's direct ("go kill these Saxons") sometimes you hear rumors and go check things out. Either way you have to make it home before winter, because weather is bad. Any player who can't make it that night, it's assumed that their character had pressing concerns and couldn't come to court -- most likely they were stringing up some uppity peasants or something.

For story-telling purposes if you're expecting rotating players then try to do a campaign that's in a localized area. That way you can say a character went to a particular village to get information or bring a body to its family or something so would be gone from the party for a few days. Since you'll be in the area they can come back and find you without too much trouble. Can't really do that in the middle of a dungeon crawl or a linear quest where you're traveling leagues away from home.

Seems the new Lone Wolf Adventure Game may also do the trick. It's designed for new players so easy to play and with all the players being Kai monks of some degree you can do those episodic mission based adventures with a rotating cast.

Feng Shui 2 would be another one as players go on missions to defend sites across time and dimensions.

Mouse Guard and Pendragon are two of my favorites. The Great Pendragon Campaign is a great read even if you'll never get it to the table.

Lone Wolf is great too, but much more simple. The basic rules are a good intro but the full rules are where it's at.

Worth noting that in Mouse Guard and Lone Wolf the default is that every character is unequivocally a "good guy", even if they have some rough edges. You could change that up but I'm not sure how well the system would support it.

It's more important to pick an RPG with material you're interested in though. If you're really into post-apoc or something then don't shoehorn the group into something like Pendragon. It's better to tweak the setting you're into to have a plot reason for characters to drop in and out.

I like DCC a lot. There's a new paperback version of the rules that's $25. There is a Level 0 adventure in there, but Sailors on the Starless Seas is fun. The adventure modules are relatively inexpensive. The game is pretty simple, but has enough rules crunch and randomness to make it interesting. It took us two sessions to make it through Sailors.

basicfantasy.org/index.html

The system is free, and you can buy printed rules for less than $4 a copy.

metalface13 wrote: I like DCC a lot. There's a new paperback version of the rules that's $25.

Where? Every time I look for the rulebook its sold out.

There's some softcovers on ebay.

(guess I don't know who to paste a working ebay link...)

I bought it here with a pound o dice, and what I needed to "complete" my Netrunner collection cause they had the sale going last weekend.

www.coolstuffinc.com/main_search.php?pa=...ngeon+crawl+classics