Shut Up & Sit Down do a "How to get into RPGs" video

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A Fiery Flying Roll

Hating Dungeons and Dragons before it was cool
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Obviously, this forum isn't really the audience for this, but it's one of the best beginner's video introductions I've seen.

I especially liked the "actual play videos are to playing RPGs as pornography is to having sex" analogy.

 
Thanks a lot for sharing that. I mean that both legitimately (that was very entertaining and also articulated into words lessons I learned through years of GM trial and error) and sarcastically (welp, there's a half hour I have to figure out how to cover up for on the ol' timesheet today).
 
That was fun. I very much enjoyed the contrast between the GM in media vs the actual GM, especially the long pause to think up the name.
 
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These folks do good videos and unlike most YTers are actually funny when they intend to be. Will watch later.
 
That was fun. I very much enjoyed the contrast between the GM in media vs the actual GM, especially the long pause to think up the name.
I also thought they got the balance right between "D&D is a perfectly good RPG and you should play it if you want to" and "but be aware there are lots of other possibilities out there".
 
These folks do good videos and unlike most YTers are actually funny when they intend to be. Will watch later.
I like them and think they are funny, but also think that sometimes they lose the point of what they are doing, and also just massively miss the point of what they are reviewing. I remember watching a review of a board game one time and they spent about 3/4ths of the review talking about an entirely different game. The whole thing was like "why would I play this game when this other game that we love exists!" ignoring that while they were both in the same genre, the one they harped on and on about for the entire video is a like, 3-4 hour playtime game, and the one they were actually reviewing was like a 45min-1hour game.
 
I especially liked the "actual play videos are to playing RPGs as pornography is to having sex" analogy.
It's a good analogy because it has a second line. "Actual Play is a slick entertainment product performed by professionals, that has the contradictory properties of making some people feel bad about how they do the thing while not being as fun as doing the thing yourself, amateurishly."
 
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I especially liked the "actual play videos are to playing RPGs as pornography is to having sex" analogy.


Thanks, I enjoyed the video a lot more than I expected. His advice and insights were solid. The porn analogy is legit and not just a funny quip. There's the obvious observation that both actual play and pornography promote unrealistic expectations but I think it runs deeper than that.

I liked his PbtA recommendation and agree they are a strong choice for newcomers. I think he could have spent another minute or two on newbie friendly, rules-lite, single-session games like Ten Candles as an gateway for players but I get that he only has so much time.

Alice is Missing sounds cool. Anyone here actually played it?
 
I just watched the video and very much think it is one of the better videos they've ever put out. It does encapsulate a lot of thoughts on the "how to get into roleplaying" and I especially liked the whole thing of talking about how it is normal to be intimidated, and that it is normal to be awkward. His "this is what me GMing actually looks like" got a good laugh out of me. Especially the "what is his name" and the long pause.

That said, I think he likes PbtA waaaaay more than I do (there are a few PbtA games I like, but they are generally in spite of being PbtA not because of). :tongue: but you know, he can have imperfect taste.
 
Alice is Missing sounds cool. Anyone here actually played it?
Yep. I played it with my family when my teenage daughter had COVID and we were all isolating.

Its fun. It helps to know what you are getting into (some great APs online) and that the purpose of the exercise is to be immersed in the situation presented rather than influence the narrative.
 
I also liked the bit about aiming for professional wrestling grade acting for your NPCs, with the follow up that exaggerated characteristics and shallow portrayals are both good enough to convey the basics of an NPC and allow the PCs to be the deep, well-portrayed characters in the scene.

It's something I learned a long time ago, but never actually tried to put into words before.
 
Really good video. I found the funniest bit trying to come up with just a name for the Big Bad.

Also, I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who cringed when he took a highlighter to his book.
 
I thought it was a great video, but I’ve always enjoyed SU&SD. I was pleasantly surprised that they went beyond D&D (see what I did there).
 
Better still, have the same NPC appear in different campaigns.

Mine is Mama Clay, and old woman who speaks in a high pitched, whiney voice.

We (my wife and I both run games, and we both use this NPC) have Oma Gobby. There used to be a small market that sold local produce and jams and stuff like that in my town that was run by an older german couple called "Opa Robby's" Oma and Opa being the German familiar terms for Grandma and Grandpa. Somehow we got the joke of "Oma Gobby" out of this and it became this little old lady goblin that made delicious foods and adopted tons of orphans and street kids and travelled around by wagon selling food and knick knacks.

Granted you might not want to know what was IN the delicious food she made, but you know. Don't ask questions.
 
I am about half through. It is good. He’s obviously a fan of PbtA which—I don’t know, is that polarizing, or only in the more groggy parts of the hobby? He’s quite good at suggesting why D&D might be a good fit for a certain taste, but I wonder if some newbies would benefit from being told up front that some games are more first-person POV and some are more about collaboratively—and consciously—crafting a story. I don’t wish to rehash that argument, only to note that its a distinction many people sense.

Another critique is that the way the term “Actual Play” is used in the video and the thread is almost counter to the original, quite useful meaning. Critical Role and the other podcasts/videocasts are a very weird sort of actual play which is shaped not only by the theatrical skills of the participants but also by the goal of presenting something for the enjoyment of an outside audience. For example, Harmonquest, which I really enjoyed, had an obvious structure to each episode in order to introduce the guest character —and then eventually get rid of them.

When I first saw the term “Actual Play” it meant actual actual play, or written accounts of actual play that focuses on the people and events around the table rather than a reconstructed narrative of the fictional events in the game, or theoretical discussion of game rules. It’s a useful concept and I think it’s unfortunate that the term for it has been appropriated.
 
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I am about half through. It is good. He’s obviously a fan of PbtA which—I don’t know, is that polarizing, or only in the more groggy parts of the hobby? He’s quite good at suggesting why D&D might be a good fit for a certain taste, but I wonder if some newbies would benefit from being told up front that some games are more first-person POV and some are more about collaboratively—and consciously—crafting a story. I don’t wish to rehash that argument, only to note that its a distinction many people sense.
Kinda but not really.

It draws some flak simply because it's prominent and seems to have become a default system for lazy designers, much like d20 before it. People who dislike it sometimes get irritated when it's used as the system for new editions of games they previously enjoyed, understandably. (Again, like the D20 glut).

But even among the groggier parts of the the hobby it's not generally that polarising, people just don't always like it. I doubt most Dragonsfoot posters care either way.

All the arguments about it not being a RPG or it being a sign of everything wrong with the modern hobby is just a handful of terminally online people rather than an actual trend.

I'm not sure trying to make the distinction between types of games is useful for absolute newbies; it requires frames of reference they don't have to understand properly. For someone just getting into rpgs I suspect "play different games and see which you like" comes before that.
 
The best thing about the video is how often he drives home the point that it is 100% ok to suck and how everyone else is sucking too. He also really drives home the point that there is nothing wrong with going with with the popular choice before he starts promoting PbTA.
 
Yup, a great video all around. Good advice for folks who are considering RPGing. Good advice for folks who already game. Refreshing advice, too. Not the typical “well you need to get these seven books…” kind of advice.
 
Better still, have the same NPC appear in different campaigns.

Mine is Mama Clay, and old woman who speaks in a high pitched, whiney voice.
Elvis.

Ok, sometimes its been Pelvis Parsley the sparkly sex mage who transformed random people into magic princesses. In DtD its Chundar the Boobarian, ork cyber-monk & award winning Elvis impersonator with a regrettable addiction to certain magical prothesis. In one D&D campaign it was a named axe that required a specific performance roll to cast lightning bolt & mass charm simultaneously. But its still Elvis... kinda.
 
I'm not sure trying to make the distinction between types of games is useful for absolute newbies; it requires frames of reference they don't have to understand properly. For someone just getting into rpgs I suspect "play different games and see which you like" comes before that.
I agree with this, except I don’t know(*) if he emphasizes strongly enough that different games can be quite different, so if you try Dogs in the Vineyard and decide it’s not your cup of tea, it may still be worth looking at Deadlands—or vice versa.

* Really don’t, only watched partway so far.
 
One thing to be aware of in this video is that he is talking to a very board games literate audience and that they are already well aware of different complexities and genres of games across their core hobby. They won't be expecting RPGs to all follow one rule set and one pattern of play.
 
Maybe. It’s not really important, though, unless one is offering up the video to a newbie, or if you’re working on your own “how to get into RPGs” essay.

I just watched the second half and it’s even better. Interestingly enough, he works from the baseline assumption that one is a GM in a fairly traditional game, or really D&D. Then his advice runs from almost universally excellent stuff about prepping situations rather than plots to slightly more controversial, but still very useful ideas about drawing characters into the situation. I am not a fan of GM-as-auteur but there must be people out there who enjoy the style. The idea of using “flags” and other methods that warp the game world around the characters can likewise be good but if I were writing a chapter on the “how to rpg” I’d mention that they’re not everyone’s cup of tea.

Still, I agree it’s an excellent video.
 
We have had a few people turn up at the club expecting a Critical Role experiance. They usually don't come back after the first evening. I do feel bad for them as they have kind of been led down the garden path a bit.

And its a shame that its been DnD thats led the charge on this phenomenon as its a terrible rules system for it. If I was a designer I would be looking to make some kind of DnD variant that works better for the CR experiance.
 
I think regardless of expectations or how well the session goes, there will always be a lot of people who were always unlikely to come back for me. It's not for everyone. But even if the new player enjoys it, is just as likely the view it as just another event or experience, like going bungee-jumping, taking a make chocolate class or paintball. D&D as an organised corporate event is totally a thing.
 
Oh, another thing I do for NPCs is to give them flipped celebrities names.

The soulful, sensitive guy with a heart of gold? His name is Gyan Rosling.

The big brute with a heart of gold? His name is John Dwayneson.

The wise-cracking rogue with a heart of gold? His name is Reyan Rynolds.

OK, so it doesn't always work...
 
When I first saw the term “Actual Play” it meant actual actual play, or written accounts of actual play that focuses on the people and events around the table rather than a reconstructed narrative of the fictional events in the game, or theoretical discussion of game rules. It’s a useful concept and I think it’s unfortunate that the term for it has been appropriated.
I've switched to using After-Action Report precisely to avoid the confusion:thumbsup:.
 
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