Comments on: How to talk to non-gamers about playing RPGs

By: reveal

reveal — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 20:19:37 +0000

@Chad – Glad you like it. I thought it was a good follow-up to the cast.

By: Chad

Chad — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 19:57:15 +0000

Hey man, this is Chad from Fear the Boot. I’m glad you liked the getting new players cast we did. I really enjoyed the list you have here. Tip number 3 is a good one that I wish i had thought to put in our podcast!

By: reveal

reveal — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 19:36:13 +0000

@Ratysu – It’s gratifying to know that I’ve touched a whole country without even speaking its native language.

Glad you liked it!

By: Ratysu

Ratysu — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 19:30:30 +0000

Woah man, That rox! Whole Brazilians loved your post! Ratysu´s last blog post..Sobre Santa Catarina

By: Marcel Beaudoin

Marcel Beaudoin — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:36:13 +0000

No problem!! I really enjoyed them myself. Marcel Beaudoin´s last blog post..null

By: reveal

reveal — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:28:34 +0000

@Marcel – Thanks! I’m listening to them now. These are really good.

By: Ravyn

Ravyn — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 22:25:16 +0000

All right, all right, I get it. I guess this is a bit too personal an issue; I'm sick of overhyped piles of bad writing that shouldn't've made it past the editor's desk turning into bestsellers, and Inheritance is practically a symbol of the problem at this point. And then we make them into gateway materials for geek culture because they're popular--like that means anything--and next thing we know everybody's saying that that's what fantasy should be like. I riffed on this a while before the network formed, so you probably haven't seen it, but.... well, this should get the idea across. Using Paolini to represent fantasy is, in my opinion, comparable to your point about comparing D&D to a children's game; sure, it's accessible and gives them a frame of reference, but it also gets across some initial impressions that many of us are trying to fight here. Ravyn´s last blog post..A First Look at Leaders

By: reveal

reveal — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 22:11:51 +0000

@Ravyn – They’re just suggestions. If you want to tell them about others, feel free. But, as I said, the series I mentioned are popular. Popularity is important because that means there will be more people that they can talk with about them, allowing them to immerse themselves further into “geek culture.”

I’m not passing judgment on any series and saying “no, you shouldn’t tell them about that one” because that’s not fair to the genre. A foot in the door, that’s all I ask.

By: Ravyn

Ravyn — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 21:49:41 +0000

Yes, but when you hold it up as "good fantasy", everyone starts deciding that they want to be the next Paolini, and.... let's not even go there, all right? If they're emulating that style, the genre's never going to get itself out of its literary ghetto, and if they're people who actually care what they read and their first impression of the genre is that and it's being lauded as good, how are we ever going to get them to read the decent stuff? First impressions are important. We can take the time to point our recruits to decent fiction. That's why I gave you the list of alternatives I did. I'd call them all pretty accessible. (I mean, come on, with the exception of Stasheff, everything on my list is YA or lower, and the Prydain chronicles are accessible enough that I was reading them when I was five.) If you want to try to work them up to LotR, there's always tossing them The Hobbit, or if you want to show them worldbuilding without all the prose baggage that scares people away from the longer pieces, Tolkien's Father Christmas Letters might be a good choice. (Yes, it's a picture book. Who cares? Besides, writing for his children seems to take away most of the parts of his writing style that seem to scare his readers off.) Recruiting people is a good thing, I'll agree with you there--but there are so many alternatives to those books that you're completely overlooking. I mean, if you're going to do "a boy and his dragon", at least point them to Yolen's Dragon's Blood. Ravyn´s last blog post..A First Look at Leaders

By: Marcel Beaudoin

Marcel Beaudoin — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 14:53:24 +0000

Found it:

Episode 115, Chapter 1 – An Introduction
An introduction to the series. We explain who we are and why we’re putting these shows together.
http://feartheboot.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=378436

Episode 115, Chapter 2 – What is an RPG?
A general definition of “role playing game,” along with a quick example of play.
http://feartheboot.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=378645

Episode 115, Chapter 3 – Why Play an RPG?
Reasons why roleplaying games are a beneficial and worthwhile hobby.
http://feartheboot.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=380834

Episode 115, Chapter 4 – Common Objections
We tackle the four most common objections to the RPG hobby.
http://feartheboot.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=380837

Episode 115, Chapter 5 – Getting Started
If you’re willing to give roleplaying games a try, where should you start? We explain what you’ll need and where you can find it.
http://feartheboot.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=380838

Episode 115, Chapter 6 – The Language of RPGs
Like every hobby, roleplaying has its own jargon. We’ll help you make sense of it.
http://feartheboot.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=380839

Episode 115, Chapter 7 – It Takes All Kinds
An explanation of the diversity you’ll see in how people play or modify their RPGs.
http://feartheboot.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=380836

They (Fear the Boot) have also done a prior episode aimed at experienced players who would like to introduce the non-gamer to an RPG.

Episode 114 – introducing non-gamers to RPGs
http://feartheboot.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=374311

Marcel Beaudoin´s last blog post..null

By: reveal

reveal — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 14:46:13 +0000

@Ravyn – It’s a popular series that is easy to read. It’s a good beginner series.

@Marcel – I’ll have to do that.

By: Marcel Beaudoin

Marcel Beaudoin — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 14:36:06 +0000

You might check out the Fear the Boot podcast. A couple of months ago they did a series of short podcasts on this very topic. Marcel Beaudoin´s last blog post..null

By: Ravyn

Ravyn — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 08:25:38 +0000

Inheritance? Good? Are we really talking about the same series? If you're going to send them to the fantasy shelves, turn them loose on something decent. Lloyd Alexander's Prydain series, maybe. Or almost anything from Tamora Pierce's Tortall. I could send you to a few things by Sherwood Smith, or if you want a slightly darker tone there's always Garth Nix's Abhorsen trilogy. The religious types might do better with Stasheff's Wizard in Rhyme series--but for the love of decent literature, please do not represent my genre with the Inheritance trilogy! And don't limit yourself to videogamers. One of my old friends told me that the people you want to recruit to your games are "the writers, the theater people, the musicians and the philosophy majors"; I've had a lot more luck with them than with the videogamers, and (from a story-heavy standpoint) I found them far more compatible with my style. Ravyn´s last blog post..A First Look at Leaders