How would you guys explain pathfinder to someone new to tabletop RPG's in general? I've tried thinking of ways to describe it but the only thing that came to mind was "mathematical dice rolling with your imagination".
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I usually downplay the mathematical dice rolling aspect. It's a game of role-playing fantasy adventures, somewhat akin to the stuff we used to do on the playgrounds as kids, but with more structure and sophisticated stories and rules. Players take on the roles of individual characters or heroes and a work with a referee who plays the world around them.
I usually downplay the mathematical dice rolling aspect. It's a game of role-playing fantasy adventures, somewhat akin to the stuff we used to do on the playgrounds as kids, but with more structure and sophisticated stories and rules. Players take on the roles of individual characters or heroes and a work with a referee who plays the world around them.
I really love this explanation of it. Very simple and easy to understand.
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A novel, that you *play*.
A poker night without poker.
Nerds run amok.
Bad jokes and obscure references interrupted by dice.
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I usually describe roleplaying to neewcomers by comparing it to theatre:
In theatre/movies, the actors has all the lines, behaviour and decision, and try to create a personality from that point.
In roleplaying, you have (or create) a personality, and make up all the lines, decisions and behavior from that point.
All the rules and such are secondary to the roleplaying, and I would go very easy on the rules with newcomers.
For someone who know what Dungeons and Dragons is I offer:
"Like Dungeons and Dragons 3.5, but with less problems."
For someone who never played Dungeons and Dragons I offer:
"A bunch of people sitting around a table, rolling die, cracking jokes, playing through a story in one of the most interactive ways possible short of putting on costumes and acting it out, and just having loads of fun."
The second has gotten people interested, and the former has made some laugh. It made a 3.5 faithful guy annoyed, then I explained that you can play a fighter, a rogue, or a monk straight from the Core Rules Book all the way to 20 and still be about equal in power to the classes in the later books. To that he had no retort.
How would you guys explain pathfinder to someone new to tabletop RPG's in general? I've tried thinking of ways to describe it but the only thing that came to mind was "mathematical dice rolling with your imagination".
Tell him: There are casters and martials. Casters are those that win fights, martials are those that get nerfed by FAQs.
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How would you guys explain pathfinder to someone new to tabletop RPG's in general? I've tried thinking of ways to describe it but the only thing that came to mind was "mathematical dice rolling with your imagination".Tell him: There are casters and martials. Casters are those that win fights, martials are those that get nerfed by FAQs.
/que trombone wha wha whaaaa
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We were watching Big Bang Theory at home (again) and one of my kids goes "Can we buy the Dungeons & Dragons game?" I shook my head, thinking about the library of game books I have acquired in 25+ years. I asked her "What kind of a game do you think it is?" I was a bit surprised but pleased by her explanation: "Its a game where you can do anything you want." It was a reminder to me that I didn't start gaming because of elegant rule systems, awesome artwork, 1001 options for customization, or great customer support. Rather, she summed it up pretty well.
If you're curious how the above story ended, I led her to the bookshelf that had about half of my books, next to the shelf with about half of the figurines I've painted. She was amazed at the number of books, and a bit in awe I think that they had been under her nose all this time. I handed her a book and said "Here, read this." She took it to the couch and thumbed through it for about a minute before her mind drifted off. Shortly thereafter she put it back and said "I'll finish this later", which I know to be code for "Yeah I'm pretty much done with this. :)
I say it's like a video game, but played on a table-top with dice and one person taking the place of the computer. So long as the issue of imaginary graphics does't come up, everyone seems to get it pretty quick.
My favorite comparison:
Movies are to video games as books are to D&D (or pathfinder).
Also: It's a single set of laws of physics to your imagination.
Today if I were new to the game and someone told me..."Oh just read this." and handed me the 400 page brick of the Core rules...and then told me there were 50+ books just like it...I'd give it pass and go back to playing Gauntlet or Hack.
I completely get where you're coming from, given that entry into and the enjoyment of the hobby can be obscure. I survived it though. When I was 10 years old my brother handed me a stack of 1st edition books and said I should read them. Its what I spent the next year doing, before bringing it to school and teaching other kids.
Honestly a big thing I'd do is try to find a stream which plays D&D or some other RPG. They're not common, but they exist, if you're willing to look, and test them for quality. It's how I've introduced a couple friends to the hobby. It lets people get a feel for the hobby without making any sort of commitment. RPGs are not easy things to explain to people unfamiliar with it, and while the best way to introduce them would be to have them play a session, it's a lot easier to just sit them down to get them to watch a video of it.
The ultimate video game minus the whole video part. You use your imagination, some random number generators (dice), and a narrative (your imagination *makes rainbow*) to envision your character and their companions in a fantasy world with swords, magic, and just about anything one could imagine.
A novel, that you *play*.
A poker night without poker.
Nerds run amok.
Bad jokes and obscure references interrupted by dice.
I'm glad it's not just my group. xD
Bad jokes and obscure references interrupted by dice.
I totally agree.
If they have no experience with RPGs at all I tell them that it's basically cooperative storytelling with heroic characters where one person describes the general plot and the rest choose where they want it to go. I then tell them a few great stories about an adventure or two (not the weird ones or the more unusual characters, keep it heroic).
I gotta disagree with all these "cooperative storytelling" and "theatrical performance". That's not the way I like to play, really, and I'm not going to try to pretend to people that's the way it is when it's really not.
I do agree the best way to explain the game to somebody is to have them see it played. The other thing is that most people nowadays (as opposed to, oh, 20 years ago) are familiar with computer or console RPGs. So you can explain it that way - like an RPG, except, you know, with pen, paper and dice.
I usually describe it as an highly interactive choose your own adventure where the players make choices bases on their characters capabilities and the game master describes the results of those choices, followed by some random example of play.
Though now I may also send those interested a link to this thread to see how other players describe it :)
I've used "collaborative storytelling with dice" to lure people in.
This is exactly what I say!!