Experiences w/newgamers vs.oldgamers and Uni

[komradebob]

HI
I'm looking to introduce Uni to some folks, most of which have little RPG background. I'd also like to introduce the system to some old gamer hands, folks that have a lot of traditional game experience logged, but no experience with something like Uni.

Does anyone out there have experience with both types of players? Care to share any stories? Did you notice any pitfalls or their opposite (whatever that term would be...) when introduing Uni?

Thanks,
Robert

[Mike Holmes]

HI
I'm looking to introduce Uni to some folks, most of which have little RPG background. I'd also like to introduce the system to some old gamer hands, folks that have a lot of traditional game experience logged, but no experience with something like Uni.

Does anyone out there have experience with both types of players? Care to share any stories? Did you notice any pitfalls or their opposite (whatever that term would be...) when introduing Uni?

The only comment that I can make is that people who've not played RPGs before learn to play much more quickly, because they don't have the baggage to drop that "experienced gamers" have. With experienced gamers, you'll have to do some "deprograming." My usual tactic is to inform them right off the bat that it's not a RPG, and just to follow the rules, and make no other assumptions. That helps.

Mike

[kwill]

> My usual tactic is to inform them right off the bat that it's not a RPG, and just to follow the rules

what Mike said; it's the regular roleplayers you must remember to speak to, as they'll be the one's with preconceptions (although in my last demo a long-time roleplayer commented as the session ended, "weird, I was still using my roleplaying brain")

more specifically, remind them when you feel appropriate (eg, between Scenes) about Control, and that no-one "owns" a Component, they just Control it for a while

everything else I'd say is pretty much the same for anyone learning from scratch (although it's a neat way to highlight things like Scene Framing and Social Contract to roleplayers)

previously in a mixed group the pitfall I noted was gamer-speak not being picked up by non-roleplayers (specifically, referring to an orc, I picked up that the gamer was talking about a D&D orc)

the same problem would occur if you had a bunch of martial artists, physicists, horse trainers or other specialists and they spoke about a technical term or simply had a different idea about what a term meant

the non-roleplayer I most recently had in a demo group had a completely different problem, in that she insisted she "wasn't creative" :P

[Tony Irwin]

HI
I'm looking to introduce Uni to some folks, most of which have little RPG background. I'd also like to introduce the system to some old gamer hands, folks that have a lot of traditional game experience logged, but no experience with something like Uni.

Does anyone out there have experience with both types of players? Care to share any stories? Did you notice any pitfalls or their opposite (whatever that term would be...) when introduing Uni?

Thanks,
Robert

Hey Robert, you could try printing off a few of the game reports off the web-site. Might give people an idea of how play goes and the many things that are possible.

[Valamir]

I honestly wouldn't worry too much about "regular roleplayer" types.

As Tony mentioned there's a bunch of play examples on the website and the ones marked "Gen Con demos" were all played with the sorts of folks who prowl the GenCon dealer hall...pretty much all regular roleplayer types.

While we generally only played what could be considered the introduction to a full game, I didn't have a single person in the demos not immediately get how to play the game.

[Mike Holmes]

Yeah, don't get me wrong. The "deprogramming" I mentioned usually just consists of sometimes having to repeat a rule when the experienced gamer gets a consternated look on his face. Sometimes they'll ask, "So, you don't get your own character?" to which I respond with a repeat of the control rules.

Don't ever say, "well, it's like having a PC, but people can take them from you, and controling other things is just like how you'd control a PC in another RPG." That'll just confuse them. Just tell them the rules, short and simple.

Mike