Running very short demos - tips?

[Neil the Wimp]

(This isn't exactly about a convention, but a public demo; if these questions are off-topic here, please let me know).

I'd like to pick your collective brains, if I may, for any hints and tips on running short, interesting, and enticing RPG demos for complete newbies. 

A large-ish bookshop in the main shopping centre has a small section of RPGs, mainly D&D and various WW games (though I doubt we'll be limited to those).  In an attempt to grow the hobby, we at the MKRPG club were thinking about offering to run some demos in said shop.  The punters are likely to be people who just drop in during their shopping, so they're unlikely to know anything about RPGs and they're unlikely to have very much time.  All we're trying to do is get the people along to one of our regular club nights. 

The shortest games I've run so far (or have seen) have been 2-3 hours, which is far too long for this context.  I've heard it said that many people here have run ~15 min demos of games at various conventions.  How do you do it?  Can anyone give any hints or tips on producing grabby scenes, or explaining the basic mechanics quickly?  Any things to definitely include, or definitely avoid?

Thanks,

Neil.

[M Jason Parent]

Here are a few of my tips:

Have a quick action scene scripted - be able to describe what lead up to this confrontation in under a minute, with a longer description available. Make sure it leads up to conflict, and then look to the sucker... err... player, and say "Ok, what do you do?"

This lets you show off the setting a bit (gives them a chance to figure out the genre of the game), and offers them a lot of power (attack? talk? berate? run away?) and since it isn't a full adventure, you can react and go with the flow, and show how the system handles the various reactions to conflict.

Have flowcharts. That way when you ask the person to roll some dice, they can see what they are rolling and why, based on the flowchart, IF they are interested. Some people will get immersed in the mechanics this way, others will just roll the dice and let you handle the mechanics. But the important thing is that they have the option to get involved in the mechanics because they are presented in an easily accessible format.

I've run a few AssassinX demos like this now, and it has been fun. Bloody, but fun.

[matthijs]

Hey Neil,

Here's two threads with some examples of 10-to-15-minute demos: Demo how-to and 15 minute demos for conventions. I think there was one more, not too long ago, but can't find it right now.

[M. J. Young]

One thing that is important in demos is figuring out what it is that really makes the game interesting, and make that happen quickly.

We ran a lot of Multiverser demos in which people started in their first world and were careful enough that they never died. The game really became interesting when we eliminated the wonderfully interesting starting worlds in favor of a relatively small world that was mere hours from self-destruction, with the result that the players knew within a few minutes that they were going to die, but they could do something before that happened, and then after they died they would wake up in yet another world with something else happening.

Get the really good parts to the beginning of the game, because it's the best you have to offer that will draw the most people.

--M. J. Young

[Michael S. Miller]

HI, Neil.

Also look at enCon Convention Demos - Advice? and the thread linked internally.

Feel free to offer any further questions right here.

[Eero Tuovinen]

When I design a 15 minute demo the game in question has a huge influence, so I'm at difficulty pointing to any definite rules. The most imporant rule is perhaps to try to experience your planned demo from the audience viewpoint. Just put in stuff that will resonate for your audience, and avoid geeky assumptions that will inevitably fall flat. Reach for that which is common to all humanity, reflect it through the game in question and write it down into a 15-minute demo.

Personally I'd be somewhat daunted by having to demo D&D or WoD. Both are boring to play in short spans and extremely geeky, so you run into the problem of failing fetishes. It's next to impossible to sell D&D to somebody who doesn't get a hard-on for weapons, armor, elves, dwarves and combat rounds. Those games get their overwhelmingly best results in long-span indoctrination through several sessions of "soft landing".

That being said, if your main demo games will be D&D/WW/something similar, then I suggest downplaying the properties of the game in question to the extreme and running simple freeform adventures in the guise of the game in question. For instance, D&D makes for a pretty nice dungeon puzzle game if you'll just avoid combat and stick to some simple skill rolls used to cross pits, climb walls, solve magical puzzles, etc. And extremely simplified character sheets, of course. Just abilities and skill ranks (make the attack bonus just another skill). The point with those kinds of games is hardly to demonstrate the system, but rather to just demonstrate the idea of roleplaying.

[Luke]

Hi Neil,

If you're going to demo DnD and WW, target your audience. Do not rope in just anyone who walks by. You're looking for 15 year old boys up to college age boys who are willing to sit down and fight a goblin or werewolf with you. Girls and normal people are going to be a bit more tricky, because they're not going to immediately grasp why they have to fight the goblin. They'll want to explore other options, which neither of those games support. So your demo could involve 15 minutes of colorful roleplay that has nothing to do with the game your showcasing.

The other folks who've posted are correct, you need to start in the middle of things. But in a 15 minute game, you need to be less vague than "what do you do?" You literally need to tell them: "This is what you do." Explain only the most basic resolution mechanics, leave everything else for later.

And in case it wasn't explicit, make sure you have pre-generated characters and a fixed scenario with a single conflict/goal.

-L

[Neil the Wimp]

Thanks everyone for the tips and the pointers.  It's all very useful stuff.  I hadn't really thought about doing one-on-one demos, but that's a good thing to consider. 

As for running D&D and WW games, I understand everyone's concerns.  I was thinking of running a simple fight scene for D&D, and perhaps also for Exalted (though having one-use charm cards instead of all the Essence malarkey).  The suggestion to run a larger dungeon crawl was a good one.  I know nothing about WoD, but other club members do: I'll pass on the advice.

If this demo goes ahead, I'll try to remember to post something in Actual Play.

Neil.

[Adam Dray]

If you have only 15 minutes to demo a game, try to portray what it's like to play the game. Don't worry about actually demoing the rules; it's not enough time to do much other than barely scratch the surface. Here's a character -- simplified. Here's a scene, already in progress. Maybe the character is already in such a bad situation that the next conflict makes or breaks everything. Here's the resolution mechanic -- simplified. Roll some dice. Get a reward.

I'm curious: Can you portray a game accurately without showing some of its reward system?

For example, how much can you learn about D&D 3E without, say, gaining XP and leveling up?

I did a one-hour demo of Verge at MACE for a few other Forge folks. I ignored some rules but I felt that the setup part of the game was important to its soul and I had to demo that. We spent 15 minutes on coming up with a background plot, spent 15 minutes making up characters (abbreviated with 60% fewer traits than normal), and spent 10 minutes per scene for three players actually role-playing. That worked out pretty well. I left out the standard "1 Boost every time the GM burns you" reward rule (faulty memory and nerves, not by choice). We didn't do any Development Scenes (reward scenes).