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Curated Beginners' Games

Hello roll20! A look at my profile will show that I am just about the ultimate newb: joined today, first community forum post, never played a tabletop RPG before. Despite my overwhelming lack of experience, I am a huge fan of role playing games. For many years, I've been reading their source books, about them, recounts of campaigns, novelizations, etc. I've always wanted to play, but due to a variety of real life reasons, haven't had the right opportunity. I recently discovered roll20 from a play by post forum where I was looking for a game (but it had a rather anemic community) and now here I am! After looking around for a few hours on the LFG listings I have noticed some things: There are lots of people like me out there - inexperienced RPers who really want to get started. There are lots of games that advertise New Players Welcome (almost all of the ones I saw). There are not lots of us newbs making the cut for the relatively few spots out there. Add to those observations the LFG listing that I am actively trying to get in (take a second and read the description please) There seems to be a good solution. Good not only for myself others of the unwashed newb masses, but good for the gaming community at large as well as the roll20 gaming community specifically. And potentially good for roll20, the business, as well. I gave it away in the title. Whether centrally managed by roll20 staff, perhaps the Mentors, or even just the community, I propose a curated set of Beginners' Games . These games would rotate through the various popular game systems, run by DM/GMs who are gentle with the uninitiated, geared totally towards introducing not only the specific system - but RPing in general. The campaign's would be short, perhaps only a few sessions long Those of you with experience will know better than I how these games should be run in order to cater to the newbs. While there seem to be plenty of games like this at first blush, a slightly deeper look shows that in reality, most of them aren't. Curating the games ensures regularity (as in there are enough of them to meet demand), consistency (a uniformly high-quality experience for us), and educational content (this is your chance to turn us into the players you want us to be!). It will also help these games from falling apart or terminating early. I am sure that there are a few DM/GMs out there who would actually like to run these games as a community service, if nothing else. In addition, this would be a good way for DM/GMs to increase and build their reputations (as happy first-timers are likely to seek further games with them and spread the good word). Perhaps this could eventually become part of common mid-level DM/GM training. In any case, I am utterly green and this is coming from my experience - right now - as that new RPer. Hopefully my experience here will help to mold me into the kind of player that you want at the table with you. And perhaps, if taken, this suggestion could further help that process with future newbs. Thanks for your time and consideration, Ascar
1407332724
The Aaron
Roll20 Production Team
API Scripter
I like the idea of promoting Curated Beginner's Games. Probably this is something that would need to be done by the community. Possibly the place to start is getting GMs running these games to adopt a particular naming convention for their LFG post. Maybe something like: [Recurring-Beginner-Game][Monthly]: Dark Heresy I don't think the Devs need to provide any special support to get this started. Once there is a big community drive creating these sessions, who knows! =D BTW, Mentors are just users like you, we just subscribe to Roll20 to provide our support and use advanced features. I think we tend to be helpful people though. =D
Aaron, Thanks for the thoughtful response. I think it's a great idea to go ahead and just start doing something like this on our (the community's) own. I don't know if there is a good way to spread the word to GMs in general and specifically to those who already do something like this. While I agree that there isn't a need for the devs to do anything about this, I think that there are some small things they could do with it that would help improve the new player experience. When you land into the website for the first time, you see the home page. The home page has some great starting points for some new to GMing in general, and in using roll20 in particular. But there isn't really anything for the new player . Having some kind of "New to tabletop role playing? Click here!" blurb leading to a new player guide on the wiki would be great. The getting started players page is really geared towards an experienced roleplayer new to roll20. In any case, I appreciate your input and hope that with more participation and some kind of consensus these can get implemented! Thanks, Ascar
1407363169
Gid
Roll20 Team
Ascar L. said: But there isn't really anything for the new player . Having some kind of "New to tabletop role playing? Click here!" blurb leading to a new player guide on the wiki would be great. The getting started players page is really geared towards an experienced roleplayer new to roll20. I'm actually working on a new video series (Like the Roll20 Crash Course) doing exactly that. It's not going to walk you through any particular system, but it should help a brand new player figure out what they need to do and how to find a group to start playing.
1407364092
The Aaron
Roll20 Production Team
API Scripter
Awesome Kristin! I love your videos! Ascar, since you are in the new player boat right now, you're ideally placed to start assembling the content of that wiki page. I'd be happy to help with the formatting and possibly filling in the answers to some questions. Once it's written, we might be able to ask the devs about linking to it prominently. :)
Kristin C. said: I'm actually working on a new video series (Like the Roll20 Crash Course) doing exactly that. It's not going to walk you through any particular system, but it should help a brand new player figure out what they need to do and how to find a group to start playing. That sounds great! It looks as though I've self-nominated doing some work on the wiki. Once you are done with your video, I'd love to link or possibly embed it. With the help and guidance of Aaron (and hopefully even more community members!) it looks like we will be well on our way to realizing something like what I was hoping for!
1407388906
Gid
Roll20 Team
I tend to create a wiki page to house the video tutorials with additional commentary (See: <a href="https://wiki.roll20.net/Roll20_Crash_Course" rel="nofollow">https://wiki.roll20.net/Roll20_Crash_Course</a> for reference) Got a wiki page started for it. I just haven't made it public yet because it's still a mess.