I'm looking for a good and simple explanation of RPGs for complete laymen, i.e. people like my mother or my current girlfriend, who are not gamers, giving them a general idea what I do in my hobby. A youtube video would be perfect.

This episode is super clear, I think--
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/i-hit-it-with-my-axe/1872-Episode-18-200-lbs-Of-Meat-And-A-New-Fur-Coat

this is a text people have used to explain the basics
SUNDAY, MARCH 14, 2010

How To Play The Game
ZAK: Ok, so tell everybody about your character.

KIMBERLY: Wait, why? I just want to kill shit.

ZAK: Because it's an example. What are you complaining about? You're not even here, this is all just made up to use this to explain the game to people. So, like, if you're trying to explain role-playing games to a new player you can just link to this page.

KIMBERLY: Fine, whatever. Ummm...my character's name is Rookia...

ZAK: Because characters have names.

KIMBERLY: Duh. And also because my character is a Rookie so I called her Rookia. Anyway...

ZAK: I'm just explaining, ok?

KIMBERLY: Anyway, her name is Rookia and she's really strong and fast and...

FRANKIE: Not as fast as my character!

ZAK: That's a good point, in the game you have a character and the character has stats--so that if two different characters--or a character and a monster--are trying to compete in some way you can figure out who's more likely to win. So the basic characteristics have numbers--in Dungeons and Dragons the characteristics are called Strength and Dexterity and there are others, too, like Intelligence. Basically, this set of numbers says how good your character is at different things. You roll dice to figure out the numbers--called "ability scores". In some games you can pick which numbers go with which characteristics and in some games you just have to play what the dice give you.

CONNIE: I suck at rolling ability scores.

ZAK: True, but you survived the last adventure when everybody else died.

CONNIE: Good point.

ZAK: Your ability scores might suck, but this isn't some fascist propaganda game--biology isn't necessarily destiny in D&D. Being clever and lucky often counts more than being born with good scores.

KIMBERLY: Anyway--Rookia is a half-elf.

ZAK: In D&D you don't have to be a human. If you're a different race, then you get bonuses to certain things and minuses in others. Like if you're an elf you're less likely to be tough but you're quicker than the average human.

KIMBERLY: My guy's tough!

ZAK: That's true, but that's because she's a barbarian. That's her class--in D&D, every character has a job, or a set of skills that represent what kinds of things they're trained in doing, which we call class. A barbarian has one set of skills, a wizard has another, a knight might have another, et cetera. You get to pick whatever class you want for your character. Because Kimberly's a barbarian she has skills that make her a more dangerous opponent in combat than the average elf. Like she has the ability to "Rage" which means she can temporarily make herself stronger and more dangerous once a day by becoming blood-crazed.

MANDY: In some role-playing games, you don't have "class" you just pick a lot of individual skills and talents and make up what kind of person your character is from scratch.

ZAK: Yeah, that's true, but I'm trying to keep things simple. Anyway, Kimberly...

KIMBERLY: I'm done.

ZAK: Ok, well what else do you know about your character?

KIMBERLY: Ummm...she's got an axe.

ZAK: In the game your character's got a name, some scores representing his or her abilities, a race, a job or class, a set of skills that come out of this class (or sometimes simply from being a certain race--like elves are good at finding secret doors) and then you've got some equipment. Kimberly's got an axe, a torch, some rations, some armor. The kinds of things you'd need if you were exploring. Also, anything you want to fill in about your character's background, you can---like if you want to say she has an aunt who died of leukemia or only eats beets then great, that's part of your character. Sometimes that stuff will come up in the game.

MANDY: In some games, that background stuff is provided for you.

KIMBERLY: Can we fight things yet?

SATINE: I want to find out what's in that weird tunnel we saw last game.

ZAK: Yeah yeah, ok, let's actually start playing. So you're in a dark tunnel, the walls are made of a smooth, shiny black rock that you've never seen before. Mandy, you light your torch.

MANDY: Don't tell me what to do! You can describe what's going on but just because you're the Dungeon Master it doesn't mean you get to tell us what we do. I'll light my torch if I want. If I feel like it I'll just sit in the dark.

ZAK: That's true.

MANDY: Then why'd you say it?

ZAK: To give you the opportunity to explain that to the newbie who's reading this.

MANDY: Well that's annoying.

ZAK: Anyway the point is I'm the game master or Dungeon Master or referee and I tell everybody else--the players--what's going on. So you're in this tunnel...

MANDY: I light my torch.

ZAK: Ok...so when you do that, you see a horrible blue goblin in front of you. It has hook-like fangs and black teeth and tentacles coming out of its ears and it's riding a giant frog.

KIMBERLY: I wanna, like, slay, all that which is in my path.

ZAK: Goblin first or frog first?

KIMBERLY: Goblin I guess.

ZAK: Ok, if you want to hit the goblin you've got to roll a certain number on a certain die. The number is determined by me, the Dungeon Master, by comparing your character's skill at hitting things with the goblin's armor number.

KIMBERLY: I know.

ZAK: I'm explaining the game to the newbie.

KIMBERLY: Yes, exactly and I rolled that so I hit it and now I roll another die to see how much damage my hit does and it's a big number so it's dead and his face comes off.

ZAK: Well it's pretty tough actually, so you hurt it and did a certain amount of damage but it's not dead. I am marking off exactly how hurt it is secretly over here, but I can tell you that it looks like it's in pretty rough shape from your axe blow and its teeth are bleeding. It rolls some dice to attack back.

KIMBERLY: Oh, fuck this guy.

SATINE: I'm gonna check the hallway to see if there's any secret doors.

MANDY: I'm gonna cast a spell to make the frog all greasy so the goblin falls off.

ZAK: Ok, Kimberly, the goblin [roll, roll] hit you. It rolls a 12 for damage. You're unconscious. Mandy, since you cast a spell the goblin has to roll a 17 or better to not fall off the frog--it doesn't. He falls off.

CONNIE: I'm gonna pet the frog.

KIMBERLY: Guys, that goblin just knocked me unconscious, don't you think you should take care of it before fucking around?

MANDY: We can't very well have a very good example if all anybody does is fight--we need to show that a character can do anything in the game that they'd be able to do if the situation was actually happening.

FRANKIE: I guess I'll shoot the frog--I mean, goblin--with my crossbow.

ZAK: Ok, Satine--(rolls dice)you find no secret doors. Frankie, roll a 13 or better to hit the goblin.

FRANKIE: Did it.

ZAK: Connie, you pet the frog. It licks you. Its tongue is sticky but rough, like a puppy's. Frankie roll some dice to see how much damage your crossbow bolt does.

FRANKIE: [roll roll] 7 points.

ZAK: The goblin dies. The frog's taken a liking to Connie, it says--"Thank you for saving me from that awful goblin! There's a room full of treasure due south of here."

CONNIE: Holy shit, a talking frog.

Epic.

My current canned response is

Tabletop roleplaying games are like Star Trek's Holodeck, a virtual reality handled with pen, paper, dice, and your imagination. Instead of a computer, a person, called the Dungeon Master, runs things. You will be playing a character and acting as if you are a hero in a fantastic situation.

Quote from: golan2072;778765I'm looking for a good and simple explanation of RPGs for complete laymen, i.e. people like my mother or my current girlfriend, who are not gamers, giving them a general idea what I do in my hobby. A youtube video would be perfect.

Why don't you just have them play a game? For RPGs, doing is the best learning.

I like to keep it simple and just say "It's a kind of board game."  Sure that sells the hobby short but for purposes of every day conversation that's close enough.

You spend of a lot of time and effort explaining how roleplaying games work, comparing and contrasting it to all manner of things from WoW, to improv theatre, corporate training exercises, How to Host a Murder games or even playing Cops & Robbers for grown ups, they'll still will just come out with "It's a kind of board game" so why fight it?

When, in conversation, I mention that weekend plans include some roleplaying my sister often politely enquires regarding "who is leading?". By that she means who is GMing. I never feel the urge to correct her terminology; just the fact she appreciates there is such a thing as a GM is quite a victory.

The relevant episodes of Community or Freaks and Geeks, I think, should do nicely. That's what I've always used. They explain enough for you to know enough to go on with and then provide a pretty solid, entertaining example of how it works out.

You play a character in an imaginary world, like Tolkien's Middle Earth, or the Star Trek Universe, or a horror movie.

Your character can do just about anything an ordinary person in this world would be able to do, and he/she may also have special talents and extraordinary powers; in D&D, thieves are good at sneaking, wizards can cast magic spells, and so on. We keep track of these abilities and talents in a piece of paper called a character sheet.

We use a funny-looking dice and a hopefully not-too-complicated ruleset to decide what happens whenever you attempt something that might fail, like jumping from one rooftop to another, disarming a bomb or fighting a dragon. We do not expect you to know the rules; just declare what you want your character to do and the Game Master will tell you which dice to roll and what's the result.

I converted a group of die hard board gamers who never played before by telling them: You are like actors in a movie.  You have personalities, things you are good at, things that you are not, but as the movie unravels, you get to write the script along with the referee. You can make whatever decisions you want and when chance is involved, dice are rolled.

Don't use words like dungeon master. . . .its too weird and will probably turn them off.

I ran a game for them that I presented as "1920s mystery with a touch of horror" and sucked them into a Cthulhu campaign.  They has no idea. It was great.  I created the characters for them merely asking a week in advance about profession, age, highest and lowest attributes and what they wanted to be skilled at.  Keeping the die rolling to a minimum and having a quick start was really important.

Moving them through the start of the first scene also helped.  All went to see a dying mentor and benefactor, but before they made it upstairs there was a gunshot and he was dead.  He left them a box of artifacts, newspaper clippings, etc that lead them to investigate his research into a cult . . . And you know the rest.

It's great watching the first real decision a new group has to make.  "You hear a gunshot upstairs.  What do you do?!?!"


Four out of six players really took to it.  The other two I think understand role playing and have an appreciation, it's just not their bag.

Good luck

Quote from: Vic99;778971I converted a group of die hard board gamers who never played before by telling them: You are like actors in a movie.  You have personalities, things you are good at, things that you are not, but as the movie unravels, you get to write the script along with the referee. You can make whatever decisions you want and when chance is involved, dice are rolled.

Don't use words like dungeon master. . . .its too weird and will probably turn them off.

I ran a game for them that I presented as "1920s mystery with a touch of horror" and sucked them into a Cthulhu campaign.  They has no idea. It was great.  I created the characters for them merely asking a week in advance about profession, age, highest and lowest attributes and what they wanted to be skilled at.  Keeping the die rolling to a minimum and having a quick start was really important.

Moving them through the start of the first scene also helped.  All went to see a dying mentor and benefactor, but before they made it upstairs there was a gunshot and he was dead.  He left them a box of artifacts, newspaper clippings, etc that lead them to investigate his research into a cult . . . And you know the rest.

It's great watching the first real decision a new group has to make.  "You hear a gunshot upstairs.  What do you do?!?!"


Four out of six players really took to it.  The other two I think understand role playing and have an appreciation, it's just not their bag.

Good luck

That is the best example here.

I actually think for non geeks a Murder mystery 1920s type thing is a really good entry point. Lots of grown ups regard dwarves, elves, wizards and magic swords as the epitome of geekdom (to be fair they are pretty near the mark). The very same people have no issue with Holmes and Watson solving a crime or slasher flicks or whatever.
The Murder Mysteries I used to run in the UK woudl have 60 guests mostly 30-60 years old who would never consider pretending to be a hobbit looking for treasure in a dark dungeon but they are quite happy not only to pretend to be Dr Wilkins a 1930s GP but to dress up as him, talk in character for 2 days and try to unravel the mysterious death of Professor Langtry.

Quote from: jibbajibba;779086That is the best example here.

I actually think for non geeks a Murder mystery 1920s type thing is a really good entry point. Lots of grown ups regard dwarves, elves, wizards and magic swords as the epitome of geekdom (to be fair they are pretty near the mark). The very same people have no issue with Holmes and Watson solving a crime or slasher flicks or whatever.

It is also my experience that newbs to gaming tend to be less geeky than gamers, and respond better to mystery or horror scenarios than fantasy, SF or God help you, superheroes.

As a manager, I have sometimes during certain situations (hr), put my hands together and said: "Let's role play this situation". Some people are naturals, others are terrible, so the real question is how do you explain it to people who are terrible at role-playing?

Quote from: dragoner;779096As a manager, I have sometimes during certain situations (hr), put my hands together and said: "Let's role play this situation". Some people are naturals, others are terrible, so the real question is how do you explain it to people who are terrible at role-playing?

You give them obvious hand holds. I know this because I'm terrible at roleplaying.

Quote from: Marleycat;779108You give them obvious hand holds. I know this because I'm terrible at roleplaying.

Often I'll say to 'try to see it from their point of view' or something, it doesn't always work.

Quote from: The Butcher;779095It is also my experience that newbs to gaming tend to be less geeky than gamers, and respond better to mystery or horror scenarios than fantasy, SF or God help you, superheroes.

You have a point there, but suspect on that basis espionage might work even better. Horror tends to stack the deck against the players, depending on the person that might not be the best introduction to the hobby.

That said the 1920s (or other historical) twist might well work as a geek antidote with some. TV shows us that dress up a soap opera as costume drama it suddenly becomes classy.