Teaching Guides

#1

I had a quick skim through my copy of Flotsam which arrived today through Backerkit. Something I’ve really grown to appreciate is a teaching guide, which Flotsam includes.

I read a bunch of RPG books and just can’t remember everything, so teaching guides have been a good reminder. In running a Lovecraftesque night at my local game store, I had to do split into two groups, so I just handed my hard copy of the book and the teaching guide to the batch of players I wasn’t facilitating.

I thought it good to just give a shout out to these games.

I know of Lovecraftesque, Flotsam, Microscope, Quiet Year and Fall of Magic. What other ones are out there?

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#2

I put one together for Dungeon World. Running Dungeon World for New Adventurers https://tinyurl.com/RunningDungeonWorld

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#3

Also for Dungeon World, I always enjoyed Scrape and Evil Mastermind’s Dungeon World GM’s Guide, developed by two Goons on the SomethingAwful Thread for DW, a lot of good solid advice and explanation.

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#4

I enjoy teaching guides, especially ones with a series of effective, succinct ‘read aloud’ portions about what the game is about, the tone and experience it aims to provide, and how it does so. It’s especially great when these are subdivided by need, so you can use some but not all. I also greatly enjoy guided GM questions for pbta first sessions, since I don’t often feel confident to know what are incisive questions for a new game.

“The City of Fire & Coin” is a free and flavorful combination of a teaching guide and a quickstart adventure for introducing Swords Without Master.

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#5

I love Teaching Guides (obviously) but I confess to worrying a little that they weigh against people who aren’t comfortable reading out loud. I’ve noticed that some people find it hard.

It’s sort of a safety issue, really - how to give people a way to gracefully say “uh, no thanks” to reading aloud. I haven’t quite figured out how to do it, because I sense some people are not comfortable admitting to finding reading difficult.

I’ve been wondering about making a Teaching Guide video and/or audio thing where I read the TG aloud, to give people more options. But I’m not sure this actually tackles the problem I describe above.

(I hope that wasn’t too far off-topic. I don’t know any other games that use TGs beyond those already mentioned.)

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#6

That’s a very good point. I’m fine after years of short story readings and box text in D&D. Some people struggle a little but try anyway. I think next time I’ll ask who’s comfortable reading, with a judgement free opt out if they don’t want to.

#7

If I’m facilitating a game that includes “everybody take turns reading this out loud” text, whether for teaching the game or whatever, I just ignore that. Especially if it’s already on a playbook or handout – everyone has a copy and can read it if they want.

#8

I really like it when we can have an in game tutorial like Dogs in the Vineyard. Introduce me to the core resolution mechanic in game and in a cool way that doesn’t feel pointless upon repeat and I’m in. To be fair I’ve also played in multiple sessions that we’re all tutorial and no game.

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#10

I found the teaching guide for dungeon world fantastic. But it must be said that I’m great at learning by reading, learning by watching and learning by doing, though.

Not all people have that luck and and some only learn by some of them or by coaching, which I’m not good at. All I want to say with this is a guide, it isn’t everything as not everybody learns the same way.

Of course, I know there are some people that are even better than me in one or more of them, because I know I’m not the best at it.

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#11

Honestly I enjoy the “reading aloud” part of guides, I see it as part of a “getting everyone into a shared mindspace” ritual, as well as allowing everyone and anyone to pipe up with questions or issues they have during that section.

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#12

I love the idea of having players take turns reading a teaching guide, but! I feel they don’t work for everyone, or maybe even most people, not just because of being self-conscious about performing, but also due to audio/information processing issues.
Take me: I’m absolutely terrible at learning and retaining stuff that’s being read aloud to me. (To the point of barely finding any use in my college lectures at all. I learn so much better from silent reading.)
I’m even worse at retaining (or even taking in) stuff I read aloud to other people. I’ve noticed I’m not the only one in my circle of friends with that problem.
I’ve also noticed that nobody who ever ran a game of The Quiet Year or Lovecraftesque for me used their teaching scripts with the group, which made me a little sad at first, because I was looking forward to it, but now I think maybe they had a point.
However, I still feel teaching guides have value as brief game summaries I can read as a refresher before running a game.

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#13

Oh yeah, the ritual of taking turns reading is good. I like that it gets everyone on the same page, it removes the facilitator/player barriers and keeps everyone’s attention.
The concerns @rabalias has are valid, though. I know with QY and Fall of Magic it felt a little easier for players as there were short paragraphs to read. I have had a player struggle with the longer passages in Lovecraftesque and being allowed to ‘nope’ out of them shouldn’t be a negative at all.

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#14

That makes sense, and it does seem like the ones I’ve seen are aiming for that. I’ve never seen it actually happen that way, though.
For me, it just feels incredibly forced and awkward.