Well, I've just got back from the seminar, we got maybe half an hour of RP in the 90 minutes we had available as the rest was spent on people rolling characters, assigning skills and arguing over how the mechanics might work etc etc.
First thing that is clear is we need to swap to an easy rule set. Are there any very basic rule sets around that we could adapt to fit a mature game set in a space world? I'm thinking something where most challenges are direct ability checks and with a simple combat system.
This isn't ideal but we, as complete newbies to tabletop RPGs, are in no position to be focusing on how the mechanics work and what we can learn from them. However we have all interacted with narrative (books/film/games) before so this is something we actually can tackle.
My other problems are with keeping players IC; can you think of any ways I can teach the players this?
We managed to get all but one of the players to act IC during the characters first meeting (which moved to the brig instead of med bay) but only when talking to each other. Taking actions always fell back to OOC "I to convince the man to move so I can fix the vending machine" I'm pretty sure this should be an actual IC conversation where the PC tries to convince the NPC to move. But what should players do to describe what they're doing? Should they narrate as if they were writing it (Franks knees down and uses his wrench to unblock the vender) or something else.
How about a characters thoughts? Should they be included in a similar way to how they're done in PbP, do you announce Frank things that... or use some other method?
Anyway over the next week we're going to discuss the 4 dimensions of the game: World, Objects, Agents, Events and how to proceed playing the game in general to with the goal of getting us all more involved.
p.s. perhaps worth mentioning: The individual pre-med bay/brig mini arcs turned into just a couple of learn as you play isolated situations, similar to playing a round of a card game with all cards face up so we could discuss how the game should/could be played.
p.p.s. Thanks for the help so far guys, we wouldn't have gotten as far as the conversation in the brig without your help!
First thing that is clear is we need to swap to an easy rule set. Are there any very basic rule sets around that we could adapt to fit a mature game set in a space world? I'm thinking something where most challenges are direct ability checks and with a simple combat system.
This isn't ideal but we, as complete newbies to tabletop RPGs, are in no position to be focusing on how the mechanics work and what we can learn from them. However we have all interacted with narrative (books/film/games) before so this is something we actually can tackle.
My other problems are with keeping players IC; can you think of any ways I can teach the players this?
We managed to get all but one of the players to act IC during the characters first meeting (which moved to the brig instead of med bay) but only when talking to each other. Taking actions always fell back to OOC "I to convince the man to move so I can fix the vending machine" I'm pretty sure this should be an actual IC conversation where the PC tries to convince the NPC to move. But what should players do to describe what they're doing? Should they narrate as if they were writing it (Franks knees down and uses his wrench to unblock the vender) or something else.
How about a characters thoughts? Should they be included in a similar way to how they're done in PbP, do you announce Frank things that... or use some other method?
Anyway over the next week we're going to discuss the 4 dimensions of the game: World, Objects, Agents, Events and how to proceed playing the game in general to with the goal of getting us all more involved.
p.s. perhaps worth mentioning: The individual pre-med bay/brig mini arcs turned into just a couple of learn as you play isolated situations, similar to playing a round of a card game with all cards face up so we could discuss how the game should/could be played.
p.p.s. Thanks for the help so far guys, we wouldn't have gotten as far as the conversation in the brig without your help!