When forming a new group to play RPGs with, there are quite a few considerations to take into account. So many, in fact, that I don’t think I can hit them all. I’m also certain I can’t even think of them all. However, I have a list below that covers the major areas. Also, this list is formulated under the assumption that you are a GM building a brand new group.
Schedule/Location
When advertising for a group, make sure you post a location and a set of days/times that will work for you. This will allow people to self-select out if they can’t make it to the location or aren’t available during those times. Once you have a sizable enough collection of responses, check with everyone on their best day/time and frequency of gaming. Once you have that list, finalize a good time to play and get that back to the group. If a few people can’t make the final time, but you still have enough people, you’re in good shape. Don’t make anyone feel bad because Real Life or Adulting gets in the way of the chosen time.
Overall RPG Experience
Once you have a solid group that can meet up, check with everyone to find out what their overall RPG experience is. This is not to play gatekeeper or to insult someone for being new (or completely fresh) to RPGs, but so you can tailor the experience you’re going to provide to everyone. People with less experience need to sit next to the more experienced players (or the GM) with the understanding that the veterans will assist the rookies as needed, but not stomp all over the agency of the new players at the table.
Experience Within Chosen Genre
I recommend having a genre, setting, and game system in mind before advertising for a new group. If you want to shift to something different after the group is established, that’s always an option. It’s good to know what exposure your players have to the chosen genre. This doesn’t have to be limited to RPGs. It can include any kind of media: TV, movies, comics, novels, short stories, anthologies, RPGs, graphic novels, and so on. Learning how comfortable your players are in your chosen genre will also allow you to tailor what tropes, cliches, ideas, and story elements you’ll bring to the table and how to bring them to the table in a clear manner.
Experience With The Setting
If you’re doing a home brew world, this section probably doesn’t apply to you. However, if you’re running in a published setting (Forgotten Realms, Firefly, Greyhawk, Blade Runner, The Expanse, and so on), it’s another good idea to learn how familiar the players are with the setting. This will allow you to judge what kind of introductory material to provide to the players in the form of brief setting details, handouts, references, and maybe some online resources for them to peruse before gaming starts up.
Experience With The Game System
Since you’re coming to the table with a game system in mind, you’ll also want to know if the players have experience in the specific system you’ve chosen. Again, this will allow you to tailor rules references, handouts, cheat sheets, the player-facing side of the GM screen, and so on to the players. If they’re all veterans of the system, great. Dive in. Hit the rules heavy and fast. If not, you’ll want to customize the opening handful of scenes to slowly introduce rules and subsystems to the players, so they’re not completely overwhelmed by 300+ pages of rules.
Why do they (want to) play RPGs?
If someone has never played RPGs before, you’ll want to know what their expectations are of the game. If they have some misconceptions about how gaming really goes at the table (as opposed to watching highly-produced and curated actual play games online), then this is your chance to set expectations for them about what happens in reality without editors involved. If someone is a current (or returning) player, you’ll also want to know what they enjoyed about RPGs in the past and why they want to join the group. Stay positive here if possible. Everyone has a horror story from the trenches of RPGs, but try to guide the conversation into what they loved and currently desire out of the game with you.
What experiences do they want?
Ask your players some guided questions about what experiences they want from the game via their characters. Do they want four-color comic vibes or the gritty street hero stories? Do they want epic fantasy where larger than life heroes take on powerful villains? Or do they want to be a team of thieves going on endless heists and solving puzzles? The choices here are near endless, and will only be constrained by the genre, system, and your collective imaginations.
Lines and Veils
This is a strong safety tool to use at the table. These conversations are usually reserved for session zero, but I like having them as the new group forms. Collecting lines and veils from your new players will allow you to customize your adventures (published or self-written) to avoid areas of concern for your new players. This can be time-consuming, so I advise getting this information sooner than later to allow you the necessary time to make adjustments. Phil has a great article on safety tools in general, and he covers the concepts of lines and veil in that article.
What Tropes/Cliches/Archetypes do you want included/excluded?
If your players can answer this question in an educated manner, listen to them. If they’re not sure what tropes or cliches exist within the chosen genre, that’s perfectly fine. They’ll quickly learn what they enjoy and don’t enjoy. If you do between-session feedback gathering, you can learn what they’re loving and not getting much out of. This will allow you to adjust your campaign material accordingly to provide the greatest chance at having fun with the group.
Just as an example, I had a new player in a new group who very much up front told me, “No artifacts. No Elminster. No Liches.” It kind of surprised me, but he was so adamant in his exclusion list, I ran with those limitations and didn’t use any of those three. Unfortunately, he refused to take the “easy hook” I threw to the group at the start of the initial adventure. The rest of the group moved on with the adventure while he continued to argue with the “hook giver” about the veracity of the hook giver’s statements for why the PCs needed to go adventuring. At the end of a very contentious first session, I decided he wouldn’t fit. He got bumped from the group in a polite way, and the rest of us went on to clear a goblin scourge from Cormyr. (PS: Near the end of the campaign, they did kill a lich at Elminster’s request and found an artifact in the loot.)
Conclusion
Like I said at the top of the article, there are many more facets to starting up a new group, but this is what I have for you today. If you have other considerations to take into account, feel free to drop a comment below.
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