Behind the Screen: Loving the one you're with...

While at GenCon this year, I got into several conversations about the breadth and concentration of new gaming options on the sales floor this year. As in past years, offerings ran the gamut from new pencil and paper RPGs, board games, video games, and even a few non-RPG games as well.

I was tasked with selecting a game for one of my coworkers in order to introduce his kids to roleplaying style gaming, so I opted for Atlas Games' "Once Upon a Time" which aims to introduce storytelling gaming via a card game where players attempt to use the cards in their hand to devise a storyline. I figured this would be a conservative, non-threatening way to get the kids into free-form storytelling and it should act as a gateway to more traditional roleplaying style games, but time will tell.

An Abundance of Options

As I was searching for this card game, it struck me that it is easy to experience option overload. So many games, so many modules, so many additions... it is great to have options, but as I have mentioned in the past our group is somewhat change resistant so I tend to stick with a familiar system and setting for our games.

It is for this reason that I usually don't leave the convention each year with a truckload of new games, modules, or other miscellanea. Chances are fairly good that we just plain won't make the leap into a new setting consistently enough to justify the expense, which is also the reason that I don't really frequent our local brick and mortar gaming store as often as I should. I have most of the materials that I need to game with and don't need to purchase much extra to keep the fun times a-rollin'.

One oft-cited example of the change resistance of our group is our limited attempt at a Deadlands campaign. I played this game while in college for the first time and was enamored with the spellcasting mechanics (which used a poker hand to determine success) and the alternative history Western theme was interesting as well. It only lasted a few sessions in our current gaming group, they just didn't feel it as much as I did.

The moral to this story is twofold: be sensitive to the enjoyment level of your gaming group as you introduce new games, and do a cost to benefit analysis before you go buying a ton of new gaming supplements at a convention.

If you have a group that is able to switch focus to different games, how do you pace the introduction of new stuff? Do you do a one-shot session and build on it if the group likes the game? Inquiring minds want to know!