Hi Jesse. I’m quite interested to learn the outcome of your experiment. I’ll contribute by sharing mine.
I decided to learn and practice torchbearer, so I assembled 2 groups of players (5 for one, 6 for the other) and started 2 tabletop games with “The house of 3 squires” adventure with pregens. Most people around both tables had extensive roleplaying experience, mostly with various iterations of D&D.
First session for both groups was mostly unsatisfying for me and for them. I explained the rules and insisted on mechanical elements that I identified as “the most important to get right”:
- how to pass and obstacle
- the grind
- how to get checks
They got the first two right in both cases. The unsatisfying part for me was the poor quality of action description. I had to insist on “how do you do that” and kept getting “i look around” type of responses. I felt really pushy about it. The whole game felt like a boardgame rather than a roleplaying game, or as my players put it “an MMO”.
The reported unsatisfying part for them was that they felt restricted in action they can take because of the grind. They also felt that “you must fail to get checks” and intimidated by the pressure that the game puts on them. They also reported that the game felt incoherent timeline wise. “It feels like you must rest in every room”
After discussing the issue they were overrating the threat. Fear of failure discouraged them from experimenting. After the feedback session with one of the to groups where we tackled that the game went much better.
So far I drew the following conclusions:
- I must focus on roleplay, not explaining mechanics. Meaning that if I had to do this again I would only explain the structure of play (things on p116)
- Not every action is worth a roll. Say “yes” and move on.
- I must let them do the wrong thing. Players will understand more clearly why it’s wrong after doing it.
- I must suggest the right solutions mechanics wise. The player can specifically state what they want to achieve and I lay out for them their options
I got permission from my players to do it that way in game 2. We were happy with the result.
Best of luck to you, keep us posted