How to pitch a roleplaying game to potential players

This is a short article I wrote for the WichitaGamers, to help local people recruit players for their games.

When you're trying to recruit people for a roleplaying game, you really need to say more than "It's D&D" or "It's anime run with d10." You need to sell them on the game... even if it's D&D and they've played D&D before, they need to know specifically what your game is about and what kinds of things are going to be happening. There are a lot of different styles of play and types of stories to tell even within the framework of D&D. And if it's not D&D, the need for this is doubled.

One way to think of this is to compare it to inviting your friends to go see a movie that they've never heard of. You know they'll probably like it, but you need to convince them that it's something worth taking a risk on before they'll join you at the theater. So when they ask you, "What's the movie about?" you're obviously going to say, "It's an action-adventure directed by this guy you've never heard of."

No, wait... you're not going to say that! You're going to say, "It's a space opera about a young man who joins a rebellion to fight against the evil galactic empire, and along the way learns that there's more to himself than he imagined. There's lots of blaster fights, space battles, and a duel with light swords!" Or something like that. You might not use the word "opera".

Some hints about what you might say

• At a minimum, write a "back cover blurb" or a "teaser". This is like the description of the game on the back cover of the book. But don't copy the back cover of the book! You want to describe what your specific game is going to be about. You can borrow elements from the game's description, but you need to describe what's going to be happening in your game. You don't need to give away the plot, but you do need to make it detailed enough that players know what to expect.
• One effective teaser, if you have a literary bent, is to write a first-person description of the game from an imaginary player character's point of view. [[http://www.dreamlyrics.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=000668|This teaser]] for a Firefly game is a good example.

• Or write a full "prospectus". A prospectus generally goes beyond the teaser level and gives more concrete details. What the world is like, what kinds of characters are expected, what the subject matter of the adventures will be, etc. It's similar to the teaser, but there's more of everything. A sample prospectus follows at the end of this article.

• If you're putting together a new group from scratch (not trying to add a player or two to an existing game), consider offering more than one game. Develop multiple prospectuses for different games you are interested in running and shop them around and see which one gets the most enthusiastic response. Running a game a whole group is interested in is better than not getting to run anything at all. (Be sure you offer things you are interested in... don't stick yourself with something you don't like!)

Some other ideas

• Give links to the game's official website and important fan sites if it's a game your target audience isn't familiar with. If nobody knows what Fudge is, let them explore it for themselves.

• Provide sample character descriptions. Knowing what kind of characters are expected for the game goes a long way.

• Provide a list of "standard adventure topics" for the game you plan to run. (Not the kinds of things that other people might run, but the kinds of things that you plan to run.)

In short, tell them everything they need to know to say, "Wow, cool... I gotta play in that!" Don't expect the game to sell itself... you have to sell it if you want people to join up.

Sample prospectus

This sample prospectus is brief...

The End of the Line (Serenity Roleplaying Game)

The PCs are smugglers, but not without honor. They're trying to make a living out from under the watchful eye of the Alliance, but they find themselves torn between making a credit and doing the right thing. PCs may be ruthless to their enemies, but they should essentially be good people at heart.

Default adventures: smuggle cargo, fight pirates, rescue helpless women, investigate rumors of lost treasure, avoid capture by Alliance patrols, wheel and deal with the hardcore criminal faction, take on risky jobs you don't want but need the credits from

Assumes knowledge of the Firefly TV series, but no experience with the game system necessary. [link to Serenity RPG site]