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Forums » RP Discussion » Introducing someone to rping?

Okay so my s/o has been doing DnD, and is now interested in trying out freeform because of me, though with me.

My only issue is i'm not fully sure how to go about it in a way that would be a good first experience for him. Mostly how to figure out a story and character because he isn't really familiar with this, and doesn't really know what his preferences are, except from other media sort of thing. And i don't want to just push my stuff on him haha

So does anyone have experience with it and or advice?
There is this, a New to Roleplay article, here on RPR.
Maybe your friend should take a look at this? :)

There's also the Getting Started Guide if that will help.
Echo Topic Starter

Five wrote:
There is this, a New to Roleplay article, here on RPR.
Maybe your friend should take a look at this? :)

There's also the Getting Started Guide if that will help.

Thanks, i looked at those, but it's not really what i'm looking for. I've already explained how it works and shown him, but it's more how we get one going when he doesn't really know any preferences or what he would like exactly haha
Claine Moderator

If they've already been playing D&D freeform isn't that hard of a step. They understand how to make a character, but pushing the story forward and not relying on the DM to do it for them might be a little more challenging. You could include some light dice rolling at tense moments to add a element of unpredictability that tabletop provides. And you could liken it to a chain story, where all players collaborate on writing the next part.

Assuming they play D&D in person the main difference will be the writing aspect, and I think they'll fall naturally into the kind of thing they like - for example of they like short chat like posts to replicate the fast pace tabletop provides, that'll find writing natural, but if they prefer longer paragraphs for a chance to be descriptive they'll lean towards that.
Mirabell wrote:
Five wrote:
There is this, a New to Roleplay article, here on RPR.
Maybe your friend should take a look at this? :)

There's also the Getting Started Guide if that will help.

Thanks, i looked at those, but it's not really what i'm looking for. I've already explained how it works and shown him, but it's more how we get one going when he doesn't really know any preferences or what he would like exactly haha

Well, start with what genres he likes. Go from there to what he wants to see in a story.

Another I would recommend in terms of character creation is to have multiple characters. The more characters you have, the greater odds you’re gonna have a story and rp partner that sticks.

OH, and RP with him yourself at first. You can see how he meshes and know what/who to suggest.
Echo Topic Starter

Kamizombie wrote:
Mirabell wrote:
Five wrote:
There is this, a New to Roleplay article, here on RPR.
Maybe your friend should take a look at this? :)

There's also the Getting Started Guide if that will help.

Thanks, i looked at those, but it's not really what i'm looking for. I've already explained how it works and shown him, but it's more how we get one going when he doesn't really know any preferences or what he would like exactly haha

Well, start with what genres he likes. Go from there to what he wants to see in a story.

Another I would recommend in terms of character creation is to have multiple characters. The more characters you have, the greater odds you’re gonna have a story and rp partner that sticks.

OH, and RP with him yourself at first. You can see how he meshes and know what/who to suggest.

About the last part, he is only going to rp with me! since he doesn't even know if he'd like it, so he doesn't want to find others xD
You could let him choose which of your characters he finds most interesting to do a story with or he could use his DnD character and you could make a character that matches that vibe. Setting could be similar to a DnD campaign he enjoys or like you said, a type of media he is into.

Either way, I hope you have the bestest time! Bringing newbies into this passion is always so cool!
Did the same a while ago. My partner was telling me about a character from an old TTRPG that he ran that he really wished he had more time/space to explore, but because he's a forever DM, they really only got an NPC role. We took that concept and expanded on it, so he could play the character with a bit more depth! I created a new character for him to write with.

It worked for us.

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