So, I haven't told my friends or family yet. I am still not sure myself. But I think I'm Netrunner-curious...? I know! I play X-Wing on Tuesday nights! What will they say if I push small pieces of card around a table instead of miniatures? Do I care what they say? Should I face the truth that I might be interested in miniatures and cards?

Seriously though, I have suddenly become interested in Netrunner (not sure why-I have literally never played card games outside of a poker-night I used to be involved in like 8 years ago). My FLGS plays netrunner on Tuesday nights.... And X-Wing Tuesday nights (I happen to be huge into X-Wing). I really want to try it out but I'm trying to figure out if it's worth going to every other week with my X-Wing group.

What do you folks think? What hooked you on this game? What if anything does it provide that miniature wargaming may not? (Also used to be a 40k player but GW may have ruined it for me- another discussion for another forum) Really what I'm asking is why is this game so awesome that I would choose to play another game I enjoy less often?

Thank you for helping a potential newbie. The Netrunner community has a reputation for being particularly awesome and helpful.

For me, Netrunner has three things that sold me.

Asymmetrical gameplay - you and your opponent are almost playing two different games. After playing so many 'duel' card games, this was a breath of fresh air.

The LCG model - no 'rare' hunting, no 'biggest wallet wins'. Everyone has equal access to the card pool, making the focus on deck construction and playing well.

Theme - the game is dripping with it (though it can occasionally hit a few bumps, like any abstraction can). There's not enough cyberpunk in my life this was a welcome break from medieval fantasy.

I second all of Feesh's points. I played one match with a friend's set and I was just completely taken by how we were playing the same game with the same general goal but such different means of accomplishing that goal (getting Agenda points.) I was particularly sold to buy more cards because of it being a LCG. I can't imagine getting into something like Magic nowadays because I don't want to put in that kind of time/money investment.

As you said " The Netrunner community has a reputation for being particularly awesome and helpful." I've played it at two of my local game stores and each time the group was more than welcoming and always happy to help a new player figure out what's going on. You'll learn the hard way through losing at first but you pick it up fast.

Almost any player will have some extra built decks, or even just the basic ones, and play a match with you to show you how it goes. The more the merrier!

Well if you decide to take the plunge, I have the perfect starter collection up for grabs. http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/122083-getting-out-want-my-stuff/

For me, netrunner was a great game in concept, and is still pretty good in casual play. But if you decide to play even remotely competitive, be prepared for Jerks decks.

And learn to play against Jinteki (atleast in my area that was the meta), be aware that anytime you see Jinteki on the board, there is a chance at a first turn loss if you aren't stupid careful and don't know the entire Jinteki card pool.

People will say this will never happen once you get good at the game. But while you are learning the card pool and the game, this can be very off putting to a new player. The people in my area didn't care about new blood joining the community. They just wanted their sweet sweet wins. So every time I ran, it was against Jinteki. I got about 10 games in to this and just decided that if that is how people like to play, then this game is not for me.

Maybe if my meta was different I would feel different. But it's not, so here I am. With a warning.

Hmmmm.... that is a good warning. I may have to do some snooping around the local groups to see if there are sharks in the water. That would be no fun for me. I really am just a casual "for fun" kind of player. Of course I try to win, but I really enjoy a good back and forth kind of experience. No fun getting stomped all the time and then having salt rubbed into the wound.

One piece of warning: if there is any kind of established playerbase locally, you have to expect to lose a lot as you get used to the game.

However, nicer players will explain why you lost, and how to improve your game in future.

I appreciate that. I do understand their will be a learning curve involved. I played a demo game the other night and holy crap! It is a complex game for sure. I can lose and still have fun.