Just a quick backround: I'm a long-time wargamer and avid RPG video gamer. I've always been interested in playing a pen and paper RPG, but I never have as I've been too intimidated to join a group or start one on my own. When I saw Grimm, I was immediately attracted to it and very much wanted to play the game and tell some interesting stories.

I have a casual gaming group. We're all working folks so we can't get together too regularly, but we play things like Arkham, Dominant Species, etc... These aren't folks who consider themselves "gamers", but I'm unwittingly turning them into as much I think they would like the Grimm world, but they would certainly rely on me to set all this up and run it.

I've read through some of the book, but feel that it assumes some prior knowledge of role-playing in gnereal - I have none! I'm worried that I don't understand any of the conventions that go into designing and carrying out a roleplaying game. If my group doesn't enjoy it because of my inabilities, I'd feel pretty rotten.

What can I do?

Can anyone recommend a good resource for just learning how to approach RPG's? How a campaign should be conceived and constructed? How the actual game should flow? I have no idea how a session should "feel", you know? What do I do and say to make the game happen and get the players (who also have zero experience) to contribute and have a good time? I know I could get a lot of this from a game session someone else has set up, but I don't really know anyone running any kind of RPG.

This is really basic stuff, but I need to start at the beginning. Thanks for any and all your input.

I would definitely check these out and see what questions they answer, just to get a feel.

Podcasts - Part 1 Part 2

Examples of gameplay and ideas

If have any questions after checking those out, I'll be glad to help.

Laughmask said:

Thanks so much Laughmask. I'll give these a listen. I also went into a gamestore last week and they gave me some info on D&D groups that meet weekly. Not sure I want to really join a regular group and not sure if they'll let me be a fly on the wall, but we'll see. Thanks for your post!

I'm not sure if it's okay to promote a 3rd company product, and I'm fairly new myself, but the Gamemaster Guide for Paizo's Pathfinder seems to go be a pretty decent how-to book on organizing and leading a game, overcoming problems with players and structuring campaigns. However, since it is for a different system (Pathfinder is kinda like D&D 3.5, but not quite) some of the mechanics they mention might not work for you. Perhaps someone in the D&D groups you mentioned might have it and be willing to give it to you for a while?