Running ED4 at a Con

[Lorm_the_Unhappy]

I'm going to be running a game of Earthdawn at a local Con this Saturday. While I've run ED for my group for many years now, I'm wondering what suggestions people have for presenting Earthdawn to those who have never played before. Have you found some things worked out better than expected or some things to avoid?

[etherial]

I've run one-shots of many games at Cons, including Earthdawn, and my advice is to practice explaining the mechanics in a systematic way (start with Steps, then move on to Attributes and Defenses, then Talents & Skills), memorie everyone's character sheets, and then find something unique about the setting (Therans, Dragons, Kaers, Horrors, ...) and make the story about that.

[Mataxes]

Another thing that can help is if you provide a 'cheat sheet' that has a brief description of how their talents work.

Edit: And I want to add, if you are dealing with newer players, be a bit more flexible in terms of enforcing the rules. You want to hook them in with how cool the game and setting are, not overload them with minutiae.

[Ryval]

The best thing I can say is to K.I.S.S. Just leave out (at first)the combat options. Just do straight to-hit, success level, and damage. Don't rope them in on the complex stuff like Defensive stance or aggressive attack, or anything like that. This has worked wonders for me in the past with all my newbies. After they like the game then I present them with those things for 'realism' and 'complexity'.

But DO sell them on the step system and the exploding dice. Added with the setting, racial diversity, Wound Threshold, Uncon Rating, and Death rating (being vastly different from D&D and many others), then how the Talents work, you'll have them hooked by the end. Let these be your selling points.

[Lorm_the_Unhappy]

[Mataxes]

With regard to success levels, do it yourself!

When I run games at cons, I calculate the bonus from the character's attack roll (it's easy), and tell them to add "+2" or "+4" or whatever to their roll. (I strongly believe that unless you've got experienced players, going with the bonus as a result mod rather than a Step mod is the way to go.)

[earthdawn66]

I am running ED 4 At both Origins and Gen Con this year... and i have a complete packet with each characte,r 3 x 5 cards with each talent and description of it....Also there is a Mini that closely resembles the Character/Discipline...Along with a Background of the characters history personality and quirks... think it helps for players to get more into the feeling of their character

[Telarus_KSC]

All great advice so far. The only thing I could add is that when describing the environment/npcs, use impressions from all 5 senses. Good luck!

[Lorm_the_Unhappy]

[Mataxes]

Make sure you say hi to us at GenCon!