Startroleplaying.com?

[Onix]

All good points CA. From all your links I'm really thinking that at some point we should reach out to all the talent that have been cartooning about RPGs and see if they want to get involved. Also all the cartoons that talk about RPGs might be good material for the intermediate section of the site. They're a good way of introducing ideas like progressing as a player.

[cjoki]

[Rob Lang]

Very helpful, thanks Chris!

[mjbauer]

Hello all. I'm new here but I'm really interested in this topic and I thought I'd throw in my two cents. I hope that's okay.

I think the idea of a video is great, it's quick and entertaining and can distribute a lot of information quickly. But, rather than trying to do a fully animated cartoon I think that it would be more effective, and actually much easier, to do a simply illustrated informational animation. Something along the lines of or .

Keeping it visually clean and friendly in tone I think will be more appealing to a wider range of viewers too. You don't have to worry as much about people being "turned off" by the style. Plus it allows for a number of genres to be represented (not just fantasy).

I also think this should be a series of videos, not just one. For the most part, people have short attention spans, so they need to be brief . If the first one is good they will watch more.

I know that maybe sounds like more work but I would be happy to help out in any way I can. I've done a number of motion pieces in the past, some of which can be seen . With the exception of the voice-over I can do the whole video (including illustrations) if no one else wants to or can.

- Micah

[Natai]

This sounds fairly awesome, and there are too many good posts/comments here for me to mention them individually. I seriously need to start spending more time on this forum. I doubt I can be much help with the cartoon, but if you need any help in other areas let me know.

I had a couple of additional ideas for what could go on the site:
1) "Picture this" threads. Brief (1 page or less) descriptions from different genres of a situation including setting and key characters. All begin with "picture this" and end with "what do you do?" These are essentially adventure hooks, but are presented completely free of game context to help get new players into the habit of using their imagination.

2) Include a section that provides a written stories based on actual play. You read a story, but when you get to the end there is a link that takes you the the excerpt of actual player. Same story with mechanics and table talk included. If you've ever read the Burning Wheel rulebook, you know what I mean.

3) The idea of basic and advanced areas makes sense. At some point you're going to want to help the new player figure out what games to try. At the basic level this could include suggesting that he thinks about what kinds of books or movies he enjoys to identify a good genre of game. At a more advanced level this could include an introduction to concepts like shared authorship and games that use them.

[Rob Lang]

mj and Sean, thanks for the great comments. mj, the video links are brilliant.

I'm still keen on this project and will get around to doing it. My focus has shifted for the moment, though.

[Onix]

Here's a guy making an RPG for Kindergardeners. There might be some good lessons to learn here

[The Traveller]

Hello, I'm setting up a new RPG myself and one of the main sections in it will be an introduction to roleplaying and importantly how it is different to computer gaming. Most people who might be roleplaying these days think they are roleplaying when playing world of warcraft, I'd like to correct that perception.

Loving the ideas in the thread so far! I'll incorporate a few of them I think.