Never played before
What actually happens
Written for the person who has been meaning to try this for two years and keeps not coming because they don't know what they'd be walking into.
- Before
You book one table, not the day
The schedule lists every table, who is running it, what system, how long, and how many seats are left. Pick one that says beginner friendly. You are booking a seat at that specific table, for those specific hours.
- Arriving
Just show up and write your name on the provided nametag
You will be welcomed by our organisers. They will walk you to your table and point at it. Nearly everybody arrives alone; the name badges exist because nobody knows each other, yet.
- First 20 min
The game master hands you a character
On a beginner table the characters already exist (they may be pre-generated) a page each, with the numbers filled in. You read yours, pick which one you like, and the game master explains the rules you need for the next hour. Not the whole rulebook. The next hour.
This is also when the table agrees what it does not want in the story: the lines and veils conversation. It takes about three minutes and it is normal.
- The next 3–4h
Someone describes a situation and you say what you do
That is the whole game. The Game Master describes where you are, you say what your character tries, and when the outcome is uncertain you roll a die to find out. There is no script, no winning, and no way to be bad at it. Nobody at the table has read anything you haven't.
If a scene goes somewhere you would rather it didn't, you say so and it stops. No reason needed, no one asks for one.
- After
You leave, or you stay for another one
Tables run in twp blocks through the day. Plenty of people play one and go home. Plenty stay until the last table finishes and end up in the group chat.
Bring
- Yourself
- Something to drink
- Ten minutes of slack in your schedule
Don't need
- Dice
- A character
- A rulebook, or to have read one
- A group, or a single person you know
- Any experience whatsoever
The questions people actually ask
- Is it all Dungeons & Dragons?
- No. Recent tables have run Call of Cthulhu, Mothership, Brindlewood Bay, Savage Worlds, Fate, the Witcher game and Blood on the Clocktower. D&D is one of many.
- I'm not a performer. Do I have to do voices?
- No. Most people at most tables say "I try to talk him out of it" rather than acting it. Both are fine and they sit at the same table.
- What if I'm the only person there on my own?
- You won't be. Most tables are filled with newcomers, which is why the Game Master spends the first twenty minutes making that not matter.
- My German isn't good.
- Most tables run in English. One recent table ran deliberately in bad German as the entire premise. Berlin is like that.
- What does it cost?
- Donation-based. Bring snacks and drinks to share.
- What if I book and then can't come?
- Cancel your seat so a person on the waiting list gets it. Tables fill and somebody is always waiting. That is the only etiquette rule we ask for.
Next one is 24 October
Sonnenallee 124, Sonnenallee 124, Berlin. 13:00–23:59.