A Tale of Two Sessions

Over the last few years, the holidays have become a time of games and puzzles in my house. We always have a puzzle going on the coffee table while people watch TV or play video games, and we always play an RPG. It is almost an immutable law at this point.

This year we kicked things off with two separate games, a first for the household. What was fascinating for me as the facilitator of this all is how the sessions shined in different ways despite using the same game system.

A First Delve

This year, we had the treat of introducing two new people to our favorite game in the house, Torchbearer. Neither had either played a table top role playing game. In fact, one had none of the common language of my family around fantasy, Tolkien. I wasn't sure how it was going to go, but was determined to try and do character creation and at least most of an adventure.

Anyone who has spent any time with me knows I have strong opinions on the layout of game texts...

That's not right. What I really have are strongly held opinions on the physical design of game materials and how they help or hinder play. It is an endless quest to balance form and function to facilitate a unique experience.

And as my kids know, I grumble about the functional structure of the Torchbearer books every time we play. With this introductory session, I didn't grumble a bit. That is because the Dungeoneer's Handbook is almost perfect in serving the purpose of character creation.

If you own it, try reading it aloud starting with the very introduction as to what adventurers are. It sets the tone out the gate. It makes it easy for people without the cultural shorthand of gaming to understand what we are about to do.