TTB for a newbie?

[Furio]

I'm tempted to start a English language role playing group in my games club, where I live English is a third language for a lot of people and as a good deed I think as my clubs only native English speaker I should help improve it!

 

Now here comes the problem... I'm a wargamer, and have never played a single game of role in my life.

 

I've chosen TtB as a possible starting point because I love the world of Malifaux and would love to use it to get some of our role players into the miniature game as well.

 

 

And onto the big question, how difficult is it for a player with no experience to master a game of TtB?

[zeeblee]

First I would say that if you don't play it like it's a wargame or dungeon puzzle and let the focus be the story and character interactions, then the rules of the game don't actually matter as much.

But as a ruleset I find TtB to be friendlier than most games. The character creation is simple, and the combat is almost an exact copy of the skirmish game. Magic is the most complicated part, but that's only because it's so malleable.

[Omenbringer]

If you can tell a story than TtB is a good start for a budding "Fate Master" as the system is fairly simple and definitely malleable. I would recommend really emphasizing the story aspect rather than combat. Combat (and magic) is where the system really fails and is most exploitable if you have "munchkiny" players.

[Ferossa]

You'll want to trim the mechanics down a bit, since that's where you'll have the most specialised vocabulary, and thus highest barrier to entry. You can pick up Fate Core for pay-what-you-want, which has a bare-bones version of Fate in simple English. I'd start with that, and layer in TtB material as players level up. Like Omenbringer, I'd focus on the story parts over the mechanics.

 

If you want to prepare for a Fate/TtB game, rent a few movies in different genres and pay attention to the rules of narrative. Who shapes the story? When? How? Why? Those moments are what your players will be focusing on, and it's easier to get people to go along with role-playing if you frame it as interactive storytelling where each person controls one character. As the GM, you'll be responsible for setting up "cool moments" that players can take advantage of. With the danger level of Malifaux, you could let the players crawl on scenery (fire! building collapse! 10T/M&SU/Guild raid!) and explore (abominations! neverborn! zombies!) until they get a feel for the game and the setting, and then you can let players and their goals drive the story.

[Furio]

Thanks for the advice everyone, I've presented the idea to my gaming group and if there's interest we'll give it a go in a couple of months time. (giving me time to pick up everything i'll need)

[Omenbringer]

One additional thought on this question;

 

TtB contains a particular mechanic that is of tremendous assistance for "Fate Master's" of all skill levels. The fates generated by the "Cross Roads Tarot" provides a ready supply of "plot hooks" to develop.