I used to think teaching games meant explaining every rule up front

A few years back at a game night in Columbus, a friend told me straight up, 'You're burning everyone out before we even start.' He said I was spending over 45 minutes on rules for a medium-weight game. I changed my whole method. Now I give the core goal and a couple of key actions, then we just start playing. I fill in the rest as we go. It's way less stressful for everyone. Has anyone else had to completely flip how they teach a game?

3 comments

3 Comments

tessaperry24d agoTop Commenter

See, I get why people do that, but it really depends on the group. If you're all new to a game type, jumping in with no plan can be a total mess and just as frustrating. I've seen people make a wrong move early that wrecks their whole game because a key rule wasn't mentioned. For some heavier games, you really do need that full picture first so your choices actually mean something. A quick overview of how everything connects can save a lot of pain later.

robinp8924d ago

Hard agree. Front-loading rules is a great way to kill the mood. Learning by doing is always better.

zara_sanchez24d ago

My first D&D group spent three hours on character creation before we even rolled a die. By the time we started, half the table was just staring at their phones. We learned more about combat in one messy, rule-of-cool goblin fight than in all that prep.