JD - New Players, What to Do?

[EineHund]

Hey gang,
I am a long time lover of all things Dredd - I happily stumbled upon the new Mongoose edition and just love it - especially compared to the previous d20 incarnation that I didn't think quite worked.

I have a nice RPG group going - and I think the feel of the game would be great for some of them - but they have 0 JD experience or knowledge other than the movie.

Short of having them read some trade collections [which sadly is an issue as we are all married, mit children, school, work, etc and busy as all get out] - is there anything out there that may help convey the feel of the universe to them? I am not against the trade idea...but it will take some time for my single copies to work their way around the group.

Also - in regards to sentencing the Perps - I love the law chapter but for these players with little experience I see using the 'law roll' more - which I feel may ditract a bit from the fun aspects of sentencing!

Any comments or suggestion in regard to either of these items would be greatly appreciated! Much thanks ahead of time.

 

[IanBruntlett]

Hi,

I have a nice RPG group going - and I think the feel of the game would be great for some of them - but they have 0 JD experience or knowledge other than the movie.

<snip!>

Any comments or suggestion in regard to either of these items would be greatly appreciated! Much thanks ahead of time.

I ran a 3rd Imperium (3I) game last year. Some of the 3I players stayed on to play the JD Traveller game. All I did was lend them a Judge Dredd DVD and have them start off as rookie street patrol cops. It worked and then Life intervened so I had to temporarily suspend preparing for and running games.

HTH,


Ian

 

[ned-kogar]

I started with a Hotdog Run, having taken the character creation process only to the end of Term 3... this meant that they could get familiar with the role without having to be perfect, and without the distractions of MC-1 life (the distractions of the Cursed Earth are less intricate...). The original Hotdog run story, passed round during character creation, then works as a really simple primer for what they can expect.

I also made sure that there was a sheet in easy view with the responsibilites of judges on it. Same with sheets with the tech available to them, as it's so vital to their success.

I used law rolls too, and then let them flick through the sentencing chapter for something appropriate (they ran into MC-1 cits while out there). If their law roll had been failed they didn't mind getting it off-kilter, or being too lenient/heavy-handed.

Hope that helps a bit,

Ned

 

[EineHund]

I handed them a stack of trades I had: The Pit, Fetish, Apoc War, some classic dredd's etc - so that has them all excited - just looking for some hotdog run adventures and we're off and running in a week or so!

btw - the Traveller system is SUCH a better fit than the d20 system EVER was!! <woot>

 

[Nuclear Fridge Magnet]

Do you have an idea of where the players want to specialise? (Tech, Psi, Med?)

A Hotdog Run can be a linear set of scenes - run into an obstacle, overcome it, move on to next obstacle.
Say a bunch of mutant raiders is wrecking an outpost. The team rolls in, blasts them to bits, and the med-cadet saves the life of a settler. He gives the team clues to the hiding place of the Big Bad they're after - or where to find one of his trusted allies - and off they go.

You may want to add in a couple of NPC cadets to serve as extras. People your players have known since age 5... but in real combat conditions, they freeze or mess up badly. Do your players cover for them - or do their duty (that is, hang them out to dry under the unforgiving eye of the Senior Judge)?

 

[AndrewW]

Make sure the players wear red shirts.