Copyright © 1997,1998 by Kevin Clark ( kevinc AT cnetech DOT com). All Rights Reserved.
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This article is based on my email response to one of Andy Goddard's messages on the 2300AD mailing list. His quotes are indented and in italics.
I've got two friends coming to visit next weekend. [ snip ]
Hmm, one experienced player, and one novice player.
The background and feel for 2300 are easy to impart (Aliens, Bladerunner, novels by William Gibson, blah blah . . . ) -- they know these sources, so that's not a real problem.
That is a definite plus. You will be able to have a more complex 2300/sci-fi setting ( you will have fewer "What is a laser?" type of questions).
Catering for both ends of the rpg experience scale with a short four/five hour self-contained adventure is causing me headaches.
Whatever adventure you do run, make sure it is modular, since the most important thing ( besides everyone having fun) is that they finish the story that evening. Build the game out of a bunch of semi-linked encounters/scenes. Only three to five should be pivotal to the main storyline/plot. Make sure you have a wide variety of these ( one or two combats, one chase, one puzzle, etc.).
The rest are secondary storylines/incidents ( you add/remove them as needed to cause confusion ( ala red herrings) or to shorten/lengthen the game session). Have several encounters of each type ( combat, chase), that way you can season the main adventure, with more of the encounter type that both players seem to have been enjoying the most.
Does anyone have any suggestions with regard to a one-off adventure suitable for this situation? Preferably the occasional "large weapons" interspersed with "thought required" kind of deal, and one that doesn't rely too much on knowledge of the finer details of the 2300 universe? The briefest of outlines/suggestions would do...
This sounds like a Hollywood "buddy" movie to me. The "grizzled veteran" teamed up with the "younger hotshot". There are many examples (Lethal Weapon, Robocop, Split Second, In the Line of Fire, Colors and The Peacemaker just to name a few for inspiration). Do take the time to invent unique plots though, in case the player might have seen them too.
In this case, have the veteran player play the older higher skilled, lower stat PC. Give the new player the higher stat, lower skilled ( but with one or two high ones) hotshot.
They could be police patrolmen, police detectives, FBI-type agents, enlisted space marines ( a Sgt, and a new Lance Corporal), or spies/secret agents.
Even Aliens was in some way a buddy movie ( Riply-Newt, Riply-Hicks, and Riply-Marines), in addition to a horror/action movie.
Another good movie is the Geena Davis movie, The Long Kiss Goodnight. In this case make the new player the highly trained spy-type PC, but he has amnesia. Circumstances force him to team up with the other PC, say a shady private detective of less than sterling character. They're trying to figure out who the amnesiac really is, and why everyone is now shooting at both of them, etc.
I'll pregenerate a couple of characters suitable for the evening to avoid that hour long ritual, too.
Good idea, char gen is the best way to kill a new player's enthusiasm, or it leaves them overloaded/dazed by all the choices.
How much do you know about the novice player, especially areas of expertise/knowledge in real life? It would help if his PC had one skill the player knows.
Say he's good at computers, then you could make them a buddy team of image/information analysts for some think tank ( unknown to them maybe a front for an intelligence agency). The two PCs accidentally learn "that which should not be known", and then are forced to run/hide from masked assassins, etc ( ala Robert Redford in Three Days of the Condor), while searching for some agency/foundation which can protect them ( take them in from the cold).
One other way, for figuring out which type of buddy team would work best, is to ask a few questions a couple of days before the game. For someone who has played RPGs before, ask them what style of player they are ( combat fiend, puzzle solver, wannabe actor to name some D&D player stereotypes). Ask both of them what types of fiction do they like to read, and what types of movies and television they prefer to watch, and ask for them to name their favorites. With these clues you should be able to make an educated guess as to what style of team they would both enjoy, and you'll have time to plan out the scenario and setting.