As many tabletop gamers know, there aren’t enough players around. The specific locale doesn’t seem to matter – our whole world suffers from a consistent shortage of players. At the same time, there’s a large number of people who are as of yet unaware of the existence of table-based fun.

These two problems seem to have a common solution.

The art and science of Initiating a Newbie has been slowly developing in the past few years, along with the growth in the availability and awareness of the tabletop hobby as a whole. My job descriptions since around 2005 have always included some form of “absorb muggles into our hobby”, so I have a thing or two to say about the subject; in the following strips we’ll discuss some of the potential pitfalls that might impede a first-time Initiator, and offer some helpful suggestions. If you despise waiting, or prefer your information summarized in one place (pfft!), here are several excellent resources.

For now, Rotem seems to be off to a good, solid start. She approached acquaintances from various spheres of life (and previous strips), including one close gamer friend (to bolster your confidence and have some help during the game) and organized a fun evening in her apartment (a safe and comfortable environment), while making it clear she’s thinking about doing this on a regular basis, but you don’t have to commit to anything yet (she could probably make this point clearer in the strip, but her speech bubbles are already more than big enough).

Read this storyline from the beginning: Self Reflection


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