Running the first, trial session

[mirilion]

Hi evryone. Me and a few friends are getting together and trying out M&M 3E soon. As the GM, I was wondering if you have any advice? I really want to blow their minds with this system, because I already know it can be lots of fun to play. Question is what exactly should I run as a introduction to the system?

My setting is a mystical post-apocalyptic world, heavily influenced by the Amethyst setting, Vampire Hunter D animes, Michael Moorcock's Hawkmoon, and the sword and sorcery genre in general. Conan wielding a vibro-sword against the savage cybercentaurs, that kind of thing.

I was thinking about handing them premade characters, basically normal people from our time, and then have them transported into the crazy. The transportation event/reality shift gifted them with mystical powers and placed them in a killzone in the far future. Their powers are pretty obvious, although they are under GM control until the players figure out how to use them properly. Then, after they manage to get out of the starting area alive, they face a challnge from the post apocalyptic world itself. Probably an angry cybercentaur, with spikes.

I would really appreciate any advice, mainly how how to make this first trial session as mind blowing as possible.

[Shadowchaser]

Give out lots of hero points and encourage them to learn how to spend them.

[FuzzyBoots]

I highly recommend running through a couple of trial scenarios on your own. If you can get memorized the basic rules of combat, it will make things run much more smoothly once the game actually starts. Adding bookmarks or sticky notes to frequently referenced pages is definitely an option too.

Also, if it's the first time playing, think about having the characters built ahead of time (either by the players or you giving them pre-gens. Character building can be a bit slow the first time due to how the point-based system gives you so much flexibility. If you're not careful, your entire first gaming session can consist of people crunching numbers without the game even starting.

There are also some good links here for prepping.

[mirilion]

Hero points, get familiar with the rules, come prepared, pregenereted characters. Got it.

[King Snarf]

Also- snacks!

[saint_matthew]

My suggestion is before you start your first session run a little exercise we have on the forum boards called "Fist full of Nazis."

Um, i know its on the forum soemwhere, but can't seem to find it, so here are the rules. Take the stats for soldiers from page 267 of the DCA rule book & give one of them a rocket launcher (page 152). Then have any hero you've made, or a hero from the back of the book fight the group.

That way you can see if you've got any flaws in your understanding of how the game works... Also its hela fun to play, as an exercise.

[mirilion]

Snacks (can't believe I forgot that one), Nazis, got it.

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