On the Nature of RolePlaying

I assume that you are asking this with certain people in mind almarianknight? If not then there are tons of resources that can be used to get players. Local gaming store, local college, local library, websites, or even classifieds. Continuing with the assumption that you are looking at specific people then you can tailor your game, or your gaming pitch to those people. Given that people often have very ambiguous fears and hesitations about role playing being "bad" you will likely be tasked with digging further to figure out their reasons. Your best tool for bringing people in, to me, is explaining that the game has no limits and can be whatever the group wants it to be.

For those that think the game is too childish, I would ask if they watch TV, or go to the movies, or read books, etc. The main difference between those forms of entertainment and this is that you are allowed an active voice in the story that is unfolding. The complexity and depth of the game falls to the DM and the players. If you wanted to run the Flufflekins d20 system, then yeah that probably will be childish. If instead you have the players in a war torn world where they constantly have to make moral decisions to survive and succeed it is something entirely different. I think that number three plays into this as well, and the complexities of both the rules side of the games as well as the out of combat scenarios could help to alleviate those fears.

For number 2, I can't completely disagree. As friartook mentioned it is male dominated, but that is not just role playing games, sadly it is games in general. Even still the community has been crapped on for the better part of 30 years, and people become defensive of what they love. I personally have been shunned in a store, for what I assumed was not looking like a typical role player. Side note: that was after years of playing and was one of the weirdest experiences of my entire life. I know that Pathfinder is good about promoting inclusion of all people to try and create a better community, and it is awesome to see that. Admittedly though if it is a true stumbling block for someone they need not see a single person of said community in this day and age. They can get any gaming item they need online, and show up to the games and essentially have their community be the gaming group they are a part of.

This is an awesome question for newer DMs who are trying to get a group together, and hopefully the information that is in this thread helps people!

I love D&D for its story-telling purposes. When I talk to people who D&D as either being a childish dumb hobby or or some weird basement nerd fest, I simply explain that I play it for the stories. To me its more an exercise in communal story-telling and shared exploration of the nature of being as opposed to neck beards and children playing with dice. I lived in Mozambique for a time, and that country has had it stories art and culture shredded by years loving as a colony followed by years of being a soviet puppet state followed by a long civil war. The people there struggle to move forward because they have no past. They have no stories or identity to use as a platform for growth. Only by knowing where they are from can they tell you where they are going. So to me D&D is about telling stories about who we are and where we are from. The words and language of the story is fantastical and magical in nature but that doesn't mean the stories themselves aren't real and have no value. So Thats how I talk to people who are anti D&D or simply want to know what it is. So far I have only had positive responses. Everybody loves a good story.

Almarianknight, just print out Dmmainprize's response and carry it around with you. Have anyone that is anti-role playing read it, and if they are still anti-role playing get a new friend! Also, Friartook that quote is awesome, and definitely needs to be an inspirational poster in the office of every writer.

The social stigma of RPGs is going away. Incidentally, I think we have the explosion in popularity of video games to thank for this. It can be irritating when people bring a video game mentality to a TTRPG, but it's correctable.

I like Mainprize's emphasis on the storytelling aspect of RPGs, but I think it gives an easy out for people who doubt their own creative abilities, and those who don't care about creativity at all.

My opening pitch to persuade someone to play is... "It's basically a board game."

Damn near every man, woman and child in America has played a board game, so it establishes common ground. If they hate board games, they probably won't like RPG's anyway. Convincing this person to try playing is an uphill battle, and honestly, I don't invest as much effort into persuading him. It's not impossible, I just don't have any good advice there.

If I haven't lost someone at 'board games,' I'll talk about popular media with fantasy elements, whether its books, film, or video games, to figure out what they like. I imply they'll be able to recreate their favorite scenes, and give a brief mention of rolling dice to determine outcomes. I also emphasize the social aspect of hanging out with friends.

I use the phrase, "You play a character..." but I rarely talk much about the acting side of RPGs until they're at the table and we've already started on character creation. People think acting, they think of getting on a stage in front of others. Most people are more afraid of public speaking than they are of dying in a fire. 

Nah, this is where it's at!

vimeo.com/39114507

I love this video, and wish it was much longer.