So we’re assuming three things - 

1) You are much more into tabletop roleplaying as a hobby than the average person, and if you’re checking out blogs by unknown TTRPG content creators, that’s probably true.

2) You want to be the GM who runs the other system. If you are wanting to get tips on how to stop being the GM and get someone else to run the game and a different system, this is not the blog for that.

3) You are okay with middle to low knowledge from the players in the new system, at least at the start. So you don’t mind stopping the game for a moment to look up a rule or figure out a ruling. Some GMs find this a really untenable interruption of their flow. If that’s you, this is probably not the right approach for you either.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand - so I LOVE trying new games, and I will make time for it and have no issues about playing with people I don't know. That’s the first thing. I have been rewarded for my openness by being able to try out more games in the past 3 years than many people get to in their lives. If you want to see a full list of games I’ve played, you can check out the About Me section here on my blog. And I have had an absolute blast! There is only one system, out of all 35 or whatever that I didn’t like. But all the rest - I either enjoyed fully, or really dug a few  specific aspects of.

Anyway - This made me really keen to try new systems with my home group. I had so much fun, I wanted to bring that to my dear friends. Cue my confusion when they didn't immediately jump for joy when I suggested other games. 

I talked about it with someone really close to me and they made me realize a CRUCIAL thing I hadn't considered: For me, this was one game of many that I was playing - for basically everyone else at the table, this was their ONLY game. And for a few of the  parents at the table probably their primary social outlet.

So the idea of bringing in something that they didn't really know, weren't sure if they were going to enjoy etc. wasn't super appealing. Whereas for me, as I said, it was just one of several games I was playing so I was like what the hell, why aren't you being more open... 

I finally convinced them to try another game - under the true premise of 'My friend wants to try to run a con adventure he's written for new people' -- a one-shot of DCC (Dungeon crawl classics), which is very D&D adjacent, with pregens. So there are four important elements here that I think are the reasons that opened the door to ‘other games’: 

1. The DCC universe is very similar to the D&D-style traditional fantasy so there’s no learning curve there really and there was a sense of familiarity and comfort. And for people who don't have a ton of extra time or brainspace, there is real value in knowing things without much extra effort.

2. Because they picked pregens, they didn’t have to go through the most onerous part of most new games - character generation. Being D&D adjacent meant also that the options were similar enough to what they already knew. Thieves = Rogues, Clerics are clerics, warriors are fighters or barbarians.. And so on.

3. Because it was just a one-shot, there was no feeling like a major commitment was needed. It was one evening, and it would either be a lot of fun or it would suck and we probably wouldn't do it again. But either way, its just one session.

4. Me playing alongside them was probably the least important thing but I feel like it had some value, so I’m going to talk about it. Basically, seeing me - the person who is pushing them to try new games - have the same kind of questions they did about which dice to roll, what modifiers to add - I think that let them know that expert level knowledge wasn’t something needed for us playing in new systems and they could approach it as a fun game to try, not this thing they have to do a bunch of homework for.

And they had a blast. And so did I. And so did my friend running the game.

And ultimately, this experience gave them the confidence of realizing that picking up other games is really not that difficult.. and also, to trust me...  and so since then we've played a few different systems that I’ve run and it’s been awesome. 

To summarize my last point from before: The worry that learning a new game might be more difficult than it actually is was mitigated by presenting in a setting that people are already familiar with, with dice and modifier rules and something that sort of adjacent to what they already know was a really great stepping stone to the broader concept of "other games".