Demo the demo

Hey it’s been a while since the last post and a while since the one before that. This is completely my fault and I will be having a proper talking to myself about my poor performance at my next review...

This time I’m going to talk a bit about demoing, not how to do it well just how I like to approach it.

Firstly there is no one right way to demo as with most things it comes down to finding your own style and playing to your strengths. For example I can talk enthusiastically about pretty much anything but I’m terrible at facts and figures. So when I demo I’m more “oh oh try this thing it’s cool” and less “this works like that’s and you’ll take this for when that happens”



But there are some very set wrong ways to demo. A far from complete list includes: don’t talk to someone like an idiot, don’t make people feel like they can’t ask questions, don’t be generally or specifically offensive, actually demonstrate the game don’t just use it as an excuse to noob stomp.
Now I expect some of you are saying “surely these things don’t need to be said” and you would be wrong these are things I’ve seen in demos for various different systems over the years and people seem to just put up with it.

Now back to how I demo, and specifically how I’d demo TDE.

Step one. Know the basics, you don’t need to know every rule in the book you can look things up that’s why the books there. But know enough about the fundamental rules that you can explain them out loud. “Roll dice, shit happens” while technically spot on does little to tech people.

Which brings me to step two. Explain things out loud. A running monologue of “now we check this result against this stat” or “this model moves at base move here because” you’re there to show what the game can do but without an explanation they just see models being pushed around.

Step three. Start things small. I start off by dropping a couple of toughs in the middle of the table and having a melee. It’s straight forward and will generally give you a few rolls and abilities to resolve.
Next I’ll drop down a couple of shooty models within range of each other and ideally with a bit of cover between. Start a new round and you have two models each all with something to be doing.
Next I’ll drop in a couple of leaders and three objectives. Aim to have the leaders away from combat and each other and have an objective within dynamic movement of each of them.
Next round the you can show of agility while the results of the combat suddenly matter as the third objective is the one that will decide the winner.

Step three. Winning or losing? Now this needs to be a judgment call, some people always let demo people win as it’s a good feeling winning. Some people feel cheated if they don’t win on merit.
I tend to lose whether I try to or not (I’m a terrible player generally) but the better and more experienced the player I’m demoing the more I try to play well. Because if the person you playing doesn’t feel challenged then they’re going to enjoy it.

So after you’ve run through the basic demo the most important step comes. Talk about the game. Find out what they did and didn’t enjoy, what rules they didn’t really click with. Let them know what options are available, “oh you liked running up and punching people? You should check out...”
This is the ideal time to expand on what you’ve just covered to really get them interested, but also it’s a great time to learn what work and what doesn’t in your demo technique, which hopefully means you’ll always be improving.

Okay so I think that just about covers things. If you demo and have your own style, let me know what you do differently.
If you’re sitting there reading this thinking I wish I could get a demo, reach out and find your friendly local Wayfarer and get started.