Need advice for running a tabletop RPG with a new group.

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I'm going to be running a Call of Cthulhu adventure soon for a group of players, all of which are either first time players or who haven't played in so long they might as well be first timers. Being a CoC adventure, the mood of the game plays a big role and I'm concerned that some of the players are going to undercut the atmosphere by joking around and not playing seriously. I think one player in particular is a big nervous about getting involved in something a bit geeky and is going to play it up for laughs. He also happens to be the most outspoken of the group, so he could drag the rest of the players down with him.

As it stands the senario I've devised starts up as a pretty slow burner and I'm hoping that character creation, clue hunting, witnesses interigation and research portion of the game will let everyone ease into it and blow of any embaressment before they reach ground zero. In the event that the mood hasn't changed by that point however It'd be good if anyone could suggest some tips to get people into the spirit?

 

[Diablo2000]

Well... I don't think that Call of Cthulhu is good way to enter the world of RPG, may I sugest another one like DnD?

 

[Jonluw]

To be honest, I'm very skeptical of using something that requires high levels of immersion to start people off on roleplaying.

 

[Antari]

Why worry if they don't take it seriously? Its a game. Besides is more realistic if you have atleast one Leeroy Jenkins in the party.

 

[DoPo]

To be honest, I'm very skeptical of using something that requires high levels of immersion to start people off on roleplaying.

Yeah, I'm with him. Unless the people actually expressed interest in being IC a lot, I would run a more roll player friendly game if I just wanted to introduce people to RPGs. Not saying it can't work but normally, newer players who are in it just to try RPGs might not be the best fodder for CoC.

And again, I assume you've made the arrangements, so going "hey, guys, I had a change of heart - who wants to roll a rogue?" isn't the best thing to do. So instead, I think you can fix it - you said it was a chronicle is slow burner - that's perfect! Run the first session or two, and let them do whatever - see how they behave and how it goes. Try to engage them more and more as the game goes on. Try to remind them of their characters, as in "John, do you really think it's appropriate for your character to do that? It doesn't fit in his background." or better yet - ask them why their characters would do something. Not all the time but just enough to remind them about IC. One good trick is to reward them for roleplaying - give them a free reroll or maybe a bonus to something, at the end of a session give them something they can write down on the character sheets. A friend of mine runs games for a lot of newbies and what he found goes good (he's running D&D) is giving them 25XP whenever they do some good IC stuff. 25XP is not a lot at all, and each can get about 100 extra XP per session, which is still insignificant, but it does the trick - it motivates the players to strive for more of it.

So bottom line - just try to engage the players and motivate them to immerse themselves in the game.

 

[Monkeymanbob]

As it's the first game, speak to the more experienced players and ask them in steering the game for the benefit of the newer players, they should take the lead in the investigation.
Have more than one character rolled for the newer players, it's CoC, if they act a douche, send there investigator mad or kill them, then introduce another character.
I did this with a haunted house scenario with a paddy wagon of police officers in reeserve, the roles were not to challenging and when one of the players started dicking about, offed their character and had one of the other officers replace them, with a hit to sanity due to the fate of the previous officer who was dribbling in the corner, at the same time reqarding the other new player who was playing it straight.
He stopped dicking around and no more need was required for the remaining officers.
I also had them write mini bio's for their next characters in the next adventure so there was a more personel investment in their investigators, and told them to keep it simple. If one of your friends is big into sports have them generate a football player, if they have never read Lovecraft it's no good playing as a Proffessor of Mythos an so on, keep them in their comfort zone adn keep the first few adventures short and pacey. Congratulate them on good rolls and decisions.
You are the DM, don't be afraid to step outside the rules to help the experience, if they have a poor sanity roll have the player crap their pants instead of gaining a rolled temporary insanity for the table. USe a bit of humour just before you introduce a terror.