Tyson J. Hayes is one of the main writers for Apathy Games. When he’s not evangelizing Savage Worlds, he’s writing for his Twitter or plotting to take over the world.

I’m a quiet person by nature; it takes a while for me to warm up to a group of people that I’ve never met. It’s not that I would consider myself shy, just cautious and observing. In college there was a group I sat with every day around lunch and I would just listen to their conversation. I only knew one person at the table so was a bit quiet at first. After a while I finally opened my mouth and responded to a comment being made by another person at the table. I held the table at rapt attention until I finished my thought. Then the person sitting next to me said simply, “Dude, that’s the first thing I’ve ever heard you say, and you’ve been sitting here for two weeks.”

To my amazement, he was right. I was having a good time and enjoyed the conversation but I hadn’t contributed anything to it. Once I did open my mouth I found myself enjoying the conversation even more and am still friends with some of that group to this day. Why did it take me that long to engage them? To this day I couldn’t tell you. I could have been conversing and making new friends faster if I had, so why didn’t I?

Fear. I was simply afraid that anything I said would be taken the wrong way or used against me in some unforeseeable way.

I’ve noted many people in our community have wanted to play Savage Worlds, but just haven’t. The question that smacks me is, “why haven’t they tried it?” Or why hasn’t a fan of Savage Worlds sat them down and shown them everything that’s great about the game?

Why haven’t you introduced it to a friend that has never played RPGs before? Are you afraid that they won’t enjoy it or think you’re weird because you play it?

What is stopping you from grabbing one of Tabletop Armory’s Quick Adventures and your copy of Savage Worlds: Explorers Edition and running it for someone who has never played? Break out of your shell try something new, and drag someone else along with you. It’s half the fun of our hobby.