RPGaDAY: What is a great introductory RPG?

To be a great introductory RPG, I think a game needs two things:

1. Rules that are easy to learn.
2. A genre or setting that the new player is familiar with.

Which means that great introductory RPGs very much depend on the the new player.

With that in mind, I do think that Matrons of Mystery is a potentially great introductory RPG, both for its uncomplicated rules and its cosy mystery genre.

Romance is consistently at number one in genre fiction, but mystery comes in second, with cosy mysteries being a popular subgenre.  Agatha Christie is of course the best-selling fiction writer of all time, with over two billion sales.  M C Beaton, known as the queen of cosy crime, sold more than twenty-one million books and was one of the most borrowed authors from UK libraries.  If someone reads, there's a very high chance they read mystery.

And then there's television.  Midsomer Murders first aired in 1997 and twenty-two series later, it's still going.  Maybe it's not as popular now as when it first aired to 13.5 million viewers, but shows don't run for twenty-five years unless someone's watching.

Then there's the somewhat participatory nature of mystery fiction, whether on the page or the screen.  There's the invitation to the reader or viewer to look for clues, consider the evidence, and attempt to solve the crime for themself.

Furthermore, murder mystery evenings are a popular activity in Britain.  A lot of pubs and hotels put them on as an event with a meal, and there are box sets you can pick up to play them in your own home.  A lot of people who've never played an RPG in their life may well have played a murder mystery evening and be open to the idea of a mystery game.

In short, cosy mysteries are:

• Hugely popular in Britain
• Something that encourages participation
• Something people may have already participated in

So I'd like to think that if you want to introduce someone to RPGs and you know they're an avid fan of cosy mysteries, Matrons of Mystery might just be the way to lure them in.  It's a murder mystery evening.  Just like on TV.  You know how to play.