Tips and tricks to learn a new system

I've been playing RPGs for over 20 years now and only the past few years have I gotten more interested in learning new systems.

So far, almost all systems I learned were either by a GM guiding me through it, or by watching/listening to actual plays. The ones that I did learn from the rulebook were usually quite simple ones where reading about 10 pages was good enough to start playing.

I recently picked up the SWADE rulebook and realized that I have no idea how to get started on that. I've skimmed the book and it seems like a daunting task just to get through character creation. Let alone GMing it any time soon.

So my question is; How do you get started with a new System? What do you recommend I do?
I realize this is probably different for each person, but I'm curious about those different approaches.

First, I try to get a feeling for the rules system and background simultanely.
System. How high is "high", actually? How is magic (or similar acts) working? What is a standard expertise in skills (if there are any)?
Background. How are the different peoples aligned to each other? Which kind of transportation is standard? What is the technical and/or cultural inspiration or at least similarity to those I know already? Etc., etc., etc.

When there is a system I don't know already from other games, I generate some characters to understand this process fully.

Maybe I conduct a short combat between to of these characters to test this rules, too, but most players dive into this topic by themselves, so there is no hurry for me to prepare for it.

Then it's fairly important imo how things like experience, character development, learning are handled.

The rest is filling gaps on demand. Or ignoring the rules. Or whatever in between is beneficial to playing the game. ;-)

I always find your mechanic 1 to 2 page cheat sheets and sample characters a good place to start. Most systems have these for free and are a good way for me to get a handle on things. Modern AI is also a good way to get some basic info, though I always double check it against the source. AI can give the basics and point out similarities or differences to other systems.

I tend read full rules as I have time and/or need but don't usually read the full system reference material until I'm in my 2nd game if I enjoyed it enough to try again. During the 1st run through I tend go for the feel of it and leave the heavy lifting to those who actually know how things work.

Whenever I get a new game, I like to read a little about the mechanic, chargen, and the background setting (if there is one) to get an idea on whether I'm going to like it or not, then start at the beginning and read straight through. If necessary, I'll make a character or three, and try them in combat, or doing skill rolls, or whateve, to see if I've understood what I've read.

If I'm joining a game that sounds fun but that I don't know the rules, I'll either buy them (or see if there's a free / cheap quickstart), so that I can have a read through that before starting. I'll still rely on the GM to coax me through though, because they might have houserules in play, or different emphases / understanding of certain rules. It helps that I'm mostly in favour of rules light games these days, so there's not often too much to read through.

You could complement your reading with some video tutorials, it does help.

For SWADE character generation, for example, take a look at this guy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnY2pFbKpe0

And, if helpful, I recently summarized the very basics of the system for a player here on GPlane:

I look online for a game summary or have ChatGPT make one for me, and I also look at the character sheet. Then I dive right in. I'm a fan of learn as you go. It wasn't always that way. In the beginning, about 8 years ago, when I first started this hobby, I used to devour rule books and play through the ones I liked as a solo player using an emulator.

SWADE isn't hard to get started with. It has a massive number of setting books, Deadlands being one of my favorites.

Here on GP, just ask! For example, I'd be happy to run a short SWADE game to teach the system.

As to your question, I barely learn systems before running them. I've launched games on PBP before without reading the rules. This is because I find that under pressure, necessity is the mother of invention, and when I need to know, say, initiative rules, I can look them up then. Also, I retain what I read better when I'm looking to solve a specific problem in the now.

That's different than in a live game of course, where you can't take an hour to read up on what you need. Well. You could, at least once, but then you'd likely have to find a new game troupe.

Thanks for the replies so far everyone!
As I expected, lots of different tactics going around. Very fun to read all this!
Thanks for the SWADE specific info :) I'll check those out.
I have watched some char creation video already and it made me feel like I should know all the possible traits, edges and hindrances before I can even consider creating a character. Kinda made my head spin. Hehe.

But the mechanics of the system really intrigue me.
I might take you up on that, Qralloq. Thanks very much for the offer. I will PM you when I feel ready for such a thing :D

I am also willing to provide guidance with SWADE. I've been GMing Savage Worlds for 10 years. As for learning a new system, I have a character archetype that I try to build to stress-test the system. For fantasy systems, I usually go with a wizard-type, so that I can look at the spell system. For super-hero games, I use Cat Lord, a character of mine from the old Villains & Vigilantes game. If I can recreate him, I consider the system to be well-rounded.

I ran a couple of fuck-around-and-find-out for Daggerheart. We played and when we needed a rule, I would look it up and walk myself and the players through the implications.
I posted screenshots of the rule in question and then we went from there.

As long as you are open about you are learning the system, along with the players, nobody is going to think less of you.

What if you miss rules? Like for example a penalty for swimming with heavy armor. I'd be scared I'm giving someone an unfair (dis-)advantage 😅

Would this be an unfair (dis)advantage?

As long as you try your best to be fair, it's enough.

As someone who was in one of these games, I thought that worked really well, especially since we were all noobs to the game. Thanks again for running that game, it went great.

Unlike board games, which have a structured ruleset, in an RPG, the rules are largely guidelines. If everyone is having fun, that's the only thing you need to worry about. In my Wednesday night Savage Worlds game, my group glosses over the ritual magic rules. It doesn't hurt the game, moves things along more quickly, and everyone is enjoying the game. The ritual magic rules in the Horror Companion are really cool, but for us, it slows things down, and they just want to get to the action, so we brush them off and say that they followed the recipe.

In that case, once the rule was discovered, we would have talked about it.
Since there are no determined rules experts, everyone is responsible for staying within the rules as we know them, and to look them up if things look weird. Like swinging like a monkey through the trees in full plate armour.
This should be implied in every game, but it has become the norm that the GM is the rule expert, so flagging it up front that you as a GM is not a rule expert, relieves you of that responsibility.

Can't stress that enough

Those are fair points. :D
I suppose I was being a bit too stressed about it.

I think this is a great question, TheGenerator. I struggle with learning new systems as well. Even though a GM isn't supposed to need to be an rules expert, there is generally an expectation that whoever runs a game is familiar with the rules.

One area that I find most difficult is how to interpret a rule in a way that won't derail a game or session. Yet, even there, it's impossible to know without having experience with a system. I feel like this is even somehow true no matter how many times I might have played a particular game, lol!

At this point, I try and allow myself room for mistakes, and this removes a lot of pressure. I know I'm going to make a mess of things at some point or another when I pick up a new game. Every mistake is an opportunity to learn. My advice is just to make notes of things that really don't make sense during actual play so there are reference points to look into between sessions. That's what's worked for me.

Yeah I totally just tag along a new game on GP, often completely clueless, and use it to get a feeling for the system. If you played a few system you sort of know for what stuff there’s usually some sort of rule.

Totally agree with the quick reference sheets to start with the basics. People are nice enough to help you fill the gaps and the slow pace allows you time to check the rules (or try) between posts.

I think it’s a great way to get to know the system before venturing into the real world 😆 after one or two months (slow pace 😅) you will be able to re-read the rules and related them to your game experience

That's what I'd do too. Unfortunately, I'm a bit strapped for time these days and most games I've seen are 1 post per day. So I figured I'd try it the old fashioned way. :D
It's a bit of a catch-22. I won't get a good idea of how it works without doing it. But I don't feel ready to try it before knowing more.

I think, as Qralloq and WhtKnt have offered, a short 1 on 1 game would be most efficient in my case. I'm going to take the advice to first try and just create a character. Then see if I want to have that character play a short game :)

Though this thread contains many good tips for each approach.