I think the amount of RP a game has is entirely up to the players/GM participating. You can't really ask for your players to RP more or less, because RP is a pillar of the game, much like exploration and combat also are. That said, everyone has a level of RP'ing they are comfortable with, and one should never feel ashamed because he's not big on that part of the game. Every group has that person who likes to describe every detail of their actions and that other person who is much more direct, but they are both equal.

And as someone who didn't knew a thing about RPG an year or so ago and learned pretty much everything here on this forum, the advice I can give to you is: play. Don't bother yourself with complexity or with how much RP you can do. Everything is fine. Just ask to join a game, make lots of questions (and the other players will for sure help you), and starting learning in an actual game.

My thoughts:

Spells and Mana:
1) Spell-casters receive a pool of mana equal to the total spell levels they could cast each day in normal D&D.
2) A spell costs mana equal to its spell level to cast. 0th level spells cost no mana and can be used infinitely.
3) Schools are replaced with color. Anything that refers to schools (such as the Spell Focus feat) is replaced with color. Spells of the Universal school are colorless. (this would be the hardest part of conversion: determining the colors of each spell in the D&D core rules)

Planeswalker (Template)
1) Able to use Plane Shift, Self plus 50lbs of gear only, at will.
2) To Planeswalk, the Planeswalker must take a full round action and make a DC 20 concentration check. The Planeswalker can retry this check every round, and even take 10 or 20 on it.
3) When a Planeswalker successfully planeswalks, he or she becomes fatigued until he or she takes it easy and rests for at least fifteen minutes. If the Planeswalker was already fatigued, he or she instead becomes exhausted until he or she next sleeps. If the Planeswalker was exhausted, he or she passes out on completing the Planeswalk.

Does planeswalking ever fail? I don't mean 'doesn't work' I mean 'whoops I ended up on Ravnica when I was aiming for Alara'? Because that could be a fun side effect of failing the above mentioned Concentration check by a critical degree.

Maybe a nat 1 effect, but still explicitly allow taking 10 or 20 if not under pressure, so as to keep the benefits of reduced die roll load?

While I agree with this general comment (it's how I learned Mafia after all back in 2004), there are always players that feel overwhelmed if they're the only new one in a game with a ton of experienced players.

I remember back in the day we had Mafia games that catered for the inexperienced/new players by reserving 5-6 spots for new players and 3-4 spots for experienced players. So the game could mostly go at a slightly lower pace and stuff.
Perhaps it's an idea to start something similar of those up as well for RP?
I think it might draw less experienced players faster, and if there are not enough players, you can always open up more slots for experienced players later.

Do we have enough traffic to do this, though? How many new players would be willing to join a game here? We can try to run a module with mostly new players, but we would need those new players in the first place.

That is why I added that final sentence though

Thanks to all who participated in this discussion. I'll be removing the sticky and moving the thread to the General Discussion & Advice of the RPG section now to get it out of the way of the games. There were some great ideas thrown around, and I hope you guys get a chance to play around with some of them!

Thank you.

I'd be interested in running a D&D game for inexperienced players who want to learn to play.

I wouldn't be able to start it until September or October though.

Depending on what edition you're talking, I'd be up for signing on as the token dude with lots of system knowledge, should it be desirable to have that.

Yeah, I'd be looking for one experienced player to join a handful of green players on an adventure that I am crafting.

Again, not looking to start this until September-ish, but if you're interested, keep your eye open around then.

"Green"?

Can I be a goblin?

~SE++

By green I mean someone who has never or seldom played D&D before.

lol, I figured, just thought that someone should make a joke about goblins eventually.

~SE++

We should run an all-goblin one-shot. I remember Pathfinder had one.

We can't. No Goblins Allowed

They actually have three for free.

We Be Goblins!
We Be Goblins Too!
We be Goblins Free!

I downloaded them and tossed them up on my Google Drive for easy access if anyone wants them.

~SE++

This gives me an idea... XD

I dunno if I should be happy for you or scared.

~SE++

The community is very small, players are somewhat picky and sometimes disappear for long periods without any explanation. These are the points that needed to be addressed for it to grow.

Maybe running more small games and possibly create a inter-game reserve list would be my suggestions.

Talking about my case specifically, currently I am in no disposition to join anything due to the death of my game. Mafia was more a side effect than the real purpose. So without a RPG game, I see no real reason to participate.

I have interest in 13th Age or Traveller, which I have been reading recently. Maybe other system with clear combat mechanics, that favors both RP and combat.