Having finished Sidekicking at PAX East recently, I want to capture the spiel I was using to teach the game. Feedback welcome.
Introduce each of the heroes in use.
In the upper left of your hero's character card is a number that looks like the issue number of a comic. That is your starting and maximum HP. Go ahead and grab tokens to represent your HP. Shuffle the rest of your deck and draw four cards. There is no maximum or minimum number of cards in hand. There is no hand limit. You just happen to start with four cards.
This is a completely cooperative game. At any time you can show your cards or talk about them with your teammates, but you don't have to. You are completely in control of your hero.
All of the heroes are working together to defeat this villain. Introduce the villain. We're the heroes and we're going to stop the bad guy, RIGHT? (This usually can get a rousing yes from the group.) We are fighting in this location. Introduce the location.
We win, generally, if we knock the villain down to zero or fewer HP before all of the heroes are knocked down to zero or fewer HP. If one hero is knocked down to zero or fewer before everyone is, they are not out of the game. You put the rest of the deck aside and turn the character card over. On the back are three incapacitated abilities from which you can choose on your turn. So everyone is always in the entire game until it finishes.
There can also be alternative winning and losing conditions. Introduce alternate win/lose conditions for the given villain, if applicable. Note that each villain has a different flip mechanic. Introduce this villain's flip mechanic, if not already done. The base game comes with ten different heroes, four different villains, and four different environments, so there's a ton of replayability. There are also three expansions available with two more heroes, four more villains, and two more environments each. Plus there are various single hero, villain, or environment decks available that were originally released as Kickstarter rewards.
The way the game is played is that the villain takes a turn, each hero takes a turn, and then the environment takes a turn. That is called a round. No one plays the villain or the environment. They completely play themselves. Generally on a villain or environment turn we just draw one card and do what it says.
I'm going to show you how a villain is set up, play a villain turn, then explain how hero turns work out and play my hero's turn. Then each of you will have a chance to play your hero's turns. Then we'll play the environment turn and keep going.
Explain and do setup for the villain. Do the villain's first turn. If and when it comes up, show off the nemeses icons and explain what they mean. When a villain gets a card that is a target, explain that any card with a number here means that it is a target and that it can be destroyed by knocking it down to zero HP. The first time an attack occurs, point out that the type of an attack only matters if some card says that that type is affected. In particular, point out that melee and projectile damage don't have any special meaning like they do in D&D.
On your cards you'll see that there is a yellow bar in the middle that tells you what type of card it is. Some cards say one shot. One shots are cards that when they come in to play you immediately do what they say on them and then that card goes to your hero's trash pile. Every hero, the villain, and the environment each have their own trash pile. Some cards say Ongoing or Equipment. Ongoing and Equipment cards are ones that when they come into play they _might_ do something immediately but usually they cause an effect or give an ability that lasts. Ongoing and Equipment cards stay in play unless something specifically gets rids of them. Ongoing and Equipment cards are basically the same, but there may be effects that do things to Ongoing or Equipment cards but not both. Some of your cards say Limited. Take a look at these two cards that both say Limited. If my hero had both of these cards I could put them both into play, but <showing just one of the cards> I couldn't put two copies of _this_ card into play.
On your turn there are three things you can do. You can do any or all of them. You don't have to do any of them. If you do them, you have to do them in the following order. First, you may play one card, if you want. LAST, you may draw one card, if you want. In the middle, you may use one of the powers that are available to you. So, what's a power? Take a look at the bottom of your character card. You'll see the keyword power and some text next to it telling you something you can do. That's a power that's always available to you and that you can use on your power phase. <Show a card with a power on it> If you have a card in play that gives you another power, than on your power phase you may choose ONE of the powers available to you to use.
In some cases, you may have an effect that allows you to use more than one power. If so, keep in mind that you may only use the power on a given card once in a single turn. Rember that the villain has a turn, each hero has their own turn, and the environment has a turn, and that is called a round.
OK, now I'm going to show you a hero turn. Legacy plays <cardname>, which does <whatever>. Now that I've played a card, I may now choose to use a power. I only have one power available to me, my base power, Galvanize, that's always available to me. I choose to use that power, which does <whatever>. Since I have given all of us a plus one bonus we should each take one of the +1 Damage Dealt markers and give them to ourselves. OK, Legacy has played a card and Legacy has used a power, so now Legacy may draw a card. I see no reason not to do that, so I'm going to go ahead and draw one. Legacy has now played a card, used a power, and drawn a card, so it is now Expatriette's turn.
Now, Expatriette (or Tachyon, or, lord forbid, Argent Adept) you will see that you have special cards in your deck labeled <whatever> They work like <whatever>.
For the first few heroes I will also carefully prompt them for what they should do next if they don't do it. I try not to just say 'You do this or you forgot to do that', but instead say things like 'Ok, Ra has now played a card and used a power, he then ...?'
At some point in play, often early if Expatriette or Absolute Zero are being used (it's rare, but sometimes a complete newbie ends up playing AZ) I will point out that there is another rule such that if one neither plays a card nor uses a power, then they may draw an extra card.
I also tend to be a stickler for the precise order of things. When Bunker needs to discard a card to keep Gatling Gun in play, I will make sure the player realizes that the end of turn is after the draw phase. It's at points like these that I will actually pull out the chart of phases for the turns that are on the back of the rulebooks. I don't like giving that chart to brand new players because I think for most people the chart of phases is actually more confusing than helpful. Remembering just three things -- play, power, draw -- is easier than splitting one's attention between the rulebook and the cards as well as seeing a total of 11 phases -- three for the villain, five for the heroes, and three for the environment.
At the end of the game, I like to make a big deal out of winning. Congratulations, you have defeated the villain! With some high fives. I then ask people what they thought of it. (I've never had anything but positive responses) and then ask them if they know about the Sentinels Points. If they don't, I'll explain that you can get art prints and promo cards and other things and then explain that promo cards are alternate cards that allow one to play a deck with a whole new power that can completely change the experience. I'll then point out how the promo cards further the story of the Multiverse, and if we haven't talked about it already, explain how the game is based in an entire faux-world-of-comics and point out how the flavor text on the cards are pulled from various faux issues. I'll then explain how the designers have the entire timeline of the comics worked out and are revealing it to us over time through a planned number of expansions.
Then I'll hit on the cute girls. Just kidding! I'm married. (Well, mostly kidding).
) a sheet that has all the heros on it, maybe with a quick, one-sentance summary, just for this purpose. And one for villians and environments as well.