Making the game exciting for new players

I'm starting up a new 4e game tomorrow night, and two of the players have never played any edition of D&D before. I seek the collective wisdom of the EN World community in asking for some ideas as to how to do everything I can to make sure these new players stay engaged in and excited about the game.

My sister and I are long-time D&D veterans (since 1987), but neither of us have actually played 4e yet. I DMed two short 4e sessions for my wife when we were camping this past summer, but we didn't use a lot of the rules since she had never played D&D before and I only had the core books and a set of dice with me (no minis or battle grids). My wife might decide to play with us tomorrow, so I would actually count her as a third player who hasn't played D&D before.

One of the players has played perhaps half a dozen sessions of 4e, but had never played any edition of D&D previously. Another player was his DM for those games (he won't be there tomorrow, but should make it for the second game), but he doesn't have much pre-4e experience (if any). I might have two more players joining in a couple of weeks, and they have played 2e and/or 3.x, but have not yet played 4e.

So most of the players and I are still going to be learning the rules of the game. Therefore, I decided to stick with the default 4e setting, rather than Eberron (as I was originally planning on using) or a re-imagined Greyhawk. I was worried about overwhelming the new players with too much stuff to learn, and I waffled for a bit, but I feel pretty confident that I made the right decision here.

I've always struggled at the beginning of a new campaign with finding the right hook for the first adventure if the players haven't given me a bit of backstory and character motivations.

While it has been strongly criticized, I'm planning to run H1 Keep on the Shadowfell with some modifications (I have been reading several of the threads on that module in these forums), unless I can come up with something better. Kobolds and an evil priest feel somewhat cliched to me, but I'm keeping in mind that the simple-but-iconic villains and setting may resonate more with the new players than something more original. Plus, I think it would be good for me to run some encounters crafted by the 4e design team to help me "un-learn" encounter design habits from previous editions.

So, any comments or ideas on how I can best:

• get the new players hooked within the first 20 minutes or so (I already know that I want to start the game more or less in the middle of the action, rather than spend 40 minutes establishing why the PCs are doing this)
• avoid the new players leaving the session with the impression that, to paraphrase a quote I once read on these forums, "D&D looks like it's 20 minutes of fun spread out over 4 hours."
• make sure the new players want to keep playing

Thanks!

Your players will take their cue from you, so focus on enthusiasm (fun) more than strict adherence to the rules (work). Show them right from the beginning that it's more than just pushing game pieces across a map and rolling dice. In combat especially they'll take their cue from you, so have the kobolds hurl curses at the PCs, howl in pain when hit, quiver in fear when their ambush doesn't go their way, etc. Don't only use the powers in the stat block.

If your players have difficulty generating backgrounds, feel free to give them ideas that will engage them immediately upon reaching Winterhaven. Douven Stahl could be one of their parents. Salvana Wrafton could be a sister.

Don't let the keep become a grind if they don't intrinsically enjoy dungeon crawling. Split it into minidungeons: goblins, caves, undead, hobgoblins, the final battles. Give each minidungeon its own story and personality. Maybe Balgron's always lived there and resent's Kalarel's rule. The hobgoblins could be purely mercenary and have no real allegiance to Kalarel. Let Keegan become a patron, not just a plot point, seeking your help to recover his children's effects or to cleanse the keep. Ideally, the PCs have objectives beyond just "kill everything until reaching the BBEG".

I guess what I'm trying to say is make sure the players see the rules and the modules as seeds for creativity, not constraints on creativity.

in keeping with your concept of "starting with action" ...
* premake the PCs? (perhaps leaving name blank for them to fill in) -- or ask them what they want to play and go from there (otherwise leave it completely random)
* dispense with long setups.. (if i recall correctly, the first encounter in that module is an ambush on the road to town). So don't give any long setting intros, let the players learn it as they go along. just give each PC one sentence as to why that PC is going to the town and then be descriptive about traveling on the road in a caravan and 8bam8 ambush.
* kind of on the same lines as the above point - don't try and explain the whole game up front. let them learn as you go along. just give them a couple basic ideas like d20+ modifier must meet or beat a target number to succeed (for attacks, skills, etc)
* avoid "complicated" classes and stick to the iconic onces that are also easy to play. (i.e shaman is for a more tactical mind with lots of "ifs" but something like a ranger is fairly straight forward. as ageneral rule of thumb, stick to the classes and races just in PHB1, since PHB2 does step up the complication factor for some things).


anyway, these are all just random thoughts (not all may be exactly perfect ...)

In order to put your players in the middle of everything, you could have them kidnapped by goblins before the start of the adventure, and in the process of being transfered to the goblin lair of Irontooth (might want to tone that encounter way down, since according to a poll here on ENworld, more than 50% TPK'ed on said encounter). On the way to the lair, the goblins are ambushed by some random monster, creating an opportunity for players to get free of their bonds and get to their weapons. Just as they get their weapons, they are noticed and this is where you start off the first game, with initiative.

Backgrounds etc can all be incorporated as you go. As long as they know their name, where they come from and perhaps an idea about personality, you are good to go.

Regarding H1, you really need to cut away around 80% of the fights if you do not want to scare people away, unless of course they are born hack'n'slash-lovers. Or perhaps close off certain parts of the dungeons, completelty removing some monsters. The whole undead part is completely irrelevant to the plot, so you could easily put the undead in a closed of section for later exploration, if you like it. You could also remove most of the goblin encounters, as they serve little purpose either. Maybe they are just the entrance guards (1-2 encounters) and then focus the rest of the combat to the lower level, where the hobgoblins and real bad guys are. Of course, that means you might have to tweak the encounter-level of certain encounters.

Re fights - I was going to say, the best advice I can give is to not just have them fighting kobolds or goblins in their first outing! I think it's really important that the PCs get to fight creatures of at least medium size. The first battle in my 4e campaign was against hobgoblin grunts, level 3 minions, backed up by a hobgoblin archer (artillery-3) and a soldier (4). Orc Drudge minions commanded by an orc skirmisher would also work well.

I think minions are a great way to get new players into the game and avoid frustrating them, but include a non-minion 'boss' as leader/champion.

My suggested encounter:
The PCs are on the road, when they see ahead a band of orcs ransacking a merchant wagon. The badly battered merchant is alive but unconscious. The PCs have a chance to ambush the distracted orcs.

Level 1 encounter (MM page 203) XPV 502:
8 Orc Drudge minions level 4, XP 44x8 = 352
1 Orc Raider, level 3 skirmisher, XP 150

This minion-heavy setup will favour Controller PCs. If your team is Striker heavy you could replace 3 Drudges with another Raider:

Level 1 encounter (MM page 203) XPV 520:
5 Orc Drudge minions level 4, XP 44x5 = 220
2 Orc Raiders, level 3 skirmisher, XP 150x2=300

This is potentially nasty though as an Orc Raider crit can potentially do 27 damage in one blow, and 2 of them makes it much more likely.

You could also scale this down if worried about a TPK, I'd suggest eg:

Sub-Level 1 encounter (MM page 203) XPV 370:
5 Orc Drudge minions level 4, XP 44x5 = 220
1 Orc Raider, level 3 skirmisher, XP 150

Make good use of terrain - trees and boulders to sneak up on the orcs, the wagon to jump on and fight off of, maybe stuff for the orcs to throw. Maybe have the road run by a steep slope down to a river, so characters can be bull-rushed down into the torrent. The idea is to make it exciting without killing any PCs.

1 - Pre-made PCs. You all want to get to the fun straight away.

2 - Remember that you are dealing with both inexperienced players and inexperienced characters. Combats should be toned down until the players get into their stride.

4E is different enough that you'll be learning the game together. Don't hide this and try to be the perfect and uninvolved arbiter, instead make it a shared effort.

That said, if some players don't want to get involved in all the intricacies of the rules, help them and take the burden off them as much as you can.

Allow unlimited retrofits early on, both to character stats and backgrounds. Flashbacks is a great narrative method here. The characters can start out as blank slates and have their background retroactively defined as the players come up with interesting ideas.

My best advice after running a group that were new to 4e (and D&D for that matter) from level 1-3 is, don't setup elaborate plans for the first couple of levels. Use level one (and perhaps two as well) as a "training ground" walking them (and yourself) through the basics of combat, things like flanking, combat advantage, conditions and encounter vs at-will powers. Also be sure to include a skill challenge or two so they get the hang of them. Once they have the basics down, go ahead and level them up! Don't feel restrained to have the number of encounters the DMG suggests or even track XP for the first level.

I would also avoid using published WotC material for new first level players, I was unhappy with the amount of combats thrown at my group and added in additional non-combat stuff. Keep the combats down or be sure they are underpowered so they can get the hang of their roles in combat. WotC combats tend to favor high level combats that can TPK a group that doesn't work together IMO. Personally I would suggest one of the many "five room dungeons" floating around.

As far as getting to the action, the simplest way to do that I've found it make the players come prepared with a back story as to why their PC knows a couple of the other PCs. If they are all at least acquainted with each other you can skip the whole "at the bar" routine and start with something like "Hey, I just got a good job from X, but I could use some help and I know you guys, how about it?"

Jack99 said:

I...transfered to the goblin lair of Irontooth (might want to tone that encounter way down, since according to a poll here on ENworld, more than 50% TPK'ed on said encounter).

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My party just walked right over that encounter. I think they killed everything outside midway in round 2 and entered the caves.

Blackbrrd said:

My party just walked right over that encounter. I think they killed everything outside midway in round 2 and entered the caves.

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While my group didn't walk over it, they did beat it without anyone dieing. Doesn't change the fact that a poll with several hundreds of people voting showed that most groups were crushed by Irontooth & co.