PAX East: running a "teach a new player D&D" game

Piratecat · Mar 30, 2010

Kitesh said:
The other thing that particularly annoyed me- there was a couple at our table, and the guy was sort of a typical domineering nerd who basically played his female companion's character for her. She didn't learn anything because of this, and just looked incredibly bored. To me, that seems like a case where if someone is trying to instruct new players, one could jump in and say "OK, Mr. Fellow, that's one way to play, but hey Ms. Lady, what do YOU want to do?" Instead I felt like the DM just said "oh, she doesn't want to be here because she's a girl, I'll let him play her character" which seemed incredibly unfair to me.

Wow, not okay at all. I actually had to gently yell at someone recently (not at PAX) who was trying to run his girlfriend's hero. Far better to show a person why it's fun to run it themselves.

Have fun at Your Move! If it's not too wet, maybe I can try to go as well.

OchreJelly · Mar 30, 2010

Kitesh said:
I was a participant in one of the learn to play sessions at PAX, and I wish my DM had had that advice! We got an hour-long rules lecture before play began, and there were some glassy, glassy eyes at the table.

The other thing that particularly annoyed me- there was a couple at our table, and the guy was sort of a typical domineering nerd who basically played his female companion's character for her. She didn't learn anything because of this, and just looked incredibly bored. To me, that seems like a case where if someone is trying to instruct new players, one could jump in and say "OK, Mr. Fellow, that's one way to play, but hey Ms. Lady, what do YOU want to do?" Instead I felt like the DM just said "oh, she doesn't want to be here because she's a girl, I'll let him play her character" which seemed incredibly unfair to me.

Anyway, now that the negative is out of the way, on to the positive- I had a great time, learned a lot about 4E, saw some other tables that were having a lot of fun, and signed up for the D&D Encounters group at Your Move Games here in Somerville, MA tomorrow night! So, something must work about these events ;-)

The domineering nerd had a girlfriend?

Piratecat · Mar 30, 2010

Kitesh said:
Anyway, now that the negative is out of the way, on to the positive- I had a great time, learned a lot about 4E, saw some other tables that were having a lot of fun, and signed up for the D&D Encounters group at Your Move Games here in Somerville, MA tomorrow night! So, something must work about these events ;-)

This rain is making me stir-crazy; I've signed up as a judge. See you there!

Qualidar · Mar 31, 2010

Piratecat said:
This rain is making me stir-crazy; I've signed up as a judge. See you there!

You madman!!!

In related news: I pity that group's next DM. Those are big shoes to fill.

Amaroq · Mar 31, 2010

I have two new-to-role-playing players out of four in my current campaign, they're having fun, though they were a bit overwhelmed at the options at first.

The one item I didn't see on your notes was "Look, just tell the DM what you want to do, and let him figure out how it works."

Once my two new players got that that was "okay", they did all sorts of entertaining things
- one climbed on another's back
- one fashioned a lasso, and then rolled a natural 20 trying to lasso the lever which governed the trap they were dealing with
- one tried to Bluff some undead
- and one is now dead-set on getting a certain villain to join the party, at least for this next fight, in an "the enemy of my enemy" vein.

Even better, its been catching; my veteran players are now thinking more outside the box than they had been previously.

So that's been my biggest lesson from my new players: role-playing is less about teaching somebody the rules and more about teaching them to think creatively.

Which may be what's so frustrating about the domineering-nerd-playing-his-GF's-character stereotype.

Paradox · Mar 31, 2010

I was also one of the judges at the Learn to Play 4e tables. (It was right after I got out of the booth- I was solicited 30 minutes before the hall closed, and heard how many people were signed up.)

I agree with the play fast and loose with the rules. At our table, one character wanted to leap on to another character's shoulders. I explained the flexibility of the system to allow making rules up on the spot and had her roll a Dexterity check. She succeeded.

Then, the next round they decided they're better off getting past the minions and other critters and go for the bad guy, and wanted to throw her across the room to the bad guy.

And talk about being loose with the rules- I ignored all the shifting goblins can do. Too many reactions, and counter reactions. I kept the combat basic and simple.

In the end, they all had a blast. Two of the players were completely new, (including the female who got her character thrown,) and the rest played way back when, during 1e or 2e.

After that session, I was asked to run a delve, but- I was at the booth all day, and had to get up for the booth the next morning.

BinaryTB · Mar 31, 2010

Thanks for the great meet up tips guys, and yeah, if it isn't too rainy, I'll definitely try to make it to Your Move Games.

CarlZog · Mar 31, 2010

I played one of the Dungeon Delves at PAX with a friend who'd never played D&D before and wanted to give it a try. It was a slam-bang encounter with no particular logic or story, no NPC interaction and very little skills used at all. But for an hour-long game, I think that's part of the simplicity goal of it.

Fortunately, we had a good group of players, and my initiate friend had experience with Star Wars minis and MtG, so he was ready for this.

He enjoyed it a lot, but had questions afterward about what a regular game session would look like. We talked about using skills, interacting with NPCs and unfolding stories.

When I left him that night, he was stooped over the Character Builder demo computer that was running in the D&D room.

Piratecat · Mar 31, 2010

Qualidar said:
You madman!!!

In related news: I pity that group's next DM. Those are big shoes to fill.

Heh. You're kind -- but it looks like they already have two regular DMs, so I'll play if they don't need me. Cool either way.

Come play! Sign-ups are here: D&D Encounters @ Your Move Games : Gaming Schedule

Piratecat · Mar 31, 2010

Amaroq said:
The one item I didn't see on your notes was "Look, just tell the DM what you want to do, and let him figure out how it works."

Crap, you're right; I forgot an incredibly important point, explaining that you aren't limited to the cards (I explained p. 42 in brief and stressed that they should think outside the box) and that they can customize and describe what it looks like when they use their powers. I think both of those are really important to know for new players. Excellent catch.

PAX East: running a "teach a new player D&D" game

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