Just thought I would share this long story with everyone.

[fuindordm]

I think for a new group the most important thing is not to over-script the adventure.

Set up a simple scenario, imagine several ways they might respond to it, stat out a handful of enemies and allies, and then improvise the first session.

Make them tell you what they're going to do--and why they're doing it! This will help them visualize their character more clearly.

Let them joke around and socialize if they want. My wife was turned off from RPing partly because there were always people in the group that took it too seriously and tried too hard to keep the story moving when people were riffing off each other's comments and having fun exploring character quirks.

By the end of the first session, they probably won't have accomplished much, but you should have a much better idea of what they like.

All this advice is completely gender-neutral, but I hope it's useful.

Cheers,
Ben

 

[Jeff Wilder]

In a lot of ways woman are just like guys, they just have a handful of very distinct differences.

Of course, more than a handful is a waste.

(I can't believe nobody beat me to that, or to several dirtier alternatives.)

I game with three groups, each of which has one (different) woman as a player.

One of the women is definitely all about the combat. Getting her to RP her PC's (ridiculously high) Charisma is like pulling teeth, and it's not a matter of shyness.

Another woman is more dramatically inclined -- she's also involved in stuff like Dickens Faire -- and really likes to RP her PC's (ridiculously high) Charisma, but there's no question she loves to roll attack dice. (She actually very much enjoys "kill stealing." Since none of us care who finishes off a bad guy, we let her have her fun. The tactical blunders sometimes get annoying, though.)

The third player is a relatively new arrival, so we're not sure where she falls on the spectrum. (We've decided to make her and her boyfriend sit separately, though, as he has shown a tendency to play her PC for her, despite her knowledge of the rules and clear independent enthusiasm for the game.) She has told me that when she joins my game, she wants to roll "lots of damage dice," so take that for what it's worth.

In general, while I've found that most women like killing monsters and taking their stuff, there's a better chance that a woman player will also enjoy more immersive RP than most male player IME seem to enjoy. Since I wish our games were more immersive, I'm all in favor of more women gamers getting involved. Of course, we'd have a better chance of attracting them if we guys weren't all such (largely ironic) horn-dogs in behavior and conversation. (See my opening comment.)

 

[Prisoner6]

First and foremost, your first game should appropriate for first time gamers. Forget that they're women. They're playing the game for the very first time! Keep everything relatively simple. Give them a simple plot and easy to figure out trials.

While you're there, try to be as entertaining as possible, but don't leave the plot too open. Be sure there are plenty of signs pointing the party "where to go" in the story, so they don't go stumbling around.

I would specifically avoid romance in the adventure because ... dude ... your wife is at the table and the other players are all women. Think about it. Is she going to like you "role playing" romantic encounters with the other players? I wouldn't say the subject is totally off limits, but give it a few sessions to see how the players "gel". See how much they get into the game before going that route.

Finally, just make a fun game.

 

[Kosh]

I agree with the posters who recomend focusing the game on that with which the players are familiar.

For example, I ran a game for some friends of mine a while ago. The group was three girls and two guys excluding me (male). Some of the players were new, so I tried to keep the rules light. The session went well.

Next session, only the girls are there. All of the girls are big yaoi fans, so I add in lots of male NPCs and let the girls (all playing male characters) start off the interactions.

When they starting asking for more and more detailed descriptions, I was pretty sure that was the end of the crypt exploration adventure I had mapped out

So yeah. Find out what sort of stories they enjoy and use those themes. At the very least, be open to the possibility of different roleplaying genres.

 

[haakon1]

I also find that if girls' characters are created as part of the setting (i.e. their characters have defined roles in the town etc) that they tend to be more responsible and play that role better than many men.

Agreed. I've introduced people of both genders to D&D before, and I've discovered two things that seem to help complete newbs who never seen the game played before:

1) Setting. Let them create the character, but give them a place in the world. Using a detailed village setting with a variety of NPC's -- the Village of Briarton D20 supplement, or the homebase for classic adventure -- the Keep on the Borderlands, the village of Hommlett, etc. -- and give their character a place in the village. Make the fighter or ranger a shepherdess, the mage an apprentice, the cleric the choir director serving under the mail priest, stuff like that. Then maybe give them the idea that the FIRST party to try to deal with the threat against their little home setting has gone missing. They have to rescue their old brothers/mentors. "You killed my father, prepare to die" is always a good motivation for a PC.

2) How to do it. This is where it helps to seed the group with a player who's experienced and willing to help them learn without being bossy. A DM looking to be a player might be good for their role. If no one is available, using a DMPC might help. The alternative is to act as the help advisor would in a computer game, or to do like you did and show them a demo.

Beyond how to fight, good tactics, etc., newbie players often REALLY have trouble with open-ended role playing. For example, walk into a room at the tavern, and they don't know at all what to do. If they've played CRPG's, they might "click" on a NPC, but they'll be surprised that it's an open-ended conversation and the NPC may not be the one to send them on a quest.

The weirdest thing I saw with a complete newbie player was someone who killed orcs and then was camping out in an abandoned house of some dead peasants. They weren't sure how hostile the environment was, and whether they'd be able to make it town, so they wanted to fortify the house and go with cannabalism to survive . . . this after a gentle orc highwaymen encounter, like 3 miles from a town . . .

To give another example, when I first played (aged 12, 1981), I knew we might go underground for a long time, so I was worried about vitamin deficiencies eating just hardtack and jerky (as iron rations were explained to me), so I tried to buy some oranges in the market at the Keep on the Borderlands and ended up paying 1 gp each . . . OK, I guess, but a little guidance would have helped!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Pillowfight!

What?

But seriously, just run a good adventure with a classic theme- steal a good plot if you must.

1) Perhaps they're hired to guard a prince on his way to an arranged marriage that would end a war...and someone doesn't want the war to end.

2) They're all PCs in a small town or village that gets hit by raiders (modeled after Vikings, if by sea). Or zombies. Or zombie raiders.

If all of the women play female PCs, you could even have the raid timed so that there are no men in the village, or that the men were all captured while these particular women were away. And now its up to them to save the village.

3) They get hired by a wealthy merchant to rescue Phil N. DeBlanc, who has been kidnapped.

4) They're at a celebration (as guests, workers or crashers) when the floor collapses below them. They're now in the ruins of the "Old City," which burned down (or whatever) centuries ago, and was built over. They can't climb out of the sinkhole, they must navigate the hidden undercity to return to the surface...

1) Setting. Let them create the character, but give them a place in the world. Using a detailed village setting with a variety of NPC's -- the Village of Briarton D20 supplement, or the homebase for classic adventure -- the Keep on the Borderlands, the village of Hommlett, etc. -- and give their character a place in the village. Make the fighter or ranger a shepherdess, the mage an apprentice, the cleric the choir director serving under the mail priest, stuff like that. Then maybe give them the idea that the FIRST party to try to deal with the threat against their little home setting has gone missing. They have to rescue their old brothers/mentors. "You killed my father, prepare to die" is always a good motivation for a PC.

2) How to do it. This is where it helps to seed the group with a player who's experienced and willing to help them learn without being bossy. A DM looking to be a player might be good for their role. If no one is available, using a DMPC might help. The alternative is to act as the help advisor would in a computer game, or to do like you did and show them a demo.

QFT.

Guide them but don't railroad.

 

[King Nate]

Thanks everyone for the advice (even the advice on my marriage )

I'm shocked at the number of responces, I didn't think anyone was going to read a post that was this long. I did forget to mention the combat demo I had with my wife. It went something like this.

I created a simple room with a few blocking terrains and tossed her four minions to battle. I explained to her that these four monsters were going to kill her, unless she did something about it. I asked her what she wanted to do and she said, run.

I explained to her that this was only a combat demo and that we are trying to learn the combat rules. Normally running away is an option, however for this demo we will have to fight.

The minions almost killed her! She missed her first, like ten attacks! The minons hit every time! I thought she was going to hate the game, then she hit one and she got so excited. We high-fived that she killed a minion! Then she was excited about fighting.

I don't know how well combat will go with these girls. I think if they are all like her, they will try to run from combat. I'll have to throw in a test round to see how they react.

I was thinking that I would give them premade characters or use the new character creator for their characters.

I just like to point out that, before we got married, I wasn't playing D&D anymore. I skipped the whole 3rd edition and stopped playing when it came out. I'm one of the veterans brought back to the game by 4e which I love. So I haven't been keeping this a secret from her for very long, and my pre-3rd edition experience is the reason I am the way I am. May things have changed during the 3rd edition era?

The weirdest thing I saw with a complete newbie player was someone who killed orcs and then was camping out in an abandoned house of some dead peasants. They weren't sure how hostile the environment was, and whether they'd be able to make it town, so they wanted to fortify the house and go with cannabalism to survive . . . this after a gentle orc highwaymen encounter, like 3 miles from a town . . .

Now this is funny, only because it sounds a lot like most my early red-box days.

 

[xnrdcorex]

Unrelated to what your asking for, it seems you have some sort of issue, like your embarrassed about your hobbies, specifically D&D in this case. The fact that you'd marry someone and they didn't know about dungeons and dragons in your life is shocking to me. Also, that you can't even call your hobby by it's name to people when explaining it sounds like you are afraid that other people are so quick to judge and misunderstand it that you can't call it what it is. But it's just a game, a popular game that is widely recognized.

My girlfriend of two years has no interest in D&D, but it and my other hobbies are apart of who I am. How can someone marry you and not know who you are completely. But, well, it seems that there are people(which surprises me because I've never known anyone like this) who play D&D or hobbies like it that are so embarrassed and scared of perceived misconceptions that they treat their hobby as if it's the same caliber of depraved behavior as picking up prostitutes or something.

Maybe it's time to come to terms with the kind of person you are and the kind of things you like to do. I don't think anyone in reality cares what you do. You might even find that once you tell people the truth about yourself you get better xmas gifts.

 

[Monkey Boy]

I'd give them some pre-gens. I'd even write-up a bit of a background for the pre-gens. Make it like a con game. Provide strong archetypes that are easy to get into. Print out powercards and character sheets before hand. You want to get to the game as quickly as possible.

Because you control to an extent the pre-gens motivations and the story you should be able to come up a compelling story and combat.

Just don't waste time with 1 PHB trying to make 4 characters. Picking and writing in all those powers will take forever and will really turn them of the game. While making characters is less of a problem than with 3e it's still a problem. Promise me you wont let them make their own characters.

 

[Lorthanoth]

The girls in our group (all attached to other members of the group) are far scarier in fights than us blokes. We get snarling, whoops when someone dies the works. And we love them for it.