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<blockquote data-quote="Grandpa" data-source="post: 5780686" data-attributes="member: 560"><p>I'm also an unseasoned DM with a similar background, so your post resonates with me. I have recent experiences running games for two groups of players with absolutely no 4E experience and except for two of them, even no experience role-playing. The first group was hit and miss, but the second group was a slam dunk and couldn't wait for more. Here are some insights I gathered, for better or worse:</p><p></p><p><strong>Character creation <em>is </em>too complex</strong></p><p>Every last member of my first group was visibly relieved when the character creation phase was over with, and so was I. There are way too many decisions to make at the start. With my second group, I made a point to have characters ready for them, and roughly matched them to their personalities (more below).</p><p></p><p><strong>Ease them into the game</strong></p><p>Apply bits of knowledge one at a time, ignoring everything else, especially in combat. A skill check will probably come up first, so you can teach how the basic D20 mechanic works. In combat, describe actions and only let them make basic attacks on the first round. On the second round, explain powers and only let them use the green ones. Once they're getting the hang of that, consider introducing opportunity attacks or encounter powers. Just do it a step at a time, and make sure they get the last concept before going to the next. Assure them that combat speeds up with practice (it should take <em>forever</em> on the first go) and give them nothing but minions on the first go to start with low pressure. My first group were hit at once with a bunch of rules and handled it, but with visible drain. The second group was fed a little at a time and it all went super smoothly.</p><p></p><p><strong>Use easy / moderate / hard DCs and re-skin monsters</strong></p><p>If you don't know a rule, just make up a target number and have them roll. If you forget which page the target numbers per level are on, just make it easy, especially at level 1. The positive reinforcement that comes from success is a good thing at this stage. For monsters, don't worry about where the players go and might meet because you can re-skin on the fly. A dragon that flies might become a giant ninja that leaps and spits fire with alcohol, or slows players with poison gas. Just make up some reason the same game effect applies, and run with it. Sometimes these discrepancies make for really memorable characters. Both of these approaches make it easier to say "yes" to them, which is really valuable.</p><p></p><p><strong>Consider a mirror world to hold their attention</strong></p><p>My first group didn't know each other that well so I made up a campaign out of properties they liked to get things going. It was fun and they were getting into it (so, recommended), but it wasn't nearly as effective as what I did with group two, who I go to "draw night" with every Tue night. My adventure revolved around an "alternate draw night," with all of their characters being D&D versions of themselves visiting D&D versions of their usual haunts, and a D&D villain made out of someone we all know. Everyone loved spotting all the interpretations and twists in the alternate universe, and loved playing fantasy caricatures of themselves. I put in a little extra effort, too, where every name was an anagram for something in real life, like "I Love Sushi" being "Louie's Shiv" in the fantasy version. It was a smash hit without much prep.</p><p></p><p><strong>Two secrets and two "why's"</strong></p><p>My favorite DM'ing advice came from a Dragon column awhile back (don't remember the name), which was to invent two secrets about any noun (character, item, location) that you add to the game. They can be big or small -- up to you. Write each secret on a card and draw one before your adventure. Throw a reference (hint) to that secret in the adventure that night. Even if it doesn't have anything to do with anything, it adds interesting little details to the world that make it feel alive. For a similar shortcut with character backgrounds, just ask "why" twice to get a workable sketch of a character for the evening. Joe is a bartender. Why? He won the bar in a bet. Why? He took a big gamble when he had nothing left. He since resists gambling but has made some enemies. That last stuff just flowed.</p><p></p><p><strong>Missing sucks and encouraging backgrounds is awesome</strong></p><p>These last two are very house-ruley, but they've gotten lots of positive feedback, so I'll throw them out there. First, missing sucks. I give out a token if a player misses every target in a round, and they can exchange the token for +1 to a roll of theirs whenever they want. It greatly mitigates the pain of being ineffective. Better yet, I let players spend 2 tokens to give another player a +1 and watching players pool their tokens to help each other is a thing of beauty. Second, if you want them to get into their characters and don't mind starting your campaign at level two, give them some background questions that if answered, gives them about 1000 xp. This is a huge incentive -- everyone will do backgrounds -- and you can create some fun hooks in your campaign off of them. I'd introduce this after your first night of combat and character building. My recommendation for the last two questions: what are two secrets you keep from the rest of the party? Add these to your deck of secrets.</p><p></p><p>Good luck!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Grandpa, post: 5780686, member: 560"] I'm also an unseasoned DM with a similar background, so your post resonates with me. I have recent experiences running games for two groups of players with absolutely no 4E experience and except for two of them, even no experience role-playing. The first group was hit and miss, but the second group was a slam dunk and couldn't wait for more. Here are some insights I gathered, for better or worse: [B]Character creation [I]is [/I]too complex[/B] Every last member of my first group was visibly relieved when the character creation phase was over with, and so was I. There are way too many decisions to make at the start. With my second group, I made a point to have characters ready for them, and roughly matched them to their personalities (more below). [B]Ease them into the game[/B] Apply bits of knowledge one at a time, ignoring everything else, especially in combat. A skill check will probably come up first, so you can teach how the basic D20 mechanic works. In combat, describe actions and only let them make basic attacks on the first round. On the second round, explain powers and only let them use the green ones. Once they're getting the hang of that, consider introducing opportunity attacks or encounter powers. Just do it a step at a time, and make sure they get the last concept before going to the next. Assure them that combat speeds up with practice (it should take [I]forever[/I] on the first go) and give them nothing but minions on the first go to start with low pressure. My first group were hit at once with a bunch of rules and handled it, but with visible drain. The second group was fed a little at a time and it all went super smoothly. [B]Use easy / moderate / hard DCs and re-skin monsters[/B] If you don't know a rule, just make up a target number and have them roll. If you forget which page the target numbers per level are on, just make it easy, especially at level 1. The positive reinforcement that comes from success is a good thing at this stage. For monsters, don't worry about where the players go and might meet because you can re-skin on the fly. A dragon that flies might become a giant ninja that leaps and spits fire with alcohol, or slows players with poison gas. Just make up some reason the same game effect applies, and run with it. Sometimes these discrepancies make for really memorable characters. Both of these approaches make it easier to say "yes" to them, which is really valuable. [B]Consider a mirror world to hold their attention[/B] My first group didn't know each other that well so I made up a campaign out of properties they liked to get things going. It was fun and they were getting into it (so, recommended), but it wasn't nearly as effective as what I did with group two, who I go to "draw night" with every Tue night. My adventure revolved around an "alternate draw night," with all of their characters being D&D versions of themselves visiting D&D versions of their usual haunts, and a D&D villain made out of someone we all know. Everyone loved spotting all the interpretations and twists in the alternate universe, and loved playing fantasy caricatures of themselves. I put in a little extra effort, too, where every name was an anagram for something in real life, like "I Love Sushi" being "Louie's Shiv" in the fantasy version. It was a smash hit without much prep. [B]Two secrets and two "why's"[/B] My favorite DM'ing advice came from a Dragon column awhile back (don't remember the name), which was to invent two secrets about any noun (character, item, location) that you add to the game. They can be big or small -- up to you. Write each secret on a card and draw one before your adventure. Throw a reference (hint) to that secret in the adventure that night. Even if it doesn't have anything to do with anything, it adds interesting little details to the world that make it feel alive. For a similar shortcut with character backgrounds, just ask "why" twice to get a workable sketch of a character for the evening. Joe is a bartender. Why? He won the bar in a bet. Why? He took a big gamble when he had nothing left. He since resists gambling but has made some enemies. That last stuff just flowed. [B]Missing sucks and encouraging backgrounds is awesome[/B] These last two are very house-ruley, but they've gotten lots of positive feedback, so I'll throw them out there. First, missing sucks. I give out a token if a player misses every target in a round, and they can exchange the token for +1 to a roll of theirs whenever they want. It greatly mitigates the pain of being ineffective. Better yet, I let players spend 2 tokens to give another player a +1 and watching players pool their tokens to help each other is a thing of beauty. Second, if you want them to get into their characters and don't mind starting your campaign at level two, give them some background questions that if answered, gives them about 1000 xp. This is a huge incentive -- everyone will do backgrounds -- and you can create some fun hooks in your campaign off of them. I'd introduce this after your first night of combat and character building. My recommendation for the last two questions: what are two secrets you keep from the rest of the party? Add these to your deck of secrets. Good luck! [/QUOTE]
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