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PAX East: running a "teach a new player D&D" game
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<blockquote data-quote="D'karr" data-source="post: 5135958" data-attributes="member: 336"><p>I ended up running most of our tables of D&D for Beginners at <a href="http://syndcon.net" target="_blank">synDCon</a> this past February. Honestly, it was a blast.</p><p></p><p>One of the tables I ran was with mostly kids, 8, 9 & 10 year olds, and one adult. None of them had ever played before and that game was a blast.</p><p></p><p>I had one table with all adults, with only one player that had played before.</p><p></p><p>I totally agree that good habits start early. I spent a lot more time talking about the "imaginary" things rather than the "rules." If you can get new players to get into that mindset from the beginning they enjoy themselves much more.</p><p></p><p>The adventure on the beginners set is just short of atrocious for a learning experience. So I went ahead and made stuff up on the fly. I took time to describe the Nentir Vale to the players, did a short description of the town and the helpless farmers that had hired them to discover why the goblins were attacking. I had them do some roleplaying in town before heading out to explore the wilderness. Then I ran them through an impromptu skill challenge to find the goblin's lair. The lair was hidden amongst the ruins of a destroyed dwarven city, which I used to let the dwarf do some investigation.</p><p></p><p>When they found the goblins I convinced the rogue to attempt to sneak in and find out what was happening before going into combat. The rogue came back and reported to the party, and the combat was on.</p><p></p><p>I simplified combat a lot, and had the goblins run when they go to bloodied, or when their leader broke ranks.</p><p></p><p>All in all it was a great experience. So much so that 3 of the players, who had never played D&D and were only interested in video games joined our regular LFR gamedays.</p><p></p><p>I find teaching newbies the game is one of the most enjoyable tasks as a DM.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="D'karr, post: 5135958, member: 336"] I ended up running most of our tables of D&D for Beginners at [URL="http://syndcon.net"]synDCon[/URL] this past February. Honestly, it was a blast. One of the tables I ran was with mostly kids, 8, 9 & 10 year olds, and one adult. None of them had ever played before and that game was a blast. I had one table with all adults, with only one player that had played before. I totally agree that good habits start early. I spent a lot more time talking about the "imaginary" things rather than the "rules." If you can get new players to get into that mindset from the beginning they enjoy themselves much more. The adventure on the beginners set is just short of atrocious for a learning experience. So I went ahead and made stuff up on the fly. I took time to describe the Nentir Vale to the players, did a short description of the town and the helpless farmers that had hired them to discover why the goblins were attacking. I had them do some roleplaying in town before heading out to explore the wilderness. Then I ran them through an impromptu skill challenge to find the goblin's lair. The lair was hidden amongst the ruins of a destroyed dwarven city, which I used to let the dwarf do some investigation. When they found the goblins I convinced the rogue to attempt to sneak in and find out what was happening before going into combat. The rogue came back and reported to the party, and the combat was on. I simplified combat a lot, and had the goblins run when they go to bloodied, or when their leader broke ranks. All in all it was a great experience. So much so that 3 of the players, who had never played D&D and were only interested in video games joined our regular LFR gamedays. I find teaching newbies the game is one of the most enjoyable tasks as a DM. [/QUOTE]
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