Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Odhanan" data-source="post: 2437173" data-attributes="member: 12324">This past year I was in pretty much the same situation: all but one of the six players were complete newbies to RPG. So I may have a few useful tips/suggestions for you.First, try to emphasize the freedom of the players when creating characters. Let the horizon open. Explain how they could choose this or that... whatever they want within the rules' frame. Try to pay attention to the newbie. Sometimes, they will "light up" at the mention of something they think is cool (which will be different from one player to another): go for it and explain "oh yeah sure, it's possible, and you know!" So bottom line: let them create what they really want. It will pay off in terms of game investment.Second, try to create a first adventure that would last only one session, so that your players get a one-shot idea of what role-playing games are. Try to pack in a single adventure what you like the most about RPGs in a straightforward way.What I did was start in a little village with the robbery of a community relic. Villagers think the relic has been possibly robbed by orcs living nearby. The PCs could either fight the orcs or discuss with them. They did the later and learned that in fact it wasn't them who stole the item, the other half of the relic (since it was split some time ago), which the orcs held for some time, having been stolen as well. The PCs chase the robbers and end up in the cimetary of the village they left, where they find the hide out of a ranger and a goblin gone renegades and trying to sell the pieces of the relic to a Mojh (a reptilian guy akin to dragons). Big fight with undead around and so on: they recover the relic and kill even the mojh - who was that guy? End of the adventure.So you see, it was pretty straightforward. A bit of roleplay, a few fights, possibilities for both diplomacy and/or hack'n'slash, and a somewhat cliched-plot. At the end, the players knew what D&D looked like and could decide whether they wanted to stay or not, and the plot hook to go on adventuring was there.Third, don't count too much on the experienced player to help you. It's not his job and he should have fun as much as the others. Meanwhile, he will help you, even unwillingly, by interacting in and out of the game with the newbies. He will probably try to "teach them the ropes". Let him do that, unless it becomes really annoying (lots of OOC remarks, downtimes and so on). If it does, just a few remarks with a smile and are usually enough. If not, having a discussion with him/her afterwards to explain basically that he shouldn't spoil the pleasure of discovery for the new players should do it.Fourth, don't try to linger too much on heavy role-playing. Make the game fun! For some people immersive roleplaying will be great, for others it will be frustrating. They will want to bash the door and kill the orc. And it's all fine. It's your job to satisfy what they are longing for. Do this. Don't try to "force them" into your particular style. This asks a lot from you: you should remain open and aware of what they want and how they express it. They'll try to get drunk at the inn. They'll try to rob a good NPC perhaps. We all did that in some game or another. There's no reason why they shouldn't have that kind of fun if they want to. Later, they'll want some change like anyone and if they are hooked to RPGs, they'll try other styles.</blockquote>

Verification