diceless gaming as an intro to d&d

[punkorange]

okay, let me explain diceless gaming in the context I am using the term. I am thinking of running a d&d game that for all intents and purposes is diceless. In reality I just want to put all the rules behind the scenes and will be using DM genie. My reason for doing this is me and a good friend of mine would like to get a game going involving our significant others. I'm hoping that putting all the rules behind the scenes, and let the non-gamers just worry about what their characters want to do rather than how to do it, will make it easier for them to get into and enjoy the game. If it comes to the point where they want to learn the rules and play a more classic game that's fine, however I kind of like the idea of DM genie and me pulling all the strings.

has anyone else had any success introducing new people to the hobby by taking the rules out of the picture?

 

[kolikeos]

that's how i got into gaming in the first place, although at the time we did not use any computers, the dm just made stuff up and we'd fight with rolled up newspaper to resolve combat.

 

[Umbran]

Where I come from, we call that "playing blind". It was the way I played my first AD&D game, and it can be a lot of fun, done well.

Mind you, I had played Tunnels and Trolls before that, with my character sheet in front of me, so I wasn't completely clueless about what was happening behind the screen. I think that you'll have to take care to be far more descriptive than usual. Without knowing the mechanics, the players are going to have very little idea about what is possible, what is easy, and what is difficult. You can handle that in part by describing everything thoroughly, so the players can apply as much real-world intuition as possible.

 

[punkorange]

sounds like that was a lot of fun. When I first got into gaming I had been playing Carrion Fields (Rom based MUD) for a couple years previously, so I had a good concept of roleplaying. I remember the night after my first session at the LFGS me and my friend, it a first for both of us, got a couple of sticks and took turns "DMing" the other as we built our own scenerio. we were hooked.

 

[T. Foster]

I'm generally of the opinion that's the way D&D should always be played. Give the player a sheet with qualitative descriptions of their character's stats (strong or weak, smart or dumb, wise or rash, tough or sickly, agile or clumsy, magnetic or odious personality), a list of their character's abilities (can see in the dark, can pick locks, good at combat, can cast the following spells, etc.), a list of equipment (which needn't be detailed or specific -- arrows, camping gear, food and water, pouch of loose change (copper and silver pieces), etc.) and go.

 

[punkorange]

That's a very good idea T. I think I will make them their characters based on kind of what I know about them and what they might like to play. Then I'll make them a printout with a description of their characters abilities, skills, etc. rather than an actual character sheet.

 

[Mishihari Lord]

I started a bug 'ol thread on this maybe a year ago. My questions was whether people thought that it would help their "sense of wonder" for the player to not know the rules.

From what I remember, people thought that the two main issues you will have is that players will try to do things not covered by the rules, which you will have to adjudicate on the fly, and that they will not have a very good idea of the capabilites of their characters. I think that both of these can be overcome with a litlle forethought.

 

[Merkuri]

If the players try to do something really unreasonable or difficult, simply warn them that what they are doing is not easy (and why, if applicable).

"You want to jump across that cliff? It's 10 feet wide, and you think you could probably jump five feet at most. Are you sure you want to try it? Maybe you'd get further with a running start."