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<blockquote data-quote="Wik" data-source="post: 5048584" data-attributes="member: 40177">Started with a 1st/2nd combo, running through the solo dungeon with my dad.&nbsp; My character, &quot;Nelf&quot;, did wind up gaining a level.&nbsp; Mostly because if the dice were going against me, my dad would probably have fudged things since &quot;the DM would have, if he were here&quot;.&nbsp; I got a lot of magical loot, too, thanks to &quot;creative re-rolling&quot;.&nbsp; Who knew so many orcs and kobolds had such fine stuff?&nbsp; I remember a few years later, getting Dming advice from my dad - and it's really the only piece of gaming advice from him I use.&nbsp; It goes something like this:At the start of the campaign, you gotta do a few things in that first session.&nbsp; 1)&nbsp; Make sure the party levels up.&nbsp; 2)&nbsp; Make sure any player that's never played before doesn't die, and&nbsp; gets a magic item.&nbsp; 3)&nbsp; Kill a PC.Here were the reasons why:1)&nbsp; Levelling up the party gets the group invested in the campaign, and attached to their characters.&nbsp; It also discourages that guy who always makes a new character - if you're already levelled up, you're less likely to make a new PC.2)&nbsp; Having a character killed in your first session is likely if you run the game by the rules, but very discouraging (It tends to make players feel like they're &quot;bad&quot; at the game).&nbsp; By giving them a magic item, you tend to &quot;hook&quot; them.&nbsp; My dad always said you should give a +1 weapon as that first item, but I believe a wondrous item with minor powers works better (give the item a &quot;trick&quot;).&nbsp; 3)&nbsp; By my dad's reasoning, if you kill a PC at the start of the game, the group knows you'll do it... and they'll play accordingly.&nbsp; By my reasoning, if you do it at the start, they won't realize you're fudging things later on.&nbsp; And you have no connection to a starting character - provided you've played before, it's not really much of a loss (you can get away with not doing this one if it's a group you're familiar with).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Wik, post: 5048584, member: 40177"] Started with a 1st/2nd combo, running through the solo dungeon with my dad. My character, "Nelf", did wind up gaining a level. Mostly because if the dice were going against me, my dad would probably have fudged things since "the DM would have, if he were here". I got a lot of magical loot, too, thanks to "creative re-rolling". Who knew so many orcs and kobolds had such fine stuff? I remember a few years later, getting Dming advice from my dad - and it's really the only piece of gaming advice from him I use. It goes something like this: [i]At the start of the campaign, you gotta do a few things in that first session. 1) Make sure the party levels up. 2) Make sure any player that's never played before doesn't die, and gets a magic item. 3) Kill a PC.[/i] Here were the reasons why: 1) Levelling up the party gets the group invested in the campaign, and attached to their characters. It also discourages that guy who always makes a new character - if you're already levelled up, you're less likely to make a new PC. 2) Having a character killed in your first session is likely if you run the game by the rules, but very discouraging (It tends to make players feel like they're "bad" at the game). By giving them a magic item, you tend to "hook" them. My dad always said you should give a +1 weapon as that first item, but I believe a wondrous item with minor powers works better (give the item a "trick"). 3) By my dad's reasoning, if you kill a PC at the start of the game, the group knows you'll do it... and they'll play accordingly. By my reasoning, if you do it at the start, they won't realize you're fudging things later on. And you have no connection to a starting character - provided you've played before, it's not really much of a loss (you can get away with not doing this one if it's a group you're familiar with). [/QUOTE]

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