NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pming" data-source="post: 6467709" data-attributes="member: 45197">Hiya. Hmmm...."How to train new players in 6 easy steps!"  ... <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />Step 1: "Let the chips fall where they may" (re: start rolling ALL dice rolls in front of them and resist the urge to try and 'modify' the encounter to be balanced). If you get 4 natural 20's during a combat and it kills one PC and gets two of the others into single digits...tough noogies.Step 2: Explain to them that simply "finding a cleric to raise their BFF's" isn't a matter of "We go to town, spend 1,000gp, and get Bill raised". If they want someone raised, they have to do it themselves, or earn it from an NPC.Step 3: Get them to invest in their characters. Mentally and emotionally.  (see Step 5, below) Get them to the point where they really, truly do not want their PC to die. If death is an easy fix (see #2), they don't need to worry about it.Step 4: MAKE NEW PC's START AT LEVEL 1 REGARDLESS OF EVERYONE ELSE! (or, at the very least, not higher than level 3...imho).Step 5: Try and find attributes that the players value (re: loyalty, bravery, bloodlust, vengence, etc), and start introducing NPC's that embody that. For example, my group tends to value bravery (but not plain-ol'-stupidity; innocent stupidity...yes...but regular day-in day-out stupidity...no way). In the Starter Set, in Phandalin, there is a halfling woman who has a son named "Carp". I made Carp young and brave...but almost totally oblivious to the actual danger of "adventuring". I played him as very gung-ho for "heroic adventuring"...I also had him follow the PC's into the "hideout of the bad guys". The PC's found him in one of their backpacks on more than one occasion...in the middle of the dungeon while they were resting. My players (and their PC's) grew very fond of Carp to the point of being, well, parental. I have a feeling they would have probably done just about anything to keep that little guy safe...including sacrificing themselves. The only way to really get your Players to invest into NPC's like that is to play up to the PLAYER's morals and values. The odd (good!) side-effect of this step is that the player will become "attached" to his characters attachment to the NPC...thus, making the player more invested in his PC (see Step 3, above).Step 6: Now that your players know that death is but a few natural 20's away, that getting raised isn't simply a matter of having the coin, that their "really cool character" may die and then they have to start all over again from level one, and that some NPC's really are "kinda cool" and worth saving/risking...well, uh, I guess off you go then! Problem solved.You're welcome. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />PS: Well, this is my approach whenever I get a new player that has "CRPGMMO'itis"...it's never failed me yet! (er, wait, yes it has; twice... still, twice in 34+ years of DM'ing is pretty good, no?)^_^Paul L. Ming</blockquote>

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