Great ideas you did (or wished you had done) for your first game?
- Thread starter Admiral Caine
- Start date
evilbob
Adventurer
That sounds like a pretty great idea to me! How's the Character Builder working for you?
I'd second your thoughts on power cards. I think they pretty much intended the game to be played that way.
Overall, sounds like you don't need that much advice.
Orcus Porkus
First Post
The Character Builder is the single best thing for you to use.
Your players are not new to D&D, so you can quickly go through the creation of the character with the software for level 1. The great thing is they get all their powers printed out relatively neatly.
When I started 4e, I wasted a lot of time looking at all the options for my newbie players.
Also:
- Make sure they know how to use the Action Point, and encourage them to use it.
- Give them a new action point every two or three encounters
- In every encounter, let the monsters do something stupid that makes at least one player make use of their special powers. For example, monsters attacking someone else when marked by the fighter. He'll be happy to attack.
Or have minions lined up to be roasted with burning hands, or undead for the cleric, etc.
Happy players are good players. First impressions count.
Your players are not new to D&D, so you can quickly go through the creation of the character with the software for level 1. The great thing is they get all their powers printed out relatively neatly.
When I started 4e, I wasted a lot of time looking at all the options for my newbie players.
Also:
- Make sure they know how to use the Action Point, and encourage them to use it.
- Give them a new action point every two or three encounters
- In every encounter, let the monsters do something stupid that makes at least one player make use of their special powers. For example, monsters attacking someone else when marked by the fighter. He'll be happy to attack.
Or have minions lined up to be roasted with burning hands, or undead for the cleric, etc.
Happy players are good players. First impressions count.
Whimsical
Explorer
Be careful in how you showcase minions to your players.
The time to inform players about minions is NOT right after they defeat them. Time after time, new 4th ed. players who were pleased that they took out some minions quickly feel robbed of their awesomeness when the DM explains to them about this cool new 4th ed. D&D feature.
It helps to not think of minions only having one hit point, but rather that minions just happen to have had the same number of hit points that was done to him by the damage inflicted by the player character. Minion HP isn't 1, but equal to X damage done by the player's attack, plus the damage done by missed attacks.
Don't ever let the player feel he just wasted a huge attack. If a player just happens to use his Daily power on a minion and then crits, don't snatch away the dead miniature right after he rolls his D20. Let him count out how much damage he did and then remove the opponent only after the player gives you the amount of damage he did.
I know DMs are trying to be efficient with time by removing opponents that are obviously killed by the minimum damage done by the player, but it denies the player that satisfying orgasmic pleasure of obliterating an opponent right before the climax of the attack. In fact, have the miniature fly across the room, smack a wall, and end up upside down while exquisitely detailing the special effect of the attack. And then relate the shocked reactions exhibited by the other combatants in the area.
The time to inform players about minions is NOT right after they defeat them. Time after time, new 4th ed. players who were pleased that they took out some minions quickly feel robbed of their awesomeness when the DM explains to them about this cool new 4th ed. D&D feature.
It helps to not think of minions only having one hit point, but rather that minions just happen to have had the same number of hit points that was done to him by the damage inflicted by the player character. Minion HP isn't 1, but equal to X damage done by the player's attack, plus the damage done by missed attacks.
Don't ever let the player feel he just wasted a huge attack. If a player just happens to use his Daily power on a minion and then crits, don't snatch away the dead miniature right after he rolls his D20. Let him count out how much damage he did and then remove the opponent only after the player gives you the amount of damage he did.
I know DMs are trying to be efficient with time by removing opponents that are obviously killed by the minimum damage done by the player, but it denies the player that satisfying orgasmic pleasure of obliterating an opponent right before the climax of the attack. In fact, have the miniature fly across the room, smack a wall, and end up upside down while exquisitely detailing the special effect of the attack. And then relate the shocked reactions exhibited by the other combatants in the area.
Last edited:
If they've at least heard of 4th edition, chances are pretty good that they know what a minion is and does.
I have a hard time understanding DMs who hide which monsters are minions and which ones are not. In my mind, that's totally missing the point of using minions by like, a mile or something.
Whimsical
Explorer
I'm sorry, but you are missing my point. I'm not advising preventing players from discerning if a monster is a minion or not. I'm fine with players knowing what's what. But this is advice for the first combat with minions that the players have. In addition, I also recommend not just pulling a dead opponent off of the board right after a player hits, as I believe it subtracts from the game experience by trivializing the success.
Gruns
Explorer
Some things off the top of my head:
I second (or third?, fourth?) the Power Cards. We all made fun of the first guy in our group to bring a set. Now they're pretty much a requirement.
As DM, be sure to know all of the little rules to eliminate checking the book. Study chapter 9 and memorize as much as you can. Things are a lot more simple then they used to be. Except Cover. Don't try to draw lines from assorted corners of squares. Just say +2 to ac and move on.
Feel free to remind the players of the actions they have left, at least for the first couple of turns. Probably not necessary all night. For example, you can remind your dwarves, clerics and dragonborn that Second Wind, Healing Word and Dragonbreath are Minor Actions, respecively.
If you're making up the encounters yourself, be sure to use a good mix of NPC types. (Brutes, Skirmishers, Controllers etc). Throw in some funky terrain, too. The small Kobold Hall adventure in the back of the DMG is a great little startup adventure. As a DM, I think you'll find that creating encounters is one of the coolest parts of 4E.
Oh, and have fun.
Later!
Gruns
I second (or third?, fourth?) the Power Cards. We all made fun of the first guy in our group to bring a set. Now they're pretty much a requirement.
As DM, be sure to know all of the little rules to eliminate checking the book. Study chapter 9 and memorize as much as you can. Things are a lot more simple then they used to be. Except Cover. Don't try to draw lines from assorted corners of squares. Just say +2 to ac and move on.
Feel free to remind the players of the actions they have left, at least for the first couple of turns. Probably not necessary all night. For example, you can remind your dwarves, clerics and dragonborn that Second Wind, Healing Word and Dragonbreath are Minor Actions, respecively.
If you're making up the encounters yourself, be sure to use a good mix of NPC types. (Brutes, Skirmishers, Controllers etc). Throw in some funky terrain, too. The small Kobold Hall adventure in the back of the DMG is a great little startup adventure. As a DM, I think you'll find that creating encounters is one of the coolest parts of 4E.
Oh, and have fun.
Later!
Gruns
I just started using Alea Tools magnets... I love them, and I recommend them, after avoiding them forever. I also ordered some blast/burst templates via Amazon.com but the manufacturer, I forget.
Our best first adventure 4e was "Slivers of Earlann" from the RPGA [for free]. All I did was shift the rooms a little, but not only were the combats fun and varied, there were different terrain/threats, a trap, skill challenges and so on. AND we finished in one night, a "complete" story, with XPs, treasure, rewards... they were very satisfied. I now run a weekly RPGA game which has lightly linked story threads between regions, and it has become a campaign.
Our best first adventure 4e was "Slivers of Earlann" from the RPGA [for free]. All I did was shift the rooms a little, but not only were the combats fun and varied, there were different terrain/threats, a trap, skill challenges and so on. AND we finished in one night, a "complete" story, with XPs, treasure, rewards... they were very satisfied. I now run a weekly RPGA game which has lightly linked story threads between regions, and it has become a campaign.
evilbob
Adventurer
Since this thread has been rezzed I'll jump back in and report on another great idea that I've recently incorporated.
Building on the poker chip/pipe cleaner ideas above, you can go to just about any craft store or some place like Target and get a pack of "foam paper" for about 3 bucks. This stuff isn't really paper (I can't remember exactly what it's called), but it's like 1/16th of an inch thick foam that comes in a variety of colors and cuts easily but retains its shape. A friend of mine picked up a pack that had, I believe, 3 sheets (about 5 1/4 inches by about 10 inches) each of 10 colors - again, for about $3. We then took this stuff and cut it into 1" squares (and 3" x 3" squares and 5" x 5" squares for AoEs).
This is really an awesome tool for showing conditions on the battlemap! Poker chips are too large and other stuff can get in the way, but this stuff is great because it's square and the minis have bases that are circles - so you can always see it and it's never too big! We just stack different conditions on top of each other, and yes it gets funny when you have like 4+ different things going on (bloodied, blinded, cursed, and "in a cloud of daggers") and the minis get much higher than each other, but it really works great. It helps both the PCs and the DM keep track of what is going on with which enemy or character. It's great for healers (or strikers) when you can just glance at the board and immediately know things like who is bloodied and who isn't. It's also a great tool for warlocks, in that they can curse something, and when it dies and they get their little square back, it's a reminder to add the temp HP. And it's been helpful for the wizard with the 5x5 movable/sustainable stinking cloud, to see exactly how you can move it around and keep track of it without constantly erasing.
Anyway, we've had a lot of success with this cheap tool and I recommend it to anyone, especially someone just starting out.
Building on the poker chip/pipe cleaner ideas above, you can go to just about any craft store or some place like Target and get a pack of "foam paper" for about 3 bucks. This stuff isn't really paper (I can't remember exactly what it's called), but it's like 1/16th of an inch thick foam that comes in a variety of colors and cuts easily but retains its shape. A friend of mine picked up a pack that had, I believe, 3 sheets (about 5 1/4 inches by about 10 inches) each of 10 colors - again, for about $3. We then took this stuff and cut it into 1" squares (and 3" x 3" squares and 5" x 5" squares for AoEs).
This is really an awesome tool for showing conditions on the battlemap! Poker chips are too large and other stuff can get in the way, but this stuff is great because it's square and the minis have bases that are circles - so you can always see it and it's never too big! We just stack different conditions on top of each other, and yes it gets funny when you have like 4+ different things going on (bloodied, blinded, cursed, and "in a cloud of daggers") and the minis get much higher than each other, but it really works great. It helps both the PCs and the DM keep track of what is going on with which enemy or character. It's great for healers (or strikers) when you can just glance at the board and immediately know things like who is bloodied and who isn't. It's also a great tool for warlocks, in that they can curse something, and when it dies and they get their little square back, it's a reminder to add the temp HP. And it's been helpful for the wizard with the 5x5 movable/sustainable stinking cloud, to see exactly how you can move it around and keep track of it without constantly erasing.
Anyway, we've had a lot of success with this cheap tool and I recommend it to anyone, especially someone just starting out.
Similar Threads
