Has Anyone Introduced New Gamers to 4E?

[Retreater]

I have a game to run in 2 days for a small group (2-3 players) of complete gaming newbies. I think that 3.5 or Pathfinder might be a little too complex for them. 4E seems to be much more streamlined.

Anyway, just wondering if anyone has tried introducing new gamers to 4e? How did it go? How do I explain the game to them?

(Not trying to start an edition war or anything. Just trying to get some feedback really quickly.)

Thanks,
Retreater

 

[Cadfan]

I have.

Start at level 1. Don't make them create their own characters down to the last detail. Just have them say what they generally want their character to do, and then you do the work to make it happen. Let them pick powers by reading the flavor text, and don't worry about whether they understand the mechanics.

Then let them retrain freely for a while once they understand what's going on, and want to change some of their original decisions.

 

[Nymrohd]

Last year I moved town so I had to make a new group. Made some new friends who were into fantasy but knew little to nothing of D&D (some had played one game of 3E and that went bad because their DM was pretty crappy). I had a campaign in mind so I made a lot of premades (like 40 of them) and let them have their picks. I've let them retool a lot about their toons by now ofc.

 

[Herremann the Wise]

In answer to your question, I have to say no in regards to 4e.

However, for a brand new group like this, perhaps the thing to do is to focus on the roleplaying elements, trying to keep mechanics well and truly in the background. [This obviously depends somewhat on the background of the new players too. If you think the mechanics-side of things would be interesting and easily acquired, please ignore this advice.]

Funnily enough, I actually think 3E would be just as easy to introduce new players to the game (both versions have their hidden complexities for absolute novices). I suppose I'm focusing on teaching new players to tell me what they want their character to do during a game, not to tell me what mechanic/power/ability they are using. This places more burden on you as DM to describe things and keep them moving but heh... all in the name of fun and giving your new group the D&D bug.

Perhaps if they describe their characters to you and you transfer this into pre-generated characters (using your expertise) that they can use and eventually swap abilities/feats/powers in and out as they gain rules knowledge. Whatever is going to be fun.

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

 

[Gothmog]

Yep, in May of this year I started a campaign with four brand new players to RPGs, and added a fifth about a month ago. So far, they have really enjoyed 4E, and found it easy to make and update characters with the Character Builder, but complex enough tactically and mechanically to satisfy all of them (including one guy who is a real details-monger who plays a wizard and loves to keep a campaign journal). They started at level 1, wrote up some really good backstories, and have just hit 6th level last week. We've been having a great time in our weekly gaming sessions, and its really refreshing to see new players excitement for the game and the novel approaches they take to solving problems compared to veteran gamers.

Recently, the guy who likes details and his wife also started playing a D&D 3.5 game with one of his high school friends who comes into town about twice a month. From my understanding, they pre-generated characters at 5th level, and this guy also made a wizard in 3.5, while his wife made a ranger (she also plays a ranger in my 4E game). After three sessions they both came back to me and told me they much prefers the 4E wizard and ranger, and that 3.5 seems "backwards" and "needlessly complex" (his words, not mine). They also noticed after only three sessions that there is a wide power disparity between characters in 3.5 based on build and optomization, and the group they are playing with are pretty much build-obsessed powergamers. While his wizard is pretty potent, her ranger is the "weak link" in the group. He finally told me if he'd started gaming with 3.5, he probably wouldn't have stuck with gaming. I'm not trying to start any kind of edition war, because these are the thoughts of new players, not mine.

Overall, I have definitely found 4E to be easy to teach to new players, probably on par with 1e/2e, and they seem to prefer it over previous editions.

 

[Abraxas]

I'm not trying to start any kind of edition war, because these are the thoughts of new players, not mine.

Then why bring it up?

I have found that whatever system the DM feels most comfortable running is the easiest system to teach. Anyways, Cadfan's advice is good. One thing you will probably notice is that for complete newbies the game jargon can lead to misconceptions on their part and not having preconceived notions about the monsters may lead to some strange behavior. You will want to make sure they understand what the consequences of their actions in the game will be.

 

[AllisterH]

Here's what I would do.

Let them read the first 20 pages of the 4e PHB (including the questionnaire about how they envision their character).

Then ask them what grabbed/intrigued them.

From that you can easily construct a 1st level character for them...

 

[weem]

We have introduced a few players to D&D, starting them on 4e.

I'm not sure the process this time was any different then when I introduced people to 3e, 2e, etc on down the line. I tend to give a quick overview and we jump right in, maybe with a test game/combat to give them a feel for how that works. On the RP side, you tend to talk about some of the comparisons to acting/playing a part in a movie or play etc.

So yea, like I said, it didn't seem any different to me than introducing a player to any other system (including non D&D RPG's)

 

[Dannager]

Yes. In fact, I started a 4e game yesterday with two players who'd never played D&D before. It went great! Plenty of good advice in this thread, though. I don't think I really have anything beyond that to add.

 

[Herremann the Wise]

Recently, the guy who likes details and his wife also started playing a D&D 3.5 game with one of his high school friends who comes into town about twice a month. From my understanding, they pre-generated characters at 5th level, and this guy also made a wizard in 3.5, while his wife made a ranger (she also plays a ranger in my 4E game). After three sessions they both came back to me and told me they much prefers the 4E wizard and ranger, and that 3.5 seems "backwards" and "needlessly complex" (his words, not mine). They also noticed after only three sessions that there is a wide power disparity between characters in 3.5 based on build and optomization, and the group they are playing with are pretty much build-obsessed powergamers. While his wizard is pretty potent, her ranger is the "weak link" in the group.

There's something about this that seems a little strange and irks my irksome bits somewhat. So the fact that they were complete novice players, playing disparate/underpowered characters well above 1st level, with a group of expert power-gamers under a different DM who didn't seem to be catering to their circumstances didn't affect or colour their game experience?

He finally told me if he'd started gaming with 3.5, he probably wouldn't have stuck with gaming. I'm not trying to start any kind of edition war, because these are the thoughts of new players, not mine.

It was all the editions fault?... I have to be a little impolite and say I don't think so. Under different circumstances catering to their needs, I'm sure they would have enjoyed 3.5 much more than they did with that group...[sblock]...not wanting to start an edition war or anything either...[sblock]...I'm really not wanting to start an edition war...[sblock]...you should stop opening spoiler blocks look for flame-worthy material...[sblock]...stop it, I can see you donning your edition armour now and that's naughty, you should know better...[sblock]...well you'll just have to pick one then...[sblock]...nothing to see here; move along...[/sblock][sblock]...I'll just have to make it more difficult then for you to exercise your edition hatred then...[sblock]...nothing to see here; move along...[/sblock]...[sblock]...nothing to see here; move along...[/sblock]...[sblock]...OK then, if you've got this far I'll throw you a carrot...[sblock]...you must be really bored, desperate or the supreme edition hater but here it goes...[sblock][sblock]...well you'll just have to go and find a different locked thread to find it, I enjoy both versions too much to satiate your edition hatred appetite... although...[sblock]I do blame 4e for the edition wars. Kind of logical if ya think about it I s'pose. Now go take a deep breath and get back to some fun posting[/back to regular transmission][/sblock] ...[/sblock][/sblock][/sblock][/sblock][/sblock][/sblock][/sblock][/sblock][/sblock][/sblock]