Has Anyone Introduced New Gamers to 4E?

[Baz King]

I've played a fair amount with players new to RPGs, players who hadn't played in a decade or two, and (that rarest of gamer) players who had played RPGs in the past, but never D&D. All of them seemed to grasp 4E with little difficulty. Those who were joining our regular gaming group are still in it (a year and a half later), so they must be enjoying themselves!

Some people suggest that introducing new players through the act of roleplaying (and glossing over rules) is a good idea. Based on my anecdotal as well as professional experience, I disagree. People expect games to have rules, and grownups are usually OK with the idea that the rules might be complex or hard to grasp initially. (How many times have you sat down to explain a board game to someone, only to have them say, after a few lines of the rules, "let's just play and I'll pick it up as we go"? People are comfortable learning rules--even complex rules--through play.)

Because they expect games to have rules, and expect that they are supposed to follow those rules, people get anxious when they feel like they might not be playing according to the rules. This anxiety, in some people, prevents them from enjoying the other aspects of the game (roleplaying, exploration, etc.). They're too worried that they're doing it "wrong" to get any pleasure from the activity.

On the flip side, the roleplaying side of the activity is more arcane--it falls so far outside most people's experiences with games that they often have a hard time wrapping their heads around it. It's also frankly a bit more intimate than the competitive games they might be used to, and that might make them a bit hesitant in the first few hours of play.

Fortunately, the roleplaying aspect is easy to fall into once the game is going. So my advice is to not "hide" the rules, but let the players come to understand the game in the terms they are used to--the "game" part of the RPG activity. That will give the new players a chance to relax and enjoy it, and the rest will follow quickly.

Charles, I think we've echoed each other on this point before?
You're absolutely spot on. This last year I've introduced 4 brand newbies to roleplaying. I started with Trail of Cthulhu thinking the low buy in and story emphasis would help. It didn't. We lasted three sessions and I could see them struggling.

So I bought the freshly released 4e and broke out the pregens. We haven't looked back since. They loved having a game to play rather than a role to improvise (although that came along quick enough when they had some mechanics down)

FWIW these newbies are all female too. I married one.

 

[diaglo]

for ease of introduction.
use any of the basic game editions even the d02 one. (1977 - 2006)

i have been introducing new gamers to D&D for years. and i plan to continue to do so for many more to come.

i use OD&D(1974)

 

[AllisterH]

FWIW these newbies are all female too. I married one.

Wait....does this mean DnD can help you get women?

WOTC should advertise that..."Play DnD and you too will find the woman of your dreams"

 

[UniversalMonster]

I've introduced tons of new players to 4e, mostly through our recurring RPGA Gameday.

Agree with Charles Ryan: DONT hide the mechanics or assume that the mechanics will be too mind-bending for new players. They'll figure it out, and the character builder produces an easy to follow character sheet.

 

[karlindel]

I have introduced several new gamers to 4E, including some who previously played D&D but hadn't gamed in years, a couple who had once played an RPG or two, and two completely new to gaming.

I agree with the others that starting at level 1 is best, as it will keep the mechanics simpler for them.

It is important to know your audience. If they are story oriented people, a more character driven game might be the way to go, and you can try to keep the rules as much in the background as possible. On the other hand, if they have some background in computer rpgs or board games, they might feel more comfortable with the rules than with the roleplaying, at least until they get the hang of it. If you aren't sure which way they'll lean, or expect a mixed group, I recommend including a little bit of both.

Try to include at least one skill challenge, or at least an encounter in which skills are useful. If you don't, they may underrate the value of skills and overrate the importance of combat.

Use pre-generated characters. It can be helpful to walk people through the character creation process, but for most people it's just more rules for them to try to remember, and the character creation rules are ones that are not immediately pertinent to playing the game, so they can learn them later. It is helpful if you can get some idea of what kind of character they might like ahead of time. You can get some ideas by asking them about their favorite characters in novels and/or movies, or asking questions based on role or power source. I recommend making a short blurb for each race and class (the racial descriptions are great for ideas on this), and letting them pick that, and then you create the characters for them. Power choice shouldn't make much difference, given the retraining options, and you can also allow some stat reallocation later after they understand the game. Another advantage of pre-generated characters is that you will be more familiar with them to help the players out.

The first encounter should be a softball encounter to get them used to the rules. Stick to monsters with relatively few abilities, so that the players get used to the core of the rules rather than being confused by the monster's exceptions.

Try to use a mix of monsters for the encounters. I recommend avoiding soldiers or only using one, as soldiers are hard to hit, and constantly missing can be very frustrating for new players. I recommend using mostly minions, skirmishers and brutes, backed up by an artillery and/or controller.

Be sure to hand out a few magical items, so that they can try them out. Items with daily powers, and a few alchemical items or potions will give them a new toy to play with and let them get used to daily item powers.

I also recommend using chips for action points and daily item powers. It makes it easier for them to keep track of, and cashing in the chip is faster and more fun than marking something down on paper.

 

[The Little Raven]

Since 4e has been released, I've introduced 6 old RPG players to it, and 4 brand new players (never played an RPG before). All of them enjoyed it, and had little problem picking up the rules. Just as Charles said, they got a bit of explanation, then just wanted to jump in and play, learning while they went along. The same applied when I introduced them to various board games (Game of Thrones, Prince of the City, etc.) and card games (Anima, Game of Thrones). A lot of people I know seem to adapt to complex and precise rules better than vague ones, which usually bog the various games down with discussion of the various implications to sort out how we are going to apply it.

 

[Bodhiwolff]

I feel that 4E is a wonderful version for introducing to new players! I've introduced a number of complete newbies to 4E, and they've all thoroughly enjoyed it (and we've also converted some old-fogeys like myself as well!).

I won't repeat the (very good) advice already stated here, but I would add a point or two.

1. POWER CARDS -- they are your best friend! More to the point, don't use automatically-generated power cards, but instead make your own (using a computer) and simplifiy them by including only the necessary information, and the proper calculations for the character in question. When a newbie can glance down at his cards and see that one attack is +4 to hit with 1d8+4 damage for one creature, while another attack is +2 to hit with 1d6 damage for every creature within one square, it makes the decision-making easier, and really showcases the system.

And *do* write out the final calculations ahead of time. You'd think that calculating "1W+STR" would get faster over time, but it doesn't. It is much easier to read 1d8+4, and have done with it.

Go the extra mile and make an at-will power card for "All Out Defense" (reminding players that they can go completely defensive), and two encounter copies of "Second Wind" (including exactly how much they will heal, and the bonus to defense). Make an at-will card for "Do Something Cool!" to remind players that they always have the option to just wing it, and try to swing on the chandelier!

When players can look down at their cards and isntantly see some interesting options -- ones which are easily differentiated from each other -- then they can relax and get into the game. The rules are all right there at their fingertips, and they don't have to worry.

2. Character Sheet - we've done away with the character sheet. At the very least, simplify it, and don't use a full writeup. For the first few sessions, you don't need to have 2 pages of complex information staring back at the player. They can't find anything in the miasma of text anyway. What they *really* use are initiative, movement speed, the 4 Defenses, Hit Point Total, Bloodied Total, Surge Value, Number of Surges per day, and skill values.

We actually use a "character mat" with these values written down, (all pretty and formatted nicely) and then poker chips in two stacks on the mat for hit points, and tokens for healing surges. The character mat sits in front of the player and puts all of the useful information at their fingertips at a moment's notice, without searching through 3 pages of text. When one stack of chips is gone, you're bloodied. When they're both gone, the rules for death saving throws are written underneath the spot where the chips went, so you know what to expect.

If they really need to look up something (which they only have to do about once every three sessions) we have their character sheet hidden under the mat.

The tactile aspect of using poker chips to track hit points also lets people look around and instantly assess how wounded your friends are., which adds to the drama. Throwing away a big pile of chips shows everybody just how big a hit you took!

My players adore the gaming mat option. We're never going back.

3. Condition Placards -- we have a number of placards all made up with "You are Blinded" and "You are Weakened", etc. The rules and impact on the character are printed below, and thus nobody ever has to be reminded of what the impact of a certain condition might be. We also have some tokens which we use to represent "ongoing 5 damage" and "ongoing 10 damage", which helps remind people of an ongoing effect. Save vs. the effect, remove the token from your mat, and cheer!


...................

With all of these "props", the rules get completely subsumed below the surface.

The proof that it works is that we managed to teach a complete newbie how to play a 4E wizard within a single gaming session, all without cracking a book. By the end of the session, he was giving other players advice on how to tactically position themselves, how to coordinate attacks, etc. He went out that week and bought his very first player's handbook, and rolled up his own version of his character, but *now* he understood what it was he was reading!

Props (which contain rules explanations and pre-made calculations) speed things up, simplify the game for newcomers, and stop all of the tedium of looking things up in boois.

We haven't cracked a book at the table in ages.

 

[CharlesRyan]

Charles, I think we've echoed each other on this point before?

Yeah, I think a similar topic came up on UK Roleplayers maybe a year ago. . .

 

[CharlesRyan]

A lot of people I know seem to adapt to complex and precise rules better than vague ones, which usually bog the various games down with discussion of the various implications to sort out how we are going to apply it.

This.

Interpreting rules, or simply being comfortable with vagueness and on-the-fly interpretation, is an "advanced" gaming skill. Following rules--even complex rules--is more of a basic gaming skill. Walk before you run.

 

[Belphanior]

I've introduced two new gamers to 4e (one boy and one girl, in case you wonder) and I play with a third newbie (another girl) in a group who was introduced by her boyfriend. And she's not the kind who just does it to please him, because she now also plays in an Anima game I run where her boyfriend is not present.