D&D 5E How would you preface D&D to newbies for their first time?

[Starfox]

If it is what I think it is, you can turn it off. Settings (top bar)->My Settings (left sidebar)->User Tagging then disable all the email options.

Thanks for the attempt, but that was not it. What annoys me is that when I copy from ENworld, the copid text has the quoted message appended to it. Perhaps good if quoting a longer text on another forum, but annoying when quoting a single sentence here at ENworld.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Tomorrow evening I will be running the new D&D Starter Set (5e) for a group of 4 complete beginners. I've been thinking about what to say to them, because I want to preface the first session with an overview of D&D and RPGs in general, but I'm not sure what I should say. I want to keep it short, but effective.

What would you say?

They may be new to TTRPGs, but have they played CRPGs or MMOs? If so, you should point out the differences, and paint D&D as their precursor. If not, then you should focus on the concept of RP, itself, and explain that D&D started out as a small-scale wargame and took off when people started using it for Roleplaying. Obviously, you could elaborate on either for quite a while.


Also, since you're using 5e, you should lean heavily on the process of having the player telling you want they're doing, and you either describing the auto-success/failure, or calling for a specific roll (including the die type and even bonus). Keep most of the system 'behind the curtain' until they get curious about it.

 

[CM]

One thing I'd encourage for new players is to try to get them to think like their character, speak and act (figuratively speaking) like they would rather than just playing themselves. It helps if you have premade characters with some fleshed-out background details, and can be a little more difficult if the players are generating characters at the table. At least 5e's backgrounds help out this process quite a bit.

Make sure that everyone's aware it's a cooperative game, and working together will be more fruitful than going alone. Remind them that you're just the messenger, not the enemy.

As others have mentioned, find out if they're fans of fantasy movies, tv series, anime, video games, or comic books. I find that often I can give players a better mental picture of an NPC if I tie their description to that of character from other media. They're also more likely to remember them.

 

[Starfox]

Make sure that everyone's aware it's a cooperative game, and working together will be more fruitful than going alone.

This gives me reminiscences of a game back in school. We had invited a new player and neglected to mention this; he played an assassin (this was 1E) and ended up with a TPK. Aw...

 

[LostSoul]

I'd say something like this:

"It's a game where you go into a dungeon, try to find some loot, and make it out without dying. I tell you what you see, you tell me what you want to do, and I tell you what happens. If what happens is in doubt, we'll roll some dice to see what happens."

I'd probably pre-gen some archetypal characters for them, since character creation is detailed and complex, though I'd let them roll for stats and buy non-combat equipment.