Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Introducing a 10-year old to D&D: framing the adventure
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Li Shenron" data-source="post: 7618523" data-attributes="member: 1465"><p>I can bring my experience of teaching D&D 5e to our own kids, and also both 3e and 5e to many adult beginners/casual gamers, but I'll focus on the purpose of teaching a 10yrs (my youngest were actually younger when we started playing).</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>You are absolutely right to avoid excessive rules explanations at all costs. In fact, I suggest you teach <em>nothing</em> about the rules before starting. It's not easy to avoid, because as soon as they will see the character sheet, they will start asking what's the meaning of this and that. Resist telling them the details... stay generic and respond in a single sentence: "What's AC?" "A number that tells how good is your defense in combat". Promise you'll explain the rules when they will actually come into play.</p><p></p><p>And about telling the "basics of roleplaying"... what's that? Just tell the kid(s) they will be playing a character in a fantasy story full of monsters, traps and battles! The only "basics" to know is that you can't always get what you want, you decide what you <em>want</em> to do, and the rules + dice rolls will tell you what you <em>get</em>.</p><p> </p><p></p><p></p><p>Even though character generation is a huge part of RPGing, I strongly agree with you that pregens are better for the first session ever, <em>unless</em> you already have the strong feeling that the players are interested in a long-term hobby. Even with 5e fast generation of characters, it will still take the kid a long time making decisions. It's better that you create a few pregens, and you only let them choose which one to play. Let them fill some non-mechanical details if they want to (e.g. appearance, personality) but don't force them to... this is stuff that can be added later or just emerges from playing. Ask them to pick a name, and start the story immediately.</p><p> </p><p></p><p></p><p>Yes, but don't go too far in the first session. A map and a bunch of minis is enough to engage the players.</p><p> </p><p></p><p> </p><p>Yes and no... I think it's a good thing to teach them that the game has boundaries, but of course it should not frustrate them.</p><p></p><p></p><p> </p><p>Up to you. I am biased because I don't like Eberron, but in general I would rather go with the most "classical" fantasy world possible, so that their first experience is the most largely shared with other players in history. Hence, I'd go with a "vanilla D&D setting" that has humans/elves/dwarves/halflings on the good side, and orcs/undead/dragons and other iconic monsters on the evil side.</p><p> </p><p></p><p> </p><p>Sounds great, but it might be hard to fit everything on a single session. </p><p></p><p>I think it might be better to make sure your first session will be self-contained, such as a single mini-dungeon to explore, as a "coming-of-age" adventure for the main character. IMHO it gives a good feeling to a beginner to "complete" their first quest on day 1. If he likes the game, you can then have the <em>real</em> adventure with all its parts start on session 2, and then not worry about taking a break, because if he's up to session 2 then he'll also be up to session 3 and 4 and...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>This is the only part that worries me. The absolute best feature of RPGs is that they are <em>cooperative</em> games. If he's playing alone, he'll be missing this key feature. Playing multiple characters won't make up for it, and it can even be a bad idea for a beginner. Try the best you can to find someone else to play together (at least 3 players)!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Li Shenron, post: 7618523, member: 1465"] I can bring my experience of teaching D&D 5e to our own kids, and also both 3e and 5e to many adult beginners/casual gamers, but I'll focus on the purpose of teaching a 10yrs (my youngest were actually younger when we started playing). You are absolutely right to avoid excessive rules explanations at all costs. In fact, I suggest you teach [I]nothing[/I] about the rules before starting. It's not easy to avoid, because as soon as they will see the character sheet, they will start asking what's the meaning of this and that. Resist telling them the details... stay generic and respond in a single sentence: "What's AC?" "A number that tells how good is your defense in combat". Promise you'll explain the rules when they will actually come into play. And about telling the "basics of roleplaying"... what's that? Just tell the kid(s) they will be playing a character in a fantasy story full of monsters, traps and battles! The only "basics" to know is that you can't always get what you want, you decide what you [I]want[/I] to do, and the rules + dice rolls will tell you what you [I]get[/I]. Even though character generation is a huge part of RPGing, I strongly agree with you that pregens are better for the first session ever, [I]unless[/I] you already have the strong feeling that the players are interested in a long-term hobby. Even with 5e fast generation of characters, it will still take the kid a long time making decisions. It's better that you create a few pregens, and you only let them choose which one to play. Let them fill some non-mechanical details if they want to (e.g. appearance, personality) but don't force them to... this is stuff that can be added later or just emerges from playing. Ask them to pick a name, and start the story immediately. Yes, but don't go too far in the first session. A map and a bunch of minis is enough to engage the players. Yes and no... I think it's a good thing to teach them that the game has boundaries, but of course it should not frustrate them. Up to you. I am biased because I don't like Eberron, but in general I would rather go with the most "classical" fantasy world possible, so that their first experience is the most largely shared with other players in history. Hence, I'd go with a "vanilla D&D setting" that has humans/elves/dwarves/halflings on the good side, and orcs/undead/dragons and other iconic monsters on the evil side. Sounds great, but it might be hard to fit everything on a single session. I think it might be better to make sure your first session will be self-contained, such as a single mini-dungeon to explore, as a "coming-of-age" adventure for the main character. IMHO it gives a good feeling to a beginner to "complete" their first quest on day 1. If he likes the game, you can then have the [I]real[/I] adventure with all its parts start on session 2, and then not worry about taking a break, because if he's up to session 2 then he'll also be up to session 3 and 4 and... This is the only part that worries me. The absolute best feature of RPGs is that they are [I]cooperative[/I] games. If he's playing alone, he'll be missing this key feature. Playing multiple characters won't make up for it, and it can even be a bad idea for a beginner. Try the best you can to find someone else to play together (at least 3 players)! [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Introducing a 10-year old to D&D: framing the adventure
Top