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<blockquote data-quote="Li Shenron" data-source="post: 8077443" data-attributes="member: 1465"><p>In theory, we could say that beginners should start from <strong>Basic </strong>rules, and consider buying the PHB only when they decide they want to play more regularly or "seriously".</p><p></p><p>Starter Sets should more or less include Basic rules + pregens + sample adventure + props such as dice/minis/maps.</p><p></p><p>WotC has modified the structure of Basic over time. It used to have two separate docs for players and DMs, now it's a single doc. I'm not saying it's better, just that WotC has not neglected considering possible improvements. Yet it is still 180 pages, that is NOT good! Even someone who wants to start straight into DMing would probably need a more slim document to start with, but someone invited over as a player can't be seriously told to read even 50 pages in advance. Either you give them a much smaller "readme" or you give them nothing and rely on the DM.</p><p></p><p>As someone who introduced many beginners to the game over 20 years, I can testify that on average:</p><p></p><p>1) New users want to create their own PC but have more narrative than mechanical ideas in mind.</p><p></p><p>That's because they don't even know what mechanical options exist. They may decide they want to play a Wizard, but if the game then tells them to choose 6 spells out of 12, many already get analysis-paralysis, afraid to make a wrong choice.</p><p></p><p>Open-ended character creation is not good for new users, there are simply way too many options even in Basic. Some players are intimidated, others are fascinated by the options and end up wanting to read them all instead of actually starting to play.</p><p></p><p>However, full pre-gens might be too strict. A player might want to play a "Wizard that shoots magic", another a "Wizard that charms" or a "Wizard with lots of tricks" or a "Wizard that protect friends". Especially the 4 iconic classes have lots of variants, you're gonna need a lot of pregens.</p><p></p><p>Perhaps the best way is in the middle, some sort of partial pre-gen with as many as possible ready stats (so that almost no calculations are required) but free room for strictly narrative elements (name, gender, description, personality...) and a few last-minute choices to make: weapon & armor, background/skills, and spells BUT with a small bunch of "starting packages" provided with pre-selected spells.</p><p></p><p>2) I am sorry to say but Races are a spanner in the works for new users!</p><p></p><p>New users LIKE the idea they can play an Elf or Dwarf, but the way races modify a character stats always complicates character generation. And in addition, racial benefits are always too much at once.</p><p></p><p>The ship has sailed for 5e, and Tasha book can only marginally make it easier, but it would be MUCH easier for new users if the choice of race would not modify existing stats (so no recalculation needed i.e. no ability modifiers) but only give additive benefits, and such benefits being spread over a few levels (so that at 1st level maybe only 1-2 to deal with).</p><p></p><p>3) Combat options only confuse new users.</p><p></p><p>Really, for their very first adventure new players only need to know how to do these 3 things:</p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">move</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">attack</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">cast a spell</li> </ul><p></p><p>Everything else can wait. They do NOT need to immediately know they can hide during combat, help an ally, disengage, grapple, ready... these options do not need to be explained before a player asks "can I instead..." or the situation demands (like someone tries to run away). In Basic, they'd be better placed in a DM section.</p><p></p><p>4) Basic is still waaaay too verbose.</p><p></p><p>The counterpart of having too much stuff that is already a bit too advanced, is having also too much trivial text in Basic.</p><p></p><p>Random examples: four (!) pages for step-by-step character creation, half a page to explain what are personality traits/flaws/etc (if you just see the tables in your chosen background, you already know what they mean), one full page to explain how to socially interact with NPCs (just talk dammit!).</p><p></p><p>These sections don't seem they were written by someone who wanted to take new players easily but rather by a scholar who wanted to write a perfect essay about the game, which is OK for a PHB, but only increases the time to read through Basic (and the chances of the new player just not doing it at all).</p><p></p><p>5) Organization goes a long way.</p><p></p><p>In a digital document you have a lot more freedom compared to a printed book. For example, filling entire pages is not necessary. So why not organizing stuff (for example each race, each class...) so that it always starts at the beginning of a page? Then encourage a player to print out only the pages of their chosen race and class.</p><p></p><p>With regard to stuff at points 3) and 4), as they are good-to-read but not essential to start playing right away, move them all to a series of appendixes.</p><p></p><p>The structure of Basic is still VERY conservative, as if nobody at WotC ever bothered catching up with all the ideas in UX that came up in the last 20 years.</p><p></p><p>Just as an example, having first a minimal section for setting up your character at 1st level in broad strokes (class/race/background + "starting packages") versus full regular character creation rules, and a second minimal chapter on actually playing the game. And THEN having lots of appendixes like "Character classes beyond 1st level", "More stuff you can do in combat", "Adjudicating spells effects", "Everything you wanted to know about exploration but were afraid to ask" and so on.</p><p></p><p>This would give a new user the idea that reading 20 pages is ENOUGH to start playing, and they can read the remaining 160 later, and only if they wish.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Li Shenron, post: 8077443, member: 1465"] In theory, we could say that beginners should start from [B]Basic [/B]rules, and consider buying the PHB only when they decide they want to play more regularly or "seriously". Starter Sets should more or less include Basic rules + pregens + sample adventure + props such as dice/minis/maps. WotC has modified the structure of Basic over time. It used to have two separate docs for players and DMs, now it's a single doc. I'm not saying it's better, just that WotC has not neglected considering possible improvements. Yet it is still 180 pages, that is NOT good! Even someone who wants to start straight into DMing would probably need a more slim document to start with, but someone invited over as a player can't be seriously told to read even 50 pages in advance. Either you give them a much smaller "readme" or you give them nothing and rely on the DM. As someone who introduced many beginners to the game over 20 years, I can testify that on average: 1) New users want to create their own PC but have more narrative than mechanical ideas in mind. That's because they don't even know what mechanical options exist. They may decide they want to play a Wizard, but if the game then tells them to choose 6 spells out of 12, many already get analysis-paralysis, afraid to make a wrong choice. Open-ended character creation is not good for new users, there are simply way too many options even in Basic. Some players are intimidated, others are fascinated by the options and end up wanting to read them all instead of actually starting to play. However, full pre-gens might be too strict. A player might want to play a "Wizard that shoots magic", another a "Wizard that charms" or a "Wizard with lots of tricks" or a "Wizard that protect friends". Especially the 4 iconic classes have lots of variants, you're gonna need a lot of pregens. Perhaps the best way is in the middle, some sort of partial pre-gen with as many as possible ready stats (so that almost no calculations are required) but free room for strictly narrative elements (name, gender, description, personality...) and a few last-minute choices to make: weapon & armor, background/skills, and spells BUT with a small bunch of "starting packages" provided with pre-selected spells. 2) I am sorry to say but Races are a spanner in the works for new users! New users LIKE the idea they can play an Elf or Dwarf, but the way races modify a character stats always complicates character generation. And in addition, racial benefits are always too much at once. The ship has sailed for 5e, and Tasha book can only marginally make it easier, but it would be MUCH easier for new users if the choice of race would not modify existing stats (so no recalculation needed i.e. no ability modifiers) but only give additive benefits, and such benefits being spread over a few levels (so that at 1st level maybe only 1-2 to deal with). 3) Combat options only confuse new users. Really, for their very first adventure new players only need to know how to do these 3 things: [LIST] [*]move [*]attack [*]cast a spell [/LIST] Everything else can wait. They do NOT need to immediately know they can hide during combat, help an ally, disengage, grapple, ready... these options do not need to be explained before a player asks "can I instead..." or the situation demands (like someone tries to run away). In Basic, they'd be better placed in a DM section. 4) Basic is still waaaay too verbose. The counterpart of having too much stuff that is already a bit too advanced, is having also too much trivial text in Basic. Random examples: four (!) pages for step-by-step character creation, half a page to explain what are personality traits/flaws/etc (if you just see the tables in your chosen background, you already know what they mean), one full page to explain how to socially interact with NPCs (just talk dammit!). These sections don't seem they were written by someone who wanted to take new players easily but rather by a scholar who wanted to write a perfect essay about the game, which is OK for a PHB, but only increases the time to read through Basic (and the chances of the new player just not doing it at all). 5) Organization goes a long way. In a digital document you have a lot more freedom compared to a printed book. For example, filling entire pages is not necessary. So why not organizing stuff (for example each race, each class...) so that it always starts at the beginning of a page? Then encourage a player to print out only the pages of their chosen race and class. With regard to stuff at points 3) and 4), as they are good-to-read but not essential to start playing right away, move them all to a series of appendixes. The structure of Basic is still VERY conservative, as if nobody at WotC ever bothered catching up with all the ideas in UX that came up in the last 20 years. Just as an example, having first a minimal section for setting up your character at 1st level in broad strokes (class/race/background + "starting packages") versus full regular character creation rules, and a second minimal chapter on actually playing the game. And THEN having lots of appendixes like "Character classes beyond 1st level", "More stuff you can do in combat", "Adjudicating spells effects", "Everything you wanted to know about exploration but were afraid to ask" and so on. This would give a new user the idea that reading 20 pages is ENOUGH to start playing, and they can read the remaining 160 later, and only if they wish. [/QUOTE]
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