New Game, New Players, Need Advice HELP!

[Spoof]

Hey I am starting a new campaign in the next couple of weeks and I am looking for some advice. I will only have one experienced player, One that has played twice, and two players who have never played before.

I am planning on starting them at level 2 so as to try and avoid the easy deaths associated with level one. I also am going to run a Scarred lands game. So nah nah to all those who have not got to try this setting yet, it rocks

What I am looking for is some ideas on how to get the new players on the ball. Should I run a couple of modules to start, as I am not sure of their abilities to role-play yet, or should I concentrate on Hack and Slash style to start.

I have not been the DM much just twice in the past few years, for short campaigns. Any advice here would also be helpful. Maybe what we should do is have Piratecat tape his sessions and let everyone download them to see how he runs his games, and take pointers from that.

 

[Darkness]

Maybe what we should do is have Piratecat tape his sessions and let everyone download them to see how he runs his games, and take pointers from that.

Sounds good to me...

 

[Desdichado]

What I am looking for is some ideas on how to get the new players on the ball. Should I run a couple of modules to start, as I am not sure of their abilities to role-play yet, or should I concentrate on Hack and Slash style to start.

Is that the kind of game you want to run? Get them on the ball with the way the campaign is going to really play out! My wife is a new player, and not yet totally convinced that she's into the whole idea of roleplaying. When we turn into hack and slash, that's when she really starts wondering why she's doing it. In my experience, depending on what else they've done, new players tend to actually play the game as if they were their characters, so they are more logical and conservative.

Then again, if they come from the Computer RPG generation, they may be the exact opposite...

 

[arwink]

Go for a mix of styles. Some combat, some roleplaying, some problem solving. Pay attention to what they seem to like, and work your way forward from there.

 

[Nightfall]

I suggest if you want to mix it up, just run the Serpent Amphora Saga, with the free download. It's good for both experience and in-experienced Dms. Both modules are very well done if you ask me.

If you don't think that will work or want to try your own plots, don't hesistate to ask me Spoof. I'm always around.

 

[Spoof]

Well my wife is the player who has played a limited amount. She really seams into the Hack and slash part of the game, she always plays dwarven fighters. What I was thinking of doing to start the game was have them begin in combat as a part of a group from Durrover that has been attacked by forces from Clestia. (sp?) Let them battle it out to start then have them get captured. After that is will be up to them to decide how to get free, do they try diplomacy and talk the guard, a criminal who has been pressed into service to help them escape. Do they wait for the right time and try to bust their way out, using force, or do they come up with a clever scheme to break out of the camp without being detected.

After that it will be up to the group to decide where they want to go from there, do that want to assist the locals in protecting their livelihood, travel the road looking for adventure, or whatever else they can think of.

 

[megamania]

This part of why I like being in multiple gaming groups with different players. One group prefer hacking and slashing. The other prefer the roleplaying aspect.

As far as the reason for this thread- as stated, expose them to a bit of both and see which they take to. Always mix it up a bit....can't get stale either.

 

[shadowlight]

I would just recommend with the new players that you assign an experienced player to help each one. One problem new players have in combat is that they have no idea what their options are.

This seems to have helped in the group I DM (it was also easy because my 3 new players were wives of experienced players).

 

[kengar]

In support of Joshua's post, I will caution against just Hacking if you want the new players to get into the idea of RP. There's nothing which says that a good RP campaign can't have some juicy combat too. If you want to have some good RP, get the players into their characters as characters early. Don't have them fall into the habit of looking at their characters as just a pile of stats.