Newbies

[Simm]

I had a friend named Jen back in '88 who told me she never played D&D again after trying to roll up a character with a DM who insisted she roll for breast size.

-DM Jeff

Eh, could have been worse, he could have asked her to roll on the wandering harlot table.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I had a friend named Jen back in '88 who told me she never played D&D again after trying to roll up a character with a DM who insisted she roll for breast size.

-DM Jeff

That's not creepy. Everyone does it. They just usually disguise it with "now roll charisma" .

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I always tell people that its like a combination of improvisational theatre and double-entry accounting.

I read that as "double-entendre" and wondered why you knew our party so well

 

[STARP_Social_Officer]

I read that as "double-entendre" and wondered why you knew our party so well

"Double-entendre accounting"?

"So...why don't you show me your hidden assets and I'll work out your deductions..."

 

[migo]

My wife's first D&D game was ... bad. I don't think it was really her fault, though.

She was joining a campaign already in progress with a DM who had *fantastic* behind-the-scenes stories going on (when you could puzzle them out) but who was a bit weaker at the table.

In the current game, we're traveling down a river, wondering when we're going to get introduced to my wife's character. We happen upon a lizardman encampment and proceed to have a knock-down, drag-out battle. Still no sign of my wife's character. We find out that a resupply shipment is due in a couple days, so we camp. Soon, the boats arrive and we ambush the lizardman convoy.

This fight takes forever, with lots of lizardmen swimming off, being tracked down, slowed-movement due to the depth of the water, etc. Finally, at the end of the battle, we find someone tied up in one of the boats: my wife's character.

Her first D&D experience involved several hours of not playing because the DM couldn't think of a way to get her into the action earlier.

This is the same DM who, when introducing two newbies to the game, gave one of them a Rogue (with Combat Expertise and a BAB of +0) and the other a ... druid?

Yeah, this is pretty silly. DMs should just introduce the character ASAP without worrying about how it makes sense. Let everyone work things out through play.