D&D 5E So I made a 5 page abridged version of the D&D rules to introduce new players

[Jester David]

Even with pregenerated characters, I'd say the amount of concepts to explain to someone who's never played an RPG before is pretty daunting. Just on the standard character sheet, there's things like skills, saving throws, ability scores and ability modifiers, temporary hit points, hit dice, passive perception, death saves, tool proficiencies, ... Sure, you can just tell 'don't worry about that' but I'd rather have something more streamlined.

They may never have played a Tabletop RPG before, but even odds most "new players" will have played some kind of RPG before. Years of videogames have made elements of D&D almost ubiquitous. Terms like "ability scores" and "hit points" will already be known, as will the concept of derived stats.

This is the paradox of modern "new players". They may never have played D&D before, but they might have watched a video or two, and have experience with something like World of Warcraft.

As for ability modifiers vs scores, the 5e character sheets can help. You can have the modifier in the big box and include the actual ability score in the small box. If asked, you can explain (that's your ability score which doesn't have any mechanical impact, but exists for flavour. It's a nod to earlier versions of the game).

Also, I was just curious as to how small a ruleset I could create that is still playable and still 'feels' like 5e.Also, I was just curious as to how small a ruleset I could create that is still playable and still 'feels' like 5e.

Which is fair and a neat little project.

This makes this game a little like Basic D&D from the early 1980s (opposed to Advanced D&D). The funny thing is, historically, new players rejected starting with Basic and jumped right to advanced. Because they wanted to play the real game. Young players especially, who didn't want to play the simplified version dismissing that as the "kiddie version". (Unsurprising for teenagers really, who always want to take the more "adult" option.) BECMI was more popular with experienced players who wanted a more simple ruleset (basically OSR/ rules lite players).

That's a valid concern. I tried to keep as many things as possible compatible with the full rules, for example you can tell the fighter: instead of the +2 bonus to all strength and constitution checks, you actually have something called your proficiency bonus that you add to anything you're proficient in. But of course many small bits are incompatible. My philosophy is that it's the trickiest part to get new players to try the game in the first place, once they've started playing it's easier to introduce them to the full rules over time.

Haven't had much trouble getting people to try. But different experiences and such. Most new players I've introduced have already been sold on the game by other people or curious about the game.

I tend to focus my efforts on the adventure less than the rules. Designing the adventure in such a way as to introduce various aspects of the rules in a controlled fashion. "This is an ability check/ this is an attack roll/ this is a saving throw." And then introducing bits of roleplaying and exploration before a combat.

Because new players are only new players for a finite length of time. Two or three sessions. At most. Having to change the rules after a single session is funky.

 

[redrick]

I have found that it is really not as difficult as you make it seem. I've taught kids as young as 6 to play as well as many teenagers and adults of all intellectual levels.

The mistake that maybe you and other make is trying to explain everything. Don't. Don't explain the character sheet. Don't explain the available combat actions. Don't explain what an action is. Don't explain. Play.

"Ok, here's your character sheet. She's a elven wizard. Here are some of the spells she knows and here's what she carrying. Take just a second to look it over."

(Once everyone has their character sheets, you start)

"So, you live in this small farming village called Telair. It's a peaceful place on the edge of the Riverlands Kingdom. But that never really seems of much importance because though you hear stories of the King and the lords, you never seen them as Telair is on the end of a long road that goes nowhere but here. I want each of you to tell me one or two things about yourself (your character) and in character introduce yourselves to the others and figure out if you grew up here or are a traveler."

Encourage a little role-play. Help them out. Describe the village hall and anything else they ask about. Then get ready to start the adventure.

"The sun is well set, dinner has been eaten, and even those who have chosen to drink a mug have finished and headed home. Children are asleep and only a handful of the adults are still awake flirting or otherwise indulging in their youth. It is then that the peace of the night is shattered by a woman’s piercing scream from the north. The scream is quickly followed by the blowing of several hunting horns and a dozen guttural war cries. What do you do?"

See? Now you are playing. The players are involved. They don't care about the rules, and they don't need to at this point. Just keep asking them "what do you do?" And then telling them the consequence or impact based on your knowledge of the rules.

Such as:
"I put on my armor and grab my sword!"
"Great, putting on your armor by yourself is going to take a couple of minutes. Do you want to take that long or go outside with just your sword?"

This has always been my theory of introducing new players to D&D — explain as little of the rules as possible, and pull them into playing the game. Focus on the role play and the idea that "you can try anything that makes sense" and explain the rules and the character sheet as they come up. This has worked well for me, and I've had first time players walk in, grab a pregen and start playing, without any preamble, and have a great time.

That being said, some people are more willing to walk into a game without knowing any of the rules that other people. Some people just want to be able to sit down and say, "how do I play?" Those aren't bad people. Some DM's also don't feel as comfortable unfolding the game for people. Maybe it's because they can't resist the urge to sit down and explain the whole game for an entire session, or maybe it's because they feel a little too much like they are running a game of Calvin Ball if the players don't know the rules that hold the structure of the game together. So I can see the value of having a completely digestible game of D&D, that is not a board game, and puts the fundamental aspect of D&D role-playing at the center. (The DM describes the scene, the players narrate their actions, the DM narrates the results.)

So I'm curious to see how using a document like this would be helpful.

Though, yeah, [MENTION=6790458]dregntael[/MENTION], if you haven't tried the "explain as little as possible" approach to teaching D&D to newcomers, that is worth a try as well.