Starting a New Game with Complete Newbies

[NCSUCodeMonkey]

No need to keep it simple, low level, or hack'n'slash. You can read a recount of a game that I started this past weekend wherein half the players were completely new to the hobby (and one of the other two had never played under me) here. For reference, Corlon of these boards played Anderian, and was the only one of the bunch with whom I had gamed before.

Oh, and "concept driven char-gen" works awesomely. I am of the opinion that almost all confusion with the system stems from chargen and the rest takes 5 minutes to explain. However, if you simply hand the player a pregen, they have no insight into their character. Asking them what they want, and then statting accordingly, is IME an exceptionally cohesive and fun compromise.

I agree. New players are not necessairly idiots! My current campaign started with almost all newbies, and I let them make up their own characters as they saw fit. Of course, I guided the process but they were creating the character they wanted. What I encouraged was for them to try out different things. I allowed them to freely swap out characters if they decided the one they were playing wasn't for them. More work for me, but it has allowed them to find characters that they truly enjoy.

For my group, at least, they enjoyed the roleplaying much more at first because they understood it better. If you find your group to be like this, then just tell the story and the rules will eventually fall into place.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents

NCSUCodeMonkey

 

[Sollir Furryfoot]

I did this very recently with a few friends of mine. I gave them the sheets and first ran about 2 "practice encounters" with some creatures straight out of the MM and using simple tactics. They both played Baldur's Gate II: Dark Alliance, so they knew the very basics at least.

I've just finished my third game with them, and I've slowly introduced new rules with each set.

The first dungeon crawl was in the sewers with the first battle concentrating on the basics of fighting, I used a bunch of dire rats-they got used to initiative, flanking, and especially-AoOs. The second encounter was with an animated object, in the form of a sewer cleaner robot There I introduced hardness, Bull Rush, and reach. More rats and easy encounters up until a Cultist (Level 2 Adept) to get them used to magic spells. Later on they had to do climb checks to cross over an area filled with water, and heard a constant whistling sound. At the end of the dungeon they found out that there was an easier route, that they had to search to find (I emphasized some skills like Bluff/Sense Motive/Spot/Listen here as well) and that the bard could have used Countersong on the whistling sound which was a Pipe of the Sewers (although they had no chance to know that I knew, it was just for future reference and demonstration purposes). The bard did end up using Bardic Lore (I did metagame-ing ly like hint that he could use it) on a conjured Water Elemental that allowed them to survive the battle by dragging the creature on to land so it could be more easily killed (they were getting badly beaten before they had done that).

So, overall I introduced,
-Bassic Combat System, including AoOs (from moving and picking up/drawing weapons mainly) and Bull Rushes
-Hardness
-Magic spells (to a non-lethal extent)
-Skill uses
-Class Ability (Bardic Lore, Countersong)

Not to go into too much overall detail, the next adventure I introduced them to Traps (pits, falling scythes, arrows) in minifortress defended by kobolds. I also used alot of ranged weapons (light crossbows) and how terrain can play a bit of a difference. For the ranger I had an Wolverine fight that he managed to use animal empathy on and then after the dungeon was finished he leveled and got Animal Friendship to tame the beast. Overall nothing too new, since they were still getting used to the last set of the rules-more combat focused definately. They got a cleric NPC added to the party and found out how great it is to have one in the group

Overall I think I'd just say to introduce rules slowly, in chunks, probably with every other adventure having more of them so they have one adventure inbetween to digest them. Don't forget to tailor them a bit to the classes of the PCs in your group, if there's an opportunity for the ranger to track/tame an animal, give him a chance, or if there's an opportunity for the bard to use his Lore or Performing abilities, do it. I also found that my PCs required *alot* more healing than I realized (I think they went through 8 potions of CLW and a cure light wounds spell and the bard was unconscious but bandaged and the ranger was down to like 8 hp before I inserted a wand of CLW that the ranger found after rolling a search check of 22 or something on a wall heh), but I only had 2 at the time (Bard and Ranger).

Just general advice, I'm afraid I've ranted too much though so I'll quit now

 

[Amal Shukup]

Lot's of good ideas so far...

Whenever I break in new players, I try to have a tactically rich encounter that's not terribly lethal as a fun educational exercise. The classic oldy (and moldy!) is the 'Bar Fight', but a 'Prison Riot' would work pretty well too.

Hmmnn.... Better in many ways. Actually. I'm really digging that whole start the campaign in prison concept...

Anyway, I think fists and improvised weapons are a great way to start. (subdual damage is your friend) and the baddies can use lots o' fun tactics (flanking, 'aid another', tripping, grappling, bull rush, etc.). I look for ways to introduce mechanics contextually:

"the scar-faced con is hurrying past on his way to bushwhack your pal over there. It's obvious he's not paying any attention to you, and he's moving within reach... Do you want to take a swipe at him? Maybe try to trip him? (roll to hit/damage) EW! That'll leave a mark! By the way, that's what we refer to as an 'Attack of Opportunity'..."
​

I ALSO try and have the baddies make mistakes that the party can capitalize on

Then there's the weaker but 'in the know' NPC who can provide gentle nudges of advice - in game and in character: "Hey, help me hold this guy down!" or "Watch out - that chain can reach you from there!" or "Aaah! That guy's a spell caster, can somebody get ready to counter/disrupt his magic?"

Finally, with newbies (and to a certain degree all players): Make sure each player/character gets the opportunity to do something really cool... That's what keeps 'em coming back for more...

A'Mal

 

[Dunjin]

All great suggestions. Keep 'em coming!

I plan to have at least one NPC there (a broken-down, weakened, higher-level ex-paladin who happens to be in the prison with them), and possibly another group of maybe 5 or 6 people who want to break out as well. They're there mostly for story reasons (the ex-paladin will invite them to work for him if they save him, and the other party will develop into allies or rivals, depending on what happens), but they could provide tactical help. I could, for example, have one member of the other party flank an enemy with one of the PCs, or have someone else grappling, bull rushing, etc., and work AoOs through those NPCs as well. Of course, the weakened ex-paladin will be nigh-useless, so someone would probably have to guard him.

I like the prison break idea more and more. I want their first real weapons to be a big deal. Not only will it make them appreciate their weapons more, but it'll show them that D&D characters can exist without their weapons, and maybe it'll open them up to more role-playing and tactical thinking.

More! I want more!

 

[S'mon]

A bit of slack on the encounter ELs wouldn't hurt, or just be careful what monsters you use, and how you play them - CR 1/2 orcs with great axes are a much bigger threat than CR 1/2 hobgoblins with shortswords, to a level 1 newbie group. Be wary about using monsters of EL over the party level, except for the climactic battle - and even then party level +2 is probably about right (say a 2nd level NPC Cleric & 2 hobgoblin guards CR 1/2) rather than the level +4 I'd use for experienced players.

 

[Marimmar@Home]

IME it's very difficult for players to a) generate a character and b) understand the combat mechanics. When I started playing RPGs it was with a very simplified combat system. Simply assign 2 or 3 characters as being in the front row, the rest is in the rear and can only be attacked by ranged spells/attacks or tumbled through rogues/monks. Everyone in the front row can attack anyone of the opponents front row or someone who tumbled around into the rear. Rogues may make sneak attacks if they tumbled around the enemy lines against those in the enemy's front row.

Another thing to keep in mind is, try to incorporate as much role playing as possible. It's much more fun to talk your way out of prison than to just simply hack the jailor.

As for spellcasters, print out the relevant spell on a reference sheets so that they can look them up quickly. It will speed up gameplay significantly when the wizards and priests stop flipping through the PHB. If someone should play a divine caster, just state that he cannot cast all the spells right now since his gawd is not pleased with him being in prison and that he can choose from the whole list when he escaped from the dungeon, then hand him about 8 spells to choose from.

~Marimmar

 

[Darklone]

Ooook. I started a new group nearly two years ago now if I'm right...

Two players knew some D&D similar CRPGs, the other 6 didn't know anything at all about the game.

I played Wizards Amulet, a free adventure from Necromancergames and afterwards Crucible of Freya with the pregenerated characters.

Combats were held pretty easy... I did most of the stuff for them: They said what they wanted to do and I proposed the rules to achieve it and told them if it would be good or rather suicidal.

After these 4 evenings (game was sloooow), they made their own chars and we started a new campaign. Till then they knew which kind of character they wanted to play and I still helped with character creation (proposing feats from books they didn't know).

Especially the feats proved to be a problem, though I scarcely allowed any books except PHB and KPG. I usually allowed them to change feats later.

For spellcasters: I used mainly sorcerers... another player who joined later plays the only wizard and he's weird enough to learn the D&D magic system
Just joking, nearly the whole group plays spellcasters now, I got a sorcerer derivate, one dwarf fighter/rogue, 2 druids, 2 clerics and the single wizard.

Tactics: I have a tendency to huge battles. Every now and then I introduce some opponents with new tactics. The players usually learn it fast that way.

 

[Buttercup]

I think all the advice you've gotten so far is sound, and I only have a few tidbits to add.

Whatever you do, don't let any of the PCs die. If you kill a newbie's character, the player will probably get frustrated and hurt, and not want to come back. To that end, your enemies shouldn't use missile weapons, especially heavy crossbows, since you can easily take out a 1st level character, especially a HD4 or HD6 character class, with one hit. I tend to avoid having enemy spellcasters for the first few sessions too. Your idea of a prison break is good. Just make sure the guards are kinda dumb.

You don't want the players to know you are heavily fudging, of course. And you should get a bit tougher on them (fudge less) with each session. By the time they know the rules, you won't have to fudge any more.

I like the idea of the aged paladin hiring them. Actually, your whole scenario sounds good. I think they'll all have a great time.

 

[S'mon]

I think all the advice you've gotten so far is sound, and I only have a few tidbits to add.

Whatever you do, don't let any of the PCs die. If you kill a newbie's character, the player will probably get frustrated and hurt, and not want to come back.

Hmm, that depends on the player. When my friend Jamz started, he lost a lot of PCs, but it didn't deter him. He liked the combat and the wargame style of 3e.

OTOH when I ran high-roleplay low-combat scenarios for my wife as a new player, if her PC had died she might well have been put off.

Generally speaking, I'm going to be sexist and suggest that maybe female players may invest more in their PCs and be more put off by death, male players less so. For all players, making the first adventure survivable is a good idea though. Heavy x-bow bolts may drop PCs to negative, but are unlikely to kill them. Ogres, OTOH...

 

[tmaaas]

I started a campaign with new players some time ago. My best advice echoes what's already been said: pre-gen the characters for them based on a "character concept." If they have a character concept they want to play, great, use that. If they don't, pre-gen several characters and let them choose.

Remember: the character concept is much more than stats. It's the background, also. Try to build something into each character that'll be a roleplaying hook and capture the player's imagination. This last is especially critical if not playing with hardened wargamers: you want the player to identify with the character.

When I started I also had some simple handouts summarizing the combat system (only the basics) and including the most common actions and combat modifiers. Don't overwhelm them with detail, unless they can handle it.

Lastly, make sure the players have fun. If they come up with a clever idea, make sure you reward them. If they have a particular character concept, make sure it's integrated into the game that night (if possible). In other words, make sure the fighters can fight, the mages can cast, the rogues can sneak, talk, or whatever, etc. Reward the play and refuse to be constrained by the rules or a "DM vs. players" mentality.

Good luck!