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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Clint_L" data-source="post: 8793134" data-attributes="member: 7035894">I ran a D&D Camp for mostly neuro-divergent kids over the summer. I started my Grade 9/10 beginner campaign for the term last week, and start the Grade 11/12 one today. I've been doing it for years. I know whereof I speak on this issue.Obviously there are some kids who could step into a complex character or a Level 5 character right away. These are a minority, and typically have had some exposure before (have friends/family members who play D&D, own the PHB or Starter Set but never got a chance to play, etc.). But a lot of others have to have hit points and dice rolls explained, let alone the nuances of spell selection and sorcery points. So the first session, which I am about to run today, with 8 players, is about just getting the basics down. Encouraging a tiny bit of role-playing. Helping them learn that first you roll to hit and then you roll damage but only if you hit. This is what a "saving throw" means, and where to find it on your character sheet. And so on.You gotta roll back all your accumulated knowledge of D&D and gaming in general and meet new players where they are at, acknowledging that there is a vast amount of information coming at them. And most players pick it up quickly! By the end of one two hour session, they generally have the basics down, and are excited to get to level up. Then I give them a couple sessions at level 2 so they can explore a few of the nuances of play now that they have a few more abilities, and by level 3 they are mostly ready to really fly with their characters. Encounters, traps, puzzles, NPC interactions get more complicated. And they have enough of a sense of their class to make their own sub-class choice without me telling them what to do.It's really important that OneD&D remain accessible to brand new players. I really don't understand the problem with keeping Level 1 simple. I love playing a level 1 character, but if I didn't it would be easy enough to start a campaign at level 3 or whatever. I'm sure we've all done it.</blockquote>

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