Ok, my nephews have expressed interest in playing D&D for quite some time. I tried to have them read the PHB but they got bored with that real quick. So aside from having to wait till October for the new boxed set to come out, is there any resource out there that can help me, a person who has never DM'd before, to teach my nephews to game? I guess I am looking for something that is both easy on the players and the DM.
Teaching my nephews the game
- Thread starter Datt
- Start date
kengar
First Post
If you look around, the orginal starter set (the orange box) is still around in many bookstores, etc.
If you just want to teach them gaming in general, and aren't worried about d20 v. another system, check out Decipher's LOTR boxed adventure sets; FOTR ("Through the Mines of Moria") and their The Two Towers Adventure Game set. They sets come with pre-generated characters (members of the Fellowship) and "quick start" rules. If they've seen the movies, they're halfway there.
CODA is pretty similiar to d20 too.
If you just want to teach them gaming in general, and aren't worried about d20 v. another system, check out Decipher's LOTR boxed adventure sets; FOTR ("Through the Mines of Moria") and their The Two Towers Adventure Game set. They sets come with pre-generated characters (members of the Fellowship) and "quick start" rules. If they've seen the movies, they're halfway there.
CODA is pretty similiar to d20 too.
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As for waiting until October for the new boxed set, do not hold your breath there. Ed Stark said in the mortlaity.net radio webcast that that was taken off of this year's schedule and may get revisited, but there is no real push for it at the moment. I also suggest the Orange Adventure box set. It's a nice jumping off point for new players, it's got nice production values and a set of dice in the box. Still only retails for about ten bucks. If you are willing to explore other rules sets, try OD&D. I started playing when I was only 8 and understood it easily. You may have some of that in storage or on a book shelf somewhere, and it still gets them the d20 feel to a large extent, but certainly at a rule-lite sort of level. Ebay has sets all the time that you can pick up for ten bucks or more depending on condition etc. How old are the lads anyway?
My nephews are 12 and 10, so I know they should be able to pick up on most of the stuff. It's just that 3e isn't exactly the easiest of systems to pick up. I remember when we started play testing it and how just about the whole group got confused on one point or another. I would like something d20 as that is what most of my groups play and most of the books I have, save a couple of Pladium (sp?) books and 2e. Unfortunately I don't have any of the OD&D boxed sets as I started with 2e back in 90. But I might have a couple of friends who have some that I can borrow to teach. But you guys think the orange boxed set is pretty decent for new comers to learn 3e? How is it for someone who has never really DM'd before? The only game I DM'd was for Pladium and it turned out to be a Monty Hall galore as I had 4 5th level characters kill an Ancient Lich and each walk away with an artifact. That turned me away from DMing and ever since I have only been a player.
The Adventure Box set is decent. I played the 2e version with my wife and sister-in-law when they expressed an interest in the hobby to give them a watered down version before they had to invest in any big books. Other than making fun of the Stevie Nicks hairdos sported byt the female fighter type, they enjoyed it. Running them is pretty simple: adventure is already laid out for you. And heck, it's only ten bucks and as I said, if you count the dice in there, (I pay about 6 to 9 bucks for a set of dice these days it seems) it's a decent deal even if it doesn't work out. Any time teaching a kid to use their imagination, especially, family members, is time and money well spent in my book.
I think the character creation portion of 3E is the toughest part, and I think eliminating it for new players is probably best. So, I suggest asking them what type of character they would like, and then creating the characters for them, this first time. While DMing, you could also do more work than usual keeping track of their feats and skills being applied when appropriate. Also, I would say focus on the role-playing, rather than long discursions into how the rules handle things. If you make lots of mistakes with the rules, who will care at this point? Play loose and fun, and they will get the best qualities the game has to offer. If they don’t enjoy it that way, there is no way they will once all the rules are heaped on for real!
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