D&D 5E Teaching the game

[robus]

So I've been asked to teach D&D 5e to a new group that wants to start up in a neighboring town. They're going to visit for the afternoon/evening and I'm going to run them through a simple adventure and take time to talk about different aspects of the game and what (in my opinion) the key DM (and player) skills to focus on should be.

On the DM side:

*) General role of the DM (i.e. don't be in opposition to the players!)
*) How I prep for a session
*) Adjudicating Actions (of course)
*) Narrating & Tracking Combat
*) Social Interaction
*) Scene Description
*) Advantage & Disadvantage
*) The difference between passive, active and group skill checks.

On the Player side:
*) Engage with the world - interact with it, poke it, ask it questions
*) When stating an action provide both Goal & Approach. What are you trying to accomplish and how are you going about it?
*) During combat, monitor the situation closely so you're ready to take your action when your turn comes
*) Don't worry about putting on an accent - just think about what your character might do and how they might react

I'm not wanting to spend a bunch of time on making characters as that's a whole can of worms and is something that can be learned separately, so we'll be using pregens so everyone can get a hang of how the game flows.

So... what have I forgotten? (Remembering I'm trying to cover the basics!)

 

[iserith]

This kind of falls in the Engage With the World category, but something along the lines of Have Goals and Pursue them. You could point out that the DM will usually provide hooks to adventure which are, of course, goals. So take hooks when you can. Don't put up your own barriers between your character and the adventure. You're an adventurer, so go adventuring!

 

[robus]

[MENTION=97077]iserith[/MENTION], good point - and your mentioning of the word "goal" made me realize I missed a key player thing: actions declarations need both a goal and an approach!

 

[Tony Vargas]

Are you running for them, or trying to coach a new group with a new DM?

I'd really expect the former to work better. Teach everyone how to play, first - 'teach' DMing mainly by example until someone shows the necessary enthusiasm/promise/system-mastery/etc to take it up...

 

[robus]

Are you running for them, or trying to coach a new group with a new DM?

I'd really expect the former to work better. Teach everyone how to play, first - 'teach' DMing mainly by example until someone shows the necessary enthusiasm/promise/system-mastery/etc to take it up...

Definitely running the game for them and then adding commentary (based upon the things I want to hit above).

 

[hawknsparrow]

Find a good you tube/ podcast that best mimics your style

Sent from my SM-N900P using EN World mobile app

 

[hawknsparrow]

Twitch can work as well... have them see an example of play

Sent from my SM-N900P using EN World mobile app

 

[Jester David]

Okay, for something like this where you're going to introduce the game to new people who are then, presumably, going to go off an play themselves, this is what I would do:

First, play the game. Play half of an adventure where they just worry about learning how to play. A nice introductory experience with some player choices and all three pillars. Do that for 2-3 hours. At least.
Teach them how to use their character. Teach them the dice. Teach them ability checks, and attack rolls, and saving throws.
Personally, I like beginning with a carnival/ fair with events. Archery and wrestling contests for attack rolls, pie eating for saving throws, races for ability checks, etc. Maybe an obstacle course.
Then have that move into an actual adventure. There's a problem. Have a small dungeon with actual combat and hit point loss. Something simple.

However, DON'T stop the game to continually explain things. Keep things moving and fun. Make it enjoyable first and foremost. Don't break the flow with constant corrections and the like.

About halfway through pause and explain what happened. Show your notes and explain how you made the story and adjudicated their actions and responded to their choices. Take a half hour to look behind the screen at the game. How you adjudicated and such. When you knew the rules, when you didn't.
Maybe some small suggestions and bits of advice. Like the importance of paying attention & thinking ahead for players, and managing the table & keeping things moving for the DM.

Then, after the break, maybe wrap up the game. Big climax. Maybe a nice cliffhanger. Make them want to come back.
And then explain how you would plan what happens next. How you prepped for the session and how you'd prep for the next.


Also, pregens are nice, but I'd say leave the background absent. Pick class, race, etc. But let them pick their background from a list.
Maybe include backgrounds on separate lists of paper (a half-page at MOST), with a couple skill choices and a couple personality traits. So they can just mark off the skills on their sheet. (The feature and details don't matter.)
That allows them to personalise their character slightly and you can show them where the skills are.

 

[robus]

Good points Jester. I'll hold off until the end of a scene before talking about things. I want to make sure they can ask questions about what happened while they're thinking of them.

 

[robus]

Well I finally ran my "intro to D&D" and it went great. It helped that the players weren't shy and I was able to use many situations as teachable moments without bringing everything to a halt. Despite playing for almost 6 hours they all said it flew by and they had great fun.

Hopefully a couple of new groups will come out of it.