So, I have been hired locally to write and DM a short module for beginners to introduce them to the game of D&D. I normally write long involved campaigns. So, I am having a little difficulty with the concept of engineering a module to last only 3 hours with no chance of a revisit. How does one manage that type of thing?
I've DM'd in a couple of national competitions and big events, so I've run across these problems and share your pain.
First and foremost is the issue known in our gaming group - never mind why - as Dyer's Law (although I've seen similar statements all over the place since the advent of teh interwebz): "A session will take twice as long to run as you think it will, even if you take Dyer's Law into account."
With an unfamiliar group - particularly those who are unfamiliar to each other as well as to you - there can be a lot of pecking-order-establishment and back-story grandstanding to deal with. Not always, but often enough. While all this stuff is well and good in its place, you can't afford to indulge it overmuch when you have a hard time limit.
I've been known to use a chess clock (well, a kitchen timer really) for characters doing "this is me" exposition as well as the more usual application of players taking actions in combat rounds! That's well and good in competitions, but you might not want to be so blatant when all you're doing is introducing people to the game.
Nonetheless, if I were you I'd divide up your three hours into the time you want to allocate to various activities and then
write to the agenda, not the concept. It's the only way I've found to avoid Dyer's Law. If you've got 3 hours, or 4, or 2, there's no point trying to desperately cram in a complex plot that would take minimum 8 hours to play satisfactorily.
A simple plot that is given as much time as necessary to unfold is vastly more satisfying over a fixed-duration campaign than a plot which leaves half the people at the table scratching their heads.
Example 1
Here's one suggestion for how you might divide 3 hours of time:
15 minutes comfort breaks/general disruption*
25 minutes player and character introduction**/campaign background exposition/questions
60 minutes NPC interaction/information gathering/map area description*
70 minutes actual combat/encounters*
10 minutes wrap-up/discussion
If you say, at a reasonable average, that you're going to allow each player 2 minutes of time to decide what they're doing in a combat round, you've got
at most 35 rounds of combat with the above timetable. Make your encounters fit the time, and if you allow a margin, so much the better. Your watch is your friend throughout.
* Over the course of the game, not sequentially!
** A hint for breaking the ice at the table: before they read their characters, get the players to introduce themselves, round-robin fashion, and have a shortlist of questions for them to answer. Name, age, occupation (depending on age), favourite colour, how they got interested in the game/ended up here today; that sort of thing. You go first. This is easier for most people to do than in-character stuff, particularly if they're new to RP. Keep your eye on your watch, and if you have to stop someone because time is getting on, do it by thanking them for being so interesting/funny/entertaining/whatever rather than just stopping them cold.
The key, as in so many things, lies in the preparation. More about this later, but for now I'll say this: a really short adventure often requires
more work (up front, at least) than a longer one. When there's no time limit you can afford to "wing it" a lot more than you can when you're on short rations for in-game time.
Here are other suggestions I need as well:
What would be an appropriate level to start beginners at so that they have a few powers to play with, but aren't so overwhelmed they don't know what to do?
3rd level. They've got enough abilities to keep them interesting (and enough hit points that they're not susceptible to being taken out by a housecat) but don't yet have any game-changing powers.
[You can also allow them to "level up" mid-session from 3rd to 4th to show them how it works and - if you've done your prep work well (and preferably chosen their new options for them and pre-printed the new sheets) - it won't take long and won't introduce anything problematic. Use this with caution, as it will take longer than you think no matter how much prep you do... but it is a good way to demonstrate advancement in the game, and I understand that demonstration is what this is all about.]
Here's where yet more preparation work comes in. In order to speed up gameplay, not only are you going to need pre-generated characters, but also explanations of what their abilities do. Give example tactics. If some of your players turn out to have some experience of this or other systems, they can feel free to abandon your examples in favour of their own ideas, but if you've got complete novices on your hands you'll want to help them out without taking loads of time in-game to do so.
So, you've generated characters and given them a laundry list of pre-chosen spells/powers/maneuvers/whatever. Great, but it doesn't end there. If you're running a game for people who haven't role-played before, it's important to give them pre-generated
personalities too. Role-playing comes naturally to some, but others find it very difficult to begin with. Giving them hooks to hang their hats on (in terms of personality traits, quirks and existing friendships or rivalries) paradoxically gives "shy" people
more freedom. They'll roleplay what's written on the cards because it's written down by the person in charge and therefore OK, whereas without any guidance they might not dare to say two words together for the whole session.
This goes double if you end up with a couple of show-stealing extroverts in the mix!
As with the suggested tactics, you make it clear that they're free to develop their own personalities (most will by the end of the session whether they say so or not) but that sticking with what you've given them is fine, too. Make them big and bold - archetypal if you will - as you just
don't have time for exploring the subtleties and nuances of "deep" characters. The serious extroverts will lap it up, and the shy people will at least have easy personality traits to demonstrate.
This is also a sneaky way of:
1) ensuring a balanced party dynamic in terms of relationships as well as mechanics: the shorter the game, the smoother it needs to run if you want to accomplish anything
2) keeping them on the rails ("Gina is
very curious by nature: are you
sure
she doesn't want to investigate the shiny box"?)
3) getting the players involved from the word go: as you hand out the characters (or get the to choose from a hat), you can tell everyone not to reveal the information about their character except in-game... there won't actually
be any dark secrets (that would be counter-productive) but people will feel like they're in on something.
Gentle railroading can be necessary and desirable with a group of mixed-ability newbies to the game.
Example 2
Here's the sort of thing I'd advise giving new players, over and above the basic information on a character sheet...
***
Izrykon "the Dazzling" - Half-Elven Wizard 3
Personality: Known as "Izzy" to the other party members, Izrykon is charming and outgoing. He enjoys using flashy magic and is always pleased to be noticed: whether due to his enemies running in fear, or his allies praising his magical skills.
Quirks: Izzy's sunny personality can get a bit cloudy when people make offensive references to his half-elven heritage. He's too smart to start a fight about it there and then, but he will remember the insult when the time is right. He won't take disproportionate revenge for a slight, but is quite prepared to use his illusions to play some nasty tricks!
Other party members: Izrykon gets on well with the whole party, but particularly enjoys teaming up with Gina the halfling Rogue... He likes to use illusions like
silent image and
ghost sound to create distractions while she sneaks into position.
Other tactics: If he gets the chance, when facing a large group of enemies he'll usually drop a
glitterdust before Tiran (the half-orc Fighter) or Corvin (the human Cleric) get into combat in order to give them the best possible chance. Ever since he once saw a one-way (half-silvered) mirror at his mentor's house, he has been fond of creating a giant illusion of one when ranged combat seems likely... the enemies in front of the mirror see only reflections of themselves whilst the party behind the mirror can see the enemies perfectly!
If the enemies don't seem like much of a threat or there are only a couple of opponents, he might well stay at the back and use his crossbow until it becomes clear whether his magic is needed.
He might say:
"Watch THIS guys!"
"Prepare to be dazzled!"
"Don't worry, my friends: I've got
just the right spell for this."
***
Do this for everyone, and you can pretty much guarantee to have a party that works. By the way, I've drawn this example based on a "mental picture" of 3.5E, as my 4E knowledge is out-of-date and nigh-forgotten; I'd guess that similar principles would apply regardless of system. I certainly used the technique when running a live-action game for at the GenCon UK 4E release event
What is a good way to establish how they know each other really quickly off them bat so that there is no working people into the story line?
Well, that's an easy one. You can use the same backstory for each, and that's probably the simplest way to go...
...maybe they were all from a small town that was evacuated months back due to an advancing Goblin Horde, and got a taste for the adventuring life in the ensuing struggles to keep their townsfolk safe...
...maybe they've been recruited for a special operation of some sort after serving together under a military or civil authority...
...maybe they've
failed to be picked for something with a big reward, but struck up a friendship during the recruitment process and are now trying to steal a march on the people who
were picked. Quite probably the other guys cheated. Or perhaps the PC's discovered that the chosen candidates were actually spies working for the enemy (when the Rogue overheard a conversation whilst "scouting" someone's room) and so the PC's made a pact to get to the destination first.
The options in the last paragraph give you an instant simple scenario as well as a backstory
Finally, be detailed, but not wordy. Have a solid concept, a name and a brief description for every NPC you introduce. Leave yourself one-or-two-word notes about their personality (short-tempered, snobbish, eager to please, etc.) to help you when the players get randomly interested in the wrong things. Heck, I find it helps me enormously to put a couple of hobbies or interests down; nothing painstaking, just enough to make the character seem to have more depth than they really do when making small talk or giving excuses to leave. Another technique that works well without adding a great deal of time is to have a few NPC's be related to each other... although that's a sure-fire way to convince novices that there's something noteworthy about the fact when there isn't, so maybe not
That sort of stuff can put a LOT of apparent flesh on bones without needing huge additional preparation or taking a lot of in-game time to use... and if the players side-step the lot, you've lost nothing. Similar approaches work for area/terrain descriptions.
Anyway, I hope some of this helps - I realise it's a wall of text (and how!) but this is quite a broad topic to cover in a forum post!
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