Melamoto
2009-11-26, 04:17 PM
So, my friend, a fairly hardcore gamer, has decided to play D&D. The players will be him and a bunch of his friends who I don't know. He knows little about D&D, and neither do his friends, and they often joke about it. They all play WoW, and I know my friend to be a fan of Unforgotten Realms (http://www.urealms.com/). I was not at all surprised when he asked me which classes could cast flare, and what advantages he could reap from being a lumberjack. He knows I play D&D, and asked me for advice.
The problem came when I asked him who was going to DM for them, and he responded "You." I have close to no DMing experience, but I'm the only one who knows the game that they have. I'm planning on running some published modules for practise, and naturally we shall be playing Core-Only. But I still lack DM experience, and if I seem amateur in front of a group of people who don't know what to expect, they may simply dismiss the game forever.
And the problems continue to pile up, as there will be group issues too. For one thing, my friend follows the ganker mentality in WoW, and wants to play Chaotic Stupid Evil. And as if the gaming gods decided things weren't bad enough, one of the people who will likely be playing is apparently rather disliked by my friend, who said he would try to kill him in his sleep. I said that I wouldn't let it happen unless everyone wanted a PvP game, but I fear that with his group's style, they won't realise what that truly means. I could always Rule 0 it, but that might put them off the game.
Don't get me wrong, I think they could have great fun playing the game if they got into it and understood it, but I'm worried they will never get the chance.
Does any kind soul have any advice I could use to help keep this alive? I will be starting above 1st level, they are generally more hack-n-slash with a bit of puzzle solving type gamers, and I will help them build their characters. Anything else that would help?
The problem came when I asked him who was going to DM for them, and he responded "You." I have close to no DMing experience, but I'm the only one who knows the game that they have. I'm planning on running some published modules for practise, and naturally we shall be playing Core-Only. But I still lack DM experience, and if I seem amateur in front of a group of people who don't know what to expect, they may simply dismiss the game forever.
And the problems continue to pile up, as there will be group issues too. For one thing, my friend follows the ganker mentality in WoW, and wants to play Chaotic Stupid Evil. And as if the gaming gods decided things weren't bad enough, one of the people who will likely be playing is apparently rather disliked by my friend, who said he would try to kill him in his sleep. I said that I wouldn't let it happen unless everyone wanted a PvP game, but I fear that with his group's style, they won't realise what that truly means. I could always Rule 0 it, but that might put them off the game.
Don't get me wrong, I think they could have great fun playing the game if they got into it and understood it, but I'm worried they will never get the chance.
Does any kind soul have any advice I could use to help keep this alive? I will be starting above 1st level, they are generally more hack-n-slash with a bit of puzzle solving type gamers, and I will help them build their characters. Anything else that would help?