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olthar
2011-05-20, 01:45 PM
...playing D&D.

I'm running a game in a couple of days for a bunch of people who have never played D&D before and I was wondering if I could get some advice. I had an idea of a game that required only a moderate amount of roleplaying, but was very story based.

The question is, can first time players handle a short-based game or should I throw them into a story-light combat scenario? I have no idea how they'll react to the game at all. If it matters, they are all mid 20s to early 30s.

Morghen
2011-05-20, 01:52 PM
What version are you playing?
How many people are playing?
Have you played before?

Seatbelt
2011-05-20, 01:54 PM
The way I handle new players is to treat them like any other player and run my campaign as normal. But instead of having them tell me what they are doing (i move 30 feet, swift action this spell and attack, I got a 23 does that hit?) I ask them what they want their character to do and then I tell them how to do it.

I mean in all honesty the hard part of D&D is not the story, its the rules. Everyone has an imagination. But translating that in to actions in a game can be difficult.

olthar
2011-05-20, 02:09 PM
What version are you playing?
How many people are playing?
Have you played before?

3.5
5
on and off for ~20 years.

Lyra Reynolds
2011-05-20, 02:15 PM
The way I did it was to throw them into sort of a tutorial game. Three sessions, with a bit of everything: roleplaying, puzzles, combat, gathering information, connecting clues, etc. The 'campaign' did have a closed ending, but with enough possibilities to segue into a larger campaign - which it did. Three years later and we're still playing. :)

And what Seatbelt said. I'd first let them learn how to roleplay, to discover the fun in being someone else for a while and to leave behind the slight embarrassment of acting out things at the table. Then afterwards (and most of the time during!) they can learn the rules. If they have enough fun playing they'd mostly want to learn anyway. :p

Morghen
2011-05-20, 02:16 PM
3.5Then definitely start at a low level to make sure they don't get completely overwhelmed by the zillions of options available to them. It'll also cut down on the "What does [Feat] do?" that you'll undoubtedly be getting all night long.


5Totally manageable. Have you GMed before?


on and off for ~20 years.Cool. Do you know 3.5 really well? That'll be a huge help. The last time I GMed was a system that I love flavor-wise but barely know mechanically. It was a not-awesome experience for everybody at the table.

Dr.Epic
2011-05-20, 03:07 PM
I would put more focus on roleplaying as it'll be the easiest part for anyone to pick and is the funniest part of the game.

Loki_42
2011-05-20, 03:44 PM
I'm gonna go with what some other people have said and suggest focusing on the rp and story. Those are the parts that are easy to get, because you don't need to learn any rules for them at all. Combat is the most difficult part of the game.

Anxe
2011-05-20, 04:44 PM
How old are the people you're playing with? Do you have an idea whether they would like story based or roll based play?