1st Encounter disaster

[chomskola]

SO I tried to run my first encounter as a DM. DId I handpick D and D enthusiasts? no, the vast majority of my friends dont have the aptitude or interest to play D and D so I opted for a combination of family members, friends who said they wanted to play and some in-laws. SO one of the players was very much into the game and asking good questions and thinking about how to approach it, and one other player seemed to be using his imagination and thinking in-game half the time. unfortunately, the rogue kept going off doing his own thing, opening every door and not really searching for traps. The barbarian didnt have the patience to have the character sheet explained to them and also got annoyed they coudlnt take 2 standard actions and eventually left early "tired". The barbarian and the wizard had a small talk/gossip chat for about 20 minutes while the other two characters discussed and quizzed over a major plot point and even the Fighter who was good half the time, spent half the rest of the time texting his friends on his cellphone. It was so frustrating that im seriously considering giving up, I dont think you can make a game this complex and immersive work if people arent willing to get into it. OR maybe im too demanding, any thoughts?

[robertbevan]

sounds like you need a group of players as serious as you are about the game. for our group, gaming kind of comes secondary to drinking and socializing on a friday night. we're all married and have kids and stuff. friday nights are the only times we ever see each other. if we get in some good gaming, great. if not, we still have fun.

my point is, our group probably wouldn't work well with you, but we still enjoy the game. you need a group of people who want the same thing out of a game, i think.

good luck.

[JeminiZero]

I dont think you can make a game this complex and immersive work if people arent willing to get into it.

This. Definitely. Probably. Maybe.

Here's an idea: send them the Silverclawshift archives. See which ones come back to you asking for more. Those are the ones you should probably start off with.

[chomskola]

I knwo whre you are coming from. Having families and kids changes everything, and some of us have those things, so its hard to get people to take the game seriously which I understand. On the otherhand if I was gonna be lighthearted about the whole thing id rather play the boardgames, like heroquest or d and d boardgame or whatever.

[NilOriol]

the actitude towards the game is vital to be able to get in the role you took, so if a bunch of unmotivated players try it, it will be sad.

my recomendation: search a club, therare lots of em (at least on barcelona you have one for district)

[Grail]

Start simple. If all your players are relatively new or new, they'll have enough trouble with the mechanics and understanding all the bits and pieces on their character sheet. It takes a long time to learn how to play, especially when you don't have experienced players to leverage off.

So, to offset this, make the plot simple. Don't have plot twists. Don't have heaps of NPC's. There's a reason the old boxes of DnD had basic being nothing but Dungeon Crawls. The plot for those adventures was one or two lines and then a dungeon. Take a leaf out of those games. Eventually if the players stick to it, they will get familiar enough with the mechanics that they will want more out of the story.

[inexorabletruth]

My wife and I are starting to feel the same level of frustration.

On the rare times that we can actually have company over, we feel a tremendous pressure to shut up and play. We don't want to waste precious game time sitting around and talking. But then, when the game is over, everyone is tired and wants to go home, and we feel a twinge of regret over not spending that time engaging one another as friends.

We've found a solution that works better for us (still trying it out, though). Our friends come over. D&D is on the table as an option. But so are drinks, snacks, group video games and music. If we play, we play. If we don't, we still have a great time.

Then, to get our game fix, we post in Play-by-Post (PbP) on this site. PbP is for gaming. All the in character (IC) game play goes in its own thread, and out of character (OOC) banter goes into an entirely separate thread, keeping the whole game streamlined. It's great because it doesn't interfere with our social time, and we can play any time we're up for it. It's gotten to where some of my friends have dropped out of the IRL sessions in favor of just coming over to hang out, and just play D&D with us in PbP. Admittedly, the game goes much slower than IRL games, but they aren't bogged down as heavily by OOC discussions, rules-lawering, and other distractions so it's way easier to get in character. It's working well for us. Maybe it will work for you.