JediSoth
2012-09-27, 07:57 AM
OK, so I've cross-posted this on several forums already, but I figure more opinions never hurt.
Here's the original question: For the sake of argument, say you had 3 players. You wanted to make a D&D campaign. One that is friendly to a new player (new to RPGs in general; a true newbie), but with complex enough character customization to also appeal to veterans. You cannot count on a perfectly balanced party. You may be missing either an arcane caster or a divine caster, perhaps both.
Which edition and/or campaign setting would you choose? (Saying "I wouldn't play D&D isn't a valid response.")
Here's additional background I posted because most people have been assuming I'm a newbie, as well: 2 of the 3 players have a preference for a particular version of D&D (not the same one, naturally). The only player that doesn't already have a preference is the new person (OK, she's my wife, which is one reason I'm not going to take a hard-nosed approach with what we're playing and things like that and I am going to acquiesce to her request to teach her D&D BY NAME).
I have a current campaign that's going to cycle through all the editions in which she participates (see the DoctorStrangeRoll link in my sig), but attendance isn't regular enough for us to play it often enough for either of our tastes. I'm not going to abandon that game, but I'm also not going to push forward with half the group absent (these two things are non-negotiable right now for reason I won't go into), so this will be a second game the three regular players can play and actually make progress in so my wife can learn the game and learn RPGs*.
I own pretty much every edition of D&D, as well as 15-20 other RPGs, so I'm well versed in most of them. I'm just trying to get a variety of opinions, mostly to A) validate my own thoughts and B) possibly awaken my mind to new ideas since us old grognards can sometimes not see the bleedin' obvious.
*Yes, I know there are better games for 3 people and better games for learning all about how to play RPGs, but she wants to learn on D&D and she who bought my Geek Chic table gets at least 3 or 4 votes on this matter, in my opinion.
Here's the original question: For the sake of argument, say you had 3 players. You wanted to make a D&D campaign. One that is friendly to a new player (new to RPGs in general; a true newbie), but with complex enough character customization to also appeal to veterans. You cannot count on a perfectly balanced party. You may be missing either an arcane caster or a divine caster, perhaps both.
Which edition and/or campaign setting would you choose? (Saying "I wouldn't play D&D isn't a valid response.")
Here's additional background I posted because most people have been assuming I'm a newbie, as well: 2 of the 3 players have a preference for a particular version of D&D (not the same one, naturally). The only player that doesn't already have a preference is the new person (OK, she's my wife, which is one reason I'm not going to take a hard-nosed approach with what we're playing and things like that and I am going to acquiesce to her request to teach her D&D BY NAME).
I have a current campaign that's going to cycle through all the editions in which she participates (see the DoctorStrangeRoll link in my sig), but attendance isn't regular enough for us to play it often enough for either of our tastes. I'm not going to abandon that game, but I'm also not going to push forward with half the group absent (these two things are non-negotiable right now for reason I won't go into), so this will be a second game the three regular players can play and actually make progress in so my wife can learn the game and learn RPGs*.
I own pretty much every edition of D&D, as well as 15-20 other RPGs, so I'm well versed in most of them. I'm just trying to get a variety of opinions, mostly to A) validate my own thoughts and B) possibly awaken my mind to new ideas since us old grognards can sometimes not see the bleedin' obvious.
*Yes, I know there are better games for 3 people and better games for learning all about how to play RPGs, but she wants to learn on D&D and she who bought my Geek Chic table gets at least 3 or 4 votes on this matter, in my opinion.