Archmage1
2013-02-18, 10:12 PM
Ok, the title is normal enough, however, while I have played several pbp(about 6 months), and I think I have a decent grasp on the rules, there are a few things that I would like advice on.
Character generation
First: 3 of the players are completely new to d&d. I was going to lend them some of my books, so give them a head start on the game, however, I also suspect that they won't read them.
In an effort to streamline character creation, I was thinking of asking them what they want their character to do, and then presenting them with a limited set of classes to choose from(with the agreement that they can change later, if they want to). Similarly, I would present a limited set of races, feats, that sort of thing.(was more or less going to tailor the feats to what they want the character to do, with some variance)
I was going to guide them through character creation, telling them what the numbers on their sheet do, that sort of thing, then walk them through a sample, easy, encounter. I was thinking that would be enough to get them started.
Any opinions on this?
Story
So, I was hoping a somewhat engaging first adventure, meant to introduce them to the game.
Basically, they start off as part of a caravan to a village in the middle of nowhere.
As they come in, some bandits attack the caravan(intro to combat). The guards beat them off handily(bandits will probably flee)
Once in the town, they can talk to people(have some main npc's made up, make up the rest on the spot) A murder mystery as a possible side quest.
If they choose to explore the village well, they can find some masterwork items(possibly stealing some).
They can also choose to go after some nearby goblins, or the bandits.
The caravan moves on in 2 days(so, hopefully, they won't choose to move on without the caravan)
Any tips for this?
Other stuff
I was also going to ask them what difficulty they want to play at
Easy: yea... more or less auto win combats, focus on the story
Normal: challenging fights, but they would need to screw up fairly badly to die(I would need to modify dice rolls on the fly)
Hard: Challenging fights, enemies act intelligently, I leave the dice as they fall.
Really hard: Enemies are decently optimized, and are more numerous.(readied actions, crossbows, not slings...)(Will warn them death is probable)
Exact system is 3.5, but I don't think it is really all that relevant for the question
Character generation
First: 3 of the players are completely new to d&d. I was going to lend them some of my books, so give them a head start on the game, however, I also suspect that they won't read them.
In an effort to streamline character creation, I was thinking of asking them what they want their character to do, and then presenting them with a limited set of classes to choose from(with the agreement that they can change later, if they want to). Similarly, I would present a limited set of races, feats, that sort of thing.(was more or less going to tailor the feats to what they want the character to do, with some variance)
I was going to guide them through character creation, telling them what the numbers on their sheet do, that sort of thing, then walk them through a sample, easy, encounter. I was thinking that would be enough to get them started.
Any opinions on this?
Story
So, I was hoping a somewhat engaging first adventure, meant to introduce them to the game.
Basically, they start off as part of a caravan to a village in the middle of nowhere.
As they come in, some bandits attack the caravan(intro to combat). The guards beat them off handily(bandits will probably flee)
Once in the town, they can talk to people(have some main npc's made up, make up the rest on the spot) A murder mystery as a possible side quest.
If they choose to explore the village well, they can find some masterwork items(possibly stealing some).
They can also choose to go after some nearby goblins, or the bandits.
The caravan moves on in 2 days(so, hopefully, they won't choose to move on without the caravan)
Any tips for this?
Other stuff
I was also going to ask them what difficulty they want to play at
Easy: yea... more or less auto win combats, focus on the story
Normal: challenging fights, but they would need to screw up fairly badly to die(I would need to modify dice rolls on the fly)
Hard: Challenging fights, enemies act intelligently, I leave the dice as they fall.
Really hard: Enemies are decently optimized, and are more numerous.(readied actions, crossbows, not slings...)(Will warn them death is probable)
Exact system is 3.5, but I don't think it is really all that relevant for the question