Post/Author/DateTime	Post
srkingdavy 01-27-05, 06:02 AM	I've been playing dnd for over a decade and have DMed for almost as long, so needless to say I've got a little bit of experience. Just got to college where NOBODY here plays d&d... of course I had to fix that :plotting: there's enough people here interested, but no experience... thing is, I've never run a game with nothing but newbies... the occastional newbie I would have in a game of mine would be helped out by the other players as a group. I was thinking about picking up the D&D adventure game, to have premade characters... either that or make my own, with ultra-simplified character sheets (just stats, to-hits and damage, with spell listings for casters) Any advice or ideas would be much appreciated!
Triludan 01-27-05, 06:42 AM	Try the deluxe character sheets, they are very easy to fill in and have all the details a character of a basic class needs..
VerinBlod 01-27-05, 06:51 AM	Or start them with some pre-made characters and run some combat with them. This lets them get the feel of combat, which is in my experience the difficult part to grasp. After such a session or two you could ask them to make up their own characters. This way you can introduce them to the game whilst playing and don't waist time explaining to much before playing the game. Hope this helps and good luck! VerinBlod
ECOM 01-27-05, 07:00 AM	I did this about a year ago because my younger brother asked me to dm for his buddys first i made them several pc level 1 (one of each class) and let them chose from them i told them that these charicters were just for learning how to play. I then ran them through several easy combats helping them with tactics and showing them the benifits and how to do several special manuvers. going through the players handbook to cover everything. then they switched charicters for a few more combats repeat. I also ran threw a few role play encounters. in all of these things i gave them options and let them know consiquences of them befor hand. this did several things 1. showed them what the diferent classes were 2. taught them the rules plus any house rules also showed how i interpreted the rules. 3. they were able to decide on what type of charicter they liked. After i felt they understood the rules (three 8 hour sesions) i helped them make charicters. level 1 core rules only with intent on only running threw a few adventures to get a feel of the whole game then they would have the option of continuing or rolling up new charicters. during these sessions limit combat and stress roleplay and offer advice and for them to reconsider there actions (at least untill the dice are thrown) After 5 more sesions i felt they had progressed enough for more serious play they liked there charicters and we continued with them for 4 months untill the sorcerer brought down an ice cave on them with a baddly placed fire ball. That is what i did for them and we have been playing for almost 2 years now. have fun
On_the_wings_of_TPK 01-27-05, 10:44 AM	Ok I'm going to assume that you are playing with college students. Becuase they are in college it is also save to assume that they know how to read, methinks. I also feel that it is save to assume that will be able to understand most of the simpler parts of DnD such as; character creation and most of the rolls they will have to do. What i recomend is that you hand out the PHB and highlight the more important chapters, character creation, combat and movemnt, equipment, and magic. After they have had to read up on it a bit, build their characters with them. I recomend that you do this as a group. Also offer advice when asked, but not before. They will learn faster the more they do themselves. After that run a few simpler campaigns untill they feel comfortable enough to take the training wheels off. Do this gradually. Sorry not editted have to go to school.
PlatinumUnicorn 01-27-05, 02:00 PM	Wow, I've attended or worked for 5 Community Colleges and Universities ranging from about 1200 students (small private University in Arizona) up to 20000 students (Northern Arizona University and University of Arkansas) and I've been able to find games and gamers at every place - though the bigger ones had considerably more options. Personally, I'd evaluate each player as to creativity, intellectual capacity and willingness to put in "extra" time (reading the rules, spell descriptions, etc) and then assign them base level characters. Obviously spell casters are the hardest to run, so I might not even use them in the first few sessions. Humm, I just an interesting idea. Make the players members of the town guard or city watch and just give them generic characters that are warrior 1. Have them be on duty when a generic goblin/orc type raid occurs and let them play through without worrying about living/dying. Then, run basically the same set-up, but let the players come in as the "on-call" support for the town guard. Include in this second session some fighter(power attack, cleave, etc) -or- cleric(healing/buffing only spells) -or- paladin -or- barbarian types that allow the players to use the simpler special abilities. Finally, run through the encounter (with some twists) a final time with the players using characters that they created to support the town guard and use it as a hook to develop the storyline(s). Good luck