They have played a little 3.5, but no 4. I was thinking of doing a homebrew where the players are demi-gods(think Greek Myth), the vast majority of things in the world are minions. The things that aren't minions would be the equivalent of magical beings(Hydras, Minotaurs, etc.) However, as an intro to 4th I'm afraid of being too different from vanilla 4th and 3.5 and would blow their minds.
Any thoughts?
My son is playing an archer... he fired 5 arrows into a ruined wall and used them to climb up a wall, and started raining arrows on the enemy. This is just a typical day for him, he's second level.
Why not first just toss them in a few dungeons just to get the hang of it. I highly recommend this (they are short dungeons with a decent amount of background material);
www.goodman-games.com/5350preview.html
Once you have the basics down start worrying about the rest. 4e is particularly DM friendly, creating and balancing campaigns\adventures\encounters is quite straight forward. Its equally DM viscious in terms of running combats, and that's something you'll all have to work at.
Probably the biggest thing to get your head (and the players) around is the concept of roles in the party. In 4e its quite clear... Defender (damage, armour), Striker (more damage, less armour), Leader (less damage, healer, armour), Controller (mucks with the enemy tactics, area attacks, less armour). So... a fighter isn't the power house of damage he once was.
As an older player who still plays 2e, there are a lot of issues for older players. The biggest is that (technically) anyone can cast spells in the form of rituals. i.e. Water Walk is a second level ritual. COmbat spells are NOT permanent. In 2e, Hold Person was bad news for the boss monster. In 4e, if it works, he's immobilized, but he gets a 50% chance saving throw every round.
Nothing sucks more than a player starting with a character and realizing that it just doesn't jell with them.
You'll get a better idea about what they want after playing a bit (Role playing or Roll playing). (I thought that Keep on the Shadowfell sucked.. but the players really liked it.)
Chaos Scar wouldn't be bad.
So I'm thinking of running a game for some friends that have limited DnD experience. I personally am a big fan of Eberron. However, I'm afraid that it may be just too much for brand new players(background, etc.)
They have played a little 3.5, but no 4. I was thinking of doing a homebrew where the players are demi-gods(think Greek Myth), the vast majority of things in the world are minions. The things that aren't minions would be the equivalent of magical beings(Hydras, Minotaurs, etc.) However, as an intro to 4th I'm afraid of being too different from vanilla 4th and 3.5 and would blow their minds.
Any thoughts?
I like the campaign idea, but I think the specialness of the campaign would be lost on the new players. Sufficient to say, having 90% of the monsters they face will give them a skewed vision of the game. "Why would anyone play a Ranger when they could play a SEEKER?"
But seriously...
Get them started on the D&D meat and potatoes. Give them a dungeon to face, and a town to rest in. If you want to use Eberron, place them in Stormreach, and let them slowly explore their way up the coast on their patron's elemental submarine ship. If they care about the people and politics of the world, slowly introduce it.
Let players choose the class and race they would most like to play, but lead them towards classes that require little forethought. Fighter > Warden because the mark is part of the attack. Sorcerer > Warlock because you don't need to curse. Warlord > other leaders because their bonus to Initiative and actions involving action points are automatic.
I wonder if I should do the Chaos Scar campaign in Dungeon, since it is low on plot but heavy on combat.
Yeah... Do something like that. See how the players like or dislike it, and get a better idea about what they want. You also want to know how much hack and slash they want, and how much role playing they want.
After that anything goes.