I'm very new to the D&D world and the many boardgames/player books out there, so I was wondering if someone could offer me some advice. At the moment I am an English teacher in a UK high school and I want to create a D&D club at lunchtime as a way to help the more reserved members of the school to meet and make friends. I thought doing D&D would be a great way to do this. My questions then:
1) D&D 3.5 or 4? (It's hard to get the player book for 3.5 - reviewers on Amazon suggest, though, it is better than 4 - something to do with 4 reducing the level of play to a simple game of Warcraft [losing all the imaginative RPG elements])
2) Boardgame - I've ordered one but I've just found a minatures boardgame on e-bay
Not sure if I have the right one now.3) Is it possible to have a game that last for about 40mins and if not is there anyway to 'remember' where the game ended.
4) I also have this idea that playing the game can improve imaginative skills even story-telling skills - what do you think?
5) I know I shouldn't ask this, but can the game be very difficult to play? Is there a useful instructional manual all will everything be in the game box?
Barbara
Any help or advice would be much appreciated - I'm going dizzy at all the different packs, game boxes and books out there.
I tried to DM D&D 4th edition for few kids at a local youth centre and I find that 4th edition worked well for them. I bought the quickstart set and invited a few of those kids playing flashgames on the centre's computers to try it out. The boardgame element helped them imagine their way around the challenges I threw at them. But with me being the DM, I was able to steer the story and to add a few roleplay elements. E.g. one player even became quite keen to recruit beaten enemies for his throng of followers, others liked to interact with the NPCs and, in combat, make use of the terrain.
I find that D&D 4th ed works better because of the visual aspects of the game and the reduced complexity. I have had more than enough grown-ups mess up entire sessions of D&D 3.5 because they were multi-classed PCs and couldn't get their BABs and saving throws right - not to mention the frustrating elements of previous D&D editions such as Save-or-Dies or 1st level spells that allow a player to manipulate NPCs or a DM to dominate players (the later is bad enough in the hands of the DM, but a player might cause grief as well). Also, the saves being so off the scales might have players end up with conditions they can't save against, unless on a natural 20.
As for keeping track of the game, D&D 4th edition has the advantage of condensed monster stat blocks, which means you have all the information right at your fingertips. In earlier editions, enemies or monsters with spell-casting abilities meant a lot of work, flipping through 2 or 3 books just to find the spells listed in its creature description.
In short, since D&D 4th...
- has better balanced classes (the power system means that the fighters remain attractive choices at high levels, and the casters aren't as useless as they were at low levels)
- encourages teamplay more than system mastery
- allows more freeform roleplay by removing little used skills from the game (which can be added as background skills a player won't frequently use, e.g. the fighter forging her own weapons, the wizard being an adept cartographer without having to roll for it every time).
- is easier to keep track of in combat
- provides a clearly defined mechanic for resolving non-combat encounters in the shape of skill challenges
and has a few more advantages I can't think of at the moment, I can only recommend for groups of younger players.
Cheers!
Captn M.
PS: DISCLAIMER: I have no intention to rekindle an edition war, as I merely stated my experiences with D&D 4th ed and earlier editions and added my observations on why D&D 4th edition would serve the OP better.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00028X3HC/ref=s9_simh_gw_p21_i1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-3&pf_rd_r=1EFAVD13ZAQ1RZG55CP0&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467128473&pf_rd_i=468294
Would this one work alright? Sorry for being a numpty about all of this but I've never played the game before. Oh, in terms of 4, is there a great deal of emphasis in using the Insider stuff? Will we need to use the official webpage to create characters?
IbeGnome
I 'm not all too familiar with that boardgame. It's from 3rd edition, but I think you could easily use the miniatures and board tiles for your purposes.
Cheers!
Captn M.
Well, I got a few advises for you since you're just entering the DnD world.
First of all, I love over all the other editions of D&D the AD&D second edition, but I must admit 4E its better teaching new players the rules. Two things you HAVE TO read is: D&D 4E Player's Handbook and Dungeon Masters Guide, but read 'em after you have played some easy quests with the quick start rules, available here: www.wizards.com/dnd/TryDnD.aspx
Don't worry about almost ANYTHING at the very beginning, just make sure they got the characters and you got the quests clear in your mind. For battles and so on, use a gridded piece of paper, with squares of 1 inches for D&D minis, or any miniatures you wanna use.
If you find too hard that quick start rules for the childs, try and use the rpg for kids that newbieDM created. you can download it here: newbiedm.com/downloads/
In this great page, fell free to ask everything, cause there they are newbie DMs, and a lot of long time DMs are there too so they can be really helpfull
Please, post any doubt you have, or feel free to add me as friend and send me messages so I can help you.
Hope things work great ^^
I'm starting to get all sorts of games and books together and I'm going to try to read through some of them this week. I'll let you know if I have any problems. I'm thinking of using the Starter Kit to begin with whilst I get to grasp with the books and hopefully we won't get confused. I'm looking out for the 'Hero Quest' boardgame - they quickly get a bit pricey on e-bay but I'll keep checking.Thanks for the great links as well. I'm using both of them to keep up to date on the changes in the game as well as new maps to use.
Thanks again
