SouldiamondDM
Squire
Stay safe, don't talk to strangers, don't do drugs, only you can prevent forest fires, etc.
Posts: 41 
Favorite D&D Class: Warlock
Favorite D&D Race: Human
Gender: He/Him
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Post by SouldiamondDM on Jun 3, 2017 20:05:41 GMT
So. My high school seems to put on this carnival of sorts towards the end of the school year. Every student is asked to make a board game and bring it in for others to play. So, me being me, I've decided to put on a game of D&D. I'll be there an hour and a half and I have to entertain more than one group of people, so I figure that'll be two 45 minute slots.
What I've realized now is that that means I'll have 45 minutes to teach people how to play D&D and then actually play something. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to explain D&D to new players really, really quickly?
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Post by Lexurium on Jun 4, 2017 11:38:48 GMT
An idea would be to preapre a very short adventure and have charactersheets ready, though the trick is in not giving any of this to the players.
The main part that people get stuck on in DnD is usually the math, what are all these ability scores and what do I roll again? If you do all that work behind the screen you can quickly get people into actually playing very quickly.
There was this story I read about a guy who's two friends wanted to try DnD. They had very little time, so he started them off without any sheets at all. He had their characters waking up, standing in front of a tavernkeeper, both of them with total amnesia, a trail of burning footprints behind them, a town on fire and the tavernkeep screaming in their faces. The adventure consisted of finding out what the hell had just happened and ability scores were just rolled as neccessary, giving the scores a direct connection to what they were commonly used for.
Maybe preface this by telling the would-be players something in the style of "This is Dungeons and Dragons, a roleplaying game. During the game your characters will face certain obstacles. Any action you could normally take to overcome such an obstacle, you can do in the game." and then just setting them off.
Hope this all works out for you!
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Post by Jesse Ross on Jun 6, 2017 12:26:07 GMT
Simplify, simplify, simplify. I second Lexurium's suggestion of having pre-gen character sheets (or avoiding character sheets entirely). Alternately, if you want to give the flavor of D&D (including character creation) but without as many options or dice, you could go with a super rules-light fantasy RPG. I did just this thing using Tiny Dungeon, which only requires a couple of d6 per person and all you really need to track is hit points. I also didn't want my players to be digging through a bunch of pages of skills, so I turned them into printable cards that they could sift through and figure out what they wanted. You can see those cards and the simplified character sheet I made here. |
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Post by Jesse Ross on Jun 6, 2017 13:50:36 GMT
And in terms of how to explain D&D to new players, some important things to tell them: - In this game, there's no score and no one player wins or loses.
- You're working together to accomplish some task: slay the monster, rescue the kidnapped noble, recover the treasure.
- One player (the DM) gives the other players that task and helps explain the world for them and the things they encounter.
- There's no board -- all the action happens in our imaginations via the conversation we have.
- Just like acting, you pretend to be one character.
- Your characters can do pretty much whatever any normal person can (but you're probably stronger, know how to fight, and may even be able to cast magic spells).
- If you enjoy this game, you can keep playing the same character in later games and get more powerful and have new adventures.
For the game itself, I'd probably rely on a simple, formulaic structure: - The players are tasked with bringing a magical item to the next town when they hear a sound in the woods.
- When they investigate, they find someone who has lost their friend/parent/child in a cave not too far away.
- The players go to the dungeon to find the lost person.
- One quick encounter (probably focus on one or two enemies to speed the battle up).
- They get to where they think the person is but... DUH DUH! It's a trap! The person who lead them into the dungeon is trying to steal the magical item they're carrying!
- Battle ensues and the players (probably) win (bonus points if they figure out how to use the magical item against their betrayer).
Pretty basic, but for players who've never played before it should give them a good taste.
I hope that helps!
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