My gaming group will soon be running a character creation session. There will be four newish players needing guidance through the process, two experienced players, and a dm. What suggestions do you have for leading a general character creation session?
Main concerns are:
Simultaneous guidance for different character types.
Only one players handbook for the four newish players to share.
I went through almost exactly the same thing. The best choice I made was to get my two veteran players to help me teach the newbies! It took a considerable weight off of my shoulders, decreasing the amount of work I had to do, and helping the players get to know each other, forming both real-life and in-game relationships. If your veteran players are willing, get them involved with teaching!
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I live with several severe autoimmune conditions. If I don’t get back to you right away, it’s probably because I’m not feeling well.
Can you arrange for one on one sessions? At least with the new people. Experienced ones should be ok.
Or ask the other players how they feel about it. Some new ones might be interested in seeing the kinds of things other characters can do besides their own.
It's unclear to me if your group is on D&D Beyond with a master tier enabling sharing the PHB. If that's the case, and you have those resources, you're actually in a good place, your basically teaching online or lecturing and folks can follow along with you on the website, doing breakouts (if you have an online platform supporting that) with the experienced players when its time to do that. If you aren't, you're basically teaching an online class and everyone doesn't have access to the textbook. It's not outright impossible but individual build sessions would probably be faster and more grounding for the players if you're not able to use DDB as a sort of virtual classroom. You can do it, it's just going to be a slog.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
It's unclear to me if your group is on D&D Beyond with a master tier enabling sharing the PHB. If that's the case, and you have those resources, you're actually in a good place, your basically teaching online or lecturing and folks can follow along with you on the website, doing breakouts (if you have an online platform supporting that) with the experienced players when its time to do that. If you aren't, you're basically teaching an online class and everyone doesn't have access to the textbook. It's not outright impossible but individual build sessions would probably be faster and more grounding for the players if you're not able to use DDB as a sort of virtual classroom. You can do it, it's just going to be a slog.
The players handbook available is the physical book form.
Try to have one on one sessions with the newbies beforehand, even just to talk character concepts. Otherwise you risk them never coming back.
It is very easy to forget that new players HATE character creation. They want to start playing, not mess around with admin.
It may also be worth giving them pregenerated characters and jumping right in.
I don’t know if I agree with this. It could easily be true for most people; however, when I started playing a few years ago, I loved character creation. I loved it so much that it became a pastime for me. I have a whole binder crammed with characters that I have never used, and probably never will, just because I love creating characters.
It’s entirely possible that most new players hate character creation, but maybe ask new players to give you feedback as they go through the creation process. If they enjoy it, you can take more time; if not, you can always fall back on pregen characters.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I live with several severe autoimmune conditions. If I don’t get back to you right away, it’s probably because I’m not feeling well.
Try to have one on one sessions with the newbies beforehand, even just to talk character concepts. Otherwise you risk them never coming back.
It is very easy to forget that new players HATE character creation. They want to start playing, not mess around with admin.
It may also be worth giving them pregenerated characters and jumping right in.
I don’t know if I agree with this. It could easily be true for most people; however, when I started playing a few years ago, I loved character creation. I loved it so much that it became a pastime for me. I have a whole binder crammed with characters that I have never used, and probably never will, just because I love creating characters.
It’s entirely possible that most new players hate character creation, but maybe ask new players to give you feedback as they go through the creation process. If they enjoy it, you can take more time; if not, you can always fall back on pregen characters.
This is good advice.
I was the same :). It was a real shock to me to find out that most newbies really don't enjoy that element. I think because it can be so overwhelming. Once they get the hang of the game tho, they will likely start to love character creation too.
My gaming group will soon be running a character creation session. There will be four newish players needing guidance through the process, two experienced players, and a dm. What suggestions do you have for leading a general character creation session?
Main concerns are:
Simultaneous guidance for different character types.
Only one players handbook for the four newish players to share.
Only spilt the party if you see something shiny.
Ariendela Sneakerson, Half-elf Rogue (8); Harmony Wolfsbane, Tiefling Bard (10); Agnomally, Gnomish Sorcerer (3); Breeze, Tabaxi Monk (8); Grace, Dragonborn Barbarian (7); DM, Homebrew- The Sequestered Lands/Underwater Explorers; Candlekeep
I went through almost exactly the same thing. The best choice I made was to get my two veteran players to help me teach the newbies! It took a considerable weight off of my shoulders, decreasing the amount of work I had to do, and helping the players get to know each other, forming both real-life and in-game relationships. If your veteran players are willing, get them involved with teaching!
I live with several severe autoimmune conditions. If I don’t get back to you right away, it’s probably because I’m not feeling well.
Only problem is that we’re a virtual campaign, and all the veteran players would be on one device and the new players on a different one.
Only spilt the party if you see something shiny.
Ariendela Sneakerson, Half-elf Rogue (8); Harmony Wolfsbane, Tiefling Bard (10); Agnomally, Gnomish Sorcerer (3); Breeze, Tabaxi Monk (8); Grace, Dragonborn Barbarian (7); DM, Homebrew- The Sequestered Lands/Underwater Explorers; Candlekeep
Can you arrange for one on one sessions? At least with the new people. Experienced ones should be ok.
Or ask the other players how they feel about it. Some new ones might be interested in seeing the kinds of things other characters can do besides their own.
It's unclear to me if your group is on D&D Beyond with a master tier enabling sharing the PHB. If that's the case, and you have those resources, you're actually in a good place, your basically teaching online or lecturing and folks can follow along with you on the website, doing breakouts (if you have an online platform supporting that) with the experienced players when its time to do that. If you aren't, you're basically teaching an online class and everyone doesn't have access to the textbook. It's not outright impossible but individual build sessions would probably be faster and more grounding for the players if you're not able to use DDB as a sort of virtual classroom. You can do it, it's just going to be a slog.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Try to have one on one sessions with the newbies beforehand, even just to talk character concepts. Otherwise you risk them never coming back.
It is very easy to forget that new players HATE character creation. They want to start playing, not mess around with admin.
It may also be worth giving them pregenerated characters and jumping right in.
The players handbook available is the physical book form.
Only spilt the party if you see something shiny.
Ariendela Sneakerson, Half-elf Rogue (8); Harmony Wolfsbane, Tiefling Bard (10); Agnomally, Gnomish Sorcerer (3); Breeze, Tabaxi Monk (8); Grace, Dragonborn Barbarian (7); DM, Homebrew- The Sequestered Lands/Underwater Explorers; Candlekeep
I don’t know if I agree with this. It could easily be true for most people; however, when I started playing a few years ago, I loved character creation. I loved it so much that it became a pastime for me. I have a whole binder crammed with characters that I have never used, and probably never will, just because I love creating characters.
It’s entirely possible that most new players hate character creation, but maybe ask new players to give you feedback as they go through the creation process. If they enjoy it, you can take more time; if not, you can always fall back on pregen characters.
I live with several severe autoimmune conditions. If I don’t get back to you right away, it’s probably because I’m not feeling well.
This is good advice.
I was the same :). It was a real shock to me to find out that most newbies really don't enjoy that element. I think because it can be so overwhelming. Once they get the hang of the game tho, they will likely start to love character creation too.