Take things slow. Be patient with the new people. If there are any experienced people in the group, encourage them to help the new people rather than getting frustrated with them.
Premake their characters for them. You don't want to be too controlling, so maybe give them some options (e.g. "do you want to be athletic?" = proficiency in Athletics). Usually, when I have multiple people new to D&D, I would probably try to ease them into the rules through in-game contests and encounters. Imagine something like you're in a tavern (of course!) -- you first meet each other, and get a demonstration of D&D's roleplay. Then, you have them leave and see something happening, and get them to pursue/investigate. This'll introduce them to ability checks, and then to get them into combat, you can take it step by step (or maybe have the people who know how to play D&D (if any) go first in the initiative order).
Anyway: Ease them into it. D&D's a complicated game, and daunting for those who are first learning it. Most of all, make sure they -- and you -- have fun.
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wes (he/him, bi) — DM, romantic, a little bit eldritch The Soft in the Storm, your Friendly Neighborhood Storysmith, The Fae Conspirator perhaps the first mouse you all are the best people I know — thank you coming forth to rebehold the stars extended sig here, check it out!
Give them a lot of love via "Yes, and..." so they can try a lot out. If they are new, teach by letting them push all the buttons vs restricting them with a lot of hard focus on the rules. Give them a "try anything" engine that shows logical but not overtly difficult consequences.
The thing I’ve discovered makes a huge difference and experienced players totally take for granted: make it very clear which dice is which. There’s no point telling people to roll a d20 when they’ve got seven dice, six of which they’ve probably never seen before, and have no idea which is which
I don't know if I am too late to the party, but I recently introduced 3 new players to the game via a one-shot. The biggest thing I did was have an idea of what all their characters did and helped them figure out what sorts of decisions may be most effective. I did a lot of walking around the table to look at spell lists - not telling them what to do, just saying things like "well, this is a skeleton, so you know that hitting it with an arrow may not be best, but you could buff your friend that is holding a flail, or you could cast a spell at the skeleton". I didn't fudge any dice rolls, but the boss monster didn't fight optimally. Most people don't want to lose a character the first time they play. There also may have been some rules bent (not broken) in the players' favor, and I celebrated with them when they struck the final blow. You can also model behaviors and habits you want them to have at the table: roleplaying, creative problem solving, and being thoughtful about actions. Make their victories feel epic and celebrate creativity. The most important thing is to make sure everyone is having fun.
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Any tips on how I should run this?
Take things slow. Be patient with the new people. If there are any experienced people in the group, encourage them to help the new people rather than getting frustrated with them.
pronouns: he/she/they
Can you give more context?
Premake their characters for them. You don't want to be too controlling, so maybe give them some options (e.g. "do you want to be athletic?" = proficiency in Athletics). Usually, when I have multiple people new to D&D, I would probably try to ease them into the rules through in-game contests and encounters. Imagine something like you're in a tavern (of course!) -- you first meet each other, and get a demonstration of D&D's roleplay. Then, you have them leave and see something happening, and get them to pursue/investigate. This'll introduce them to ability checks, and then to get them into combat, you can take it step by step (or maybe have the people who know how to play D&D (if any) go first in the initiative order).
Anyway: Ease them into it. D&D's a complicated game, and daunting for those who are first learning it. Most of all, make sure they -- and you -- have fun.
wes (he/him, bi) — DM, romantic, a little bit eldritch
The Soft in the Storm, your Friendly Neighborhood Storysmith, The Fae Conspirator
perhaps the first mouse
you all are the best people I know — thank you
coming forth to rebehold the stars
extended sig here, check it out!
Give them a lot of love via "Yes, and..." so they can try a lot out. If they are new, teach by letting them push all the buttons vs restricting them with a lot of hard focus on the rules. Give them a "try anything" engine that shows logical but not overtly difficult consequences.
The thing I’ve discovered makes a huge difference and experienced players totally take for granted: make it very clear which dice is which. There’s no point telling people to roll a d20 when they’ve got seven dice, six of which they’ve probably never seen before, and have no idea which is which
I don't know if I am too late to the party, but I recently introduced 3 new players to the game via a one-shot. The biggest thing I did was have an idea of what all their characters did and helped them figure out what sorts of decisions may be most effective. I did a lot of walking around the table to look at spell lists - not telling them what to do, just saying things like "well, this is a skeleton, so you know that hitting it with an arrow may not be best, but you could buff your friend that is holding a flail, or you could cast a spell at the skeleton". I didn't fudge any dice rolls, but the boss monster didn't fight optimally. Most people don't want to lose a character the first time they play. There also may have been some rules bent (not broken) in the players' favor, and I celebrated with them when they struck the final blow. You can also model behaviors and habits you want them to have at the table: roleplaying, creative problem solving, and being thoughtful about actions. Make their victories feel epic and celebrate creativity. The most important thing is to make sure everyone is having fun.