Hi, so long story short I know quite a bit about dnd and got my friend hooked on it to. He then decided to get a bunch of our other friends together to start playing, with him and 3 others being unfamiliar to game mechanics and the whatnot.
So I was wondering if anyone knew an order on how to teach them the basics of the game that would let us talk smoothly about one mechanic to the next.
I don't know if there a specific order that's good as I'm quite new to the game myself - but maybe if the idea is to talk and to introduce new players before playing could be to go through things in the order they come in the players handbook?
Otherwise, why not talk them through character creation and then start an adventure with them and talk them through new mechanics as they come along? Pace it slowly, maybe spend some time explaining what their options are when they encounter certain things until they get a hang of it and if they get to an encounter they've met before hold back on the options and ask if they know what to do. That way you get feedback on how well they picked up on the information.
Another option could be to just sit down, watch a stream/vod of a group playing and talk about the mechanics that shows up. Battle is according to me one of the most confusing parts about the game as a new player and it's easy to forget that you both got movement, action and a bonus action.
That's a tough one, most people learn the rules through trial and error.
You could use the table of contents in the PHB as a general guide and go on from there. I think making the actual character sheet and knowing how spells work is half the battle, the rest is pretty simple.
I teach DnD to new players in a very simple format. I first make a BAZILLION or so premade PCs with the races and options I WILL allow in my game. I use a number of highlighters (4-6 colors) to mark certain things on their sheets for ease of reference, like Armor Class, Hit Points, Saving Throws, and Attacks and Spell to Hits. Once I get the players used to the sheet and the key I make for the colors, I introduce the important die- the d20. I instruct them when to roll this die and what to add according to my requests, like their to Hit when making a sword attack or their Will Save when resisting a Charm Person. i then only give them the dice they need. This is usually only a d20 and a d8 or d6 based on weapon. Spell casters can get more types, but I have to hand hold newbie spellcasters a lot. I do not info dump rules upon rules to them in any way. I simply state that in this game your PC can try to do almost anything. Common Sense and or a Die roll will determine if they are successful. The common sense thing is for ensuring that PCs are not attempting to fly or seduce Dragons. Neither of which is having any chance in my game.
Every other rule, I can slowly implement as the PCs need them. Are you in a good place to launch an attack? This is called Advantage and this is how it works. Everyone paying attention?
One last thing: The Basic Rules are free and heavily encouraged for new players to start to read once they decide to invest mental and emotional energy in the game. It is not a prerequisite.
The people of Critical Role have a video series they are working on called Handbooker Helper (https://critrole.com/filter/handbooker-helper/ ) that has some good starting points. It basically gives an over view of a lot of spots. Personally when I teach D&D I usually have them build a character and start playing and guide them along the way.
As the GM, even though you play the villains, you are not the enemy. So offer advice and guide them through the turns. Eventually you can "ween" them off the advice and they will be pretty confident in their understanding of their character's abilities.
Obviously this requires you to be confident in the rules yourself. You got this, and have fun!
WotC put out a starter adventure for just this purpose. If you don't want to use a premade module (the starter kit even has premade character sheets), you could homebrew your own adventure and create your own premade character sheets and just guide them through each mechanic as it comes up.
Hi, so long story short I know quite a bit about dnd and got my friend hooked on it to. He then decided to get a bunch of our other friends together to start playing, with him and 3 others being unfamiliar to game mechanics and the whatnot.
So I was wondering if anyone knew an order on how to teach them the basics of the game that would let us talk smoothly about one mechanic to the next.
Thanks in advanced
I don't know if there a specific order that's good as I'm quite new to the game myself - but maybe if the idea is to talk and to introduce new players before playing could be to go through things in the order they come in the players handbook?
Otherwise, why not talk them through character creation and then start an adventure with them and talk them through new mechanics as they come along? Pace it slowly, maybe spend some time explaining what their options are when they encounter certain things until they get a hang of it and if they get to an encounter they've met before hold back on the options and ask if they know what to do. That way you get feedback on how well they picked up on the information.
Another option could be to just sit down, watch a stream/vod of a group playing and talk about the mechanics that shows up. Battle is according to me one of the most confusing parts about the game as a new player and it's easy to forget that you both got movement, action and a bonus action.
Good luck!
That's a tough one, most people learn the rules through trial and error.
You could use the table of contents in the PHB as a general guide and go on from there. I think making the actual character sheet and knowing how spells work is half the battle, the rest is pretty simple.
Hello,
I teach DnD to new players in a very simple format. I first make a BAZILLION or so premade PCs with the races and options I WILL allow in my game. I use a number of highlighters (4-6 colors) to mark certain things on their sheets for ease of reference, like Armor Class, Hit Points, Saving Throws, and Attacks and Spell to Hits. Once I get the players used to the sheet and the key I make for the colors, I introduce the important die- the d20. I instruct them when to roll this die and what to add according to my requests, like their to Hit when making a sword attack or their Will Save when resisting a Charm Person. i then only give them the dice they need. This is usually only a d20 and a d8 or d6 based on weapon. Spell casters can get more types, but I have to hand hold newbie spellcasters a lot. I do not info dump rules upon rules to them in any way. I simply state that in this game your PC can try to do almost anything. Common Sense and or a Die roll will determine if they are successful. The common sense thing is for ensuring that PCs are not attempting to fly or seduce Dragons. Neither of which is having any chance in my game.
Every other rule, I can slowly implement as the PCs need them. Are you in a good place to launch an attack? This is called Advantage and this is how it works. Everyone paying attention?
One last thing: The Basic Rules are free and heavily encouraged for new players to start to read once they decide to invest mental and emotional energy in the game. It is not a prerequisite.
Thanks for all the advice guys! Everything ya'll said was really helpful and gave me a couple of ideas
The people of Critical Role have a video series they are working on called Handbooker Helper (https://critrole.com/filter/handbooker-helper/ ) that has some good starting points. It basically gives an over view of a lot of spots. Personally when I teach D&D I usually have them build a character and start playing and guide them along the way.
As the GM, even though you play the villains, you are not the enemy. So offer advice and guide them through the turns. Eventually you can "ween" them off the advice and they will be pretty confident in their understanding of their character's abilities.
Obviously this requires you to be confident in the rules yourself. You got this, and have fun!
WotC put out a starter adventure for just this purpose. If you don't want to use a premade module (the starter kit even has premade character sheets), you could homebrew your own adventure and create your own premade character sheets and just guide them through each mechanic as it comes up.
My Homebrew Backgrounds | Feats | Magic Items | Monsters | Races | Subclasses
I found some of the info from this video handy.
If you can't understand it, it's intuitively obvious.
Sinnikal
Thanks guys