Hello! First time posting, i’m A new DM. My friends and I have always wanted to get into Dungeons and Dragons, but we’ve never had the time really. Until recently when a couple of my friends and I bought the starter Kit and here we are.
We finished the Lost mine of Phandalin, and I’ve been working on a Campaign for us to play. About two weeks ago I asked them if they wanted to do a one shot, and they thought it sounded like fun.
When they went to roll characters (this was the first time they’d rolled for characters of there own) I gave them a basic hand out (I.e. location info, various assundrie organizations that they could have some hand in etc.) and the short of it, it was really weak. Most of them didn’t really have a hand on the process.
Granted nobody had made characters before, so I assume some learning curves were inevitable. But just to have all my angles covered:
What do you more experienced DMs have to say about Player Handout? What should you include, what shouldn’t you include?
What was weak about the player handout that you gave? Do you feel like it was just too light on description? If this is your campaign, there's a whole art (and many different perspectives) on how much work to put in up front, but the general consensus is that you should focus your attention on where the characters start and where they are likely to go first.
I'm not sure if the failing is making interesting role-playing characters, or the mechanics of making a character?
If it is making an interesting fictional character, then why not start cheat ;) Find a fictional character they like, write out of description ( their history, their likes, dislikes, goals, motives, limits, etc. - and then alter that to makes something different, but related ). OK ... so Tham Damgee ... is a halfling half-orc ... porter Wizard ... who until recently has been a ... gardener Brewer .... but has gotten roped into the adventuring lifestyle as he agreed to help his ... Cousin ... dispose of ... no wait .... find .... a lost artifact ... which is a powerful .... sword ...
If the problems are mechanical, them there are a zillion and a half tutorials out there. Here's one; here's another.
Plus following the process, carefully, step-by-step, in the rules is pretty good.
If you don't really care if they learn the steps, and just want the results - why not use the character generator here on DnD Beyond? It's fast and pretty comprehensive if you sticking pretty close to the rules-as-written and are not including a lot of homebrew classes and feats.
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To clarify, the actual content wasn’t weak, but the information that I gave didn’t seem to give the players much inspiration. I gave them the starting location info, and some various important places, and names, as well as some world specific info, but they had a hard time grasping what they were supposed to do with it. Which I’m not sure if that’s just New player uncertainty or if I’m misunderstanding what a Player Handout is supposed to be.
Ah, this is where you set the stage with the narrative. We can't really tell you how to do your job, but as long as the players have a reasonable description of the world they are in and what is going on in their faces, and then of course, whatever thing kicks off the story, then they should have enough to start moving around in the world you are all creating. I suppose it always feels a bit weak at first because there's no point of reference. As long as it's enough for everyone to not get immediately lost and have a fun first playing session, then every session will build on the one before and the world will color itself in with your help and with theirs.
How much do you - and your players - know about the character history & goals?
I suspect that it is very little. If that's the case, then you might want to develop the characters on that front.
A player has no problems figuring out what they want, or what direction they want to go if Orcs have kidnapped their character's sister. Which - you as a DM - cannot orchastrate if you have no idea that the aforementioned sister even exists!
So - I'd recommend getting your players develop a brief background, as well as a list of future goals. Then you - as the DM - can build story hooks around those that will motivate the players.
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
To clarify, the actual content wasn’t weak, but the information that I gave didn’t seem to give the players much inspiration. I gave them the starting location info, and some various important places, and names, as well as some world specific info, but they had a hard time grasping what they were supposed to do with it. Which I’m not sure if that’s just New player uncertainty or if I’m misunderstanding what a Player Handout is supposed to be.
Many players, even in my group, need some handholding in the beginning. I'm always ready for this. I've been a DM for 30 years.
Each player, like each student, experiences the world differently. Some people are visual learners; these players I've noticed draw what their character looks like before, while, or after they've rolled character stats. Some players want every rule book available to them; they pour over the pages analyzing the various traits, benefits, and penalties of every single character race.
Character creation is perhaps the most important step. It's not unusual for a player in my group to spend two - four hours creating a character, imaging the Background, writing a background, and asking questions such as: Okay, so why did my dark elf barbarian stop at Baldur's Gate? Why is she here?
Easy. Remember when you wrote down in your character's history that your tribe was slaughtered while you were hunting? . . . You tracked a lead to Baldur's Gate. A traveler tipped you off. He can't identify your tribe's killers but the traveler did tell you that the Flaming Fists routinely patrol the countryside. Ask them. They'll know...
This is why I prefer players to have a background/history written out or at least have one in mind. Motivation is important. It's the initial spark, that magnet drawing each character to a specific location.
If narrative doesn't work, then you might have to explain in plain detail how the game works. You, the DM, describes the scene. The Players react. Write down on index cards their choices. Arrange them on the table. Give them 5 minutes, timed, to deliberate, then proceed.
This can always be tough. It might be more beneficial to make the character creation part of the night, because people will always start in different ways. Some will pick a class first, some a race, and some will want to make their background first. Then based on where they start you can help guide them with the other aspects of creation.
You can also ask them basic questions too just to get them started. Or see if they have a movie hero/character they would like to play as.
Once basic character ideas are in place, then you can start putting the details in the characters and how they tie into your world.
Hello! First time posting, i’m A new DM. My friends and I have always wanted to get into Dungeons and Dragons, but we’ve never had the time really. Until recently when a couple of my friends and I bought the starter Kit and here we are.
We finished the Lost mine of Phandalin, and I’ve been working on a Campaign for us to play. About two weeks ago I asked them if they wanted to do a one shot, and they thought it sounded like fun.
When they went to roll characters (this was the first time they’d rolled for characters of there own) I gave them a basic hand out (I.e. location info, various assundrie organizations that they could have some hand in etc.) and the short of it, it was really weak. Most of them didn’t really have a hand on the process.
Granted nobody had made characters before, so I assume some learning curves were inevitable. But just to have all my angles covered:
What do you more experienced DMs have to say about Player Handout? What should you include, what shouldn’t you include?
Thanks!
What was weak about the player handout that you gave? Do you feel like it was just too light on description? If this is your campaign, there's a whole art (and many different perspectives) on how much work to put in up front, but the general consensus is that you should focus your attention on where the characters start and where they are likely to go first.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
I'm not sure if the failing is making interesting role-playing characters, or the mechanics of making a character?
If it is making an interesting fictional character, then why not start cheat ;) Find a fictional character they like, write out of description ( their history, their likes, dislikes, goals, motives, limits, etc. - and then alter that to makes something different, but related ). OK ... so Tham Damgee ... is a
halflinghalf-orc ...porterWizard ... who until recently has been a ...gardenerBrewer .... but has gotten roped into the adventuring lifestyle as he agreed to help his ... Cousin ...dispose of... no wait .... find .... a lost artifact ... which is a powerful .... sword ...If the problems are mechanical, them there are a zillion and a half tutorials out there. Here's one; here's another.
Plus following the process, carefully, step-by-step, in the rules is pretty good.
If you don't really care if they learn the steps, and just want the results - why not use the character generator here on DnD Beyond? It's fast and pretty comprehensive if you sticking pretty close to the rules-as-written and are not including a lot of homebrew classes and feats.
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
To clarify, the actual content wasn’t weak, but the information that I gave didn’t seem to give the players much inspiration. I gave them the starting location info, and some various important places, and names, as well as some world specific info, but they had a hard time grasping what they were supposed to do with it. Which I’m not sure if that’s just New player uncertainty or if I’m misunderstanding what a Player Handout is supposed to be.
Ah, this is where you set the stage with the narrative. We can't really tell you how to do your job, but as long as the players have a reasonable description of the world they are in and what is going on in their faces, and then of course, whatever thing kicks off the story, then they should have enough to start moving around in the world you are all creating. I suppose it always feels a bit weak at first because there's no point of reference. As long as it's enough for everyone to not get immediately lost and have a fun first playing session, then every session will build on the one before and the world will color itself in with your help and with theirs.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
OK - so it's player direction and motivation.
How much do you - and your players - know about the character history & goals?
I suspect that it is very little. If that's the case, then you might want to develop the characters on that front.
A player has no problems figuring out what they want, or what direction they want to go if Orcs have kidnapped their character's sister. Which - you as a DM - cannot orchastrate if you have no idea that the aforementioned sister even exists!
So - I'd recommend getting your players develop a brief background, as well as a list of future goals. Then you - as the DM - can build story hooks around those that will motivate the players.
Good luck! :)
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
This can always be tough. It might be more beneficial to make the character creation part of the night, because people will always start in different ways. Some will pick a class first, some a race, and some will want to make their background first. Then based on where they start you can help guide them with the other aspects of creation.
You can also ask them basic questions too just to get them started. Or see if they have a movie hero/character they would like to play as.
Once basic character ideas are in place, then you can start putting the details in the characters and how they tie into your world.
Hope this helps! Good luck.
This is very helpful guys! Thanks a bunch!