I decided to do something rash. I invited multiple friends who had never played before over to my house for a single session. I have introduced a dozen+ people to D&D over the last five years or so but rarely so many new players at once. We will play a very stripped down and basic version of the game to make it easy for everyone to grasp.
With that being said, any ideas for a setting or adventure hook? I think it needs to have some fences around it, so the players can't get too far afield. It certainly cannot be extend over multiple sessions because getting a group of this size back together again borders on impossible. I am thinking about give two or three initial options, but all options eventually feed into the same ending.
Any ideas are welcome.
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Velstitzen
I am a 40 something year old physician who DMs for a group of 40 something year old doctors. We play a hybrid game, mostly based on 2nd edition rules with some homebrew and 5E components.
Dragon of Icespire Peak is the place to start for this. It's a quest-board style adventure set in and around Phandalin. It's pretty hard to stray from said quests because they are very clear and very straightforward. They arrive in town to make a name for themselves and the best way to do this is by completing quests.
Plenty of support material for you as a DM which means less prep and less complexity.
Beyond that too, the sources are all SRD/Basic Rules. Something I'd suggest always starting with. Start with Basic Rules character creation and allow players to learn playing on such characters (you can even make them pregenerated characters which is an accepted starting place).
Honestly, given that you can give the party a choice of three quests right from the start...it's a great way to begin. I'd also suggest 'fudging' the travel, either speed it up via montage, or hand wave it as a simple fast forward of time. makes the intro a little kinder on those less into the RP elements.
If you want an “adventure” to include 7 players, especially new players, and only want it to take 3-4 hours, don’t include any combat. If you do intend to include combat, then don’t try to “write an adventure,” just build a single encounter. If you do plant to both include combat and be a whole complete adventure, even a small one, then expect it to take 8 hours.
I don't understand the majority opinion on this website that you can't play any dungeon in less than 8 hours. I have ran dungeons for all new players (five being my record) and completed them in an evening, meaning 4-5 hours. I have run plenty of 60 minute dungeons with two experienced players and a few one hour dungeons with 1-2 new players. As a kid, everything we played was 3-6 hours. Maybe my ideas are less grandiose but playing 8+ hours would be very hard for myself and my friends in our stage of life. No one has that sort of time in my world. On the flipside, we have played a long campaign over the last 18 months, ending with a TPK last week after about 60 hours of game time but it took us a long time to amass that many sessions. Perhaps I should clarify that I do mean 3-4 of game time, plus an hour beforehand to drink beer, hang out and give a brief overview of the rules.
I completely agree with pre-gen characters. I plan on having 15 or so and letting them pick one.
It will certainly be a simple dungeon.
Thanks again.
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Velstitzen
I am a 40 something year old physician who DMs for a group of 40 something year old doctors. We play a hybrid game, mostly based on 2nd edition rules with some homebrew and 5E components.
Prep work is definitely in order. Finding out what type of character they want to play is very helpful and I guess that could be part of the drinking and thinking.
Way to go exposing more people to the game!!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
I don't understand the majority opinion on this website that you can't play any dungeon in less than 8 hours. I have ran dungeons for all new players (five being my record) and completed them in an evening, meaning 4-5 hours. I have run plenty of 60 minute dungeons with two experienced players and a few one hour dungeons with 1-2 new players. As a kid, everything we played was 3-6 hours. Maybe my ideas are less grandiose but playing 8+ hours would be very hard for myself and my friends in our stage of life. No one has that sort of time in my world. On the flipside, we have played a long campaign over the last 18 months, ending with a TPK last week after about 60 hours of game time but it took us a long time to amass that many sessions. Perhaps I should clarify that I do mean 3-4 of game time, plus an hour beforehand to drink beer, hang out and give a brief overview of the rules.
I completely agree with pre-gen characters. I plan on having 15 or so and letting them pick one.
It will certainly be a simple dungeon.
Thanks again.
Great choice! Keep it to a simple dungeon. With new players, the key is to keep the training wheels on as they crawl through the dungeon so the have ample opportunity to learn the game.
-Make tactical recommendations about what monsters to attack and what spells to cast in combat, along with maneuvering and positioning recommendations.
-Review their gear and make explain why folks need certain things. For instance, stop them if they forget their block & tackle and explain that without it how are they going to hoist or drag heavy objects?
-If there are secret doors or traps nearby, make hints to that and have them make the appropriate skill checks to find them. New players don’t necessarily understand to always be on the lookout for these.
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Hello internet!
I decided to do something rash. I invited multiple friends who had never played before over to my house for a single session. I have introduced a dozen+ people to D&D over the last five years or so but rarely so many new players at once. We will play a very stripped down and basic version of the game to make it easy for everyone to grasp.
With that being said, any ideas for a setting or adventure hook? I think it needs to have some fences around it, so the players can't get too far afield. It certainly cannot be extend over multiple sessions because getting a group of this size back together again borders on impossible. I am thinking about give two or three initial options, but all options eventually feed into the same ending.
Any ideas are welcome.
Velstitzen
I am a 40 something year old physician who DMs for a group of 40 something year old doctors. We play a hybrid game, mostly based on 2nd edition rules with some homebrew and 5E components.
Dragon of Icespire Peak is the place to start for this. It's a quest-board style adventure set in and around Phandalin. It's pretty hard to stray from said quests because they are very clear and very straightforward. They arrive in town to make a name for themselves and the best way to do this is by completing quests.
Plenty of support material for you as a DM which means less prep and less complexity.
Beyond that too, the sources are all SRD/Basic Rules. Something I'd suggest always starting with. Start with Basic Rules character creation and allow players to learn playing on such characters (you can even make them pregenerated characters which is an accepted starting place).
Honestly, given that you can give the party a choice of three quests right from the start...it's a great way to begin. I'd also suggest 'fudging' the travel, either speed it up via montage, or hand wave it as a simple fast forward of time. makes the intro a little kinder on those less into the RP elements.
DM session planning template - My version of maps for 'Lost Mine of Phandelver' - Send your party to The Circus - Other DM Resources - Maps, Tokens, Quests - 'Better' Player Character Injury Tables?
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If you want an “adventure” to include 7 players, especially new players, and only want it to take 3-4 hours, don’t include any combat. If you do intend to include combat, then don’t try to “write an adventure,” just build a single encounter. If you do plant to both include combat and be a whole complete adventure, even a small one, then expect it to take 8 hours.
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Thanks for the ideas.
I don't understand the majority opinion on this website that you can't play any dungeon in less than 8 hours. I have ran dungeons for all new players (five being my record) and completed them in an evening, meaning 4-5 hours. I have run plenty of 60 minute dungeons with two experienced players and a few one hour dungeons with 1-2 new players. As a kid, everything we played was 3-6 hours. Maybe my ideas are less grandiose but playing 8+ hours would be very hard for myself and my friends in our stage of life. No one has that sort of time in my world. On the flipside, we have played a long campaign over the last 18 months, ending with a TPK last week after about 60 hours of game time but it took us a long time to amass that many sessions. Perhaps I should clarify that I do mean 3-4 of game time, plus an hour beforehand to drink beer, hang out and give a brief overview of the rules.
I completely agree with pre-gen characters. I plan on having 15 or so and letting them pick one.
It will certainly be a simple dungeon.
Thanks again.
Velstitzen
I am a 40 something year old physician who DMs for a group of 40 something year old doctors. We play a hybrid game, mostly based on 2nd edition rules with some homebrew and 5E components.
Prep work is definitely in order. Finding out what type of character they want to play is very helpful and I guess that could be part of the drinking and thinking.
Way to go exposing more people to the game!!
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
Great choice! Keep it to a simple dungeon. With new players, the key is to keep the training wheels on as they crawl through the dungeon so the have ample opportunity to learn the game.
-Make tactical recommendations about what monsters to attack and what spells to cast in combat, along with maneuvering and positioning recommendations.
-Review their gear and make explain why folks need certain things. For instance, stop them if they forget their block & tackle and explain that without it how are they going to hoist or drag heavy objects?
-If there are secret doors or traps nearby, make hints to that and have them make the appropriate skill checks to find them. New players don’t necessarily understand to always be on the lookout for these.