I have students that are in a class of 4 for the next week because the seniors graduated.  They would like to try playing DND.  I'd prefer to hook them up with some kind of "quick start" without necessarily buying the "starter set" if I can avoid it.

Is there a PDF packet out there?  I mean I can print the "basic rules" for them through our copy machines (we have lots; we're a school) and I don't own the "Essentials" myself so I don't know for sure what's in it.  I'm mainly fishing for a digital option (and I'm willing to pay a small price if that's the only way around it) that I can hand to them and say "good luck!" and then watch from a distance.

Thoughts?

I think your best bet at that size would be DMing for them, possibly one of the free campaigns D&D Beyond has online (if you don’t want to homebrew).  You could tell the students the race/class options from the basic rules and quickly throw together characters for them, so they have the ability to just jump into playing and see if they like it. Then the only things you really need to print are character sheets.

While that does not really give them the joy of making their own character, but it is probably the fastest way to give them a taste of D&D during the presumably limited time remaining in the school year, and without spending too much of the limited  time reading over rules and having one of them try to take a crash course in how to DM.

Quote from Caerwyn_Glyndwr >>

 

While that does not really give them the joy of making their own character, but it is probably the fastest way to give them a taste of D&D during the presumably limited time remaining in the school year, and without spending too much of the limited  time reading over rules and having one of them try to take a crash course in how to DM.

That's the twist:

I don't have the TIME to DM.  I've got end of year papers to grade and other stuff to do to wrap up the year.  I mean TECHINCALLY I do but I'm choosing not to.  :D

What I'm hoping for is that their cleverness will carry them into the whole "how does this work?" with a touch of how it was that I learned to DM back in the day.  I had a book, some neighbor kids and I just... went with it.

Also they have to make a Powerpoint to present at the final exam day of "here's how DND works as we understand it."

But if nothing else percolates out I might try something like that to get them started on Frozen Sick as a game and quietly coach from affar on the DM front.

Makes sense; that’s how I learned also, though not sure it was really conductive to a school environment. I am assuming this is in a classroom setting, where they likely have 45 minutes (ish, depending on how your district sets up timing) before the bell rings and the class ends? 

The big issues I see are with them spending most of a class period (or several) just learning the rules, then still having to come up with an adventure and decide who DMs it.  A starter kit is probably going to help a lot with streamlining learning the rules and make getting the adventure up and running a little easier since most of the work is already done (which also makes it less difficult and intimidating for a new DM).  

The New Player Guide linked in the banner up top has most of the resources listed here, plus a few more, like on how to build a character.

What StormKnight says.

With the Basic Rules and Lost Mine of Phandelver, they should be good to go. And those are both free!

The basic rules are good, and all, but does DNDBeyond have any material that could motivate one of the students to DM the game? That would be the hardest part I Imagine.

The first part of Lost Mine is geared towards the DM and how to run the game