Hot answers tagged new-players
61
They did however love it and want to continue next week.
I am afraid you have answered your own question. The first rule of playing RPGs (or anything) is to have fun, so just make sure you also have your share of it.
Now, you are new players, so it is obvious you are going to spend time learning the system, learning how to play with each other, ...
56
In my opinion, It's much easier NOT to think of Dungeons and Dragons as a game. There's no winner, the DM is allowed to bend the rules if they want, and you can do literally anything you want and can end up anywhere. If you like to think of it as a game with no rules, no winner, and no limits on what you can do during your turn (and sometimes no turns as at ...
45
Dungeons and Dragons is an example of a "tabletop" roleplaying game, and you are correct that D&D can be played very much like a board game.
Your confusion comes from the fact that it isn't always played like that. (Ask 100 players 'how is it played' and you'll get 150 answers...) So I'll start with the basics.
A simple description of D&D
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31
It’s a problem but perhaps not as bad as “ECL 5” suggests
You are probably more powerful than a 1st-level character should be. You are not, however, as powerful as a 5th-level character can be, or even should be. Moreover, even as a 1st-level character, Wyrmling White Dragons have some glaring weaknesses that don’t seem appropriate.
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30
Sigh, I think others are making this more complicated than it is and aren't answering the right question.
Perhaps it will make more sense if you restate that brief blurb as:
The players determine what their characters say, think, and do. The GM describes everything else in the world.
You "say" what your character does, the GM "says" (aka determines) ...
27
What kind of game is a roleplaying game?
No matter how many times this is asked, it's always a tough one to answer. A roleplaying game is a fascinating mix between a bunch of other games and mediums you're already familiar with.
At its core, roleplaying is probably most strongly linked to children's games of make-believe. Think of playing Cops and Robbers, ...
26
If you are expected to bring a character you should definitely bring that. If you're going to make a character there you should come with an idea about the following things (but remain flexible, you idea may not be exactly what you end up with).
Character name
Character race (Human, Dwarf, Elf, Halfling)
Character archetype (loyal knight, scheming wizard, ...
25
Role Playing
At their most basic, role playing games are essentially like the games of make-believe you may have played as a child. You get a group of friends together (five or six people is a common number, although these games can be played with many more or far fewer).
A common format is for each player to control a single character, with one player ...
25
To answer the primary point first: Sounds like you did a good GMing job, especially for a first time. The most important question is the one you answer yourself: Did your players have fun? (And the matching question, did you have fun?) If everyone's having fun then by definition you're all doing it right.
With that said, some analysis of your more ...
24
This entirely depends on your game, and your gaming group.
What you are referring to (acting as yourself instead of your character) is called "meta-gaming" and involves making decisions that are outside of the purview of your character's personality or knowledge. Whether or not this is an acceptable practice depends in part on your group and in part on the ...
23
Mentoring
If you have a mixed group of experienced and green players, you can save yourself a lot of trouble by engaging the veterans to help the newbies. Let them suggest stuff and guide their apprentices, and even throw in some game-tangible bonuses like mentoring XP. And if a mentor happens to screw up and put his apprentice in a tight spot, he will ...
21
Dungeons and Dragons is very much a social game. As such, there is no real "by yourself" to it. The only things you can really do separate from a group in D&D is to educate yourself on the rules of the game, and prepare for whatever sessions lie ahead.
Toward that end, I recommend two things primarily:
Learn the rules. Study all of the ...
21
Yes, there are some pretty major problems with this from a balance perspective.
Dragons have supernatural and spell-like powers, unusual defensive and attack features, and racial hit dice. If you're looking for a mechanical prohibition on playing a dragon at level 1 (instead of just comparing all the goodies they get to the features of a typical level 1 PC ...
20
"Natural" means an unmodified roll.
The number you see printed on the die when you just throw it. Not adding or subtracting bonuses, penalties or rerolling. Just the number you see.
Terms will differ in individual games and groups, but usually the total result (natural roll plus any modifiers) is just called your "roll," or we'll say "I got a 25." In some ...
20
As you play, the players say what their characters say, think, and do when it's relevant or interesting to the story. A good exercise would be to imagine you are reading a book. On a book you usually knows when a character feels fear or anger, but their evil betrayal is kept until the finale.
Normally, characters' thoughts are shared like in these examples:
...
18
By nature, a kender is always a pain to the rest of her adventuring party. :) So I'm going to look at how to roleplay a kender in such a way that you don't annoy the rest of your gaming group.
Use the curiosity as motivation and justification for what your character is doing. That means you should still move to maximize your effectiveness, but describe it ...
18
OK, you have four different values. Here are their definitions:
Total HP Value. This is your total hit points. This is defined by your class HP value plus your Con score. When you run out of HP you are dying. This is a special condition that is well defined (you are unconscious and begin making saving throws to either wake up or permanantly die).
Bloodied ...
18
On the one occasion we started a new group from scratch, we all went out to dinner together, during which we talked about what we were looking for in a game and did some basic worldbuilding. Also, it meant hanging out in a social situation and just getting to know each other. If it didn't end up working out, I believe it would be a softer rejection this way, ...
17
Points of Light
Yes, it does. It’s called “Points of Light,” and my understanding is that it’s basically Greyhawk (Gary Gygax’s original setting for Dungeons & Dragons) with the Gygaxian serial numbers filed off so Wizards can avoid paying them royalties, or something like that.
The core books use this setting. Most ...
16
Welcome to roleplaying! I know it can be daunting; there are literally thousands of RPGs on the market as well as out of print ones that people still play.
What is roleplaying?
Many a roleplaying game has a "What is roleplaying?" section in the front, and they all have different takes on it, but the most common summary is that it's a formalized version ...
16
Does it have to be D&D?
My go-to game for introducing anyone to roleplaying is Fiasco, a game in which you create and play out a Coen Brothers-esque scenario.
You’ll play ordinary people with powerful ambition and poor impulse control. There will be big dreams and flawed execution. It won’t go well for them, to put it mildly, and in the end it will ...
16
It helps to first tell them that in a FATE game, the players are not their characters. Players are not much different than the GM in what they do, only that they usually have a limited jurisdiction (their character) and limited resources (their FATE points). Everybody at the table has control over how the story unfolds regarding their jurisdiction, and can ...
16
As someone who has been GMing primarily since 2001, the answer is "Yes, but not disasterously so." The skill sets for being a player and being a GM in a game such as Pathfinder/D&D/White Wolf are entirely different, which means if you spend a lot of time doing one set of those skills (GMing), then the other set will get rusty, like any set of skills you ...
16
It really depends on your players.
What I've found is that the women who have joined my groups tend to prefer if they're just treated as another player, and the gender question is entirely ignored. If your players are sophisticated enough that this isn't a problem, then it won't be.
However, if you have a problem table; here are some things to consider.
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15
Having recently ended my first turn as a Savage Worlds GM, I think I have some insight:
Unlike many games, you don't roll Stat Die + Trait Die - you roll just the Trait Die. A Trait is a common term that includes both your Primary Attributes and your Skills.
Your Wild Die is not added to your roll - it's an alternate die.
Stat rolls without Skills are ...
15
If the game is going to be combat-heavy, players should have a copy of the one-page Savage Worlds Combat Survival Guide handy. Players new to the system usually overlook the combat options that aren't straight-up "attack" since the bonuses they give seem so small. But they're not! The ganging-up bonuses (most often used by monsters) are not to be ...
15
To answer the question, especially in a non-critical light, there are quite a few things possible to do with solitare D&D. While it is a social game, there are many elements that can be simulated, especially if you don't have the ability to game with others. Though I do recommend looking at online gaming (on this site and elsewhere), the game can indeed ...
15
You're new to RPGs and you're looking for the sign that says "New GM Orientation"… but there isn't one. Most of us learn by doing, or by playing with a more experienced GM. There isn't really any beginner's bible. We do have some already-answered questions around here that should give you some context for your experiments, though.
Consider if you actually ...
14
While the choice is not mutually exclusive between the Essentials line and the classic 4e line I have to strongly recommend the essentials line if you are starting out, especially if that start is the Red Box. Reasons:
Adventure continuity. From Red Box you can play the DM kit adventure Reavers of Harkenwald and from there jump into the Monster Vault ...
14
Stress tracks in FATE work as a pacing mechanism. It's not meant to simulate the physiological reaction of a body to punishment; it's there to provide a means of determining whether a character is out of the fight or not and reproduce a narrative aesthetic. Hit points historically have worked this way; the description of what a "hit point" is has often ...
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