Reading material to present to completely new players

Question

I'm about to start running a game for a completely new group. I've been playing DnD for over a decade, and have a lot of experience as a DM, but my group is completely green. I believe one person has played a little bit in the past, but not 4th edition, and the others have never played a tabletop RPG before at all.

I'm having a planning meeting this weekend to get everyone together, discuss the game, plan out a schedule, manage expectations, feel out themes and elements that interest the players, and get them thinking about characters they'd like to play.

One of my players has asked if there's anything they should read ahead of time to prepare. I've looked at the official Wizards' Quick Start Guide, and the "What is D&D" page, but while they're okay... I came away unsatisfied. The quick start guide is a little too rules-heavy, and the "what is D&D" section a little light on actual content. I'd love something a little more human.

I'm looking for suggestions of reading material for these new players, mostly to introduce them to the idea of playing a tabletop RPG, and to introduce them to the fundamentals of DnD in particular. A bit like the introduction to the 3.5e DMG, but aimed at players instead of DMs.

I'm perfectly willing to compile the useful bits from multiple sources, FYI. Something that satisfies some of these requirements satisfies me :)

Thanks!

Answer 1

Greg Stolze's How to Play Roleplaying Games (zipped PDF) is a concise primer that lays out the basics, from a high-level overview of what roleplaying is to how to create a character you'll enjoy playing, to playing well with others.

Answer 2

The Hour of the Dragon, by Robert E Howard.

It features Conan, multiple dungeon crawls, loads of fighting, a magic jewel, inspiration for a D&D spell and a D&D magic item AND a battle between evil sorcerers in an ancient crypt!

Caveat: like all of REH's writings, its attitudes about race and women are problematic--even for the time.

Answer 3

I'm not sure giving them something to read is very important. I believe the evolution of the player's understanding should start off very simple, and proceed in subtlety as they gain more experience in play. The worst thing would be to oversell it, or make it sound complicated. That might make the prospective player nervous or skeptical.

To start, you really could just say something like: "D&D is a game played with dice, on a playing board called a dungeon. A dungeon is a big underground maze filled with traps, enemies, and treasure, like many video games. One person called the "GM" controls the dungeon and all the stuff in it, while the other players control their individual characters. The dice are used to determine the outcome of various moves such as evading traps, combating monsters, and casting magic spells. The players' goal is to navigate the dungeon, defeat any enemies, and take the treasure."

Now of course - we know that is a terribly reductionist description of the game. It lacks all those beautiful artful words we care so much about - narrative, immersion, identification, emotion, emergence, collaboration, creativity... etc! But in fact this is just about exactly what I was told the first time I was pulled into a game of D&D. As this was back in the days of the original red box OD&D rules, my first character lasted about 15 minutes, and was killed by a bunch of poison darts in a booby-trapped chest on level one of a mysterious piece of grid paper. But I sat quietly and watched in fascination as the others continued their adventure into the creepy unknown. The atmosphere described by the DM, the brave and risky things my friends narrated, the seemingly psychic intelligence of those polyhedral dice... I was hooked.

Today I write "object-oriented narrative collaboration systems" and stuff like that. I have developed a taste for the artful stuff, as did my players. But it all began from a very simple description and an emotionally-evocative experience. That's what you're there for. :-)