Newbie-Friendly D&D Next

[AndyZ]

I’ve seen a lot of games out there where new players want to learn D&D but don’t feel entirely comfortable joining in.  Far too often, there’s other players who have been playing D&D for decades, the setting can be confusing, and it feels frustrating and embarrassing when you’re the only one not keeping this up.

I’m making this game for such new people, so they can start out slow and easy, having a game where they don’t have to feel bad about slowing down the game and asking lots of questions.

Accordingly, if you’re a complete expert and know how to do all the things like having your familiar grant you Advantage, this isn’t going to be a fun game for you.  More experienced players can chime in, but preference will be given to the complete newbies.

Truth be told, I’m not sure that experienced players will enjoy this game.  It’ll be focused a lot more on the basics and less on having a huge overarching plot.

Rules:

Standard character creation, level 1, 27 point buy.

If you’re far enough in that you know how to do this on your own, awesome, but if not, I’ll be happy to help you make a character.

Please note that there’s a rule out (from the book Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything) that you can move racial ability score bonuses.  For example, elves are listed as having a +2 increase to Dexterity, but if you want to swap that to another ability, you can.  Just don’t have your +2 and +1 in the same ability.

If enough people are interested: I may give out the old Andy array of 18,18,16,14,12,10.  However, I figured that if we just have normal, people will be able to try to put the characters in other games with minimal changes.

We’ll be using Discord for the OOC, as well as offering the option to use it to roll.

If I’m trying to teach folks, trying to explain everything via E PMs or an OOC thread will take forever.  I don’t usually insist on Discord, but it’s been invaluable in the other game I’m running.

It’ll also help a lot with reactions, where I can just poke somebody on Discord and see if they want to make an opportunity attack or the like.

If you don’t know how to use Discord, I can teach that also.

I have a link but it only lasts for seven days, so if you need a new link, let me know.  This link was made on November 2nd: https://discord.gg/fR9aJhtS

No major setting.

When you try to learn a new D&D game, either the DM is usually using this huge established setting that takes up multiple books and has changes across editions throughout various websites, or a well-written but gigantic custom setting that takes a long time to learn when new players are still struggling to pick up the rules.

I’m deliberately not doing either of those.  We’ll figure out what we need via the most relevant player.  For example, I’ll talk to the person playing the Cleric or Paladin about what we want the gods to be like.

If people want to make up their own home or village, that’s also very doable, and I can try to incorporate things into the game.

Try to do at least five posts and/or “passes” a week.

We all have stuff going on where we may not be able post every day, and we have to wait for everyone in combat, but games can slow to a crawl when everyone is waiting on everyone else.

A “pass” is a way to say “I’m still around but don’t have anything to contribute that’s worth a post, so please don’t wait for me.”  It may also mean that RL has come up and the player would rather just let the game run and catch up later.  I’ll set up a Discord channel for it.

I’m not going to kick people out if you can only do three a week or such; I’m just trying to set the tone for expectations.

[Levi]

A wild Levi appeared

[Isengrad]

This is awesome, I don't want to play as I am certainly considered a veteran, don't want to take that spot from someone dipping their toes in. But feel free to DM me general rules questions or just want a sounding board for character ideas.

[AndyZ]

I'm considering opening a spot for assistant teacher where a veteran player takes up a PC spot and helps lead everyone, maybe as a noble or something.  That'd be if we have less than six people, though, and if nobody who's new wants to be a leader type.

[Muse]

  What about someone who is a veteran pen and paper RPGer but still very new to 5e?  That describes me really well.  (I can make characters on my own, but not much else.) 

[Levi]

Muse join us!

[AndyZ]

Sorry, Muse, but I don't think you'd be a good fit for this.

[Writersblockade]

raises hand I've been looking to learn 5e, so I can cobble something together.

[Thufir Hawat]

I've been playing RPGs for decades (and D&D isn't my favourite system anyway), so I'm not applying. I just wanted to say that this is a very good idea, and to wish you luck 8-)!

[AndyZ]

Thank you kindly ^_^

[ToWriterAndWander]

I've always wanted to get into D&D. Only ever played video games that use it so never fully understood it.

[AndyZ]

I've always wanted to get into D&D. Only ever played video games that use it so never fully understood it.

Do you have Discord?  If so, come join us: https://discord.gg/fR9aJhtS