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punishedkissinger
Sep 20, 2017

Arthil posted:

Sounds like the beginnings of a good ol' fashioned Clan War.

I like this idea and honestly a full on clan war hadn't even occured to me.

The city the players are based out of already has a political vacuum since the emperor deposed the local lord for unknown reasons. The clan that hired the players is based in the dwarf quarter of the city and makes up most of its population.

I like the idea of multiple simultaneous coups and blood feuds taking place within the city, while the rat-men beneath the streets construct a warpstone bomb.

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echopapa
Jun 2, 2005

El Presidente smiles upon this thread.

Hattie Masters posted:

I know that the papers will contain information that will progress the plot (spoilered because one of my players lives with me) and move them towards discovering that the mercenaries are being directed by a rather rabid high-elf military commander and the vault will have something neat.

The session isn't until next saturday, and worst case scenario I will come up with something on my feet, but I am currently just blanking on both. I don't want the papers to give the entire bit away because this was just a mid-level safehouse, but I do want to reward them somehow.

The papers could be receipts that show unusual purchases, or that come from a vendor who’s a front for a sinister force.

Pollyanna
Mar 5, 2005

Milk's on them.


I thought up a weird situation where the PCs would be approaching an area where the GM all of a sudden starts getting nervous and then they encounter an NPC who the GM suddenly speaks for in the first person and it gets all meta and poo poo. I wonder if that’s ever been pulled off well before, but I suspect the answer is no. Would be funny but risky.

punishedkissinger
Sep 20, 2017

Pollyanna posted:

I thought up a weird situation where the PCs would be approaching an area where the GM all of a sudden starts getting nervous and then they encounter an NPC who the GM suddenly speaks for in the first person and it gets all meta and poo poo. I wonder if that’s ever been pulled off well before, but I suspect the answer is no. Would be funny but risky.

I think I need some better weed to understand this

Sanford
Jun 30, 2007

...and rarely post!


kidkissinger posted:

I think I need some better weed to understand this

Yes I’m intrigued but totally lost. I went for a cheeky toke and came back to it but I’m still lost.

It seems I have accidentally given my players a bag of holding with 20,000gp worth of gems in it, and the only people who would know they have it are dead. Suggestions please? I’d like to get it off them, but I’d prefer to find a way of getting them to the point where they’re desperate to be rid of it.

punishedkissinger
Sep 20, 2017

Sanford posted:

Yes I’m intrigued but totally lost. I went for a cheeky toke and came back to it but I’m still lost.

It seems I have accidentally given my players a bag of holding with 20,000gp worth of gems in it, and the only people who would know they have it are dead. Suggestions please? I’d like to get it off them, but I’d prefer to find a way of getting them to the point where they’re desperate to be rid of it.

What is preventing them from offloading those gems as soon as possible?

Maybe the gem merchant takes a look at on of them gems, a shocked expressions comes over his face and his monocle falls out. Then he stuffs the gems back into the bag and demands they leave his shop and never return.

Reveilled
Apr 19, 2007

Take up your rifles

Pollyanna posted:

I thought up a weird situation where the PCs would be approaching an area where the GM all of a sudden starts getting nervous and then they encounter an NPC who the GM suddenly speaks for in the first person and it gets all meta and poo poo. I wonder if that’s ever been pulled off well before, but I suspect the answer is no. Would be funny but risky.

Do you mean like some Holodeck Professor Moriarty thing where the NPC starts addressing the players directly instead of the PCs, e.g. "Hello Arathin, or should I say...Steve Jacobson"? I think you'd need to have a very particular sort of group for that to have any hope of being other than terrible.

Sanford
Jun 30, 2007

...and rarely post!


They got a handful appraised and have been really careful not to let anyone know they have more than maybe 250gp worth at any time. Through some weird rolls and even weirder decisions on their part the crime boss that owned the gems is dead, and so is the only member of the city guard who knew the players swiped the bag. They rolled two nat 20s in a row when the guard captain asked if they’d taken anything else from the mansion, and then two more in the following conversation. When fully 50% of your rolls in a social encounter are 20s you can pretty much do what you want.

Actually I want to revise my question - I just want something interesting to happen with the gems. Something they can spend them on that isn’t game breaking would be fine. I’d prefer a plot hook though.

Keeshhound
Jan 14, 2010

Mad Duck Swagger

Sanford posted:

Yes I’m intrigued but totally lost. I went for a cheeky toke and came back to it but I’m still lost.

It seems I have accidentally given my players a bag of holding with 20,000gp worth of gems in it, and the only people who would know they have it are dead. Suggestions please? I’d like to get it off them, but I’d prefer to find a way of getting them to the point where they’re desperate to be rid of it.

Let them spend it on what they want, 20k doesn't go THAT far, and major purchases will attract level/gear appropriate attention.

Reveilled
Apr 19, 2007

Take up your rifles

Sanford posted:

They got a handful appraised and have been really careful not to let anyone know they have more than maybe 250gp worth at any time. Through some weird rolls and even weirder decisions on their part the crime boss that owned the gems is dead, and so is the only member of the city guard who knew the players swiped the bag. They rolled two nat 20s in a row when the guard captain asked if they’d taken anything else from the mansion, and then two more in the following conversation. When fully 50% of your rolls in a social encounter are 20s you can pretty much do what you want.

Actually I want to revise my question - I just want something interesting to happen with the gems. Something they can spend them on that isn’t game breaking would be fine. I’d prefer a plot hook though.

My usual go-to when I've hosed up and given the players an obscene amount of money by accident is a castle, guildhall or manor. In my experience almost everyone wants a house, and a base of operations works well for plot hooks.

sebmojo
Oct 23, 2010


Legit Cyberpunk









Just let them spend the money, make sure you have three or four plot hooky things to spend it on

Leraika
Jun 14, 2015

Luckily, I *did* save your old avatar. Fucked around and found out indeed.
Offer them a chance to get exotic pets/mounts.

Nephzinho
Jan 25, 2008





Sanford posted:

They got a handful appraised and have been really careful not to let anyone know they have more than maybe 250gp worth at any time. Through some weird rolls and even weirder decisions on their part the crime boss that owned the gems is dead, and so is the only member of the city guard who knew the players swiped the bag. They rolled two nat 20s in a row when the guard captain asked if they’d taken anything else from the mansion, and then two more in the following conversation. When fully 50% of your rolls in a social encounter are 20s you can pretty much do what you want.

Actually I want to revise my question - I just want something interesting to happen with the gems. Something they can spend them on that isn’t game breaking would be fine. I’d prefer a plot hook though.

Do the gems have any magical properties? Could convert them into rings or some other equipment with a few charges of a spell.

Keeshhound
Jan 14, 2010

Mad Duck Swagger

Sanford posted:

Actually I want to revise my question - I just want something interesting to happen with the gems. Something they can spend them on that isn’t game breaking would be fine. I’d prefer a plot hook though.

People don't usually keep bags full of gems long term. Who were the gems eventually going to go to, and how will they try to find out what happened to/reclaim them?

To clarify, they don't need to beeline for the players, just let them know that someone shady is asking around about a missing delivery of precious gemstones.

Whybird
Aug 2, 2009

Phaiston have long avoided the tightly competetive defence sector, but the IRDA Act 2052 has given us the freedom we need to bring out something really special.

https://team-robostar.itch.io/robostar


Nap Ghost
Find some things for the players to spend that money which aren't just magic items with big numbers. What are the PCs' goals, immediate and long-term and implicit from backstory? Almost certainly, there are ways for them to pursue them by spending money.

DivineCoffeeBinge
Mar 3, 2011

Spider-Man's Amazing Construction Company
Going to echo earlier advice: sell them a house. A Keep, a Wizard's Tower, a tavern with sewer access that the local Thieves' Guild can use, whatever.

It used to be standard in D&D that when you hit a certain level, you got property of some sort; that was a really cool thing to do, honestly, because it gives you plot hooks galore and it serves as a good money sink. Give 'em a home.

AceClown
Sep 11, 2005

Give them a reason to need a ship, everyone loves a couple of high seas adventure episodes and then there's the option of the epic Kraken fight that wrecks the boat but also makes them feel badass for taking down a fuckin Kraken.

Sanford
Jun 30, 2007

...and rarely post!


Lot's of great ideas about the gems, thanks everyone. I'm putting together a bounty board for next session so I'll have one on there asking for information about three "miscreants" seen leaving the crime lord's compound. If they don't pursue that directly it at least sets the stage that someone knows they were there. Then I'll take a few ideas on what they could spend the money on, but if they do someone is definitely going to turn up wondering where they got all that money from.

sebmojo
Oct 23, 2010


Legit Cyberpunk









Sanford posted:

Lot's of great ideas about the gems, thanks everyone. I'm putting together a bounty board for next session so I'll have one on there asking for information about three "miscreants" seen leaving the crime lord's compound. If they don't pursue that directly it at least sets the stage that someone knows they were there. Then I'll take a few ideas on what they could spend the money on, but if they do someone is definitely going to turn up wondering where they got all that money from.

definitely take it as them being able to spend the money on cool stuff though, even if it gets into more trouble. maybe hint they could be well advised to move them quickly so the magical trace on them doesn't have time to work...

Ceros_X
Aug 6, 2006

U.S. Marine
Give them an opportunity to invest in a lucrative business that requires a large investment up front but puts out a decent return over time. Then you can do a bunch of things - have the solid seeming business turn into something shady, a rival syndicate that threatens the business, a government bureaucrat tries to extort them, the players then need money for poo poo mentioned above, etc

axeil
Feb 14, 2006
Hi everyone.

My wonderful fiancee and her friends have agreed to try playing 5e D&D with me as the DM. I'm really excited for this as I love D&D but I've never DMed before and the players have basically no pen-and-paper game experience. They might even have minimal general fantasy/RPG setting experience beyond "I've seen Lord of the Rings"

I'm planning on having us play the Lost Mines of Phandelver as that's the same campaign I started with and it seems like it's also a good starter campaign for new DMs. Plus it comes with the starter kit.

Given the players are all totally brand new, I was planning on using pre-made characters that they could pick from, have them tell me things about their background/backstory, name, etc. and then we can start the adventure that day.

My question/concern is, what sorts of things do I need to be extra aware of for new players? What's a good way to introduce them to core concepts of the game? When I learned I had the advantage of being in a group of experienced players so I could lean on them to guide the way but that won't be an option with this group.

I've seen on some communities some DMs start the campaign with a survey to gauge what their players like/don't like but I'm not sure that will work with this group due to how completely new to everything they are.

Waffles Inc.
Jan 20, 2005

axeil posted:

Hi everyone.

My wonderful fiancee and her friends have agreed to try playing 5e D&D with me as the DM. I'm really excited for this as I love D&D but I've never DMed before and the players have basically no pen-and-paper game experience. They might even have minimal general fantasy/RPG setting experience beyond "I've seen Lord of the Rings"

I'm planning on having us play the Lost Mines of Phandelver as that's the same campaign I started with and it seems like it's also a good starter campaign for new DMs. Plus it comes with the starter kit.

Given the players are all totally brand new, I was planning on using pre-made characters that they could pick from, have them tell me things about their background/backstory, name, etc. and then we can start the adventure that day.

My question/concern is, what sorts of things do I need to be extra aware of for new players? What's a good way to introduce them to core concepts of the game? When I learned I had the advantage of being in a group of experienced players so I could lean on them to guide the way but that won't be an option with this group.

I've seen on some communities some DMs start the campaign with a survey to gauge what their players like/don't like but I'm not sure that will work with this group due to how completely new to everything they are.

Communicate expectations. D&D right now is in a state where if I were DMing for new people, I would worry that they think every game is going to be Critical Role and every DM is going to be Mercer. As a new DM please do not feel pressured to do crazy voices or have a grand intricate narrative planned out.

What tone do they all want? What sort of gameplay? Do they want lots of fighting? Very little fighting? Heavy RP?

Make sure you (don't forget you're meant to have fun too!) and your players want to play the same style of game. Someone who wants to murderhobo is going to be bummed when the rest of the group wants to like, not do that

sebmojo
Oct 23, 2010


Legit Cyberpunk









Ask each of the players about one thing they've done with another, to create a few basic relationships and get them used to creating parts of the story.

Tempest_56
Mar 14, 2009

axeil posted:

My question/concern is, what sorts of things do I need to be extra aware of for new players? What's a good way to introduce them to core concepts of the game? When I learned I had the advantage of being in a group of experienced players so I could lean on them to guide the way but that won't be an option with this group.

On the mechanical side: flowcharts. Seriously - take the average combat turn (or skill check, or whatever) and make a short flowchart about how it goes. There's a lot of people who are better with visuals than words and having that as a quick reference for new players is a lifesaver.

On the non-mechanical side: use your pronouns. Don't ask them "What do you do?" ask "What does Gimli do?". It's a small thing but it helps get people into the mindset of thinking about the character rather than themselves.

kaffo
Jun 20, 2017

If it's broken, it's probably my fault

sebmojo posted:

Ask each of the players about one thing they've done with another, to create a few basic relationships and get them used to creating parts of the story.
In the same vein, I recommend you make it clear they are all on the same "team" and the characters don't hate each other
Too often a first game boils down to a rogue nicking something from the party or some nonsense

Do pregen the characters and give them a little bit of flare beyond the stats, but not too much to let the players embellish it (Sir Hammond is a fighter and he recieved the chain mail he wears from his father when he died)
I don't know about your module, but make sure the threat they are facing and what they are trying to achieve is clear (get to the tower and save the Princess or go to the tomb and destory the magic crystal) so they don't get too distracted

That said, if they get distracted and everyone is having fun with the distraction including you, then don't be scared to switch the methphorical train tracks and run that game instead, the module can be run again and again, totally differently each time

And the best advice I can give, relax, don't worry about it too much and have fun!

Sanford
Jun 30, 2007

...and rarely post!


Tempest_56 posted:

On the non-mechanical side: use your pronouns. Don't ask them "What do you do?" ask "What does Gimli do?". It's a small thing but it helps get people into the mindset of thinking about the character rather than themselves.

This is great advice, thanks. I don’t do it but I’m definitely going to try to remember.

Axeil, if you look at my first posts in this thread you’ll see the questions I had running about phandelver, which was also the first time I had played D&D. Might help to see some of the random poo poo that comes up that definitely isn’t in the book?

Sanford fucked around with this message at 20:39 on Feb 8, 2019

Whybird
Aug 2, 2009

Phaiston have long avoided the tightly competetive defence sector, but the IRDA Act 2052 has given us the freedom we need to bring out something really special.

https://team-robostar.itch.io/robostar


Nap Ghost
5e (and all d&d, really) is very heavy on character generation, and the numerical aspect of that is gonna bore a lot of new players. I would advise making your first session be world-generation and character generation: get players to pick a class and a race, and flesh out the relationships between them and why they're all adventuring together. Then ask them leading questions about their characters ("Who taught your wizard magic? Are they still on good terms with you, or did you leave in disgrace? Who is the warrior's mightiest foe? What is the ranger's only regret?") and use those questions to ask more questions about the world they live in, so they feel invested about having created this setting together.

Then between sessions, actually do the numbersy bit of statting up characters that fit the description they gave, so they don't have to look through a rulebook to work out attack rolls, and can just jump right into the roleplaying next session.

E: Or play a game that isn't D&D and actually has fun character generation and combat mechanics, but I've given up trying to sell people on that now.

Chronische
Aug 7, 2012

Been running a Spelljammer game for a few sessions (AD&D 2e). I've done massive amounts of preparation with the setting, handouts, and rules stuff so it's all on hand. I've created a few systems and worlds to explore, each with their own plot hooks. Most recently they cleared a lost asteroid-estate belonging to one of the party member's ancestors of it's infestation of ash-monsters created by the psychic shock of the terrible events that led to the downfall of the house. Now they want to rebuild it, a task that will cost them many tens of thousands of gold; not the hardest thing to get in this setting, where the very ship they fly around in is worth 20k, and the helm that gives it motive force is 100k, but still tough.

As part of the estate, the entrance had a mosaic that depicted the solar system the asteroid is in. The mosaic is magical, and with the right methods it has been partially repaired and awoken so that it shows a real-time display of any ships and planets moving through the system, along with their heraldry (flag/banner/whatever). In addition to that, it shows a number of other odd marks throughout the system, some of which are caches of wealth from the old family, while others are noted crashed treasureships. The ship's helmsman/navigator deciphered one, located on a planet called "Shipwreck", a smallish world mostly covered in stormy seas, with a single major mining boom-town space colony on it.

The idea is that the party (when they get around to it, they spent most of last session plotting and enacting a totally unexpected heist against a group that had been neutral to them so far, getting away with a massive amount of silver as part of a pay caravan) will land in this boom-town and ask around about the shipwrecks since the mosaic can't zoom in to show exactly where it is. There's a few resources in town that might help; the priests of Ptah (Ptah, specifically, of the Egyptian pantheon is very popular in space. Don't ask why, I didn't write the setting!) who might help, but would require help of their own in dealing with the second resource. A priestess of Umberlee, a goddess from the Forgotten Realms devoted to the terrors and destructive forces of the sea. Her shrine is popular with the locals as they are safe as long as they pay proper homage to the goddess. The priests of Ptah do not like this, and would want her removed, or otherwise discredited. The priestess herself could help the party locate the ship easily, but would require 20% of the total wealth inside the wreck as payment for this assistance. There's also the local goblins of the world who may be able to help, but the ruler of the town has declared interacting with them to be illegal. As far as finding the place goes, those are the only ideas I've thought of, so further ideas would be nice. Once found, they then have to get down to the submerged ship, but that's not too much of a problem because one of the players has an ioun stone that creates a 10' bubble of "airy water", a magical effect that makes water as easy to move around in as air and also breathable.

Getting the loot back out of the ship would be tough, though, since it is heavy.. what's not ruined by time and seawater, at least. I've only put gold and some gems, as well as a bit of stuff kept in tightly sealed cases. The ship was the flagship of a cambion space pirate's fleet, who relied on enchanted slaves to operate most of his ship, as well as undead. The cambion is still alive, though in suspended animation, on his throne. As far as treasures go, the things he's carrying are the most valuable, but will awaken him if touched.

Other treasures would be good, maybe stuff that's been put there by other creatures inhabiting the wreck? I had plans to have some intelligent giant octopi dwelling in the front of the ship, or possibly atop it among the seaweed that coats it.

Other than the treasures of this ship, there's also it's old helm, the single most valuable thing on the ship, but also the most difficult to retrieve from the depths. It's a Lifejammer helm - unlike normal helms, it drains the life force of the one strapped into it as motive force. Still worth a pretty penny! I wasn't sure whether to keep it intact or not, though, because of it's sheer value. The party are level 3-4, deep in debt to repay the cost of their ship and helm, and also have massive plans already to build and expand on the asteroid estate. Don't want to give too much all at once, though, even working for it.

Do you think all the loot being investigated and taxed by the officials at the town would be too much? They'd clearly be able to see the party bringing it in from wherever to their ship (which cannot "land" on water so they can't use it for that purpose), and historically looting hulks and shipwrecks have been taxed if discovered. There's some law about all shipwrecks belonging to "the crown" historically across a number of seafaring nations, so it makes sense to apply to a spacefaring one as well. In addition, more things to keep them occupied would be good. Other than the goal of rebuilding, they have had plot hooks thrown their way that they haven't bit; going back to a sphere they explored to help out the locals they've endangered via careless spreading of information, helping broker peace between two sides of a flat-world that are in a war of genocide against one another, exploring the interior of a bizarre jungle world, or other things like that they've mostly just avoided.

axeil
Feb 14, 2006
Wow, thank you everyone for all the advice!

I've been talking with the DM of my Phandelver campaign as well as another DM I know for ideas and they're echoing all the good things you all are saying here.

What do you more experienced DMs think is the most common thing new players get tripped up about? One of my DM friends told me that I will likely need to be very hand-holdy about mechanics and point things out "Ms. Wizard, would you like to hide behind those rocks for +2 to your AC?" What sorts of in-game mechanics are the ones I should keep in mind to explain/nudge the players towards?

Keeshhound
Jan 14, 2010

Mad Duck Swagger

axeil posted:


What do you more experienced DMs think is the most common thing new players get tripped up about? One of my DM friends told me that I will likely need to be very hand-holdy about mechanics and point things out "Ms. Wizard, would you like to hide behind those rocks for +2 to your AC?" What sorts of in-game mechanics are the ones I should keep in mind to explain/nudge the players towards?

The biggest hurdle is probably the role playing itself. If you don't have a bunch of people in theater/used to improv they're probably going to feel more than a little self conscious, so if you can sort of lead by example and commit to playing your role with confidence, that should help them over any initial awkwardness that might arise.

The other thing you can do to help out is be aware of the risk of things getting bogged down during mechanics-heavy play. Along with Tempust's flowcharts tip, I'd add that you should make cheat sheets that you can quickly refer to for any rules (especially math/derived stats) that you think might come up. As an addendum, it's far better for you to make a fiat ruling on any questions that do pop up during play that later turn out to be wrong than to lose momentum looking something up, so try to keep things moving whenever possible.

Pussy Quipped
Jan 29, 2009

axeil posted:

Wow, thank you everyone for all the advice!

I've been talking with the DM of my Phandelver campaign as well as another DM I know for ideas and they're echoing all the good things you all are saying here.

What do you more experienced DMs think is the most common thing new players get tripped up about? One of my DM friends told me that I will likely need to be very hand-holdy about mechanics and point things out "Ms. Wizard, would you like to hide behind those rocks for +2 to your AC?" What sorts of in-game mechanics are the ones I should keep in mind to explain/nudge the players towards?

I find that players who are completely new to TTRPG's have a lot of trouble getting out of the "video game" mindset. Each encounter is a level to beat, NPC's are just quest givers, always checking everything for loot and items, etc. Steer them away from this mentality and encourage outside-the-box thinking and problem solving. I found my new players were very overly-reliant on their character sheet to figure out what they could do. In other words, I would ask them what they would like to do and they immediately look down at their sheet and say " Uh well I can attack, or I can cast magic missile, or..". Find a way to get it in their brains that they can do more than just what their sheet says they can do.

axeil
Feb 14, 2006

Keeshhound posted:

The biggest hurdle is probably the role playing itself. If you don't have a bunch of people in theater/used to improv they're probably going to feel more than a little self conscious, so if you can sort of lead by example and commit to playing your role with confidence, that should help them over any initial awkwardness that might arise.

The other thing you can do to help out is be aware of the risk of things getting bogged down during mechanics-heavy play. Along with Tempust's flowcharts tip, I'd add that you should make cheat sheets that you can quickly refer to for any rules (especially math/derived stats) that you think might come up. As an addendum, it's far better for you to make a fiat ruling on any questions that do pop up during play that later turn out to be wrong than to lose momentum looking something up, so try to keep things moving whenever possible.

Thanks for this tip.

Would me doing voices help make them all feel more comfortable since I'm clearly being way more goofy than they are? Not very confident about my voice skill but gently caress it, I'll put on a terrible Scottish accent for a bartender or do weird growls and stuff for orcs if it helps everyone out.


Pussy Quipped posted:

I find that players who are completely new to TTRPG's have a lot of trouble getting out of the "video game" mindset. Each encounter is a level to beat, NPC's are just quest givers, always checking everything for loot and items, etc. Steer them away from this mentality and encourage outside-the-box thinking and problem solving. I found my new players were very overly-reliant on their character sheet to figure out what they could do. In other words, I would ask them what they would like to do and they immediately look down at their sheet and say " Uh well I can attack, or I can cast magic missile, or..". Find a way to get it in their brains that they can do more than just what their sheet says they can do.

Do you find it's helpful to give examples of what each skill does? Like explaining that an athletics check could be running really fast/picking up something heavy, performance could be being a really enthusiastic and impassioned speech instead of persuasion, etc.

One of my the most hilarious in-game moments related to skills I've ever seen is when a halfling rogue used her performance skill to try and seductively pour a healing potion on her self to distract some guards. It...did not work but the DM did a great job of improvising the whole situation when he got a zany request like that.

DivineCoffeeBinge
Mar 3, 2011

Spider-Man's Amazing Construction Company

axeil posted:

Do you find it's helpful to give examples of what each skill does? Like explaining that an athletics check could be running really fast/picking up something heavy, performance could be being a really enthusiastic and impassioned speech instead of persuasion, etc.

The way I like to approach it is to say "forget the character sheet for a second. If we weren't playing this game, if we were doing improv or something, what would your character do?" And then when they give me a course of action they want to take, walk them through how to jam that into the mechanics. "Okay, so you're telling me you want to try and distract the guards by seductively pouring a healing potion over yourself, which is, sure, okay, that's a thing. So I'm gonna say that sounds like a Performance roll - you're acting in a way designed to draw attention to yourself and hold the attention of an audience, and that seems like a pretty good way to describe a performance, right?"

Get them into the habit of, instead of thinking about their skills and what those skills will allow them to do, coming up with things they want to do and then figuring out how their skills would apply to that.

axeil
Feb 14, 2006

DivineCoffeeBinge posted:

The way I like to approach it is to say "forget the character sheet for a second. If we weren't playing this game, if we were doing improv or something, what would your character do?" And then when they give me a course of action they want to take, walk them through how to jam that into the mechanics. "Okay, so you're telling me you want to try and distract the guards by seductively pouring a healing potion over yourself, which is, sure, okay, that's a thing. So I'm gonna say that sounds like a Performance roll - you're acting in a way designed to draw attention to yourself and hold the attention of an audience, and that seems like a pretty good way to describe a performance, right?"

Get them into the habit of, instead of thinking about their skills and what those skills will allow them to do, coming up with things they want to do and then figuring out how their skills would apply to that.

Oh, drat! That's an excellent way of thinking about it, thank you!

Focusing on telling people to tell me what they want to actually do instead of what skill they want to do is a really, really smart idea

Jeffrey of YOSPOS
Dec 22, 2005

GET LOSE, YOU CAN'T COMPARE WITH MY POWERS

Pussy Quipped posted:

I find that players who are completely new to TTRPG's have a lot of trouble getting out of the "video game" mindset. Each encounter is a level to beat, NPC's are just quest givers, always checking everything for loot and items, etc. Steer them away from this mentality and encourage outside-the-box thinking and problem solving. I found my new players were very overly-reliant on their character sheet to figure out what they could do. In other words, I would ask them what they would like to do and they immediately look down at their sheet and say " Uh well I can attack, or I can cast magic missile, or..". Find a way to get it in their brains that they can do more than just what their sheet says they can do.
One of my new players, very early on, asked me if they had "missed anything", as if there was a set of loot to find at any juncture, as opposed to the whole world being loot if they can take it. It was kinda cute. I think he got it when I pointed out that they hadn't taken the friendly cloud giant's flying cloud tower.

Pussy Quipped
Jan 29, 2009

DivineCoffeeBinge posted:

Get them into the habit of, instead of thinking about their skills and what those skills will allow them to do, coming up with things they want to do and then figuring out how their skills would apply to that.

Yeah, this is what I was getting at but didn't know how to say.


axeil posted:


Would me doing voices help make them all feel more comfortable since I'm clearly being way more goofy than they are? Not very confident about my voice skill but gently caress it, I'll put on a terrible Scottish accent for a bartender or do weird growls and stuff for orcs if it helps everyone out.

You don't need voices, but they can be fun. I would say its more important to stay in character as your NPC when addressing or talking with the PC's than to make sure you are doing the correct voice or whatever.

Keeshhound
Jan 14, 2010

Mad Duck Swagger

axeil posted:

Thanks for this tip.

Would me doing voices help make them all feel more comfortable since I'm clearly being way more goofy than they are? Not very confident about my voice skill but gently caress it, I'll put on a terrible Scottish accent for a bartender or do weird growls and stuff for orcs if it helps everyone out.

My position on this is to do whatever you're most confident in. The thing you want to try to avoid is looking nervous or self conscious, because that's going to make them feel nervous or self conscious. As long as you make it look like you're comfortable with everything that's happening, that should help everyone else loosen up, too.

DivineCoffeeBinge
Mar 3, 2011

Spider-Man's Amazing Construction Company

axeil posted:

Oh, drat! That's an excellent way of thinking about it, thank you!

Focusing on telling people to tell me what they want to actually do instead of what skill they want to do is a really, really smart idea

I cannot recommend highly enough focusing on what the players want to do, yes. As long as it's reasonably plausible within the game mechanics - sometimes even if it's not, but you have to at least pay lip service to the mechanics or else why are you playing D&D and not just running an improv course - focus on their actions and their goals, not the rules.

That includes knowing how to fudge the mechanics a bit ("okay I know you're trying to impress people but you're doing it by lifting heavy things, which ought to be Athletics and not Performance... but your Athletics skill sucks so I'm gonna let you use your proficiency bonus for being proficient in Performance, okay?") and when to invent new ones on the spot ("I know you only have a total of +4 to your roll and this is a DC 20, but I'm gonna give you an extra +3 bonus because that action is loving cool")... and sometimes it includes knowing when to say no ("I know you have a +8 on Intimidation checks but it's a falling boulder, you cannot scare it into not hitting you, gravity doesn't work that way").

The key is to remember that your goal is to play these characters; the rules should be a tool to help you do that, not a barrier to overcome or a straitjacket that limits your options.

ILL Machina
Mar 25, 2004

:italy: Glory to Italia! :italy:

Ayy!! This text is-a the color of marinara! Ohhhh!! Dat's amore!!
This might be out off the realm of possibility, but I'd recommend getting a dnd beyond account. If your table is willing to make twitch accounts, you can add everyone to a campaign and share all the content you buy into. They have a nice character generation Wizard and it takes a lot of the paperwork out if things because all the modifiers and tracking is done automatically and in a decent UI. People can just have tablets or laptops or phones set up. The hyperlinks for spell information is pretty awesome.

I would recommend not prerolling characters but, at the least, discuss what kind of background they want and what kind of character they want to play (out at least what kinds of things do they think might be fun to do in a game). They'll be more invested in the characters if they feel like they built them. The party doesn't have to know each other at the start, but they should at least have somewhat related motivations that being them together in the first episode. The background suggestions are actually one of the only things hoard of the dragon queen does decently. My party had ideas about what kind of classes they wanted to play and we built backstories around them by plucking some ideas from the bg table and giving out the optional perks, but you could do it the other way around just as easily.

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Reveilled
Apr 19, 2007

Take up your rifles
One thing that I think has helped me run Phandelver is writing out cue cards with the quests ahead of time. The first time I did phandelver as a player, I had no idea really what we were doing, it was difficult to keep names and places separate, especially because the game can overload you a bit at the start; you get Gundren's name in the intro, and then you meet Sildar, and you might assume Sildar is Gundren but he's not, and he's been kidnapped but also Gundren has been kidnapped and he's been taken away by the leader of the goblins, but not the leader of the goblins who's in this cave, and not the leader of the goblins who's in the other part of this cave, but the even bigger leader who's in the castle which has the same name as this cave, and ultimately you want to find Wave Echo Cave, which isn't this cave with the big wave trap in it, it's a different cave which is the location of the Forge of Spells, which is also the mine owned by the Phandelver Pact, which isn't the same thing as Phandalin etc etc.

Then on top of all those names and places, you reach Phandalin and depending on how thorough the group is, you then get blasted with six or seven side quests. So when the time came to run it as a DM, I made quest cards as references for my players, here are the ones I started them with:

code:
QUEST: The Lost Mine of Phandelver

Given by: Gundren Rockseeker

Objective: Assist Gundren & his brothers Tharden 
           & Nundro with "something big"

Reward: 1. Repay the debt or favour you owe Gundren.
        2. Maybe Treasure?
code:
QUEST: Wagons and Wages

Given by: Gundren Rockseeker

Objective: Escort Gundren's supplies to Barthen's Provisions in Phandalin
           Then, report to Gundren and his friend Sildar for instructions.

Reward: 50gp
When they met up with Sildar in Phandalin, I collected the second card and gave out a new one for finding Cragmaw Castle, along with all the other little sidequests they picked up along the way.

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