How to Onboard New D&D Players

Here’s a simple way to get non-RPG players playing RPGs real quick.

THREE RULES ONLY

  1. Let me describe what D&D is in one paragraph. It’s a conversation where we imagine a reality together to tell a story.
    • It goes like this: I describe stuff: the environment. The objects. The characters. And then you tell me what you want to do in this world.
    • You can do two things: ask questions. (Just because I didn’t describe it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist). You react : first person, third person, descriptive, voices.
  2. Don’t worry about the rules. The rules are not important. You’re looking at your character sheet, and you’re freaking out over all those numbers.
    • But don’t look at the character sheet to figure out what you an do. Use your imagination to figure out what your character is doing first, then look at the character sheet when I tell you to. Be creative first and foremost.
    • Play to your stereotype at first if that’s more comfortable:
      • BARD - I talk my way into and out of trouble (and perform stuff).
      • CLERIC - I pray to my god to heal friends.
      • DRUID - I hunt and shapeshift into animals.
      • FIGHTER - I destroy things with sharp metal and blunt objects.
      • ROGUE - I sneak around, steal shit and stab things in the back.
      • WIZARD - I cast spells to hurt, trick or conjure up things.
  3. When you have to roll, we nearly always roll the d20 first. Make them all look at the d20, hold it and set it aside. Make it special. Tell them their character’s lives depend on this dice.
    • But why do we roll the dice? Talk about what they’re good at. But imagine it’s stressful, tense and there are stakes. Can you still do it under pressure? The dice represents that randomness of life when we try to do thing under pressure.

TO SUMMARIZE

  1. Use your imagination. Don’t worry about the rules. Just role play.
  2. Ask questions. Just because I didn’t describe something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
  3. The d20 is your everything.

Some House Rules:

I roll open. No cheating or fudging. I don’t roll behind a screen. Most DMs do this for a sense of “mystery”. I think it’s silly and a waste of time. But because I “let the dice fall”… that means we follow the game rules and if I roll really well… your character may die. This is OK. You can roll up a new character quickly. I don’t want you to get into the habit of falling in love with a character before you’ve played them.

My philosophy is that drama and story comes from in-game actions, not you spending hours coming up with an elaborate backstory.