My First Time (Encourage Players)

zfleeman

Hey, all. Last summer, I posted in this forum declaring my newbishness to D&D. I ended up selling my core rulebooks, because I never could find somebody who was ready to DM my first game.

Months passed, and I decided to give the Essentials set a go, because it looked much more user friendly for my uninitiated friends (I am much more into D&D than they are). We all made characters, I briefed them on some basic rules, and I decided to DM my first game of D&D. As a DM I had a lot of fun; it was staggering to look back and see how many hours I put into this incredibly simple dungeon crawl. My party seemed like they were having a good time, but this brings me to my first question.

How can I get my players to be more engaged in the experience? They perform 'okay' when they are out of encounters, but during combat they view it more as a game. What I mean by this is, when they are in combat, they are just announcing their move, standard, and minor actions without being emotive at all. I might be spoiled by the debate and discourse that occurs during the Penny Arcade D&D podcasts, though.

This was the first time any of us played D&D, so I think a lot of these issues will work themselves out as my players get more invested into the characters/story. Also, as a DM I might not be asking the right questions.

Any tips or tricks for a new DM would be greatly appreciated.

TheOtherHorseman

One option is to put in actual incentives for it that they want. A bonus to their roll when they're trying to pull off something ridiculous but describe it really well, for example. At the end of the game session, picking the person who portrayed their character best and awarding them some token bonus experience.

Whet their appetites and eventually as they get used to pursuing the prizes, the behaviors will become second nature.

samurai6966

The best advice I ever hear for a new DM.

"A good Gamemaster controls his players actions. A great GM makes the players believe they are in control."

psycojester

I think basically everybody kind of goofs off and messes around during combat, there's not a whole lot for players to do when it isn't their turn, so its natural for them to screw around a little.

Go listen to something like the Role Playing Public Radio New World campaign, their players are really into whats going in the game and the consequences of their actions in the long term, they're all clearly really into the game, but they still get distracted and screw around when they're in combat and there's nothing mentally engaging happening for most of the party.