Is there a prefab D&D campaign (if that's the term) that two couples with little or no D&D background could run through in a couple or few weekends? We all know about D&D, and the one person who hasn't actually played it or Pathfinder has played D&Desque video games, but nobody has ever DMed, and nobody has ever actually finished a tabletop roleplaying game campaign before.
I believe Gloomhaven would be something like this that we could look into if we had more time, but one of the couples is moving out of state in a month and a half.
@Justice I think the Wild Beyond The Witchlight is currently the best modern introductory campaign, but it'll take longer than a few weekends benders especially with inexperienced players. I would instead recommend playing a few adventures from the Adventure League, which have the added benefit of forming an ongoing story. I think the stories around Phlan from Tyranny of Dragons are pretty focused and hit on a lot of medieval fantasy tropes.
My favorite "just let me run this every few weeks for new friends" one shot is the Pudding Faire which is light on combat but big on using roleplaying to solve a mystery and gives plenty of advice for DMs on how to run it.
WRT to D&D not describing how a game runs/how to make things flow, the 4e DMG and DMG2 did these both excellently, even going so far as to identify player archetypes and how to engage them in a given game and things you would want to avoid so you don't shut down their fun. It had session 0 party creation, it had fail forward, hell I think there was even a couple blurbs about what to do if a player misses a session. It was very good at teaching even a dumb-dumb like me what a DM should be be striving for to run a good session. I still have those books on my shelf to lend out to prospective DMs when they express interest.
But 4e knew exactly what it wanted to do and for that they murdered it after mangling it before shoving it down the memory hole.
"There was no 4th edition citizen. Power sources and Warlords are a myth"
"Go down, kick ass, and set yourselves up as gods, that's our Prime Directive!"
Dunno about the first two things, but 4th was great
Skill challenges were, in my view, the progenitor of the Clock system in Blades in the Dark - succeed a certain number of times before you fail a certain number of times
StraightziHere we may reign secure, and in my choice,To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered Userregular
Pretty sure bards are famously easy
Not sure how difficult they would be to play for a new player though
+4
DepressperadoI just wanted to see you laughingin the pizza rainRegistered Userregular
edited August 2022
clerics would be good because there's no like, selecting what spells you know
you can just pick day to day from a level appropriate list of spells, depending on what you need
with like, bards or sorcerers, there's the risk that you picked a clunker and have to wait until you level to switch it out
edit: plus a cleric can also just hit stuff if they want
Depressperado on
+5
RingoHe/Hima distinct lack of substanceRegistered Userregular
Yeah for ease of play Spellcaster you can't go wrong with Cleric. Plus there's plenty of archetypes that shift both theme and playstyle. Life clerics heal, war clerics smash, light clerics blast, and tempest clerics laugh as everyone takes thunder damage!
Zonugal(He/Him) The Holiday ArmadilloI'm Santa's representative for all the southern states. And Mexico!Registered Userregular
edited August 2022
I think if you are creating the character ahead of time, a Wizard is very easy to run.
Give your mom a selection of note-cards with the spells name & a one-sentence descriptor on them, then ask her to choose her allotted amount (per the Wizard's level & Int score). "You get eight of these twelve, choose what you think will be useful for an adventure."
I don't think there is too much confusion past this, as the entire difficulty in playing a Wizard is the design-phase when you are picking which spells are in your spell-book.
Because if you remove that component, Wizards are incredibly easy to play. "You are a super-smart academic. You learned magic at a university and have since been employed as a consultant for a minor noble-lord."
Zonugal on
+4
RingoHe/Hima distinct lack of substanceRegistered Userregular
If you've had the character made for you, then Warlock
No choosing spells every day, and a small pool of spells for when you don't want to just Eldritch Blast everything
Warlock can be very one-note, as the answer to everything that's not a Charisma check is invariably Eldritch Blast. I would hesitate to give it to a new player for the same reason I hesitate over Champion Fighters - they're a snoozefest
note cards are good for sure, and i might suggest using coins or poker chips or etc. to represent spell slots if your family is more used to board games
Anyway, Wreckage session day! The players are cooking up a new squad right now based on the events of the prior three way war explosion death fest, so they’ve gone for a group of ex-slaves attempting to carve out a niche for their people. I’m thinking now there is a power vacuum several gangs and beasts are going to poke at the territory they now own. Plus a huge black rectangle is going to hover over the border of the territory and create a zealous cult around it that entices some of the people to join the cult. It doesn’t want anything, but those that get to close become happy, then start to turn into living equations and many angled things etc. But that’s for later.
So far we might have…
Ka-Ra, a Cluster of three witches made from sand.
Najani, an Imprisoned iron golem living forge with anvil fists.
Toots, a Coryphée with a floating crystal head.
Venge-Mor, a good old fashioned Gutter caveman looking fellow.
Pretty bog standard crew. This’ll be the opening track as I do the first bit of narrative, thoughts?
If you've had the character made for you, then Warlock
No choosing spells every day, and a small pool of spells for when you don't want to just Eldritch Blast everything
Warlock can be very one-note, as the answer to everything that's not a Charisma check is invariably Eldritch Blast. I would hesitate to give it to a new player for the same reason I hesitate over Champion Fighters - they're a snoozefest
Gasp
Although I guess I picked Warlock after a decade of role-playing, so I knew what would make him work mechanically (area of affect spells to account for the fact that most of the rest of the party were single target combatants, especially at the early levels) and thematically (Tiefling in Titania's Service, one-time musician to the Seelie Court, now rocking out and taking notes for his magnum opus rock opera)
And for some new players, I think a reliable attack but with the option to do some other cantrips and spells if they want to might just be the level of complexity they need, especially if you also need a party Face
[Muffled sounds of gorilla violence]
+2
gavindelThe reason all your softwareis brokenRegistered Userregular
Today's playtest for Seln Alora involved a combat in a tight, narrow druid's barrow against a cultist, his guards, and his mooks. As predicted, the move to Health and Aura boxes drastically reduces any given character's survivability; I will probably have to re-assess the Protector role's options to allow them to handle mook swarms.
The highlight of the session was probably one player deciding to poke the scene. They found a broken ward, a tree that had been unsealed, and were assaulted by a spectre. Two of the group were granted Death Touch to fight the spectre, the other had to help repair the shimenawa, and one of the NPCs ran the ritual while they protected her. Once the ghost was down, the one player started asking questions.
Player: "Why the heck are there evil ghosts sealed in a tree?! Shouldn't we put them to rest?"
Me as NPC: "One cannot control the hatred in a man's heart. Only bind them to prevent damage."
Player: "What kind of solution is it to leave them to rot?!"
Me: "They are supposed to be tended to by the shrine priests, that in time they might release their hatred and re-enter the cycle of reincarnation."
Player: "Oh, great, so we're supposed to worship angry ghosts?"
Me: "it is not worship. Would you consider it worship to honor your father and mother?"
Player, who plays a 16 year old village peasant boy: "Definitely!"
Me as NPC, who is much older despite her apparent age: "...I see."
The players have had great fun with all obviously crushing on this strange Rosethorn woman and wondering why she seems uninterested in returning the affections of a trio of in-over-their-heads farmboys.
Angels, innovations, and the hubris of tiny things: my book now free on Royal Road! Seraphim
On the one hand: Yay my friends want me to run Mythras.
On the other hand: Oh god I've gotta come up with lore and weapon schools and which spells their moon cult has access too under which magical systems oh god.
I think my biggest ... hope? For 1D&1D is that it's more of a revision than a new edition. I don't particularly like 5th, but it's solid enough for what it is, and an update/revision that is more or less compatible, or at least translatable with original 5th (a la AD&D 2nd ed revised and 3.5) will probably be more palatable and is also probably better for sales if they're pushing digital.
Idk but I definitely think every good game deserves a more revision/update style pass before being tossed out for a wholy new edition. 3.0 and 4e were both radical departures from their previous editions; and that's good, too, eventually. But I think it's worth exploring as much of the space a given framework gives you before going back to the drawing bored.
But then again I have no concept of the changes between AD&D 1 and 2, so that's probably something I should look into
admanbunionize your workplaceSeattle, WARegistered Userregular
It'll definitely just be a revision. 5E is their entirely-accidental golden egg and they'd be fools to stray too far from the Game that Critical Role Plays. They just need enough revisions to the base rules so that people are excited to play like... base rules Ranger.
Yeah okay AD&D 1 to 2 was in fact basically a revision. The biggest changes were ones that had already all but been implemented in 1st (apparently ThAC0 wasn't the default in the 1st ed core book?), and otherwise it just retooled some classes (Bard, Barbarian, and magic users, especially).
If this is closer to that than cool jut also I wish they'd call it a revision and not increment the edition but that's nust because reasons and also I wish the same for 13th Age. Pathfinder was a significant enough change I think to warrant being a new edition.
They've been pretty clear about how all the new stuff is going to be compatible with all of the 5e stuff. So yeah, it's a revision, and one that will probably be pretty extensive.
It'll definitely just be a revision. 5E is their entirely-accidental golden egg and they'd be fools to stray too far from the Game that Critical Role Plays. They just need enough revisions to the base rules so that people are excited to play like... base rules Ranger.
A thought I had recently is that a new quirk of this release cycle is that if the various popular actual plays don't adopt the new edition Wizards has a real problem on their hands.
nightmarenny on
+1
admanbunionize your workplaceSeattle, WARegistered Userregular
It'll definitely just be a revision. 5E is their entirely-accidental golden egg and they'd be fools to stray too far from the Game that Critical Role Plays. They just need enough revisions to the base rules so that people are excited to play like... base rules Ranger.
A thought I had recently is that a new quirk of this release cycle is that if the various popular actual plays don't adopt the new edition Wizards has a real problem on their hands.
Yep. Which is part of why they won’t make 3E>4E scale changes.
(Though they’d be biting-the-hand-that-feeds-them given that they get marketing and — I assume — paid appearances from WOTC. But, Critical Role deciding that One was too big a change from 5E would hurt WOTC a lot worse than it hurt them.)
It'll definitely just be a revision. 5E is their entirely-accidental golden egg and they'd be fools to stray too far from the Game that Critical Role Plays. They just need enough revisions to the base rules so that people are excited to play like... base rules Ranger.
A thought I had recently is that a new quirk of this release cycle is that if the various popular actual plays don't adopt the new edition Wizards has a real problem on their hands.
Yep. Which is part of why they won’t make 3E>4E scale changes.
(Though they’d be biting-the-hand-that-feeds-them given that they get marketing and — I assume — paid appearances from WOTC. But, Critical Role deciding that One was too big a change from 5E would hurt WOTC a lot worse than it hurt them.)
Well, keep in mind that CritRole started off in Pathfinder, they're not exactly strangers to more complex systems. But, I agree, WoTC isn't making any drastic changes unless the popularity and sales drop, we're far more likely to see refreshes that are just different enough to encourage people to get new books, but not so different that entrenched fans would leave.
Basically, it's a live service, with a subscription even.
Been watching that Dimension 20 Fey Court game and they're doing some hack of 5E and that Jane Austen game, maybe? They're sending letters and fairy politicking and it's pretty cute.
Been watching that Dimension 20 Fey Court game and they're doing some hack of 5E and that Jane Austen game, maybe? They're sending letters and fairy politicking and it's pretty cute.
Is "that Jane Austen game" Good Society, the No Dice No Masters-esque game of collaborative storytelling? I can't imagine how well it actually meshes with D&D, the get a token/always do/spend a token thing doesn't really work out. Are they following the overall session structure maybe (scene, rep, rumors, letters, scene, rep, letters, wrap)?
You could probably playbook up some fae to drift off of Good Society, and I say "playbook" but it's more like "nothing about the resolve token economy actually changes, just write down half a dozen descriptors for what getting and spending tokens can look like for you, and another half dozen for your idle animation". And I say "just" but making a good list that's helpful at table is a heckin' lot of work.
My party's task for tonight was to sneak aboard a small moored ship
The session was spent haggling with a used ship salesman for a cheap dinghy, finding a place that sold tar in bulk, and convincing some disaffected youths that the docks were the perfect place to do tricks on the wheeled boards normally used to transport heavy crates (the Paladin specifically searched for "radical stevedores" to incite into protesting)
Next session will be opening with a fire ship and a protest as distractions. Total cost of materials: 550gp, but the alternative was the Paladin in full plate attempting a Stealth check
Posts
@Justice I think the Wild Beyond The Witchlight is currently the best modern introductory campaign, but it'll take longer than a few weekends benders especially with inexperienced players. I would instead recommend playing a few adventures from the Adventure League, which have the added benefit of forming an ongoing story. I think the stories around Phlan from Tyranny of Dragons are pretty focused and hit on a lot of medieval fantasy tropes.
I'm on mobile, I think this links to the complete pdf of the first adventure https://media.wizards.com/2014/downloads/dnd/DDEX11_Defiance_in_Phlan.pdf
My favorite "just let me run this every few weeks for new friends" one shot is the Pudding Faire which is light on combat but big on using roleplaying to solve a mystery and gives plenty of advice for DMs on how to run it.
But 4e knew exactly what it wanted to do and for that they murdered it after mangling it before shoving it down the memory hole.
"There was no 4th edition citizen. Power sources and Warlords are a myth"
Skill challenges were, in my view, the progenitor of the Clock system in Blades in the Dark - succeed a certain number of times before you fail a certain number of times
I will be doing this!
Yeah "what's the easiest caster" sounds like a lovely little grenade of a question
Not sure how difficult they would be to play for a new player though
you can just pick day to day from a level appropriate list of spells, depending on what you need
with like, bards or sorcerers, there's the risk that you picked a clunker and have to wait until you level to switch it out
edit: plus a cleric can also just hit stuff if they want
No choosing spells every day, and a small pool of spells for when you don't want to just Eldritch Blast everything
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
Give your mom a selection of note-cards with the spells name & a one-sentence descriptor on them, then ask her to choose her allotted amount (per the Wizard's level & Int score). "You get eight of these twelve, choose what you think will be useful for an adventure."
I don't think there is too much confusion past this, as the entire difficulty in playing a Wizard is the design-phase when you are picking which spells are in your spell-book.
Because if you remove that component, Wizards are incredibly easy to play. "You are a super-smart academic. You learned magic at a university and have since been employed as a consultant for a minor noble-lord."
Warlock can be very one-note, as the answer to everything that's not a Charisma check is invariably Eldritch Blast. I would hesitate to give it to a new player for the same reason I hesitate over Champion Fighters - they're a snoozefest
Anyway, Wreckage session day! The players are cooking up a new squad right now based on the events of the prior three way war explosion death fest, so they’ve gone for a group of ex-slaves attempting to carve out a niche for their people. I’m thinking now there is a power vacuum several gangs and beasts are going to poke at the territory they now own. Plus a huge black rectangle is going to hover over the border of the territory and create a zealous cult around it that entices some of the people to join the cult. It doesn’t want anything, but those that get to close become happy, then start to turn into living equations and many angled things etc. But that’s for later.
So far we might have…
Ka-Ra, a Cluster of three witches made from sand.
Najani, an Imprisoned iron golem living forge with anvil fists.
Toots, a Coryphée with a floating crystal head.
Venge-Mor, a good old fashioned Gutter caveman looking fellow.
Pretty bog standard crew. This’ll be the opening track as I do the first bit of narrative, thoughts?
Gasp
Although I guess I picked Warlock after a decade of role-playing, so I knew what would make him work mechanically (area of affect spells to account for the fact that most of the rest of the party were single target combatants, especially at the early levels) and thematically (Tiefling in Titania's Service, one-time musician to the Seelie Court, now rocking out and taking notes for his magnum opus rock opera)
And for some new players, I think a reliable attack but with the option to do some other cantrips and spells if they want to might just be the level of complexity they need, especially if you also need a party Face
The highlight of the session was probably one player deciding to poke the scene. They found a broken ward, a tree that had been unsealed, and were assaulted by a spectre. Two of the group were granted Death Touch to fight the spectre, the other had to help repair the shimenawa, and one of the NPCs ran the ritual while they protected her. Once the ghost was down, the one player started asking questions.
Player: "Why the heck are there evil ghosts sealed in a tree?! Shouldn't we put them to rest?"
Me as NPC: "One cannot control the hatred in a man's heart. Only bind them to prevent damage."
Player: "What kind of solution is it to leave them to rot?!"
Me: "They are supposed to be tended to by the shrine priests, that in time they might release their hatred and re-enter the cycle of reincarnation."
Player: "Oh, great, so we're supposed to worship angry ghosts?"
Me: "it is not worship. Would you consider it worship to honor your father and mother?"
Player, who plays a 16 year old village peasant boy: "Definitely!"
Me as NPC, who is much older despite her apparent age: "...I see."
The players have had great fun with all obviously crushing on this strange Rosethorn woman and wondering why she seems uninterested in returning the affections of a trio of in-over-their-heads farmboys.
If it's the former, yeah Wizard is easier especially in the moment because you have the spells you have.
Otherwise there is a little more prep work but overall they're fine
Overall I'd say most full casters are pretty even for ease of play
I am now debating making a bard for her as well. one of each!
edit: cleric sounds like a good call but we've got that covered, my girlfriend is bringing one over she's played previously
On the other hand: Oh god I've gotta come up with lore and weapon schools and which spells their moon cult has access too under which magical systems oh god.
I thought Gabe liking 4e was a joke about him being a newcomer and former hater of D&D
Acq Inc started, in part, to advertise 4E
Idk but I definitely think every good game deserves a more revision/update style pass before being tossed out for a wholy new edition. 3.0 and 4e were both radical departures from their previous editions; and that's good, too, eventually. But I think it's worth exploring as much of the space a given framework gives you before going back to the drawing bored.
But then again I have no concept of the changes between AD&D 1 and 2, so that's probably something I should look into
If this is closer to that than cool jut also I wish they'd call it a revision and not increment the edition but that's nust because reasons and also I wish the same for 13th Age. Pathfinder was a significant enough change I think to warrant being a new edition.
I'm being weird though
Though I would guess if they are planning any significant class overhauls we won't see that playtest material for a little while
A thought I had recently is that a new quirk of this release cycle is that if the various popular actual plays don't adopt the new edition Wizards has a real problem on their hands.
Yep. Which is part of why they won’t make 3E>4E scale changes.
(Though they’d be biting-the-hand-that-feeds-them given that they get marketing and — I assume — paid appearances from WOTC. But, Critical Role deciding that One was too big a change from 5E would hurt WOTC a lot worse than it hurt them.)
Basically, it's a live service, with a subscription even.
Is "that Jane Austen game" Good Society, the No Dice No Masters-esque game of collaborative storytelling? I can't imagine how well it actually meshes with D&D, the get a token/always do/spend a token thing doesn't really work out. Are they following the overall session structure maybe (scene, rep, rumors, letters, scene, rep, letters, wrap)?
You could probably playbook up some fae to drift off of Good Society, and I say "playbook" but it's more like "nothing about the resolve token economy actually changes, just write down half a dozen descriptors for what getting and spending tokens can look like for you, and another half dozen for your idle animation". And I say "just" but making a good list that's helpful at table is a heckin' lot of work.
How to Get Into Tabletop RPGs!
The session was spent haggling with a used ship salesman for a cheap dinghy, finding a place that sold tar in bulk, and convincing some disaffected youths that the docks were the perfect place to do tricks on the wheeled boards normally used to transport heavy crates (the Paladin specifically searched for "radical stevedores" to incite into protesting)
Next session will be opening with a fire ship and a protest as distractions. Total cost of materials: 550gp, but the alternative was the Paladin in full plate attempting a Stealth check