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Hello,
Me and my friends just recently decided to start playing D&D, i was wondering if you had any advice for beginners. Things to avoid? Things not to do? Things to do? Character Creation advice? Dungeon Master Advice?

Sunday we played our first game, the first time DM did a great job it was a lot of fun, only problem we had was we are playing 4th edition and the adventure he used was 3.5 so we didnt have one challenging fight, but we pointed that out so next one he will use a 4.0 adventure. Other problem was we didnt really have a reason to be in the dungeon, we had no objective it seemed like. When i asked what is our goal, why are we here? He said hmm not sure, i guess its just a basic dungeon crawl, just killing monsters. Besides those two minor things we had a lot of fun and cant wait for our next session.

Learning the mechanics is a good first step. Everyone gets a feel for what to do, how, and when.

Character Creation? Do something that is interesting for you to explore or play. Don't munchkin though.

DM Advice? Remember that you're a story teller. Keep it challenging but not abusive or unwinnable. Putting the characters in bad places can be fun, but don't make it impossible to get out of. Don't intentionally kill a player's character unless it furthers the story (and you've worked that out before hand) or fixes a game balance problem (see above about munchkining it).

iheartlargeblasttemplates wrote:Hello,
Me and my friends just recently decided to start playing D&D, i was wondering if you had any advice for beginners. Things to avoid? Things not to do? Things to do? Character Creation advice? Dungeon Master Advice?

Sunday we played our first game, the first time DM did a great job it was a lot of fun, only problem we had was we are playing 4th edition and the adventure he used was 3.5 so we didnt have one challenging fight, but we pointed that out so next one he will use a 4.0 adventure. Other problem was we didnt really have a reason to be in the dungeon, we had no objective it seemed like. When i asked what is our goal, why are we here? He said hmm not sure, i guess its just a basic dungeon crawl, just killing monsters. Besides those two minor things we had a lot of fun and cant wait for our next session.

yeah, 3.5 and 4.0 have some very different 'expectations' as far as encounters. 3.0/3.5 allow some fun 'monster building' as the GM can (without house ruling) do a lot to give key monsters character levels, templates, and such to make them more dynamic and memorable. A big 'thing' in that edition is that Monsters are pretty much identical to player characters, with all the good and bad things that provides. At mid-high levels this can get frustrating as character classes will have a lot of X/day limited powers for the controller to track, so GMs tend to use 'basic' monsters and maybe 1-2 creative template/class monsters as major characters as they have to keep all of the opposition in their head as well as the player characters.

4.0 encounters work best when crafted with the system in mind. A lot of encounters I've seen have two-3 "variants" of a monster, so instead of fighting Orks you fight Ork Bruisers, Ork Archers, and an Ork Shaman. Each variant has 1-2 special abilities that are likely either at-will or once per encounter. The Bruisers might have a gang-up power that gives them bonuses for having friends adjacent that they can use at-will, while the shaman might have a big nasty area-of-effect status effect they can use once/encounter. There may also be Minions, which have higher defenses than normal but are killed by one hit. They're fun for GMs as they can control a horde of threats, and fun for players because they let your characters have the feel of wading through a ton of enemies.

The idea behind 4th is that the GM has a lot less tracking, but the downside is that some find the encounters a bit too 'thin' as the monsters are really only there for the players to fight, and have a bit less of a feel of being part of a living, breathing world. It's a definite tradeoff.

As to character creation: basically I'd say just don't allow characters that don't make sense, and you'll probably be fine. As a player, it can be frustrating if your character is noticeably less useful than the others because of a bad character creation or similar. This is probably why most RPGs have moved away from excessive randomization in character creation...

Most adventures have some plot hooks, but some may leave it up to the GM. It's your group's call as to how much time to spend. Sometimes a simple dungeon crawl is fun,a fter all.

Also, if you're interested in story, keep in mind that you might be GM material yourself. I ended up GMing that way

One tip and one only: if you all agree that you had fun at the end of the session, then you're doing it right.

Carmine +1

Tips... get some cheapo minatures from somewhere and a battlemat. It helps a lot for combat.

Don't munchkin.

Try to have fun - PCs and DMs are both playing the game - so if the paladin is going to heroically sacrifice himself (eg you get bored of the character and want to try something different) work it out with the DM before hand... then you can play your new character off the old one (the paladins bastard son who's a bard and has only just found out who his dad was when his mother told him?)

It helps to have plot and hooks. A pre-made world is good for that. So if you are a dwarf warlord why are you not in your clan? was it all destroyed by gnolls and you seek revenge/build an army and take it back?
It helps to have motivations.

Also flaws are great.. yes you're lawful good shiny mcCleric... but you LIKE smashing the evil clerics... maybe a bit too much

Sure you're an evil half orc barbarian intent on rape and pillage... but you have a soft spot for other 'half castes' and so when the orphaned half elf or tiefling child emerges from the rubble you might not kill them.

Hubris is a good one - especially for a magic-user - why destroy the Phlange of Power? I can use it to make world piece! (in the process becoming corrupted into a liche and actualyl causing more hurt!)

Based on the OP's description of the game and the DM it seems that everyone involved is new to D&D, so having a basic dungeoncrawl in which there's no real plot or ongoing reason for the PCs to be in there bashing monsters is probably the best way to start things off.

Elements like campaign narrative, the wider world setting and character motivations are great, but when you're at the stage of mistaking a d12 for a d20 and can't recall what your attack rating is then you need to keep things simple and light.

Even after decades in the game, you still need to fall back on these things from time to time. Recently I had a very old friend play D&D for the first time; he'd played modern horror RPGs in the late 80s, but D&D was new to him. He had a character and a background, but the mechanics were totally alien to him. In order to introduce him to the other players who had between five and twenty years of experience with D&D, I went through a number of one-on-one sessions in which his character just happened to stumble on a burial mound filled with undead. The scenario had no bearing on his character story or the main campaign he joined, but it allowed him to experience the mechanics of the system and the abilities of his PC in a "safe" environment where he wouldn't be killed because of his inexperience or hinder the other characters with the same.

My first bit of advice: Avoid the D&D Essentials like the Plauge!! Too limiting. The full game is better, and I use that term loosely though the thread isn't to judge the system.

D&D 4th has a strong tactical aspect to it and your group needs to decide what is most important to you. If story is important than be sure to keep that focus. Some people playing 4th edition with the mentality of it *all* being about the encounters and want to get through X encounters in a night. Personally if I want to play like that I'll log on to Lord of the Rings Online and bang out some quests. I expect much more social interaction and character development from my roleplaying.

As for the lack of motivation in your first adventure, don't sweat it. Everyone is getting a feel for things and trying to learn the rules. Once people have a feel then the story telling can ramp up and things can be better linked together. In my book the road you travel is just as important as the destination. Nothing annoys me more than playing in a game where you accept a mission from someone head out of town and immediately you are at the destination. BORING!!

Ultimately as a previous poster said, if at the end of things everyone had fun you are definitely on the right track.

Skriker

See that lil' 1st level adventure in the back of the DMG? It is newbie friendly and gives a character or two a magic item. ^.^

My main tip - Have fun for feths sake.... It's the most important thing