Intro to D&D - "How To..." Session

[Toadbell]

Alright, looks like Friday night works for just about everyone. I'm glad, because I feel that sitting down and learning how to play, especially if it's your first TTRPG, is vital to someone who is just starting out with D&D.

So. Next Friday, November 10th, we will meet to go over the basic concepts of D&D, particularly character creation, skill use, combat, and, if there is time and interest, magic. I suggest we meet at 6. Right now, falling back on the room we used in the Science Bldg. (anyone remember the number?) is probably our best bet; however, if anyone has a spacious living room/basement/dining room that they'd like to loan out for a few hours next Friday, that would work just as well, if not better. We'll be expecting 7 to 10 people (helpers and those who need help), though, so it'll probably end up being the Science room.

What will you need for this? Well, don't worry too much if you haven't got any source materials already, as we'll have a few PHBs on hand for everyone to page through, as well as a Monster Manual(s) and Dungeon Master Guide(s), in case someone wants to play a monster race or understand poisons. Once more, if you want to try an online SRD, I'll link a couple below. By the way, for anyone with access to online purchases who wants to save some money on manuals, Amazon.ca shaves almost fifteen bucks off the cost of any D&D books, and more if you buy them in groups. I definitely recommend it if you're tight on money or just don't want to invest as much in a brand new hobby.

You'll need a D&D3.5 character sheet - possibly two, if you have an animal companion (or tend to make mistakes a lot). I'll try and remember to print off a bunch of character sheets for backup, but I'd recommend going over one beforehand and maybe filling in a couple of details. They're available online to be printed, so feel free to do so (link below). There are also resources available for putting characters together online. 3EProfiler, the one I use, is also linked below.

At the core of the D&D system are dice, particularly the 20 sided die, (d20). To play D&D, you'll need d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, and d20 - generally, one of each is fine, but it'd be good to have two d10 (for percent rolls) and a few d6 (various purposes). You can get a tube of D&D-ready plastic dice from any hobby shop (Downtown Comics or Sword & Steele downtown, Timemasters near the mall, etc.) for less than ten dollars. If you don't feel like forking over the cash right now, no worries - I've got a nice collection of 30-40 mixed dice, so we should be fine for now. Besides, for character creation, you mostly just need a couple of d6's. Still, once we start playing, I'd urge everyone to have their own set of dice. Besides avoiding annoying the other players by bugging them for dice, you can sometimes become attached to the little pieces of plastic, or, in my case, deep grey haematite. So, get yerself some dice!

Other than those essentials, bring a pencil or two, eraser, a calculator wouldn't hurt, your laptop if you'd prefer to do everything digitally, and some snacks or money if you're gonna get hungry.

I'm excited, guys! I look forward to seeing you all next Friday!

I'll send out an email reminder of this early next week.

Links:
The Hypertext d20 SRD: www.d20srd.org/index.htm
System Reference Document v3.5: www.systemreferencedocuments.org/35/sovelior_sage/home.html
D&D Character Sheets: www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/charactersheets
3EProfiler @ Sylnae: www.sylnae.net/3eprofiler/

[torger]

Not to nitpick, but it's what I do... If there's going to be 8-10 players, you're really better off splitting into two groups. Otherwise, things can get more than a little hairy. I'm willing to take four or five and show them the proverbial ropes...

[Toadbell]

Sorry, I clarified the above post. To expand, we currently have somewhere from 6 to 10 people who should be showing up next week, either looking for help, or looking to help.

Following that, with regards to the dungeon crawl I plan on running, we currently have 5 or 6 people lined up to play. Should we end up with too many players for one campaign, however, it may be necessary to split the DM effort. That will probably be decided over the coming weeks.

[Jennifer]

Sounds good! Adam has played before, so he's given me a good idea about how the logistics go. I think we both just wanted some help with character creation and I need some info about basic game play. Are you planning on having another dungeon crawl after this?

[Leslie]

;D This is so awesome, Matt!

I'm fairly certain the room number is 2000.

[rahlious]

Yes, this is excellent. Thanks Matt.

I'll be there to help people make characters and learn the game. And of course, I'm in for playing too!

I'll bring extra character sheets. Maybe around 10 or so. Might as well take advantage of free printing

[Toadbell]

admin said:

Sounds good! Adam has played before, so he's given me a good idea about how the logistics go. I think we both just wanted some help with character creation and I need some info about basic game play. Are you planning on having another dungeon crawl after this?

Well, right now, my biggest concern is introducing new players to character creation and basic concepts. Next Friday should be more than enough time, but if we need another sit-down afterwards, we'll do so. Once every new player has a character and understands the basic concepts, then we can look at playing in the following weeks.

With regards to that, the idea is to introduce all new players to a straightforward campaign. If we have no more than 5 or 6 players, I should be able to run it well enough. If we end up with more than that, the task of running games for new players can be split up. After the first campaign(s) clue up, we could easily start new ones, give others a shot at DMing, or what have you. We'll see how all this works out as we go along.

With regards to length of time for the dungeon crawl/campaign, it may end up taking as little time as a few weeks, or as much as a few months, depending on the interest and how often we meet. We'll probably begin a week or two after next Friday. So, if you can't make the "how to" session next Friday, there'll still be time to sit down with myself or one of the other experienced players one-on-one to go over the basics.

I'll point out now that I'm designing the campaign around the characters, and not the other way around. While I have a couple of ideas bouncing around in my head, I'm waiting until we know the makeup of the party before I set down the details. So don't worry too much about your character "not fitting into the party." Just so long as we have the basic building blocks (i.e. we don't want 5 fighters and a rogue, or 6 sorcerors), it shouldn't matter too much.

Thanks for all the support, guys! If anyone has any questions, comments or concerns, feel free to post/email/MSN me!

[manzer]

goodness, I didn't check the forum for a few days and you've run off and done a bunch without me...I just joined the yahoo! group today, and I hope to make it out next Friday

[hikoseijuro755]

so the science building on friday? Sounds sweet! I've been wanting to play this for quite some time!

[Toadbell]

Alright, just as a final bump o' da week before Friday.

D&D Introductory Session

When: Friday, 10 November 2006. 7:00 p.m.

Where: SN-2000, MUN Campus (right off the main Science lobby, second floor)

What: We'll be going over the basic concepts of D&D, beginning with (and highlighting) character creation. We'll also be going over application of skills, combat concepts, and (probably) magic.

Who: Anyone who is interested is free to attend. If you are experienced and/or own core rulebook materials (particularly PHB), please bring knowledge and/or such materials. If you have no experience, this night's for you. In particular, I (and possibly others) will be recruiting first-time players for a small campaign/dungeon crawl, to commence at a later date (within a few weeks).

What To Bring: The only really important thing is a pencil - you'll have a hard time putting a character together without one. While we will be providing some, it'd also be nice if people could bring a character sheet or two, and a PHB if owned (see above). Dice aren't essential, but you'll be needing some soon anyways.

Looking forward to seeing you guys on Friday at 7:00!

[Toadbell]

Sorry for the quiet weekend, guys, but it was a busy one.

We had our how-to session on Friday. Unfortunately, turnout was not what had been expected, partly due to the long weekend. Even so, as of now, the following characters are being worked on/are completed by members of the forum:

Jennifer - elf ranger
Leslie - elf druid
willow - goblin rogue
manzer - human ranger
Adam - human wizard
rahlious - human cleric

As I mentioned, first priority is making sure that new players get a chance to join in, so if there's anyone who missed out on Friday and still needs help, please contact myself or another experienced player and we'll do our best to help you work out a character.

I'm starting a new thread to deal with the campaign itself now; any requests for help with a character should probably be posted here, and not in the new thread. FYI, the game won't be starting for at least a week or two (or three, depending), so there's no rush.

[rahlious]

Human cleric.

I can help people with character creation and the basics of the game. Maybe that can help take some of the pressure off Matt.

[Jennifer]

Adam is now human, and I believe Leslie has decided on an elf