Alright /tg/, help me to design a session for a group of 4 completely

>>49037334

What kind of fiction are they into? Tailor it as specifically to things they like as much as possible. There's no point giving the massive Sci-fi nerd a Fantasy game when you know he will get way more into a Sci-fi game.

>>49037334
Copy paste from the other thread.

It depends a bit.
Have they already made their characters?

The way I like to go, is start with a mystery. If their characters aren't the cold and disciplined kind, you could have them wake up in the common room of an ink, hungover a bit, finding a cryptic note in one of their pockets and then having to re-trace their steps from last night, to figure out who gave them this message and why (it could be a lead-in to the first proper adventure too).
Alternatively, you could have them accidentally walk into a crime scene, or if one of them has a military/guard background for their character, maybe have them be deputized to figure out a crime.

>>49037378
No characters as of yet. I suspect I know what kind of thing they'll make but I can't be sure.

>>49037363
I'm pretty sure they wanted something high fantasy when they asked me. None of them have ever really played before so they didn't really know how to describe what they wanted. They're all into warcraft and that stuff though so I'll probably try for something along those lines.

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>>49037424
>No characters as of yet. I suspect I know what kind of thing they'll make but I can't be sure.
In that case, I definitely recommend that for the first session, you just get them together, and have them talk out what kind of character they want to play, and what kind of adventures they'd like to take part in. (Just in the broadest strokes. Do they want Lovecraftian horror? Princess Bride Adventure? Indiana Jonesian exploration, mystery and fighting a great enemy; Lord of the Rings-like grand campaign, or perhaps a semi-sandbox game where they're less engaged directly in a story, and rather can just go from town to town to solve minor problems and/or engage in court politics and intrigue.

If you're worried that would make the pre-game session boring, you could take a minmalistic system like PDF related, discuss ideas for campaign and characters and when it feels like they are bored offer to run a quick session or two of this before getting back to discussions.

If you're certain as for the general direction of the setting, you can also set up one of those mysteries I mentioned and introduce your players to the setting like that. The "hung over, where's my pants" approach is good for this, because it allows for a certain amount of leeway for the players to not quite settle into a character yet.


P.S.: One thing however that could also be fun and great at creating characters for your players (though be warned, it can take some time, up to an hour or even two per character depending on how much you discuss the reprecautions) is something I do before every session: Grab The Good Book (read Heroes of Legacy by Central Casting - either edition) and roll up a character for the players with a couple of vetos, and figure out how it all fits together. You might end up with characters who have been enslaved in the past and you can make great story turns out of stuff like that, by revealing half way through that the lord they've worked for is friends with the owner.

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>>49037505
Yeah, I like the idea of doing a session zero to get everything planned out, I'm just worried they'll get bored and I'll never be able to get them all to show up again if there isn't at least a little gameplay.
I mean they're new to it, so I'm pretty certain they'll be making the most white-bread bland characters on earth (like everyone does their first time). My plan was just to drop them into generic fantasy setting #140256 and go from there, just so they can see how the game works.
They did specifically request d&d so I'd rather not risk putting them off by suggesting something too different, in reference to that pdf.

>>49037505
I'll run the idea of pre-made characters past them though, to see if they agree. I'm not sure how set they are on making them themselves.

>>49037551

5e is really good for introducing people to the game. Chargen is a choice between race, class, background, and some equipment options, which are all things that people can grasp intuitively without understanding game systems. The only part that involves plugging in numbers that only experienced players will fully understand is attribute scores. If these are the kinds of people who will enjoy D&D at all, they will enjoy making characters for 5e.

You can find totally free Lost Mines of Phandelver pdfs online. It was the first hit when I googled it. It's not a bad starter adventure. If you're going generic, you may as well ease the workload on yourself and do pre-made generic.

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>>49037586
Is Phandelver good for first timers? I've had some bad experiences with badly written pre-made dungeons in the past. I know its for low levels but is it a solid adventure?

>>49037551
In that case, I'll recommend once again Heroes of Legend (no idea why I called it Legacy earlier, not enough coffee I guess).

You should be able to find the first edition at least with relative ease. It offers a TON of character background options and if your players really want D&D, I think they'll have a blast using it to create a character just with figuring out how certain past events in their lives would affect their history and personality.

Also note that Heroes of Legend doesn't so much "pre-make" the character, as create a background. So it could give your character a military background, maybe one where they have been exceptional soldiers, or did poorly. Maybe if they were poor soldiers, that's the reason they picked up a completely different skillset instead like sorcerer or wizard, or that's why they doubled down as a paladin or fighter, to prove themselves and maybe honour a fallen comrade who saved their life in battle.

It just gives a ton of background (which again, you can decide not to use) to play off of.

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>>49037710
Oh ok, I misunderstood what the book was about. I'll give it a look, that sounds like it could be some useful shit.

>>49037732
Oh and one more thing I forgot to add:
This is just a thing I do, and isn't strictly enforced by the book, but I tend to give direct and invisible bonuses to characters on certain rolls based on their background, which is why I always run players through the book.

It can feel very rewarding for a player who involves themselves with their background, when he and a buddy both roll a 14 on a Knowledge Nobility check, but he manages to pass the DC 15 check due to having fought under the relevant noble(s) in the last war. Same goes for bonus ranks you might want to give them to say Sleight of Hand, if according to their background they had a childhood full of poverty and had to pickpocket to survive, or instead the same bonus to a craft of perform check of their choosing, if instead they worked as an assistant for a craftsman or bard.

>>49037790
>direct and invisible
"direct or invisible" is what I should've said.
Basically as an example: One of my players is a rogue. He was a pickpocket since childhood, so he gets +2 ranks in Sleight of Hand that is in his character sheet.
However, we also discussed where he operated in the past within the setting so invisibly, I add bonuses to knowledge checks and the like, if he has a reason to know about something on account of having worked in the area or with the people relevant.

>>49037801
Doesn't 5e kind of do that already though? I mean I agree, I do it too on things like history checks, but I usually try to limit it to knowledge checks rather than all skills.

>>49037816
Ah, can't say for sure about 5e, I personally run homebrew'd 3.5.

But yeah, I'm sure you'll figure out something with it, lots of options.
Have a great game.

>>49037551
>They did specifically request d&d
They probably only asked for D&D because that's the only game an average person knows. It's become sysnonymous with RPGs in USA, if I were you I'd make sure they know what the fuck they want, and you mentioned that
>Two of these guys didn't even know what a TTRPG was
and
>None of them have ever really played before so they didn't really know how to describe what they wanted.

As a GM you not only run, but you PREPARE and HOST the game. You need to make informed choices where your players can't, so make double sure they know what they're in for. Tell them there are other games that are quicker to get into, that "feel" the same as DnD and run something lighter, and later on ask if they want to switch to something with more fleshed out rules.

>>49038718
I mean shit, you could even start with Microlite20, and then later on switch to 'proper' DnD.

http://microlite20.org/forum/index.php?action=downloads

>>49038743
Here's a two-tome compilation of all known microlite20 variants as of 2012

http://blog.retroroleplaying.com/2012/02/microlite20-rpg-collection-2012-edition.html

>>49038718
>>49038743
I'm fine running D&D for them, they're not complete retards I'm sure they can cope with a couple of rules. I was more asking about the first session itself, as in how to kick the adventure off in a fun way.

>>49038760
alrighty, then I'd suggest in media res. Run a oneshot and give them premade characters, start them out already in some shit and have them claw their way out. Instant action, and later you can go though the motions of making personalized characters.