Ye Olde Inn

I have some new players this weekend and was wondering where you guys like to start with beginners and maybe also the non gamers. The trial, I've discovered, is the worst.

Can't really say for sure...its been so long since I've played with any group, much less non-gamers.

I would think first thing would be to explain that there are monsters and magic spells, and that the
characters are meant to be heroes (i.e. fight the monsters, not each other)...you know...just kind of
assume they'll take on the challenges presented, because that's what heroes do.

Second...yeah, the test is sort of rough for new gamers...but it is meant to how them how hard the
challenges will be, and how they need to work together. If you want, you could always make you own
"obstacle course" for them as a test...call it a training session with Mentor, perhaps. In the obstacle
course, things would be obvious to them...traps would be found easily, monsters and ways to defeat
them would be right up front and visible...things like that.

Just some thoughts.

Normally, I begin with The Maze. During that Quest is when I explain all the basics, instead of trying to do so before playing. It's a light Quest and easy to explain things on the go. From there, I begin the trial and follow through the Game System. If you believe the Trial is too much to begin with, then skip to Rescue of Sir Ragnar, rename The Trial and play it later on. As Quest 4 perhaps.

Ah yes the trial. When my group did that quest by the end of it the only one left was Rincewind the Wizard. And the only reason he survived was because he was a total coward. The last few moments of that quest were spent with him being chased by a Chaos Warrior. This of course lead to some really awesome role play from the group seeing how Rincewind ended up trying to boss everyone around. He kept reminding everyone how he was the mighty Rincewind the sole hero to escape the trial with his life, and the mightiest hero of all time. Then when it came time for combat he would still be a coward. *Rolls on Floor Laughing*!

Does anyone ever use fan quests or their own homemade ones for beginners?

Ryno wrote:Does anyone ever use fan quests or their own homemade ones for beginners?

I usually don't since they either add new things or the monsters are tougher.

I always start with the resucue of sir ragnar, because it has 2 interesting elements; the non player character and the alarm. And it's not that hard to begin with. The trial is a bit massive I think.

drathe wrote:[...]If you believe the Trial is too much to begin with, then skip to Rescue of Sir Ragnar, rename The Trial and play it later on. As Quest 4 perhaps.

I agree with drathe on this one. Thus far, i have always begun with the trial, but it is always a strugle for new players and then q2 is disapointingly easy after that. One thing I also dont like about q1 is that there are no traps, so heroes forget that there are even traps in this game sence they don't find any on the 1st quest.
I just had two new people jump in and i wasn't sure that they would like the game and i had one other player there who had done the first 12 quests, so i just had them do q13 and had the two newbs use his heroes. they liked it, so when they start their own charactors, i already decided i'd start them on q2 and then throw in q1 a little later.

We found the traps to be waaay too many and slowed down gameplay too much. So we will add traps mostly on the treasures often, (but not always) and sometimes outside a door. It doesn't mean we don't add them in the hallways, but sometimes they slow things down too much.
Also, there are too many monsters appearing in a treasure search. We roll for treasure instead, and it takes autofail snake eyes for a bad occurance.

I usually start with quest 2 the "Rescue of Sir Ragnar" I like using this one because it gives the heroes a reason to work together, and they are able to figure out the game mechanics as they play that quest. I always up the reward so that each hero get about 115 gold each. This gives them the ability to buy something new for the next quest! This works well with beginning players and the next couple of quests all fit together, I'll throw in the "Trail"(quest 1) in some where before we move on the the Witch King stuff. I usually add a Bounty with each Quest that does not have one so that Heroes are able to buy items and kit out their heroes a little easier. That tend to make them want to play the next quest so they can try out there new "Swag"


Just my 2 cents have fun