Playin' D&D
Jul. 31st, 2011 11:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexandraerinI had a short D&D session tonight. It was only the second session with a new IRL group and only two players were able to attend (nasty stomach bug going around our circle, apparently)... by coincidence, they were the two least experienced players in the group so we did an out-of-continuity session with quick combats to help them better learn the system and their characters' powers.
It went pretty well. New players can be either resistant about using their encounter and daily powers because of the "What if I need it later?" syndrome, or just throw them out there with little to no tactical concern... like using Elven Accuracy to re-roll the first strike of a Twin Strike against a minion. I think the latter is a better newbie habit than the former, because then at least you do learn how to use them and you might start spotting patterns. And when Daily Powers have ongoing effects, then even if the "attack" portion is overkill for whatever purpose they put it to, they might get some use out of the effect for the rest of the fight. On the other hand, hoarding the powers means that you not only never really become conversant with their use, but you miss out on a real sense of your character's full capabilities.
So for this session, once I'd pointed out that there were no consequences to losing these battles and they didn't have to worry about saving things for the next fight because they'd start each one fresh, the players started cutting loose a bit more.
It kind of makes me think that a "tutorial combat" might be a good idea in general.
It went pretty well. New players can be either resistant about using their encounter and daily powers because of the "What if I need it later?" syndrome, or just throw them out there with little to no tactical concern... like using Elven Accuracy to re-roll the first strike of a Twin Strike against a minion. I think the latter is a better newbie habit than the former, because then at least you do learn how to use them and you might start spotting patterns. And when Daily Powers have ongoing effects, then even if the "attack" portion is overkill for whatever purpose they put it to, they might get some use out of the effect for the rest of the fight. On the other hand, hoarding the powers means that you not only never really become conversant with their use, but you miss out on a real sense of your character's full capabilities.
So for this session, once I'd pointed out that there were no consequences to losing these battles and they didn't have to worry about saving things for the next fight because they'd start each one fresh, the players started cutting loose a bit more.
It kind of makes me think that a "tutorial combat" might be a good idea in general.