The last time I ran a game of D&D there was a lot of tension between new players (both to the group, and D&D) and old players. It stemmed partly from oldbies not wanting their ball taken away, but also because I didn't want to be too harsh to the newbies.
I'm guessing this is fairly common theme when introducing new players to a group. I'm not to worried about the integration from a social aspect, as that can be resolved out of the game. I'm specifically asking how to handle new players making mistakes, and not killing them for it, and treating everyone equally. Should I even treat them differently?
This is the example of play that broke the group last time. I'd advised a new player that as a barbarian they should be engaging the enemy (a dire weasel), however it got an Attack of Opportunity and I rolled enough 20s to instakill the character. I didn't fudge the dice, for fear of upsetting the more experienced players who don't get that treatment. The player whose character died lost interest in RPGs altogether, and never returned.
How can I treat old and new players fairly, without upsetting anyone?
Best Answer
Mentoring
If you have a mixed group of experienced and green players, you can save yourself a lot of trouble by engaging the veterans to help the newbies. Let them suggest stuff and guide their apprentices, and even throw in some game-tangible bonuses like mentoring XP. And if a mentor happens to screw up and put his apprentice in a tight spot, he will probably do a lot to help them out as well, and you as the GM will have more sympathy from all players if you have to intercede and fudge stuff to keep the newbie in the game.
"Get out of trouble" tokens
Another suggestion, which can be used together with the one above, or as a standalone mechanism is; you can use some kind of "Get out of trouble" tokens, and give a couple of them at the beginning of the game, only to the green players. State that these tokens will allow the player to undo their disastrous actions, but they will never ever get refreshed, so they better learn from the experience. The veteran players will be more understanding if you make this a part of your rules, rather than fudging stuff from the top of your head.