DND-5E – Tips for Starting a Group with 5 Newbie Players and DM

My group uses a private Google+ community to organise the games, and G+ alongside Roll20 to play the games. We play entirely online on a weekly basis, mainly because we're all about the same age and have small children and families, so it's difficult to get together for a face to face game.

For D&D 5th Ed you're pretty spoiled for choice, but when it all boils down the best two options are this:

Roll20, either in conjunction with G+ or on it's own. You can create an account and run your campaign through it for free, and the biggest pro (in my opinion) was the ease of use when it integrates with G+. Most everyone has a google account these days, so they also have a G+ account whether they know it or not. Once you've created your game in Roll20, you can choose to launch it in a g+ hangout.

Once you've done that for the first time, whenever you launch a G+ hangout the Roll20 app will be present, and you can launch it and select your campaign from within the hangout. Running the game each week becomes as simple as scheduling a G+ hangout event and showing up - the players don't even need Roll20 accounts, they just click the hangout invite link and game on. The D&D 5e character sheet for Roll20 seems pretty excellent too, with some dice rolling automation built into it. We're taking it for a test run soon hopefully.

The other main option right now, though it can get pricy, is Fantasy Grounds. It's not as simple for the players as Roll20 (which is, as i've said, just a link click), but if they're willing to install the program (available on Steam now as well), Fantasy Grounds is now the official online tool for D&D 5th, in partnership with Wizards of the Coast. It has excellent integration with the rules system and character sheets, as well as supporting hero lab. Some friends of mine swear by it, though it is a bit more complicated to get set up and running.

Both solutions support full voice, and I know Roll20 supports full video both in the app itself and through hangouts, as well as an online tabletop for maps, images, handouts and whatever else you like. This made it a lot easier for us to retain that "social tabletop" feeling, despite playing entirely remote. Using a large enough screen and a good set of speakers and microphone, you could play partial remote (with only a few players remote) or even with everyone in the room and disabling the voice and video altogether if you wanted.

Either way, if you do plan on getting in to running your games online through virtual tabletops, Google+ is your friend! There is a massive community of people there who will be more than happy to lend any assistance required.

Personally, I run a community geared at assisting people to set up, run or find games in the asia-pacific time zones. You can find it here: https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/100566740249118526694

For other timezones, such as the American zones, a great place to start is here: https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/107422815813208456454 It's an excellent community filled with friendly people.

Before the game

Make sure you are all on the same page before that game start. Explain that you want to play a serious game with lots of immersion. State that you are both willing to help others with immersion and lead by example. This is best done before the game starts. If not all players agree, then you might want to rethink join said game.

As a side note, new players might not be fully cognisant of all the intricacies of the same page tool. This is but a chance to explain to them the differences between play styles. The new player might not know what they want but a hint is better than nothing. A small word of warning that the same page tool is not meant to be a survey of what is wanted but a way to build a consensus on what they want to play. The aim here should be to give new players as much knowledge as you can to help them make an informed choice as to what to try. Descending into a lowest common denominator where no one is happy is a sign that you want different things: this is fine too.

During the game

Some new players can be intimidated and not wanting to be perceived as ridicule themself, make fun of others. So, the more experience players need to show that it is not worth of ridicule (even if it is silly) and encourage said new player to play a role, however silly that role might be.

We all have seen and read much fiction and finding a stereotype to play ("Your character is Conan as played by Arnold Schwarzenegger") might be helpful. It is easy to see how said barbarian would act in a given situation.

Show new players the difference between:

My character moves to the rocks to get a +2 to defence from bandit's arrows.

versus

You bandit dogs! I run and jump under the cover of rocky formation, setting dust as I land. Scum! You made me dirty!!! You shall pay with your worthless lives!

Another idea we tried many times is to always be in character: even when you ask for the bottle, or chips, or say you're going to the loo. There is nothing funnier than trying to stop Conan ordering pizza over the phone! ☺

Props can help here or they can hinter -- I happened to be at the receiving end of either reactions without being sure why it worked once but not the other time.

Finally, one encourages timid players to role play in the same way one encourages them to do anything else. However, these methods are beyond the scope of this answer.