I'm about to run the D&D 5e starter set for a group, most of which are entirely new to RPGs. The Same Page Tool looks like a great resource for a new group playing together, but not necessarily for brand new players getting familiar with the game, the setting, their character, the rules all for the first time.
Is it better to skip the same page tool for the first few sessions to allow people to get used to the game rather than overload them with information?
Best Answer
NO
It's not overkill, it's awesome.
I just used the SPT to kick off a new group. Most (4 of 7) had never played before, and one thought that D&D was some sort of board game.
We had a get-together before the first session where we just hung out and talked about media - what games, tv shows, books, etc., we liked and what kind of stuff we would want to see in a game. At that session, I floated a number of games and we ended up choosing Apocalypse World.
So I went home and printed out the SPT and filled it out. At the next session we went over the answers I had chosen and I explained what I meant and why I had chosen those answers.
Then we started the 1st session. In AW, that means making characters, and they knew it was more important to make interesting choices than optimal ones. It didn't take long and it was very valuable. The game is going strong so far and I think everyone benefitted from a solid foundation of shared expectations.
Next time, I would bring unfilled copies of the form for everyone just to avoid reading all the un-chosen answers out loud again.
I didn't ask what they thought, I didn't poll and choose the top answer. The SPT is not a survey. It's a way to clearly state what a game is going to be like, what it is going to be about. If there had been significant objections to an answer, we could have talked about it and possibly adjusted it.
But they're brand new players, that's the heart of the question. How can they have such strong opinions about playstyle when they've never played?
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.
Set up a session where you can show them the concepts and be explicit about what you are doing:
This is a short session to show you what D&D is like, to see if you like it and want to play more. We will have four encounters and to make it easy for you I'm going to tell you now that you deal with them this way: role-playing, combat, exploration and combat. These are the character sheets, don't worry about what the numbers mean: I'll tell you when you get to them. I will also show you how taking a "short rest" works just before the last combat.
You then run a session where a guy gives them a job (role-playing) to track down the goblins (combat) who are in a small cave complex (with a trap or two) (exploration) and at then end of that is, I don't know, some skeletons because its a tomb (combat). Make sure you ham up the role-playing part.
You then show them how each of these parts work - emphasising the flow of the game (DM narrates -> Players decide what they want to do -> DM tells results). Suggest options as to what they could do:
Jim, you are playing a big strong barbarian - you are best when you get in close and hit things with your axe. You can do this thing called "raging" but only once a day which allows you to hit harder and take less damage when you get hit. Remember, I gave you a heads up that there will only be two combats today so you can do it now or later but not both. Normally you wouldn't know that. Do you want to rage now?
When you call for a die roll from the players or make one yourself explain what you are doing and how the mechanics work:
This goblin is shooting at your rogue with his bow. The range is 70 feet which is further than short range for a short bow so he makes the shot with disadvantage so I will roll 2 dice and take the worst [roll]: a 7 and a 16 so we take the 7. The goblin's attack bonus is +4 so the 7 becomes an 11. Your armour class here [point] is 14 so that is a miss: the arrow falls short hitting the ground at your feet: if you had been closer it would have hit you in the chest because 16+4 is 20 which is more than your AC.
Best Answer
NO
It's not overkill, it's awesome.
I just used the SPT to kick off a new group. Most (4 of 7) had never played before, and one thought that D&D was some sort of board game.
We had a get-together before the first session where we just hung out and talked about media - what games, tv shows, books, etc., we liked and what kind of stuff we would want to see in a game. At that session, I floated a number of games and we ended up choosing Apocalypse World.
So I went home and printed out the SPT and filled it out. At the next session we went over the answers I had chosen and I explained what I meant and why I had chosen those answers.
Then we started the 1st session. In AW, that means making characters, and they knew it was more important to make interesting choices than optimal ones. It didn't take long and it was very valuable. The game is going strong so far and I think everyone benefitted from a solid foundation of shared expectations.
Next time, I would bring unfilled copies of the form for everyone just to avoid reading all the un-chosen answers out loud again.
I didn't ask what they thought, I didn't poll and choose the top answer. The SPT is not a survey. It's a way to clearly state what a game is going to be like, what it is going to be about. If there had been significant objections to an answer, we could have talked about it and possibly adjusted it.
But they're brand new players, that's the heart of the question. How can they have such strong opinions about playstyle when they've never played?