Do you have anything prepared for this? Do you say, no but come back in a week?
Do you say, yes, here are four pre-gen character sheets, let’s play a random short one-shot?
Do you say, no we’d need to spend time prepping for D&D but here’s a simpler tabletop game which uses minis and dice, let’s play this right now instead? (for example, Shadowdark)
Or something else?
Roll over and check to see what time it is on my phone. If it’s within 20 minutes of when I get up, I’ll probably go ahead and shower and make breakfast. If it’s more than an hour before my alarm I’d definitely try to go back to sleep.
You’ve got four friends over. They don’t play D&D, or any TTRPGs. They spot your cabinet full of awesome D&D minis, and your cool poly dice, and say ‘hey could we play now?’ What do you do?
You lost?
Edit: oh the explanation makes sense
They are saying that the hypothetical proposed by op is something they dream of.
No you are
I wing it. You know that sensation of DM scrambling you feel when your party goes off the rails and is somewhere doing something you never expected?
I just DM a short session in that way.
I tell them what they are, race/class wise, then ask them to think about what kind of person this is, and to act like that person. I don’t use sheets, just scrap paper and some dice, and the plot that I take them through is probably going to very closely resemble an episode of a show or the intro to a movie I’ve watched recently. I follow the actual rules insofar as they are convenient, but what I’m really doing is just trying to show them what role playing feels like.
Nice! That sounds perfect.
Lost Mine of Phandelver. It’s all you need to introduce them. Pre rolled characters so that amount of time is already saved and a ready-made module to run.
I’d argue the newer starter Dragons of Shipwreck Isle is a quicker and more interesting start for new players. It’s also not as long and requires a little less imagination imo since you’d probably be playing without a map
Yeah. Phandelver takes you to Lv 5 and can be a bit long. I guess it’s a nostalgia factor for me. My oldest brother introduced me to D&D with it, lol.
Not that Dragons of Stormwreck Isle is bad but I like Lost Mine of Phandelver a lot better. You don’t have to play to a particlar ending either, just start playing and explore. 💁🏻♀️
It’s one of the best adventures of all time. ♥
I’ve been doing this for a while, so I’ve got old modules saved in my head. I also know generally what is required to run a successful one. What I would personally do is say “Yeah, sure. But I’ll need a bit to get ready. Give me 30 minutes.” I would then use a tool like 5etools to whip up a bunch of pre-generated characters and hand them out. If I had my printer handy, I’d print them. Then I’d run them through something like the Delian Tomb that Matthew Colville made (https://youtu.be/zTD2RZz6mlo?list=PLlUk42GiU2guNzWBzxn7hs8MaV7ELLCP_), a simple orc or bandit raid on a town, or whatever else I thought was cool in the moment.
I hope that helps. I’ve been DMing for over ten years now and playing for almost twenty, so Idk how well my technique would work for you.
Even outside of home if someone is curious I sometimes just say a scene and ask what they’d do or where they’d go 🤷🏻♀️
You’re at the edge of a misty, dewey forest at the break of dawn. In front of you is a castle, and there’s the forest behind you all glittering from dewdrops on the cobwebs. The nearest village is six miles away; you could get there in two hours or so. There’s a well outside the castle a couple of hundred feet to the left of the entrance, which is right in front of you. Whaddayado?
It wouldn’t be as blorby as I prefer but it’d be an intro to the main gameplay loop.
I’d probably pull out my starter kit, hand out pre-gens and jump right into LMoP.
I have never played D&D with friends.
Couldn’t manage to find a group etc and etc
That being said I feel like you go with the one-shot and pre-gen characters right? The quickest way to get playing, from what I understand
Just to expand, I already play weekly with my established group.
But I have some non-D&D friends who have expressed an interest in the past, so what I wanted to discuss was my options for if they’re like ‘let’s go! Right now!’
When I was younger we played role played so much over so many different systems that we eventually would just “play” any world and scenario we wanted. D20 for skills and resistance, d6 and d10 for damage and percentage spreads.
We didn’t need a lot of rules because we knew how games worked.
Eventually others would join us and be playing right away because we weren’t a bunch of rule lawyers.
If approach it like that. Very simple subset of rules to get them playing without fussing over everything.
You improvise and roll with what the PCs choose to do.
Ok, roll for initiative
Hand them 4 pre-gens and run them through the Haunting for Call of Cthulhu. It’s made to be a pick up and play introductory scenario.
Yes, I’m ready for that situation since this is a common daydream 👍🏻 I can drop 'em right into my ongoing campaign, plenty of stuff for them to do and explore there, and I have many ways of making characters that are all compatible up with the big 5e game down the line. From pregens or the Essentials Kit to something in the middle like Dungeonesque and if they’re really non-nerdy and just wanna dip their toes, I have my own searcher. I don’t use it if I think they are serious about getting into full D&D but it’s nice because it only has two stats and those are both derived straight up from level. (So in short, if I think they’re future nerds I’ll use the Essentials Kit and if I think they’re pretty set in their non-nerd ways I’ll use my searcher class, and it’s no big deal if I guess wrong because it’s easy to switch over.)
I run theatre-of-the-mind so we’re ready to go. If they are looking for more of a dice&minis type thing I have that Castle Ravenloft board game that came out in 2010. Easy to learn and plays in an hour and teaches basic attack rolls & hitpoints stuff and is still called “D&D”.
Although I wouldn’t hesitate to refer to Shadowdark, Svärd & Svartkonst, or any other OSR game as “D&D” either. There’s no trademark lawyer in my living room. 💁🏻♀️
I’d probably let them know I need a little bit of prep time, and then print off a one page RPG like Honey Heist. They’re quick to start, and a great way for people to try TTRPGs for the first time. After that, if they decide they like roleplaying, we can get into something more serious
In Shadowrun the intro scenario was a shoot out at a convenience store. A simple one encounter with minimal story to introduce the mechanics. They called it a food fight, and it is how I introduce new plays to pretty much any system now. DnD: a tavern brawl breaks out…
Premades are great for instant play, but if they want to get more invested, the food fight is also a great way for them to get to know their class mechanics too.
Oh man I have tried playing Shadowrun before and the rules are insane Definitely not an introductory game!
I’d run Matt Colville’s “The Delian Tomb”. I have it committed to memory and have run it before. It’s a great and straightforward starter adventure.
I would do the pre-gen and one shot.
You should have enough dice.
I would pull out a pre-gen adventure I’m familiar with, spend a little time talking about character creation (for all its flaws I actually think how the starter kit does it with a little set of pre-gen characters they can pick from is a really good way), and just sort of wing it keeping it a little bit light on rules and big emphasis on having a strong start + giving them freedom to fuck around / not expect them to stick purely to the DND mold of behavior. I’ve had really good results with this though, as long as it’s an exciting world for them I could see it going really well.
