Do THIS Next Time Someone Asks You About D&D

Deborah Ann Woll does an amazing job giving a new person an accessible, immersive, and engaging taste of D&D. There's a lot of gold we can glean from her example.

#ttrpg
#pathfinder2e
#gamemaster
#dnd
#dungeonmaster

==== Timestamps ====
0:00 – Intro
1:01 – Pro-Tip 1
1:41 – Pro-Tip 2
2:48 – Pro-Tip 3
3:48 – Pro-TIip 4

[macoppy]

The first time I played DnD my theif got eaten by an Otyough by crawling down a latrine to recover a single shining coin. My characters tend to share the paranoia this instilled in my metagame.

[Friedensbringer]

I have been doing (and advocating for) this for more then 10 years. I call it the "3-minute demo" - instead of explaining to someone, what a TTRPG is, I ask them if they got 3 minutes to play one, to first hand experience what it is. Though I don't place them in a fantastical scenario. I use a real-world scenario and note the differences to something like D&D on the go. It works really well.

[peterclarke]

I've done similar with a work colleague, and it ended up with most of the office joining in.

I gave him a d20, and announced "an angry middle manager bursts into the office and accuses you of misfiling form F-245a. Roll for initiative!" 🤣

[Hrotiberhtaz]

Being a a highly charismatic women really helps a lot with keeping the attention as well ;)

[mirtos]

This is how we taught the game back in the day. Rules werent as important. The players were.

[coachski]

The video that this lesson was based off of is amazing. I didn’t really know who Deborah was but you’re right; no fluff, no needless rules explanation, this girl gets to the thick right away and her passionate explanation of why she loves this is wonderful. Thank you for the great video!

[Ricvictors]

I usually begin with “imagine you are walking through a dark corridor and you come upon two doors, one to your left and one to your right. What do you do?”, wait for their answer and come up with something else, maybe “you enter the door and you find a library. There’s a large table with a book. Some pages have been torn and scattered across the floor, there’s another intact book on a display case. What do you do next?”. And after a few more answers I go “that’s an RPG, I’m telling you a story and you get to make it up as you go, interact with the characters, with the scenery, etc etc”.

[Tysto]

Start them in a dungeon. “You find the entrance to an ancient tomb &, once you managed to open it, find musty darkness within. Lighting a torch, you see an open pit blocking your way, but beyond is a niche where something small glisters gold in your flickering firelight.”

[SiberianOldPal]

Those are cool advices! It would come in handy for me, I am having a bunch of new players :D

[RaisiaFan]

I just say "Do you know how when you're watching a movie or TV show and you yell at a character for doing something stupid? Role playing games are like becoming that characters and being able to control what that character does."

[IceMetalPunk]

Whenever new people ask about D&D, I *never* mention mechanics, rules, stats, numbers, monsters, or *any* of that. When people hear that, they immediately check out, thinking "this is that nerd stuff I thought it would be", and stop caring. You can practically see their eyes glaze over 😂

Instead, I always start with this simple description: "It's like 'Whose Line Is It Anyway?', but the only improv game is 'Scenes from the Dice'." A lot of people who never thoughts about RPGs will be familiar with Whose Line, or at least improv comedy in general, and maybe even already know they enjoy that! So that gets their interest... when they ask for more info, I still avoid the grindy mechanics descriptions: "So you make a character, like the characters in an improv scene. And together, you tell a big improvised story, with you acting as your character. Occasionally, you'll roll some dice for luck: roll well, and good things happen you can celebrate. Roll poorly, and bad things happen that you'll have to figure out how to work around. In the end, the goal of the game is just 'tell a good story, have fun, and try not to die'."

If they're still interested from there, then the "let's play a quick one-shot to get your toes wet, and I'll explain mechanics as they come up" works well.

I also, of course, highly recommend new players find a DM who's at least somewhat experienced for their first games. Being confused about the game, and then having a DM who's not experienced enough to guide you, can often make for a terrible first impression, and turn people off of D&D forever.

[CADJewellerySkills]

A nice breakdown on an elegant introduction.

[pirateofcaribbean]

try doing that in Poland, people would start with questioning everything about the scenario you presented and then berate you for making them do weird decisions on the spot :P

[Yarradras]

Once I get someone to make time and sit down for a first session of d&d or another ttrpg the hard work is usually done 😅

I never explain rules before they become relevant. Just give them a character sheet and start the adventure. They are usually the best games because a newbie does not think in game mechanics or uses meta knowledge about the game. It's them interacting with the world and story instead of a player interacting with the rules of the game.

[Wilhuf]

While I don’t really play D&D anymore, I love Edge of the Empire. One way to engage players there is to let them roll most everything.

[spacerx]

Wait, it's that the daredevil girl?

[MietoK]

I usually go “DnD sucks, let’s play Savage Worlds”

[roqueadeleon]

Dude basically got to do nothing while she made up a story for him 😂

[possiblyneil]

Hey, could you please provide a link to your source videos?

[hariszark]

I don’t like D&D.
I don't play D&D.
The only person that could convince me to play is Deborah.
Not because D&D is good but because SHE is great.😆
Also that's exactly how anyone will describe any RPG.