Post originally by Michael Young at 2005-04-17 10:59:46
Converted from Phorums BB System

Has everyone in this thread asked what new players thought of this basic game?

After a 20 year absence (life got in the way ;-) ) I introduced my family to the game with me serving as DM. None of the other 4 players had played DnD before, beyond two of them playing some PlayStation games with DnD rules. They loved this basic game and want to keep playing.

Good points:
1. Nice painted miniatures when the box is opened. No muss, fuss or waiting for things to dry.

2. The illusionary dragon was great! The players knew about the dungeon's dragon because I guided them to talk with the "Mirror Lady" as we call her. We still talk about how the fighter told the little rogue to charge in and attack the black dragon and how the rogue killed the "dragon" with one strike.

3. Great _fun_ was had when the big fighter with sword did no skeleton damage after a hit, little rogue with shortbow did no damage after a hit, but the little rogue took out the skeleton with her morningstar. The figher could not figure things out more than deciding to punch the skeletons rather than use his sword.

4. Slow spell scroll was placed perfectly because it was right near the room that it needed to be used in: the dragon's lair.

5. The treasure was well done. The figher is very excited about his +1 greatsword. The rogue is very excited about the small masterwork buckler and it provided the opportunity to talk about armor check penalty again.

6. It is great that DnD 3.5 skills were left out of the basic game since that would have overwhelmed some players - too many numbers. However, we know have a problem that no one is very bright since the intelligence ability was selected low for everyone and we are now moving onto the regular rules where we will start using skills, although I will keep the numbers for the players and let them know what number they need to roll.

7. Some things are well explained, like attack of opportunity on page 24 in "advanced rule book".

Bad points:
1. More than once "roll initiative" was written, but this basic game does not use iniatiative rolls. The initiative order is the same every time (10 + dexterity modifier + other modifiers is used), since there is no rolling. I had to explain to the players that "roll inititiative" was a "typo". If would have been nice if delayed action was mentioned prominently or explained however.

2. The feats available to the sorcerer are terrible! As we move to the next adventure with level 2 characters, I am trying to "give" the sorcerer a few things to make him stronger, because the PHB has better stuff that he could not choose since we did not have the PHB when the character was created and feat selected. Also where are familiars mentioned?

3. Room 11 Magic Runes are great for experienced players but not for new folks. I made a decision _before_ dice were rolled that only + modifiers would be allowed so I reduced the books + ability rolls to +1 rather than using +2 and changed the books - ability rolls to +1 rather than using -2. My players (some of them rather young, but old enough to play the game) would not have taken well to a for all they knew permanently damaged character that could never get better. (One of the other adults even came up with the magic words to be spoken: Please and thank you. :-) )

4. Spell cards would have been very helpful since no one could remember their spells. Leafing through the "advanced rule book" became common.

5. Feat numbers were unclear. The human fighter should have had three (human, fighter, level) not two as we played. This error happened because rules are strewn thoughout the rule book and there is no index.

6. It should have been harder to die in what would have seemed a random way to the players. I did not let the players go into the mirror or search the toxic spore square. I made sure they were aware that bad things could happen if they insisted on going into these places, so they would be ready for future adventures however. On the other hand, combat played out in a simple way that let players see they were losing hit points. They could understand this combat process.

7. Some things are not well explained, like offering concrete suggestions on what combination of spells the sorcerer should pick would have been nice. An even bigger issue is how much the characters should know about the monsters? I mean shouldn't a trained, even if inexperienced, fighter know that skeletons take less damage from non blunt weapons. But where is the damage type mentioned in the "advanced rule book" (players read through page 30, stopping before the dungeon master's guide) to give players a clue that damage type may matter?

In summary, I think the basic game's intent was great but some details were not well executed because the rules were not clear for the true beginner that would be using this game. I do not have problems with the bigger issues, like "random and nonsensical nature" of things, etc.

Michael Young