I have lots of friends who are RPG-curious, but really want their first taste of gaming to be D&D (for that “authentic first RPG experience”). Assuming for the sake of argument that I don’t actually want to use D&D, what would be your go-to game that does the best job of 1) feeling like D&D, and 2) is easy to teach to new players?
What to run for friends who want to "learn how to play D&D"?
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I’ve used Tiny Dungeons to amazing effect. If you want my notes on my one session adventure, let me know!
TD is simple but it has flavor. You can also port in any rule you’d like pretty easily (Usage Dice from Black Hack, for instance). It is not a six stat system.
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Seconding @darren’s WoDu suggestion. I’ve taught/run World of Dungeons at big “learn D&D” socials and just told the organizers I was running my homebrewed version of original D&D. Even experienced D&D people were excited for it and newcomers jumped in really easily. If they want to make characters, the rules are really simple.
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I would offer Fellowship up as it can feel very D&D-ish and gives the MC a “playbook” which makes it much more a DM/GM feel to the MC. Every player is fully in control of how the lore of their character is presented (with gentle nudges from the MC now and again) and unlike many PbtA games it is supposed to end with the defeat of the Overlord/MC instead of having a much more dramatic, drastic feel to the ending.
For those getting into PbtA/RPG games it has a simple premise like many video games (us vs an enemy), has a bright light at the end, and has the “mouth feel” of D&D without the trappings of fantasy calculus.
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Can you get any kind of “feel” for what it is they are curious about doing in a game? Also how much world building they would want to be involved in? (Implicit or explicit.) I guess really the question is: how much creative work are they going to feel comfortable doing either at character creation time or during play?
I have lots of options for different answers so I’d like to hear if you have a specific player you are aiming for.
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Good question. As far as I can tell, these are the things that scream D&D to most of them:
- Pretending to be elves and dwarves
- Fighting monsters with swords and magic
- Rolling weird dice
Because they don’t really know all the tropes (beyond having seen Lord of the Rings or seeing D&D played on Community and Stranger Things), being involved in world building might be too much of an ask.
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Totally agree with Shane, here. There are very different aspects of D&D that players might want to emulate. Here are some hypothetical ways to meet different D&D-esque agendas.
I want to explore dangerous interesting environments: Into the Odd
I want to play wacky fantasy archetypes who each have their own gimmick: Dungeon World
I want to play a group like the fellowship in LoTR, facing inner struggles and betrayal on a great quest: Follow
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I think the second option is probably closest to what most of them want, with bits of one and three.
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I’m in agreement with those who suggest it depends what part of the D&D experience they most want. Ones that have worked well for me…
The Black Hack when players want all the “funny dice” and archetypical classes (warrior, wizard, etc.), especially if there’s variation among the players in how much they want to fiddle with character advancement. Spell casters can sift though lists of spells; fighty/sneaky types just get better rolls gradually.
Into the Odd when players don’t actually want very many rules at all, especially if they’re looking to use their own problem-solving skills and aren’t looking for too much combat. Not only does this game have so few rules that you’re kind of forced to play freeform much of the time, the combat rules are fast and brutal, but not necessarily always deadly – but if characters do die, they’re very easy to quickly replace.
Dungeon World, or simplified hacks thereof – I’m especially looking forward to trying Homebrew World, myself – if they’re looking for something that feels more like a story, albeit an unpredictable one. Characters tend to be more durable here than in more old school D&D descendants, and the asymmetrical GMing rules make it easier to to move things in purposeful directions and explore specific themes.
It’s Not My Fault! is a nicely pared-down take on Fate Accelerated Edition, and great for players who associate D&D with wacky stories of adventurers making poor life decisions. Fate’s honestly more fiddly than I tend to bring to the table with first-time players, but I ran this game successfully for players with no Fate experience by just not telling them all the rules, and handling the details in my head. (Like, if they wanted to hit somebody so hard they knock them down, ask if it’s more important to knock the enemy down or to do damage; don’t ask them to clarify whether they’re making an attack action vs. a create-an-advantage action.)
World of Dungeons and World of Dungeons Turbo are super easy to hack when your friends say, “Hey, can we play D&D, but in the [favorite video game / TV show / movie] universe?” I’ve successfully introduced several new players to RPGs this way. You can largely get away with just re-skinning the names of things.
I’m not sure what to answer for players who are more specifically interested in battle. D&D 4th edition actually felt like a great distillation of that tradition, and its Essentials line was simplified and so more approachable, and 5e feels like it tried to build on that direction, but any “real” D&D edition is still more fiddly than I like to throw in front of first-time players for a one-shot. I might actually suggest Dungeon World again for combat, but I know some players (who did have prior RPG experience, however) felt the combat was too arbitrarily up to the GM. I might even suggest Fate here again, since Fate combat is less up to the whims of the GM, and also demands group interaction and attention to fictional detail in a way other games don’t. I’m very curious what others suggest here, though.
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Lots of great options so far. Not to overload you with possibilities, but two more:
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Like Black Hack and Into the Odd, Knave is really rules lite, but unlike those two you try to roll-high on a 20, as opposed to rolling low, which is more consistent with “real” D&D.
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Beyond the Wall is more involved than these but still simple and the playbooks provide a nice way to help people build characters.
If you’re looking for a good introductory adventure, Tomb of the Serpent Kings is a gentle introduction to dungeon crawling, as opposed to things like Sailors on the Starless Sea that kinda throw people in the deep end.
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If at the end of the day, you don’t actually want to play D&D or something in that vein, then I’d run World of Dungeons. It’s super simple.
I suspect Dungeon World might actually best simulate what people imagine D&D is going to be like. High fantasy collaborative story telling nonsense. It’s also pretty straight forward, and I think if you told people they were playing D&D they’d be all, “yeah I am!”. I don’t like the game that much though, because it’s not D&D. Ha.
I think simple OSR games that are quick to teach and play are worth a look: The Black Hack and Knave would be my picks.
I also love Troika, but it’s like Advanced Fighting Fantasy.
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I am going to be the jerk who says “If your friends want you to play D&D, run some D&D for them.” I totally get why you think there are better games that do stuff better, but please, please, please, don’t be that guy who tells people the thing they want to try isn’t any good and you know this more obscure thing that’s way better. You may be correct, even objectively so, but you’re making their first gaming experience about what YOU want and not what THEY want.
I say this advisedly, as someone who owned a game store and ran north of half a thousand D&D sessions over 16 years. Do what they’re asking, and incorporate stuff from story gaming into the mix so they get a taste of it along with their door-kicking and orc-slaying. If you’re patient and cool about it, they’ll be primed to try other stuff with you soon enough.
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Yep, totally fair point, @JimLikesGames. My goal was just to look for some other options that might be easier to teach and learn for people who just want a taste of roleplaying games.
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Yeah, sorry, I’m that guy who ignores the ‘say for the sake of argument’ point in the O/P. I’ve just been here literally hundreds of times and my lived experience is that this always pans out best when you just go ahead and run a little D&D for them, even if it’s “OK, but I’d love it if we could agree to try this other thing after.”
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While I would be tempted to introduce them to World of Dungeons or Dungeon World because I love those, I think it might be good to look at what they’re asking for. I think there are some people who are looking for an initiation more than an interpretation.
They might need to get some official form of D&D through their system before they can open up to other possibilities. If you look at the way WoDu stripped away all but the most needed rules of DW and applied that same principle to 5e. You could probably put together a quick game that would satisfy their need to feel legitimized and then move on to the stuff you love. The basic rules are available for free and you could print out some very official looking character sheets. Have them roll all the dice and make some saving throws but lean heavily on the story and the “What do you do” immediacy. You’ll have them hooked.
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An option for going closer to official D&D but still lightweight is M20 Fifth, an extremely streamlined version of the 5e rules. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1J_gPJjuDygOQWnVKXyLcAuGcIUNHeSsf/view
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Fall of Magic can be great to get your friends into the actual roleplaying element of ttrpgs before they start interacting with all of the complicated rules and mechanics. It is totally my ‘first taste free’ game-dealer game to get my friends hooked.
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I’ve played a bunch of these story games with my friends but they still ask to play d&d or pathfinder because they are crunchier and have that cultural context.
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I just had this come up over the weekend and used Homebrew World to initiate a new player who “always wanted to learn D&D.” Went swimmingly, and she had a blast. Felt like welcoming a prodigal child home.
I prefer DW (and derivatives) to WoD for onboarding new players because it provides more creative prompts to work with, especially for someone who isn’t super-familiar with the D&D tropes. The “look” choices for prompt a new player to visual their character as a person, not just words/numbers. The bonds help generate relationships and backstory. The basic moves serve as a menu of “things you might want to do,” and Discern Realities serves as a guide for the kinds of things you should try to figure out.
I intentionally designed Homebrew World to spin up quickly with a lot of fast choices and creative prompts, and I’ve been super happy with how it’s worked in play. (Gear system needs a little bit of streamlining still, but that’ll come.)
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Preface: I know that you asked for the sake of argument and I don’t want to be disrespectful but I feel my answer addresses–at least partially–the spirit of your post.
If you decide to go with D&D, it’s worth checking the quickstart cards by Matt Colville. As he says they’re not meant to replace the books but to give players an idea of what they might want to play.
You can find the cards here (Google Drive) and his brief description of them here (Youtube).
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