There is a great evil plaguing our little community in the Dungeons and Dragons world. We have players and DMs alike who anti new people! These D&D-ers have been seen bashing on new people in their groups saying that “new people slow the group down too much.” Some even to the point of saying that they do not want new people in this group. This is utter rubbish. These D&D-ers need to be taken back to their first game, that game where you were afraid to do anything not in the rules, where you took forever to come up with ideas to do.
Before I bash these people we need to look at D&D-ers. Most of us are nerds. Not the nerds of today who are actually “in” but old school nerds. Social misfits with high intelligence. Maybe you have social anxiety and it makes you a nervous wreck to be around people. Maybe it is more along the lines of you were not allowed into groups because you were so different. Maybe you just do not like people in general, not in a hateful way, you are just anti-social.
No matter the reason for your nerdiness, there was some point where we all heard of Dungeons and Dragons. Whether that was from friends, TV, whatever, we heard about it, then went out of our way to figure out how to learn it. Back then there was no Youtube to search these kind of things on (and keep in mind I am still under 30 years old). We had to find others to teach us. This means that yea, we were slow. All of us were slow at playing the game when we started off. This is not like playing war with a deck of playing cards. This game can be a bit tough for some people to grasp. I bet some of us “veteran” players still have our slow days when we have some massive brain farts (or possibly too much alcohol).
Now.. down to business…
Players
Hey! All players out there! It is your job to help new players learn how to play just as much as it is the DM’s job. In fact, depending on the size of the group, it will be you job even more so. Remember those first few games where you knew absolutely nothing about the game and someone had to teach you how to play? Extend that courtesy to the new players, just like someone did for you when you started. It is utter rubbish that you are so wrapped up in your selfish world that you cannot sacrifice a few game sessions to help out someone who could potentially be a new permanent part of the party.
Dungeon Masters
… and DM’s… I was very surprised when I saw DMs not wanting to have new players in the group. Without players.. well we DMs will not have a dungeon to master, so to say. DMs are guides to the players, no matter of experience levels. DMs are going to be the ones that the players are going to look to for advice on how to do things and the rules on how to do things. As a DM, if you know you will have a new player in the game ahead of time, set up a time to sit down with them together one-on-one and teach them. Show them how to make characters, give them a short tutorial campaign. You do not even have to plan something like that out ahead of time. Throw them in a fight to show them the ropes. Give them some skill checks, some perception, maybe picking some locks, smash in a door, just some basics.
We D&D-ers are a group. Together we work to pass the knowledge we have down to those of us who are new to the game. Without new players, our group could grow stale, and will eventually die off. There are parents out there teaching children how to play D&D right now, surely you can teach someone your own age how to play. Come on guys, we are better than this.
The Cliched Tavern 