There must be folks out there that want to play, but don't know where to start. People that have lives that don't allow them the luxury of digesting tomes of full of game rules, or wrestling with the mechanics of Roll20 itself (hey, not everyone understands things like this immediately - and for those folks it can be stressful and scary). This game would not be a watered-down effort - it would be fully immersive in the books 'eventually', so don't think of it like that. The requirements would be to: a:) Want to. b:) have a quiet area/time that you could speak over the internet in order to play. That means no TV in the background, no radios, no screaming, and any other annoying sounds that would create an unpleasant audio experience for those on the other end of the connection. The sessions would be short. 2 to 4 hours, and would occur either in the evenings EST, or early Saturday or potentially Sunday. You would need to do nothing to prepare for the first session - just show up. The first session will be to discuss the environment, decide what class you'd like to play and create the basics of that character. There will be no pre-submission of characters. At all. One reason for this is that there is a nifty part of character creation that allows characters to create bonds and essentially a history with other players. One of the items that will make this a great game for newcomers is that character creation will not be handled per the Players Hand Book. (Although they did a fantastic job at it - the only reason it will be different is that the setting doesn't agree with many of the steps in terms of possessions). We'd roll ability scores in front of the whole group (sorry, but that is so awesome. Point Buy is justifiable, but it's so much more entertaining to create something randomly. Some of my favorite memories of games involve players who have ended up with less than average characters that have embraced their inadequacies and thrived despite them). After that you basically get a simple weapon, and 1... Yes I said 1, item. Yes. I am that cruel. (If you've never needed to fight off an evil beast with a shovel before, then you've missed part of playing D&D - If you want to be a superhero, then there are other games.) Of course, possessions and power would be synonymous with survival. Thus, you would grow to, and beyond, what a 1st level character would normally receive. Speaking of survival. You will be tasked to create a backup character on your own time. It would be part of the game, in the journal, so you could get to it and populate the character sheet (though ability rolls would still be conducted in front of the group - because like I said, I am cruel). The reason you would want a second character is because death is likely in your future. There are a lot of ways to die, and as previously stated, I am cruel. I prefer good aligned players, or at least one's with good tendencies. I get to be evil, because... I am cruel. Thus, the first , and potentially second sessions may involve getting ready to play. Thus, alleviating the need for new folks to know everything about everything in order to become involved. If you've gotten this far and are an individual that fits the above, then let me finish by saying this. If you've never played, then that is not necessarily a bad thing. The game is meant to be a story, and though rules are very much necessary - story > rules. I am getting to be an old fuddy-duddy too, so if you are older, then have no fear! I also suggest you equip a notebook and good old fashioned pencil to record, NPC names, places, events... I make all my local players do that, and I award them when their recorded history is relied upon to embellish the ongoing story we build. Thank you for reading... Peace... and Looking forward to your thoughts.
