Teaching the three pillars to new players.

Running D&D or any TTRPG for kids is fun and rewarding on many levels, but at times it can be frustrating, especially when you don't know what they don't know. I'm a teacher, and I have a lot of cues I can use in my Computer Science class to figure out where my students' gaps are. I have a curriculum that contains a scope and sequence for instruction, noting what they will be exposed to at each grade level. I have formative assessments that gauge their performance on distinct skills and knowledge, allowing me to fine tune my instruction to fill in what's missing allowing students to apply a firm foundation of concepts and practice to create their projects. 

Often, when running an RPG for a group of newbies, kids or adults, you need to come along side them and help fill in the gaps. The problem is that many of us old grognards have been rolling dice since the 80's and we have years of foundational knowledge that's not necessarily covered in the Players Handbook, as comprehensive as it is. If your players seem to be missing something huge, take a minute and think:

• Are they just foolish or slow of wit?
• Are they being purposely obtuse in order to frustrate you?
• Is there some foundational concept they're missing because they're new at this?

Chances are pretty good that it's the third possibility! 

An example

With my tow main games on hiatus or online, I started a family game for my three kiddos, who wanted to play Ghosts of Saltmarsh. This campaign is really cool, and the first adventure has a bit of a surprise (spoilers) that I knew my players would really enjoy. Unfortunately, we got stuck. My players were exploring the Haunted House, and missed basically the whole plot. 

Ned Shakeshaft

• They only partially explored the house (but assumed they had gotten it all).
• They weren't suspicious of Ned Shakeshaft at all.
• They returned to town and reported that it was all-good at that place... just some spiders and mold and spooky voices.
  

The Three Pillars concept

"Three pillars of adventuring make up the D&D game: exploration, social interaction, and combat, but when it comes to earning experience, the combat pillar often supports most of the game’s weight" (Mearls , 2017). I would argue that combat also tends to be what we teach kids (or new players in general) first. We kind of assume that social interaction and exploration just happen, and for the most part, they do. 

It's important to note, though, that players get a proficiency bonus in D&D 5e, and they have access to a variety of skills and tools. This is a major game mechanic of D&D, and one that is mainly focused on Social Interaction and Exploration, as much as attack bonus, AC, and HP are mechanics used for the Combat pillar. Now we just have to figure out how to teach new players the nuances of how and when to use them, which brings us to the in-real-life (IRL) skills of knowing when to use the skill mechanic.

Social Interaction 

My son, having always played a rogue in other games was all in on the investigation and perception checks, but despite being a sorcerer in this game, with an excellent insight bonus, never thought to see if old Ned had the party's best interests in mind. In fact none of them thought to check if Ned was on the up and up even after he had almost gotten the whole party killed five times with his clumsiness. Worse, I never thought to slip any of them a note saying, "don't you think Ned is even a little sus?". In this case the party was quite equipped from a mechanical perspective, but had not considered out-of-character that Ned was just a little too clumsy, a little too eager to get out of there, and a little too quick to try to sew distention and discord among the party, despite my obvious and terrible over-acting. I was frustrated, but all I needed to do was slip a note to one character to give the heads-up, that they should be suspicious of Ned.

 

Many of us take for granted having years of experience checking the motives of the NPC's around us, trying to determine whether they're being helpful, leading us into a trap, trying to swindle us, etc. New players who find someone tied up in a haunted house and "rescue" that someone have no reason to believe that person is not going to act out of gratitude and loyalty.    

Exploration

Exploration also relies on the in-real-life skills of knowing when to use the skill mechanic. As I mentioned earlier, my son, having always played a rogue in other games was all in on the investigation and perception checks and getting the whole party to do them. Again, he is a sorcerer in this game, my stepson is a tempest cleric, and my daughter is a druid. None of them have bonuses in investigation, and all of them were making terrible perception checks when it counted. Worse, they had no reason to believe that they were missing anything. I kept thinking, "Seriously! Are they going to find a single track or secret door??" I wondered:

• Should I just seriously fudge a DC and give it to them on a 4?
• Should I just tell them that "it's obvious that the basement must be bigger than this wine cellar?
• Should I just have Bandits knock them out and capture them to further the plot?

From the Angry GM

I could have solved this problem by teaching them one old school skill, mapping. Now, I'm not suggesting that we return to the old-school era of handing out graph paper and forcing our players to meticulously map the dungeon. I do, however, think that taking a side session to explain the concept of dungeon mapping (which is exactly what I did) will help new players start to visualize the space the way us old-timers do. In the case of the haunted house in Saltmarsh, it should have been easy to see that there was much more basement to be explored beyond the wine cellar below the scullery. Apparently the construction paper fog of war I had over my blown up Dyson map was just a little too effective. Either way, getting kids to do some basic layout mapping during a few sessions should give them a better sense of when they want to go all in searching for a secret door or trying to break a wall down, which is what my crew ultimately ended up doing. 

Closing thoughts and Parting Shots

Am I suggesting that we should go Old School Revival on our new players and make them map every inch of dungeon and make constant checks in every circumstance? NOT AT ALL! What D&D 5E does so well is set up a system that's easy for new players to pick up, and has a loose enough rules system to allow them the freedom to explore the game without having to approach every encounter with a rote set of checks and procedures. 

 

I AM suggesting that we remember where we came from, whether it was grinding through the scorched city of Tyr on Athas in 2nd Edition Dark Sun or whether someone just taught us to play a year ago in Ravnica. We all picked this up somewhere and we all made our first "insight / sense motive" check at some point or another. Hints don't hurt. Mini-lessons in the mechanics of the game don't hurt either. If all else fails, just stop the game and throw some DM to player knowledge at them. Remember, as a DM we want our players to be successful and having fun! 

 

Good luck. Great Gaming. DFTBA.