If you’re running a game with players who have never played Dungeons & Dragons before, there are some simple things you can do to adjust your campaign to be more inviting to new players and help acclimate them to a game with a notoriously steep learning curve. Consider these tips to help successfully bring some new players into the DnD fold.

Focus On Narrative Over Crunchy Mechanics And Rules

Don’t get too bogged down in the details. Combat especially can be one of the more difficult parts of the game and looking through a character sheet trying to figure out what to do in the heat of combat can be daunting for a new player. Ask your players how they want to deal with a situation and “translate” for them by telling them how they can use their character’s resources to accomplish their goal. Explain rules as they come up and be open and patient with your players. If you're ok with doing so, ease up on the difficulty by fudging rolls.

You can also eschew using battle maps, models, and miniatures and instead play in the theater of the mind.

Offer the group clear adventure/quest hooks and goals to achieve. “Railroad” them a little bit until they get acquainted with the game and are capable of playing more independently.

Use Low-level, And/Or Pre-Generated Characters

You may be enamored with the idea of a higher-level adventure, but all the features and abilities that higher level characters have access to can make a new player’s head spin, so it’s best to stick to low level characters characters until your players understand what they’re doing.

Arguments can be made to start at level 3 or level 5, so that players have access to more fun abilities, but for players who are completely unfamiliar with roleplaying games, even understanding the rules of moving around in combat and using their actions can be confusing. Once things get going and your party understands how to play, you can grant some easy levels to get your party to a place you would more like to play at.

You can also consider using sidekicks as player characters. The rules for sidekicks were introduced in the D&D Essentials Kit and were expanded upon in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. Sidekick rules are somewhere in between a monster stat block and a full character sheet. They have much fewer “moving parts” than full character sheets and could be helpful in introducing new players to the game without bogging them down in too many mechanical details.

Start With A One-Shot

One-shots can be finished in a single session and are much easier to commit to for players who might be a bit intimidated by the enormity of an indefinite campaign and meeting regularly. You can also let them know what the entire scope of the adventure is so that they have a clear goal for the entire adventure.

Use A Premade Adventure

Homebrewed campaigns can need a lot of balancing and experimentation. Unless they’re extremely well-polished, they rely on an experienced party working with the DM to bring them to life. Premade adventures are well-balanced and already provide everything you need to run the campaign. This way, you can focus on guiding your new players through the game and understanding the rules. Choose an adventure that starts with a low level party. Lost Mine of Phandelver is often recommended as a good first adventure. Also be sure to check out these other great Dungeons & Dragons starter adventures.

Remember, if your party wants to keep playing, you can use your first adventure as a launching point for a longer campaign, where you can begin incorporating your own material.

Have A "Session Zero"

A great way to make sure all your players understand what they’re getting into is to have a session zero, where you all discuss the campaign, your characters, rules, expectations and boundaries. This is a great opportunity to explain your goals and for players to ask questions. If you are creating characters for the campaign, you can use session zero to make your characters together. If you are using premade characters, you can introduce the players to their characters and make sure they know how they work. 

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Mike Martino is a writer, editor, & playwright in Chicago.