Jumping into D&D Next

Not too long ago, I participated in the Free RPG Day event Vault of the Dracolich. Determined to help out my local store (which I do often because they’re awesome), I signed up to DM for the event.

Preparation

Now I’ve been registered to playtest D&D Next for quite some time but, honestly, I’ve barely given it more than a read-through. I played a couple sessions back in the earliest releases, and lately I flip through the latest playtest notes but I don’t absorb it, and I definitely haven’t had time to play or run. So it seems like a terrible idea to sign up for a public event specifically running Next, right? Well, maybe a little.

I haven’t the experience of being a “newbie” in D&D for years. Could I just jump feet first into a D&D Next module and be able to run it with a basic understanding of the rules (about equivalent to someone who has read the rules once and now has to run a full table)? Would things run logically, or would I be floundering trying to figure out what was supposed to happen?

Admittedly, this was irresponsible of me. I knew the event was coming up and could have made more time to study, to ensure my players had the best event possible. I intentionally avoided doing more studying of the rules themselves and instead read most of the module and focused on NPC and area descriptions for roleplaying notes. The talented Teos Abadia (one of the module’s three authors) was coordinating the event at our store. He teased me about not being prepared, but other than needing to clarify a couple of details, I felt confident enough to get right into running my table.

Observations

Combat was fast, and I only felt the need to pause and look something up in the playtest packet a couple of times. This in part was due to a table of prepared players who knew they were going to play Next and not walk-ins that were expecting 4e.

I ran almost all the encounters with no map, only describing enemies’ basic locations. I didn’t even keep note of locations, and (for the most part) location boiled down to remembering if the monster was at range or melee. Players felt uninhibited to describe their maneuvers and attacks. I’m not entirely sure we did all of them correctly, but I know the players had fun doing whatever it was we figured out.

I ran the last encounter using a map. In Vault of the Dracolich, the final confrontation’s map is provided. I noticed the players moved a lot less when the map was in play and made me wish I had stuck with the theater-of-the-mind style.

Conclusion

Altogether, as an experienced and primarily 4e D&D Dungeon Master, I had very few barriers to overcome getting into running D&D Next. The stat blocks are different, but at the same time I needed virtually nothing explained to me. What questions did come up were quickly clarified or else hand-waved away. I enjoyed how quickly combat flowed and it made me curious how higher-level play will unfold. Ultimately, the session resulted in influencing my decision to use D&D Next with my home group – not full time, but we’ll be doing a one-shot with the playtest rules next week. Chances are if all goes well, I’ll let you all know how that went too!