Teaching Skill Checks to New Players

[expectorus]

I've got a (growing!) group currently playing in Council of Thieves. Many of them are new to Pathfinder and to tabletop RP. To make it easier I've been more descriptive than rules heavy, but what's happening now is many of them are overlooking the fact they can do Sense Motive, Knowledge, and other checks, which is vital for the AP. A senior player in the group suggested taking time at the start of the session to highlight and explain one or two skills. I was also thinking of having some sort of NPC in Westcrown that could teach them (think in-game tutorial). Any ideas or votes on these? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

[Dave Justus]

Rather than have a tutorial or lexture on skills, I'd just be freer with suggestions for a bit.

DM: "If you want you could make a sense motive check to see if he is trustworthy".
Player: "Cool, sounds great. How do I do that?"
DM: "First, you would normally let me know you want to do that, then you would roll a d20 and add your sense motive skill modifier and give me the result. Then I'll tell you what, if anything, you learn."

Just giving hints for a bit is likely to solve the issue. You might want to make it clear that you will cease reminding them after a bit as well.

[expectorus]

Sounds good-I’ll try that tomorrow!