Campaign Book for a Virgin DM? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Campaign Book for a Virgin DM? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Qatharsis
07-24-07, 08:24 AM It looks like I might soon have to take up the DM's job when our current campaign ends. I have played in two campaigns so far (levels 1-10), but never DMed, so I'm new to the job and quite unacquainted with the common pitfalls. I would therefore appreciate having a campaign book that gives me a lot of background information, suggestions on how to react to PC decisions, generic DMing help etc. I'm thinking of levels 1-5 at first (we will also have one or two virgin players, so I don't want to start in the middle of things), maybe continuing up to levels 7 or 10 if things go well and I enjoy DMing.

We've played the "Giants in Geoff" and "Moonsea" campaigns so far. What can you recommend?

I'm primarily looking for a published adventure book, but I'm also fine with fan-made material if it's high-quality, balanced and flavorful.
Gerry
07-24-07, 08:45 AM OT: I don't think I'm going to surprise ANYONE in THIS forum with what follows :)

Not having played in either Faerun nor Eberron, all I can suggest is taking a look thru Red Hand of Doom. The adventure is written for Levels 5-10. Take the Elsir Vale setting, which is "generic", start your PCs at first level, and run a few modules to get them up to 5th level, then throw RHoD at them.

Suggestions for HOW to get them to Level 5 include:
- Scourge of the Howling Horde (1st)
- something from the wizards free section of downloads
- Sons of Gruumsh (modified) 4th level
- either call them all hobgoblins and bugbears and they are using
Muglibeyet to prove how wimpy humans are (and then fail, thus setting
up the BBEG in RHoD for his divine connection!)
- the orcs are uniting a couple of tribes to make their presence known here
(vs module's start a war) as two demi-human army threats in two
modules is a bit much.
- Red Hand of Doom

A lot of material on Elsir Vale is in the RHoD book, with lots of openings for you to build backstory.

Then there's all the material here on the boards. Scads of it!

Check out the Index of Threads (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=855450) I'm maintaing . Especially the chapters Campaign Ideas and Prequel Modules for RHoD ( http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?p=12684296#post12684296) and Recaps (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?p=12684429#post12684429). Though in the latter chapter restrict yourself to those recaps where the DM is ramping up to RHoD, not actually running it yet. There are all sorts of storylines you can bring in to RHoD before the war kicks off.

Gerry
tankschmidt
07-24-07, 09:36 AM Monte Cook's Ptolus is supposed to be an excellent campaign. I've been reading through Gary Gygax's Yggsburgh setting, and I have to recommend it. Although it's written for C&C, so much of it is flavor-based that it can be used with D&D just fine.
The Eye of Kyi
07-24-07, 10:06 AM Shattered Gates of Slaughterguard levels 1-7.

SGoS is a mini campaign that has some handouts, maps a players guide and a couple of DM booklets. An excellent choice for the beginning DM.

Red Hand of DOOM is probably too much if you have never DM'd before, though it is an excellent adventure. Ptolus is going to be way too much if you have never DM'd before. Its a monstrous book full of fluff. While an excellent campaign, if you are just getting your feet wet with DMing I stongly recommend the product above.
CreepingCharly
07-24-07, 11:14 AM Shattered Gates of Slaughterguard levels 1-7.

SGoS is a mini campaign that has some handouts, maps a players guide and a couple of DM booklets. An excellent choice for the beginning DM.

Red Hand of DOOM is probably too much if you have never DM'd before, though it is an excellent adventure. Ptolus is going to be way too much if you have never DM'd before. Its a monstrous book full of fluff. While an excellent campaign, if you are just getting your feet wet with DMing I stongly recommend the product above.

I agree with The Eye of Kyi. The Shattered Gates of Slaughtergarde would be great for a new DM. The handouts and booklets are very helpful and cool IMO.

--Charly
rhoxie
07-24-07, 11:19 AM Scourge of the Howling Horde is a great 1st level adventure. I haven't DM'd in 10 years and never under 3.5 and I love the way it is written. It is very user friendly. The Barrow of the Forgotten King series is a nice follow up, but the adventures will need a lot of read through. There are a couple of confusing parts of the adventure that you may have to make up as you go.

Rory
Qatharsis
07-24-07, 06:54 PM Thanks for the feedback. Our current party got wiped tonight (mindflayer... grrr), so I will be the DM henceforth. I will likely hold a single demo-adventure in three weeks, and if all goes well, continue maybe up to level 5 or so.

Red Hand of Doom: This looks like an awesome campaign, as its fanbase attests. However, I agree that it is likely too challenging for me, especially as I would have to know the greater picture even before I started the level 1 lead-in adventure, and as people describe it as tough for the players (I'd prefer not to kill PCs anytime soon). I'll keep this for later, and hope to be among the players rather than the DM when the time comes. :)

Scourge of the Howling Horde: I've heard the BBEG is supposed to be disappointing, but I can always tweak him to make him a bit meaner. :devil: I could use this as the demo-adventure.

Shattered Gates of Slaughtergard: I have to look this up, but levels 1-7 and DM-friendly sounds good to me. I will definitely change the name though. Slaughtergard is just goofy. EDIT: I just read this thread (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=753975), which suggests that the adventure plot is rather badly fleshed-out, and that it's mainly about locations. I'm fine with dungeon crawls, as I'm a rather bad dialogue improviser and social interactor, but I do want my players to have a reason to risk their lives rather than be railroaded down a dungeon.

Barrow of the Forgotten King: Quickly checked the info on Amazon, looks nice, though only lasts a level or two if I've understood it correctly...
mearrin69
07-24-07, 07:28 PM Yeah, SGoS is probably a good one for a complete virgin DM. I'm running this one now for one of my groups and it has been going pretty well. The general area and 'home base' of Sumberton could use a little bit more fleshing out, though, as could the motivations of some of the groups active in the area. So that might be a negative based on what you mentioned in your post.

If you think you've got the rules down pretty well and can focus on story (and it sounds like you're an experienced player so this might be the case) at least take a look at Paizo's Shackled City. It's pretty decent and takes your characters all of the way through 20th. Good background on the region and home city, NPCs, etc. so it might meet your needs better in terms of having a lot of answers right at your fingertips.

I'm not bashing SGoS, mind. It's a great adventure - you'll just have to do some background prep or else do a lot of thinking on your feet when players ask, "who do I talk to at the Scrivener's Guild if I want to sell this spellbook written abyssal?" It's what a DM *does* of course - but the less of it you have to do your first time out the better IMHO.
M
Gerry
07-24-07, 07:39 PM Red Hand of Doom: This looks like an awesome campaign, as its fanbase attests. ..... I'll keep this for later, and hope to be among the players rather than the DM when the time comes. :)

Scourge of the Howling Horde: I've heard the BBEG is supposed to be disappointing, but I can always tweak him to make him a bit meaner. :devil: I could use this as the demo-adventure.

Shattered Gates of Slaughtergard: I have to look this up, but levels 1-7 and DM-friendly sounds good to me. I will definitely change the name though. Slaughtergard is just goofy.

RHoD IS a challenge, I was just thinking you might lead up to it and be ready for it by the time your players are 5th level. Playing in it would be good too.

SotHH is a pretty good module for beginner DMs and PCs. It's got everything laid out for the DM. It's a bit linear, but hey. And uh, given that the BBEG was tackled and grappled by a gnome or halfling when I ran my son and his friends thru it, well yeah, "she" can be a bit disappointing. OTOH they had the help of some of the "enemy NPCs" due to good great role-playing, which gave them a surprise action. Overly generous? Perhaps, but rewarding 9-11 year old players with a GREAT take-down is worth it!

SGoS - no experience with, but it's starting to sound really good. I'll have to pick it up! :)

Gerry
Gerry
07-24-07, 07:43 PM Qatharsis:

I've noticed the lack of "Eberron/Faerun/Greyhawk/KenzerCo/etc" suggestions in all of the above responses. When you asked for "Campaign Book" were you thinking we'd be suggesting one of those? Or a good module, as per the kinds of suggestions you've gotten already?

Gerry
Qatharsis
07-24-07, 08:33 PM I wasn't looking for a whole campaign world (like Faerun and Greyhawk, in which I've played the last two campagns), but rather a coherent string of fleshed-out adventures -- preferably within those campaign worlds that I already know a bit. The suggestions I've gotten so far are exactly the type I meant.
Neutronium_Dragon
07-25-07, 04:52 AM If you do decide to play in Eberron or the Forgotten Realms, the relevant campaign setting books each include an adventure or two for relatively low levels. The ECS one suggests 1st level characters, but I'd be more inclined to start them at 2nd, especially if everyone's new.

The WotC website also has a good collection of short adventures which span the full level range. If you're looking for something that's relatively quick to play through, they might be worth a look: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/oa/20030530b
eamon
07-25-07, 10:05 AM Having played the ECS introductory campaign as my first campgain as new DM, I can say that's it's very easy on the players, no need to put them any higher than first level. The flavor of Sharn is great, but it's not easy; there's so much going on in a city of that size, it's hard to get that across well when essentially all the interaction will need to be improvised. So it's a short but neat introduction to sharn, but isn't that easy to DM. And the follow up modules aren't that good I think, as they pretty much railroad the PC's. Eberron itself though, is a great Campaign Setting. I like it much more than Faerun (which I've previously played in as a player). The player's seem to like it too...
klagdon
07-25-07, 11:53 AM Specific adventure modules aside, have you read through the DMG? Reading through that will give you a very strong sense of what you need to do as a DM. Heck, even the DMG2 would be a good idea.

Using a premade module might be a bit overwhealming for you. A very linear hack and slash set of encounters that you created for the first night would not be a terrible way to star things off. It keeps it simple and lets you get into a bit of a groove as a DM. Let us know how it goes.
lyonv
07-25-07, 03:28 PM Although it may seem a bit pricey, don't overlook the Shackled City Adventure Path hardback published by Paizo. It contains a complete campaign from 1st to 20th levels; its individual adventures are not difficult to manage and it has a level of built-in coherence that is second-to-none.

You can also get back issues of Dungeon Magazine that contain either the Age of Worms Adventure Path or the currently running Savage Coast Adventure Path. Both of them take characters from 1st to 20th level using the same kind of high-caliber, coherent plot arc.
Qatharsis
07-25-07, 07:25 PM Thanks for all the suggestions!

I have indeed not read through the whole of the DMG yet; I will have to catch up on that.

Using a premade module might be a bit overwhealming for you. A very linear hack and slash set of encounters that you created for the first night would not be a terrible way to star things off.
I will be starting off with the Scourge of the Howling Horde, which is supposed to be very easy on virgin DMs. Then I'll continue with the Shattered Gates of Slaughtergarde, which is reputed to be very location-driven, which sounds like some rather linear, hack-and-slash dungeon crawling as you suggest.

I don't feel up to making my own encounters just yet. Maybe sometime soon. I hear the SGoS could benefit from some linking fluff between the dungeons...
mearrin69
07-26-07, 12:31 AM ...SGoS could benefit from some linking fluff between the dungeons...

It's actually not too bad in this regard though I have indeed tried to tie them together more - in my case with the drow who are stirring up trouble in the Valley of the Obelisks (and throughout the Prime the characters will learn eventually) leading up to the events of Expedition to the Demonweb Pits.

SGoS starts at 1st, though, so depending on the level of your party after SotHH you might want to beef up the bad guys. 1st is such a tenuous level anyway and I had some near PKs with the Lab dungeon (hey, when you've got 6 hp there's just a bowshot between you and negative hp) but mostly the guys have had an easy time taking down the villains.

Good luck with your campaign - I bet you'll love DMing!
M
katakraos
07-26-07, 08:53 AM Monte Cook's Ptolus is supposed to be an excellent campaign. I've been reading through Gary Gygax's Yggsburgh setting, and I have to recommend it. Although it's written for C&C, so much of it is flavor-based that it can be used with D&D just fine.

Ptolus has earned its fame, I assure you...

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Qatharsis 07-24-07, 08:24 AM	It looks like I might soon have to take up the DM's job when our current campaign ends. I have played in two campaigns so far (levels 1-10), but never DMed, so I'm new to the job and quite unacquainted with the common pitfalls. I would therefore appreciate having a campaign book that gives me a lot of background information, suggestions on how to react to PC decisions, generic DMing help etc. I'm thinking of levels 1-5 at first (we will also have one or two virgin players, so I don't want to start in the middle of things), maybe continuing up to levels 7 or 10 if things go well and I enjoy DMing. We've played the "Giants in Geoff" and "Moonsea" campaigns so far. What can you recommend? I'm primarily looking for a published adventure book, but I'm also fine with fan-made material if it's high-quality, balanced and flavorful.
Gerry 07-24-07, 08:45 AM	OT: I don't think I'm going to surprise ANYONE in THIS forum with what follows :) Not having played in either Faerun nor Eberron, all I can suggest is taking a look thru Red Hand of Doom. The adventure is written for Levels 5-10. Take the Elsir Vale setting, which is "generic", start your PCs at first level, and run a few modules to get them up to 5th level, then throw RHoD at them. Suggestions for HOW to get them to Level 5 include: - Scourge of the Howling Horde (1st) - something from the wizards free section of downloads - Sons of Gruumsh (modified) 4th level - either call them all hobgoblins and bugbears and they are using Muglibeyet to prove how wimpy humans are (and then fail, thus setting up the BBEG in RHoD for his divine connection!) - the orcs are uniting a couple of tribes to make their presence known here (vs module's start a war) as two demi-human army threats in two modules is a bit much. - Red Hand of Doom A lot of material on Elsir Vale is in the RHoD book, with lots of openings for you to build backstory. Then there's all the material here on the boards. Scads of it! Check out the Index of Threads (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=855450) I'm maintaing . Especially the chapters Campaign Ideas and Prequel Modules for RHoD ( http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?p=12684296#post12684296) and Recaps (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?p=12684429#post12684429). Though in the latter chapter restrict yourself to those recaps where the DM is ramping up to RHoD, not actually running it yet. There are all sorts of storylines you can bring in to RHoD before the war kicks off. Gerry
tankschmidt 07-24-07, 09:36 AM	Monte Cook's Ptolus is supposed to be an excellent campaign. I've been reading through Gary Gygax's Yggsburgh setting, and I have to recommend it. Although it's written for C&C, so much of it is flavor-based that it can be used with D&D just fine.
The Eye of Kyi 07-24-07, 10:06 AM	Shattered Gates of Slaughterguard levels 1-7. SGoS is a mini campaign that has some handouts, maps a players guide and a couple of DM booklets. An excellent choice for the beginning DM. Red Hand of DOOM is probably too much if you have never DM'd before, though it is an excellent adventure. Ptolus is going to be way too much if you have never DM'd before. Its a monstrous book full of fluff. While an excellent campaign, if you are just getting your feet wet with DMing I stongly recommend the product above.
CreepingCharly 07-24-07, 11:14 AM	Shattered Gates of Slaughterguard levels 1-7. SGoS is a mini campaign that has some handouts, maps a players guide and a couple of DM booklets. An excellent choice for the beginning DM. Red Hand of DOOM is probably too much if you have never DM'd before, though it is an excellent adventure. Ptolus is going to be way too much if you have never DM'd before. Its a monstrous book full of fluff. While an excellent campaign, if you are just getting your feet wet with DMing I stongly recommend the product above. I agree with The Eye of Kyi. The Shattered Gates of Slaughtergarde would be great for a new DM. The handouts and booklets are very helpful and cool IMO. --Charly
rhoxie 07-24-07, 11:19 AM	Scourge of the Howling Horde is a great 1st level adventure. I haven't DM'd in 10 years and never under 3.5 and I love the way it is written. It is very user friendly. The Barrow of the Forgotten King series is a nice follow up, but the adventures will need a lot of read through. There are a couple of confusing parts of the adventure that you may have to make up as you go. Rory
Qatharsis 07-24-07, 06:54 PM	Thanks for the feedback. Our current party got wiped tonight (mindflayer... grrr), so I will be the DM henceforth. I will likely hold a single demo-adventure in three weeks, and if all goes well, continue maybe up to level 5 or so. Red Hand of Doom: This looks like an awesome campaign, as its fanbase attests. However, I agree that it is likely too challenging for me, especially as I would have to know the greater picture even before I started the level 1 lead-in adventure, and as people describe it as tough for the players (I'd prefer not to kill PCs anytime soon). I'll keep this for later, and hope to be among the players rather than the DM when the time comes. :) Scourge of the Howling Horde: I've heard the BBEG is supposed to be disappointing, but I can always tweak him to make him a bit meaner. :devil: I could use this as the demo-adventure. Shattered Gates of Slaughtergard: I have to look this up, but levels 1-7 and DM-friendly sounds good to me. I will definitely change the name though. Slaughtergard is just goofy. EDIT: I just read this thread (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=753975), which suggests that the adventure plot is rather badly fleshed-out, and that it's mainly about locations. I'm fine with dungeon crawls, as I'm a rather bad dialogue improviser and social interactor, but I do want my players to have a reason to risk their lives rather than be railroaded down a dungeon. Barrow of the Forgotten King: Quickly checked the info on Amazon, looks nice, though only lasts a level or two if I've understood it correctly...
mearrin69 07-24-07, 07:28 PM	Yeah, SGoS is probably a good one for a complete virgin DM. I'm running this one now for one of my groups and it has been going pretty well. The general area and 'home base' of Sumberton could use a little bit more fleshing out, though, as could the motivations of some of the groups active in the area. So that might be a negative based on what you mentioned in your post. If you think you've got the rules down pretty well and can focus on story (and it sounds like you're an experienced player so this might be the case) at least take a look at Paizo's Shackled City. It's pretty decent and takes your characters all of the way through 20th. Good background on the region and home city, NPCs, etc. so it might meet your needs better in terms of having a lot of answers right at your fingertips. I'm not bashing SGoS, mind. It's a great adventure - you'll just have to do some background prep or else do a lot of thinking on your feet when players ask, "who do I talk to at the Scrivener's Guild if I want to sell this spellbook written abyssal?" It's what a DM does of course - but the less of it you have to do your first time out the better IMHO. M
Gerry 07-24-07, 07:39 PM	Red Hand of Doom: This looks like an awesome campaign, as its fanbase attests. ..... I'll keep this for later, and hope to be among the players rather than the DM when the time comes. :) Scourge of the Howling Horde: I've heard the BBEG is supposed to be disappointing, but I can always tweak him to make him a bit meaner. :devil: I could use this as the demo-adventure. Shattered Gates of Slaughtergard: I have to look this up, but levels 1-7 and DM-friendly sounds good to me. I will definitely change the name though. Slaughtergard is just goofy. RHoD IS a challenge, I was just thinking you might lead up to it and be ready for it by the time your players are 5th level. Playing in it would be good too. SotHH is a pretty good module for beginner DMs and PCs. It's got everything laid out for the DM. It's a bit linear, but hey. And uh, given that the BBEG was tackled and grappled by a gnome or halfling when I ran my son and his friends thru it, well yeah, "she" can be a bit disappointing. OTOH they had the help of some of the "enemy NPCs" due to good great role-playing, which gave them a surprise action. Overly generous? Perhaps, but rewarding 9-11 year old players with a GREAT take-down is worth it! SGoS - no experience with, but it's starting to sound really good. I'll have to pick it up! :) Gerry
Gerry 07-24-07, 07:43 PM	Qatharsis: I've noticed the lack of "Eberron/Faerun/Greyhawk/KenzerCo/etc" suggestions in all of the above responses. When you asked for "Campaign Book" were you thinking we'd be suggesting one of those? Or a good module, as per the kinds of suggestions you've gotten already? Gerry
Qatharsis 07-24-07, 08:33 PM	I wasn't looking for a whole campaign world (like Faerun and Greyhawk, in which I've played the last two campagns), but rather a coherent string of fleshed-out adventures -- preferably within those campaign worlds that I already know a bit. The suggestions I've gotten so far are exactly the type I meant.
Neutronium_Dragon 07-25-07, 04:52 AM	If you do decide to play in Eberron or the Forgotten Realms, the relevant campaign setting books each include an adventure or two for relatively low levels. The ECS one suggests 1st level characters, but I'd be more inclined to start them at 2nd, especially if everyone's new. The WotC website also has a good collection of short adventures which span the full level range. If you're looking for something that's relatively quick to play through, they might be worth a look: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/oa/20030530b
eamon 07-25-07, 10:05 AM	Having played the ECS introductory campaign as my first campgain as new DM, I can say that's it's very easy on the players, no need to put them any higher than first level. The flavor of Sharn is great, but it's not easy; there's so much going on in a city of that size, it's hard to get that across well when essentially all the interaction will need to be improvised. So it's a short but neat introduction to sharn, but isn't that easy to DM. And the follow up modules aren't that good I think, as they pretty much railroad the PC's. Eberron itself though, is a great Campaign Setting. I like it much more than Faerun (which I've previously played in as a player). The player's seem to like it too...
klagdon 07-25-07, 11:53 AM	Specific adventure modules aside, have you read through the DMG? Reading through that will give you a very strong sense of what you need to do as a DM. Heck, even the DMG2 would be a good idea. Using a premade module might be a bit overwhealming for you. A very linear hack and slash set of encounters that you created for the first night would not be a terrible way to star things off. It keeps it simple and lets you get into a bit of a groove as a DM. Let us know how it goes.
lyonv 07-25-07, 03:28 PM	Although it may seem a bit pricey, don't overlook the Shackled City Adventure Path hardback published by Paizo. It contains a complete campaign from 1st to 20th levels; its individual adventures are not difficult to manage and it has a level of built-in coherence that is second-to-none. You can also get back issues of Dungeon Magazine that contain either the Age of Worms Adventure Path or the currently running Savage Coast Adventure Path. Both of them take characters from 1st to 20th level using the same kind of high-caliber, coherent plot arc.
Qatharsis 07-25-07, 07:25 PM	Thanks for all the suggestions! I have indeed not read through the whole of the DMG yet; I will have to catch up on that. Using a premade module might be a bit overwhealming for you. A very linear hack and slash set of encounters that you created for the first night would not be a terrible way to star things off. I will be starting off with the Scourge of the Howling Horde, which is supposed to be very easy on virgin DMs. Then I'll continue with the Shattered Gates of Slaughtergarde, which is reputed to be very location-driven, which sounds like some rather linear, hack-and-slash dungeon crawling as you suggest. I don't feel up to making my own encounters just yet. Maybe sometime soon. I hear the SGoS could benefit from some linking fluff between the dungeons...
mearrin69 07-26-07, 12:31 AM	...SGoS could benefit from some linking fluff between the dungeons... It's actually not too bad in this regard though I have indeed tried to tie them together more - in my case with the drow who are stirring up trouble in the Valley of the Obelisks (and throughout the Prime the characters will learn eventually) leading up to the events of Expedition to the Demonweb Pits. SGoS starts at 1st, though, so depending on the level of your party after SotHH you might want to beef up the bad guys. 1st is such a tenuous level anyway and I had some near PKs with the Lab dungeon (hey, when you've got 6 hp there's just a bowshot between you and negative hp) but mostly the guys have had an easy time taking down the villains. Good luck with your campaign - I bet you'll love DMing! M
katakraos 07-26-07, 08:53 AM	Monte Cook's Ptolus is supposed to be an excellent campaign. I've been reading through Gary Gygax's Yggsburgh setting, and I have to recommend it. Although it's written for C&C, so much of it is flavor-based that it can be used with D&D just fine. Ptolus has earned its fame, I assure you...