Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Mykiel 11-01-05, 11:16 AM	Hello all, I will be running an Eberron Game as my first actual Campaign as a DM. I have a very good understanding of the rules, and background of the Main 3.5 material and all of the Eberron setting material. I am also using the published adventures to help me out. Does anyone have any other tips that can be useful? 3 out of the 4 players are new to DnD in general.
DarkWarriorKarg 11-01-05, 11:27 AM	1) Read the adventures carefully. There are certain "interesting" features in all of them that will leave you scratching your head. Such as: - They all assume a certain greed on the character's parts. "A guy you don't know hires you." doesn't work with all groups. - Beware the sound of the whistle. It means you've embarked on the adventure railroad. The modules assume certain things that may or may not be true, depending on the adventuring group. - The first module was created before the "no natural or conjuration(healing)" rule was put in place. It therefore assumes you can heal up. 2) Go to Burce R. Cordell's website & download the original shark encounter for the 3rd adventure. It is far better than what was published.
DM_Swan 11-01-05, 12:23 PM	Here are some things I try to do when DMing a new campaign: 1. Have a good collection of NPCs that can interact with the players throughout the campaign. Include inn keepers, bar tenders, city guard members, merchants, other adventurers, spies, etc. Of course, the PCs won't know the NPCs motives and the NPCs may be helpful, neutral, or oppose the PCs. Introuding NPCs that will be important in future adventures takes some planning, but makes the campaign very interesting. 2. Be flexible!!! NO adventure can take into account every possibility. Let the PCs decide what they will do. You can steer them a little, but don't force them step by step through the adventure. To be flexible, you need to understand your campaign setting well and you will have to invent some encounters and other situations on the fly. The more you DM and understand your world, the more you will be able to create new material from the seat of your pants. 3. Don't be afraid to kill a character. The sense of danger keeps the PCs on edge and makes the adventure more exciting. 4. Be fair. The PCs actions should dictate what happens. Don't play favorites, even if you like or dislike the player who is playing the PC. 5. HAVE FUN! No matter what campaign or adventure you are doing, the goal is to have fun. Know the rules and your campaign setting the best you can, but don't let all the rules be an obstacle to having fun. After 20+ years of playing and DMing, I am still having fun!
garner_adam 11-01-05, 12:58 PM	Tip #1 Either make or find a small adventure that'll end with a lot of loose ends. If the players are interested in these loose ends you'll be able to drive an entire campaign off of your first adventure! Example: As the party is clearing out Noldrunthrone they come upon an entire entourage of dead gnolls who have markings as ambassadors of Drooam. Tip #2 Eberron can be a very difficult place to grasp, especially if you're new. You might want the characters to be from or in an isolated region. For example they could be from Stormreach and that would really curb how much the characters know about Khorvaire. Which would make it a lot easier on you. =)
Lurkalot 11-01-05, 01:25 PM	Don't be afraid to role-play. Believe it or not, your players will take their cues on how to game from you. Voices, expressions, location descriptions - get into the setting. It's easier to start high and tone it down than to start low and try and build it up. If you have the PCs characters enough in advance of the game, try out some actual combats if you're new to D&D, or if you've got a good feel for the system already, just run them through in your head. But make sure you have an idea of how to pitch the challenges. You wouldn't want a Total Party Kill in your first game. Organize. As much as you can. Have a pad set out with the NPC and monster's hitpoints and space for some notes, have the maps set out ready and stickies on the pages in the books for any monsters, spells, rules that you know are coming. If you're new to D&D, perhaps a crib sheet of basic or advanced rules stuck to the inside of your screen. Set up a couple of detailed encounters / micro-adventures. If your game goes utterly off the rails (which it can) you can stall for time or change direction with these. E.g. draw out a fallen temple and stat up some skeleton warriors to haunt / protect it. Should take half an hour / hour to sketch it out, the surrounding woods / hills and stash some treasure or scrolls in there. Then when your PCs go screaming off into the countryside ignoring your plot hooks completely, you have something to drop in front of them while you work out what the Hell to do. You don't even have to map things out - a skillfull thief that steals something precious from the PCs and legs it, can provide for an interesting hour or two gaming. There's plenty of things you can do, and having something like this in the bag for emergencies can help you stay on top of things. Oh yeah - have fun and welcome to the club, :tiphat:
Chiyo 11-01-05, 02:28 PM	In my experience having gone thru the 3 modules as player, I found them to be somewhat on the difficult side if the players aren't ready, attentive and somewhat optimized. The fight with the vampire in the 2nd module can be very tough depending on party composition and readiness to handle that type of opponent. For our group of 5 players, it was relatively easy but I heard TPK stories. Same with dire shark encounter. That one usually won't go without casualties especially with underwater combat involved. As suggested above, check out the original encounter and use that one for a more sane challenge for the players. So especially if you're heading in with 3 players, tag them a NPC to fill gaps or seriously reduce difficult of some of the key encounters. Otherwise, you'll probably have to fudge rolls a LOT if you want them to live thru them.
Mykiel 11-01-05, 04:04 PM	Thank you everyone for your tips and hints.
PoeticJustice 11-01-05, 05:54 PM	I would run the Forgotten Forge. It's an excellent module in its own right and a great way for players to get a grip on Eberron.
sagesai 11-01-05, 06:16 PM	When you get out of published adventures and you start to design your own campaigns and adventures don't plan every little detail, because your players WILL do something you did not plan for and it may destroy your whole campaign idea. Also I find that only writing down a few key events that must happen during the campaign gives your players some freedom of choice and helps to keep your storyline moving forward and intact. Hope this helps. Later, Sagesai
Mykiel 11-02-05, 07:36 AM	Well to add to it for advice. I figure using the Standard point buy method is what I am going to use, and at the moment no prestige classes in the future. any other ideas and help
DM_Swan 11-02-05, 11:27 AM	I figure using the Standard point buy method is what I am going to use One method (not in the books) that I like to use for rolling up new characters is as follows: 1. Make a table for 8 characters with a blank space for each ability (Str, Dex, etc) 2. Roll 3d6 + 1d4 (in order) for each ability 3. Roll % for gender (75% male, 25% female) 4. Roll % for race (use whatever % breakdown you want) Have the player then select their top 2 characters to develop. Discard the other 6 characters. This method gives the player a chance for some high scores, but also has a chance for low scores. It also gives the player some flexibility with their characters, but it is still very random. The reason I have them pick 2 characters instead of 1, is just in case they die, they have a backup.
Munz 11-02-05, 11:51 AM	I have run the published Eberron adventures for my players and have started the player in Sharn. Here's some tips... Don't feel compelled to have your players run ALL OVER SHARN. It's a big place and they should get to know a certain district or two first in order to have a comfortable place to feel they can call home in between adventures. Plan for a few random encounters while walking the streets of Sharn. I didn't do this myself at the time, and I feel it could have really added an element about the district the players were in if I would have just taken the time to have done that. If you have the time to put into it like I did when I ran the adventures, you might consider taking notes in outline form as to when events happen in the order they do. Then just take some further notes of those events regarding what rules you will need at that time. For some you may need to know DCs set to fight riding along a quick pace on horseback, or you may need to know the rules for fighting underwater and what penalties pose for what type of weapons. Having these notes at a glance can REALLY help move along the game and save you from a lot of nervous glances and poor judgement calls that, as I have found, can bite you in the end. Personally, I have found keeping 4 notebooks handy at a glance helps. One for logging the events of the (in-game) day and experience on a (in game) day by day basis helps. This way everyone gets experience after they rest and nobody risks playing through an evening as a 2nd level character when they should have leveled at some point during the evening. Another notebook I keep open for NPCs or Shops I intend to be using over and over. Of course I have my notebook for notes on the adventure at hand, and then a fourth one for any other information that I want to have out and at the ready (shops, inn/tavern prices, etc.). You'll quickly find out what works for you. Yes, you will need to plan for the unexpected from your players; but I have found personally that the more prepared and organized you are the easier and more fun you have running the game each time. Hope this helps.
Jonathan Drain 11-02-05, 01:46 PM	My advice? Don't let them steal an airship.
EarthDragon 11-02-05, 02:05 PM	If you and your players are truely really new to dnd than the combat system might be a bit much in one go. It is a bit cheesy but have a loud and obnouxsouis NPC start a bar fight with another NPC. Of coarse it should obviously be an unfair fight. Most likely they will help the under-dog. Make sure there is a reason WHY this fight started. Maybe the underdog owned someone money or is actual a known pick-pocket or unliked womanizer. As unliked by other males. The purpose of the bar-brawl is to learn how attack rolls and damage is resolved. And read the rules on subdual damage. second purpose: it is totaly wrong to draw a sword or dagger or use lethal spells in a minor bar-brawl. All one is risking is bruces not epic death strugles. Make sure they pick the hint up that they should not start the blood letting. After wards the local sherrif can clean up the mess. Maybe they are smart enough to leave via the back door like the rest of the patronage. Otherwise the can practise their fast talking an social skills to explain why all the commonors have fled in panic for the vicious PC. Bar-brawl can be realy fun in dnd. And cheesy.
Mykiel 11-02-05, 05:53 PM	If you and your players are truely really new to dnd than the combat system might be a bit much in one go. It is a bit cheesy but have a loud and obnouxsouis NPC start a bar fight with another NPC. Of coarse it should obviously be an unfair fight. Most likely they will help the under-dog. Make sure there is a reason WHY this fight started. Maybe the underdog owned someone money or is actual a known pick-pocket or unliked womanizer. As unliked by other males. The purpose of the bar-brawl is to learn how attack rolls and damage is resolved. And read the rules on subdual damage. second purpose: it is totaly wrong to draw a sword or dagger or use lethal spells in a minor bar-brawl. All one is risking is bruces not epic death strugles. Make sure they pick the hint up that they should not start the blood letting. After wards the local sherrif can clean up the mess. Maybe they are smart enough to leave via the back door like the rest of the patronage. Otherwise the can practise their fast talking an social skills to explain why all the commonors have fled in panic for the vicious PC. Bar-brawl can be realy fun in dnd. And cheesy. I myself am not new, been playing for about 15 years now, but it will be the first time I DM especially since I just started the Eberron collection about 3 months ago.
Arcane Guyver 11-03-05, 04:56 PM	Some really good tips so far. Here are some of my own: * Roll everything in front of the players. That means no die-fudging. My group enjoys the game much more that they know I'm not "going easy on them" or "going out of my way to kill them." * Use the RPGA method for hit point generation: max HP at first level (obviously), then half HD +1 every level thereafter. For Eberron, give NPCs a flat half HD, even for first level. * Min/max the crap out of NPCs with NPC classes. Nothin' says lovin' like the group having trouble with a very well-prepared bunch of experts and warriors. I recommend reading both Dungeon and Dragon magazines. Dragon has some nice articles that flesh out Eberron every once in awhile, and it's always nice to have a stack of Dungeon magazines to plunder for ideas. The 'Dungeoncraft' column in Dungeon has some extremely good tips as well. Also, the DMG2 is an excellent resource for newer DMs (from my experience, anyways). Oh, and cheers for actually using the Standard Point Buy and the strict stance on prestige classes. The ones in the DMG and XPH are easily handled, but things can get out of control if you let the players run rampant.
Rasstir 11-03-05, 06:48 PM	hmmm we went through the forgotten forge, just finished grasp of the emerald claw (good stuff), we were almost level 8 at the end, there are 7 of us, we had to do a 1 off to level up. I found it too easy, the fight with the vampire in WotVB resulted in only 2 people being drained.