Call to the DMs [Archive] - Wizards Community

Call to the DMs [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Zeddicus_Ralh
07-12-03, 07:08 PM okay, heres the deal, i have been playin D&D for a while now and i think its time i start my own campaign. only prob is that i dont have nany idea of how to do it, how to set it up, or any thing like that. this is a call to the veterans to help out an idiot of minimal intelligence. any help or tips would be grately appreciated. even any campaign ideas would be awesome. so please help, and i am asking TEpist and Desies not to check this thread cuz it would be pointless if i got sumthin started in here and they knew what was going on.

Thanks
TempistRane
07-12-03, 08:24 PM Well befor anyone says anythiong talk to me and Des like monday or somthing and i think we both could help and hell even James could help
Cthulhu
07-12-03, 08:26 PM Start slow.

Pick an area of the Realms you would like to run a game in. Familiarize yourself with it in general (just reading the section in the FRCS is sufficient). I would recommend you start you party in a small town on the frontier, with lots of potential enemies and places to explore. The Savage Frontier is a good place.

Than find a scenario you would like to run. I would recommend any of those small booklet adventures by AEG. Small and takes a couple of hours to play. Or if you want a meatier module try something from WotC. But avoid those big campaign modules for now.

Your adventurers set up in this frontier town and the locals request there help in dealing with the local threats (a band of goblins, a old wizards tower thats getting wierd, whatever). The adventures initially don't have to be connected in anyway. But keep track of your NPCs after each scenario and see if you can work them into later ones. Old enemies who survive one encounter with the party make wonderful reoccuring foes for you group. Players love to hate old enemies they can't seem to get rid of. Just don't overdo it! Players also love to kill enemies one in a while too!

After you run a couple of adventures a campaign might start to suggest itself to you depending on what the party wants to do and how previous adventures went. By now you would have a good handle on how your players work, what they like, and what YOU like.

One campaign I ran involved a Guild that specialized in recovering lost (or stolen) objects and people. The Guild contracted various missions out to the party and they would then do them. Very Indiana Jones, or James Bond depending on the scenario. One mission involved recovering a magic heirloom from a retired adventurer who refused to give it to the heirs (his companion died on an adventure and he got the sword...hes had it for years so considered it his). Another a woman who had been enslaved and sent half way around the world. Another recovering a magical orb from a buyer who welched on his payment. I made sure each retrieval was different and interesting so as not to repeat the same story. I also intermixed other types of adventures to keep it spiced up.

Best of luck with your game!:)
thalious
07-12-03, 09:06 PM First thing to do is draw up the Map of the Game World that you plan to run for the players. Next, draw up the nations, towns, landscape, and other notable features. Once you have done that, fill up your towns, nations etc with people, creatures, background and adventure ideas.
Faeryl Zauvirr
07-13-03, 01:11 AM Drawing maps of the local area gives you a greater appreciation and understanding then studing could ever do. If I have alot of time, I go ahead and adjust or make the adventure then detail the entire area before playing. If I don't have enough time, a piece of paper with ten random names, my adventure, and a few other notes (time of day, party marching order, past actions) is all.
Zeddicus_Ralh
07-13-03, 01:13 AM sweet, this is great stuff. i especialy like that guild idea.also, i plan to make the group all dwarves, that way i can live out my fantasy(an all dwarf group), even if i cant play in it.
thanks for the advise, and keep it coming! lord knows i need the help!

P.S. i all call ya Monday Temp and talk to ya, then cal Des and maybe run over to James'. Thanx
TempistRane
07-13-03, 03:31 AM Well we are haveing a campain on monday so see if you can come. But if you have to work its all good
Qevelias
07-13-03, 05:20 AM Start out with an idea for a mission , look at what your players want to play , check if these characters would mess with your adventure ( perhaps they'll even mess so well that you'll be able to make side-quests based on them ) . With this at hand look where your adventure can be best played. Read up on the section and perhaps region and fill out the blanks. Now you'll have an adventure where you can build from , set the DC's and all the other 'small' stuff like treasures and villains and you're good to go. After playing this adventure ( it doesn't have to be big ) You'll have some experiance as a DM and you know what your players like and dislike. Perhaps your adventure was so good it gave you many ideas to continue the ongoing quest. Or you might have learned from your first adventure and build on the mistakes you've made to become a great DM.

keap in mind though a DM always makes mistakes , but in the end is always right as well ! For the players there will always be ups and downs , don't let that stop you. The world needs more DM-s:D
Zeddicus_Ralh
07-13-03, 06:31 PM i love advice, aspeccially all this good advise i never thought of. i cant make it monday, wrk:(, i was hopin maybe thyrs throug sat, cuz those r my days off, make it happen Temp, i need my daily dose of D&D(wow, that was a lot of D's)
Reefy
07-13-03, 07:10 PM Start small, plan well but expect your PCs to do something unexpected, play to your PCs likes and make them the stars.
I find it useful to have a few lists of random things I can generate easily like names for random NPCs and encounters and the like. Anything that makes it more realistic is a good thing.
kidjay76
07-14-03, 02:54 PM Everyone else has already offered great practical advice. My advice is going to be more general and gaming-oriented.

1. Work very hard at the beginning to establish a feeling of verisimilitude in your world. Flesh out the details. Try to create NPCs with marked behavioural characteristics, not just Jorgan, the 1st-level cleric. Make your little patch of turf in the campaign world real and eventually your players will respond.

2. Don't lead the PCs by the nose. After DMing the same Realms campaign now for over a year, I've learned that PCs will always do things you don't expect, and take your adventure in different directions. Don't be afraid to roll with it and change things on the fly.

3. Lie if necessary. Fudge rolls if necessary. Manipulate the world if necessary. But never, ever tell the PCs when you're doing so. While you don't want the PCs to die from bad dice rolls during a random encounter with orcs, you also don't want them to feel like you'll never let them die. Taking each combat sequence to the bone and making it feel like a life-and-death struggle is not only exciting, it will inform how the PCs approach further dangers ("um, we almost got killed from these ogres and we haven't even entered the Dark Woods of Unspeakable Evil yet; maybe we should send the thief ahead to scout.").

4. Before each session, generate a random list of 10-20 names which you can assign to NPCs on the fly. Trust me, this is very important. Inevitably, the PCs will want to question someone in town for whom you don't have a background, a profession or even a name. The name sheet is a handy tool.

5. Reward your players for a session of hard work and good roleplaying. After the heroes fight their way to the heart of the labyrinth in search of the Lost Shoehorn of the Gods, don't have Gargauth, the Guardian of Shoes, come in at the last minute, snatch the shoehorn and leave. Always give the PCs a fighting chance to change the course of events in any module. Maybe Gargauth will only come at midnight, so if the PCs are smart and get to the labyrinth quickly, they can get to the shoehorn first. Maybe they can make a deal with Gargauth in exchange for getting the shoehorn. Maybe they can learn of Gargauth through talking to an old NPC sage beforehand, and then plan accordingly. The point is, let them try. If the PCs start to feel like they're just walking through a carefully-prepared movie script you've written, they'll get bored and stop roleplaying well, and you don't want that.

6. PREPARE. Prepare, prepare, and then prepare again. Nothing is worse than realizing you haven't actually thought about what lies beyond the lonely Hills of Angmar and the PCs want to go exploring there. Make detailed maps and keys of the adventure region, and sketch out rough ideas for areas it's unlikely the PCs will visit. But be ready for them to do anything, and try anything.

7. Lastly, don't worry about making mistakes. You'll make plenty of them. As long as you learn from them and keep the players happy, it's all good.
Zeddicus_Ralh
07-14-03, 05:46 PM it is definitly safe to say that kidjay is the man and knows his ****. Kudos to kidjay, the epic level advice giver of Questionhelpergodguy!

thanx pally, preciate it!
Desies
07-16-03, 04:54 PM unfortuantely Zed we played mon-wed and I have to work Fri and Sat. I think that the chances of just playing on Thurs is unlikely because we just played for three days straight. Sorry!
Zeddicus_Ralh
07-16-03, 05:39 PM *cries*
Desies
07-16-03, 06:33 PM however I have sun-tues(at least) off. Maybe we can work something out. Also if you can find out what days you work like a week in advance I can try to get those days off so we can play!
Azzadar
07-16-03, 06:56 PM The one thing I learned about running a campaign is make sure your NPC's live and grow persistantly. If the PC's decide not to stop a group of orc scouts. Have them catch word of a village orc raiders burned down. Give everyone they meet a secret or something interesting in their life.

Also, build adventures where the PC's react to what you are doing and not the other way around.
Zeddicus_Ralh
07-20-03, 05:27 PM right now i have sat and sun off, but next week i have tues off and either mon or wends, i dont know which. so see what u can do, my scedual isnt in my hands though...srry!
Reefy
07-20-03, 06:11 PM Here's a good piece of advice that Mirtek posted in another thread but I thought it might be of some use to you:

Personally i think a PC should never die because of unlucky dice rolls or because the DM made an error and gave them a too difficult encounter. But if a PC decides to deliberately do something really stupid (like search and challenge an enemy he should know was to strong for him), then he shouldn't expect any help from the DM.
Desies
07-22-03, 06:42 PM Reefy, I'm a player not a DM and even I find that absurd. Now to a point yes, If the DM forces a fight on you in which you can't win and that is obvious then you shouldn't all die (maybe one or two). But if the DC to make the jump over the pit of lava is 20 and you get a 13 your dead...that sucks roll up a new character!
kidjay76
07-22-03, 07:15 PM Originally posted by Desies
Reefy, I'm a player not a DM and even I find that absurd. Now to a point yes, If the DM forces a fight on you in which you can't win and that is obvious then you shouldn't all die (maybe one or two). But if the DC to make the jump over the pit of lava is 20 and you get a 13 your dead...that sucks roll up a new character!

I can see both his point of view and yours.

Here's my take on the possibility of PCs dying:

A PC should *never* die due to:

1. A poorly planned adventure that's too difficult. If your PCs are in critical danger at every point, and not doing well in combat at all, your adventure is too tough. Scale it back on the fly, fudge some enemy dice rolls or make the monsters weaker/already wounded.

2. The DM's vindictiveness. This goes without saying. Don't punish a player because he mouthed off to you earlier, or for something he did in real life earlier on in the day.

3. In an encounter than has no meaning (e.g. the heroes never get to fight the main villain because their lead fighter dies fighting random orc bandits on the way to confronting him). It's okay to let the orc bandits get in a big critical hit that severely wounds a PC -- showing how random and unpredictable combat can be -- but death is unacceptable.

4. The PCs not knowing the difficulty of task that lies ahead. Using your example of the lava, the DM should inform the PCs that the jump will be very difficult, and that failure to make the jump would in all likelihood kill them. Don't tell them the DC, just the level of difficulty in flavour terms, which is something they should know, because the characters should be able to estimate how hard the jump would be with their own eyes.

On the other hand, you *can* make a potential case for leaving a PC to his unfortunate fate if:

1. The PC hasn't planned properly, is a lazy roleplayer, or is metagaming on the assumption that the DM won't let him die.

2. The encounter is an epic climax, where the death of a PC is less a punishment than a neat, compelling bit of story dénouement that adds to the atmosphere. Mugash, the evil warlord, deals a savage death blow to the heroic PC fighter Volo, who drops to the ground, stone dead. The remaining heroes are spurred by Volo's death to fight with increased fury (you could even grant all the PCs a temporary +1 bonus to all attack rolls to simulate their renewed energy). When all's said and done, the encounter will feel twice as significant because of what it cost (the life of a PC); it will actually provide a touchstone for future adventures ("Hey, Volo, remember that time you died fighting that warlord?"); and hey, there's always the Raise Dead spell.

Cheers
Garnet Hardeon
07-22-03, 07:24 PM Planning is key to good DMing. Lots of it. Lots and lots and lots of it. Good DMs often know exactly what their players are like, and try to incorporate the strengths and weaknesses of their players into campaigns.

So, you might have to practice a little psychology to let campaigns fit players.

One thing I had a problem starting out as a DM was that I hated killing characters, especially the wellplayed ones. I only got past that when 1.) Resurrecting a fellow player became another quest for the player characters and 2.) resurrection became a good way to relieve players of their money, preventing them from becoming wealthy prima donnas.

Above all, don't be afraid to make mistakes BUT never show you made them. :)
Tahl-Ali
07-22-03, 08:45 PM I'm DMing my first game as well, i've run games before but they've been completely different products. For my DMing I actually designed my own world; partially because i'd been dreaming it up for about two years, but also because both of my players know WAY more about the realms then I do.
The best peice of advice I can give is be prepared and start small. Start the PC's at first level and only throw out low level encouters until you really get the hang of what they can and cannot take. Be careful what you give them for rewards. And have a backup plan if they get into trouble.
Unless you want to kill them that is.
In my game I made an NPC part of the group that in truth is much more powerful then they are. However, my NPC DOES NOT dictate what happens, he doesn't control the game and he definitely doesn't lead them around and make them unable to make their own choices. I HATE those kinds of NPC's. My NPC actually follows the party around and doesn't try to lead, works out pretty well.
Oh, and don't forget back story, back stories are really important, give things depth...
TempistRane
07-24-03, 09:37 PM See i dont kill PC's for nothing. My pC's die do to fighting, and exploring and bad rolls which is funny. But if they are ******* me off i will f with there character like tuern them into a rat for 2 quest and the others have to find the ceur if they want
TempistRane
07-24-03, 09:37 PM See i dont kill PC's for nothing. My pC's die do to fighting, and exploring and bad rolls which is funny. But if they are ******* me off i will f with there character like tuern them into a rat for 2 quest and the others have to find the ceur if they want
TempistRane
07-24-03, 09:37 PM See i dont kill PC's for nothing. My pC's die do to fighting, and exploring and bad rolls which is funny. But if they are ******* me off i will f with there character like tuern them into a rat for 2 quest and the others have to find the ceur if they want
TempistRane
07-25-03, 12:14 AM Well Zed i got my character for your campain.
a Shield Dwarf Bard cuz they kick ass
VengefulGazeofGod
07-25-03, 03:08 AM Hey, that's a triple post!

Everyone has said all the good stuff already.

Where do you guys work? You get way to many days off. A few months back, during the Iraqi war, I was pullin' about 18/7, and I don't get over time, only hazard pay.

Hey, Zed using the little '***'s is techniquiely against the CoC, just thought you should know!
;)
Crust
07-25-03, 01:41 PM I would start with some pre-made modules. When I started DMing FR, I read about 20 novels first, then I started with the Twisted Tower module in the old gray box. It was easy fashioning a campaign around that once I began Night Below. From there, we've been adventuring in the Dales for almost 5 years, and I have so many maps and pages of my own modules and NPCs that I could create my own Night Below.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Zeddicus_Ralh 07-12-03, 07:08 PM	okay, heres the deal, i have been playin D&D for a while now and i think its time i start my own campaign. only prob is that i dont have nany idea of how to do it, how to set it up, or any thing like that. this is a call to the veterans to help out an idiot of minimal intelligence. any help or tips would be grately appreciated. even any campaign ideas would be awesome. so please help, and i am asking TEpist and Desies not to check this thread cuz it would be pointless if i got sumthin started in here and they knew what was going on. Thanks
TempistRane 07-12-03, 08:24 PM	Well befor anyone says anythiong talk to me and Des like monday or somthing and i think we both could help and hell even James could help
Cthulhu 07-12-03, 08:26 PM	Start slow. Pick an area of the Realms you would like to run a game in. Familiarize yourself with it in general (just reading the section in the FRCS is sufficient). I would recommend you start you party in a small town on the frontier, with lots of potential enemies and places to explore. The Savage Frontier is a good place. Than find a scenario you would like to run. I would recommend any of those small booklet adventures by AEG. Small and takes a couple of hours to play. Or if you want a meatier module try something from WotC. But avoid those big campaign modules for now. Your adventurers set up in this frontier town and the locals request there help in dealing with the local threats (a band of goblins, a old wizards tower thats getting wierd, whatever). The adventures initially don't have to be connected in anyway. But keep track of your NPCs after each scenario and see if you can work them into later ones. Old enemies who survive one encounter with the party make wonderful reoccuring foes for you group. Players love to hate old enemies they can't seem to get rid of. Just don't overdo it! Players also love to kill enemies one in a while too! After you run a couple of adventures a campaign might start to suggest itself to you depending on what the party wants to do and how previous adventures went. By now you would have a good handle on how your players work, what they like, and what YOU like. One campaign I ran involved a Guild that specialized in recovering lost (or stolen) objects and people. The Guild contracted various missions out to the party and they would then do them. Very Indiana Jones, or James Bond depending on the scenario. One mission involved recovering a magic heirloom from a retired adventurer who refused to give it to the heirs (his companion died on an adventure and he got the sword...hes had it for years so considered it his). Another a woman who had been enslaved and sent half way around the world. Another recovering a magical orb from a buyer who welched on his payment. I made sure each retrieval was different and interesting so as not to repeat the same story. I also intermixed other types of adventures to keep it spiced up. Best of luck with your game!:)
thalious 07-12-03, 09:06 PM	First thing to do is draw up the Map of the Game World that you plan to run for the players. Next, draw up the nations, towns, landscape, and other notable features. Once you have done that, fill up your towns, nations etc with people, creatures, background and adventure ideas.
Faeryl Zauvirr 07-13-03, 01:11 AM	Drawing maps of the local area gives you a greater appreciation and understanding then studing could ever do. If I have alot of time, I go ahead and adjust or make the adventure then detail the entire area before playing. If I don't have enough time, a piece of paper with ten random names, my adventure, and a few other notes (time of day, party marching order, past actions) is all.
Zeddicus_Ralh 07-13-03, 01:13 AM	sweet, this is great stuff. i especialy like that guild idea.also, i plan to make the group all dwarves, that way i can live out my fantasy(an all dwarf group), even if i cant play in it. thanks for the advise, and keep it coming! lord knows i need the help! P.S. i all call ya Monday Temp and talk to ya, then cal Des and maybe run over to James'. Thanx
TempistRane 07-13-03, 03:31 AM	Well we are haveing a campain on monday so see if you can come. But if you have to work its all good
Qevelias 07-13-03, 05:20 AM	Start out with an idea for a mission , look at what your players want to play , check if these characters would mess with your adventure ( perhaps they'll even mess so well that you'll be able to make side-quests based on them ) . With this at hand look where your adventure can be best played. Read up on the section and perhaps region and fill out the blanks. Now you'll have an adventure where you can build from , set the DC's and all the other 'small' stuff like treasures and villains and you're good to go. After playing this adventure ( it doesn't have to be big ) You'll have some experiance as a DM and you know what your players like and dislike. Perhaps your adventure was so good it gave you many ideas to continue the ongoing quest. Or you might have learned from your first adventure and build on the mistakes you've made to become a great DM. keap in mind though a DM always makes mistakes , but in the end is always right as well ! For the players there will always be ups and downs , don't let that stop you. The world needs more DM-s:D
Zeddicus_Ralh 07-13-03, 06:31 PM	i love advice, aspeccially all this good advise i never thought of. i cant make it monday, wrk:(, i was hopin maybe thyrs throug sat, cuz those r my days off, make it happen Temp, i need my daily dose of D&D(wow, that was a lot of D's)
Reefy 07-13-03, 07:10 PM	Start small, plan well but expect your PCs to do something unexpected, play to your PCs likes and make them the stars. I find it useful to have a few lists of random things I can generate easily like names for random NPCs and encounters and the like. Anything that makes it more realistic is a good thing.
kidjay76 07-14-03, 02:54 PM	Everyone else has already offered great practical advice. My advice is going to be more general and gaming-oriented. 1. Work very hard at the beginning to establish a feeling of verisimilitude in your world. Flesh out the details. Try to create NPCs with marked behavioural characteristics, not just Jorgan, the 1st-level cleric. Make your little patch of turf in the campaign world real and eventually your players will respond. 2. Don't lead the PCs by the nose. After DMing the same Realms campaign now for over a year, I've learned that PCs will always do things you don't expect, and take your adventure in different directions. Don't be afraid to roll with it and change things on the fly. 3. Lie if necessary. Fudge rolls if necessary. Manipulate the world if necessary. But never, ever tell the PCs when you're doing so. While you don't want the PCs to die from bad dice rolls during a random encounter with orcs, you also don't want them to feel like you'll never let them die. Taking each combat sequence to the bone and making it feel like a life-and-death struggle is not only exciting, it will inform how the PCs approach further dangers ("um, we almost got killed from these ogres and we haven't even entered the Dark Woods of Unspeakable Evil yet; maybe we should send the thief ahead to scout."). 4. Before each session, generate a random list of 10-20 names which you can assign to NPCs on the fly. Trust me, this is very important. Inevitably, the PCs will want to question someone in town for whom you don't have a background, a profession or even a name. The name sheet is a handy tool. 5. Reward your players for a session of hard work and good roleplaying. After the heroes fight their way to the heart of the labyrinth in search of the Lost Shoehorn of the Gods, don't have Gargauth, the Guardian of Shoes, come in at the last minute, snatch the shoehorn and leave. Always give the PCs a fighting chance to change the course of events in any module. Maybe Gargauth will only come at midnight, so if the PCs are smart and get to the labyrinth quickly, they can get to the shoehorn first. Maybe they can make a deal with Gargauth in exchange for getting the shoehorn. Maybe they can learn of Gargauth through talking to an old NPC sage beforehand, and then plan accordingly. The point is, let them try. If the PCs start to feel like they're just walking through a carefully-prepared movie script you've written, they'll get bored and stop roleplaying well, and you don't want that. 6. PREPARE. Prepare, prepare, and then prepare again. Nothing is worse than realizing you haven't actually thought about what lies beyond the lonely Hills of Angmar and the PCs want to go exploring there. Make detailed maps and keys of the adventure region, and sketch out rough ideas for areas it's unlikely the PCs will visit. But be ready for them to do anything, and try anything. 7. Lastly, don't worry about making mistakes. You'll make plenty of them. As long as you learn from them and keep the players happy, it's all good.
Zeddicus_Ralh 07-14-03, 05:46 PM	it is definitly safe to say that kidjay is the man and knows his ****. Kudos to kidjay, the epic level advice giver of Questionhelpergodguy! thanx pally, preciate it!
Desies 07-16-03, 04:54 PM	unfortuantely Zed we played mon-wed and I have to work Fri and Sat. I think that the chances of just playing on Thurs is unlikely because we just played for three days straight. Sorry!
Zeddicus_Ralh 07-16-03, 05:39 PM	cries
Desies 07-16-03, 06:33 PM	however I have sun-tues(at least) off. Maybe we can work something out. Also if you can find out what days you work like a week in advance I can try to get those days off so we can play!
Azzadar 07-16-03, 06:56 PM	The one thing I learned about running a campaign is make sure your NPC's live and grow persistantly. If the PC's decide not to stop a group of orc scouts. Have them catch word of a village orc raiders burned down. Give everyone they meet a secret or something interesting in their life. Also, build adventures where the PC's react to what you are doing and not the other way around.
Zeddicus_Ralh 07-20-03, 05:27 PM	right now i have sat and sun off, but next week i have tues off and either mon or wends, i dont know which. so see what u can do, my scedual isnt in my hands though...srry!
Reefy 07-20-03, 06:11 PM	Here's a good piece of advice that Mirtek posted in another thread but I thought it might be of some use to you: Personally i think a PC should never die because of unlucky dice rolls or because the DM made an error and gave them a too difficult encounter. But if a PC decides to deliberately do something really stupid (like search and challenge an enemy he should know was to strong for him), then he shouldn't expect any help from the DM.
Desies 07-22-03, 06:42 PM	Reefy, I'm a player not a DM and even I find that absurd. Now to a point yes, If the DM forces a fight on you in which you can't win and that is obvious then you shouldn't all die (maybe one or two). But if the DC to make the jump over the pit of lava is 20 and you get a 13 your dead...that sucks roll up a new character!
kidjay76 07-22-03, 07:15 PM	Originally posted by Desies Reefy, I'm a player not a DM and even I find that absurd. Now to a point yes, If the DM forces a fight on you in which you can't win and that is obvious then you shouldn't all die (maybe one or two). But if the DC to make the jump over the pit of lava is 20 and you get a 13 your dead...that sucks roll up a new character! I can see both his point of view and yours. Here's my take on the possibility of PCs dying: A PC should never die due to: 1. A poorly planned adventure that's too difficult. If your PCs are in critical danger at every point, and not doing well in combat at all, your adventure is too tough. Scale it back on the fly, fudge some enemy dice rolls or make the monsters weaker/already wounded. 2. The DM's vindictiveness. This goes without saying. Don't punish a player because he mouthed off to you earlier, or for something he did in real life earlier on in the day. 3. In an encounter than has no meaning (e.g. the heroes never get to fight the main villain because their lead fighter dies fighting random orc bandits on the way to confronting him). It's okay to let the orc bandits get in a big critical hit that severely wounds a PC -- showing how random and unpredictable combat can be -- but death is unacceptable. 4. The PCs not knowing the difficulty of task that lies ahead. Using your example of the lava, the DM should inform the PCs that the jump will be very difficult, and that failure to make the jump would in all likelihood kill them. Don't tell them the DC, just the level of difficulty in flavour terms, which is something they should know, because the characters should be able to estimate how hard the jump would be with their own eyes. On the other hand, you can make a potential case for leaving a PC to his unfortunate fate if: 1. The PC hasn't planned properly, is a lazy roleplayer, or is metagaming on the assumption that the DM won't let him die. 2. The encounter is an epic climax, where the death of a PC is less a punishment than a neat, compelling bit of story dénouement that adds to the atmosphere. Mugash, the evil warlord, deals a savage death blow to the heroic PC fighter Volo, who drops to the ground, stone dead. The remaining heroes are spurred by Volo's death to fight with increased fury (you could even grant all the PCs a temporary +1 bonus to all attack rolls to simulate their renewed energy). When all's said and done, the encounter will feel twice as significant because of what it cost (the life of a PC); it will actually provide a touchstone for future adventures ("Hey, Volo, remember that time you died fighting that warlord?"); and hey, there's always the Raise Dead spell. Cheers
Garnet Hardeon 07-22-03, 07:24 PM	Planning is key to good DMing. Lots of it. Lots and lots and lots of it. Good DMs often know exactly what their players are like, and try to incorporate the strengths and weaknesses of their players into campaigns. So, you might have to practice a little psychology to let campaigns fit players. One thing I had a problem starting out as a DM was that I hated killing characters, especially the wellplayed ones. I only got past that when 1.) Resurrecting a fellow player became another quest for the player characters and 2.) resurrection became a good way to relieve players of their money, preventing them from becoming wealthy prima donnas. Above all, don't be afraid to make mistakes BUT never show you made them. :)
Tahl-Ali 07-22-03, 08:45 PM	I'm DMing my first game as well, i've run games before but they've been completely different products. For my DMing I actually designed my own world; partially because i'd been dreaming it up for about two years, but also because both of my players know WAY more about the realms then I do. The best peice of advice I can give is be prepared and start small. Start the PC's at first level and only throw out low level encouters until you really get the hang of what they can and cannot take. Be careful what you give them for rewards. And have a backup plan if they get into trouble. Unless you want to kill them that is. In my game I made an NPC part of the group that in truth is much more powerful then they are. However, my NPC DOES NOT dictate what happens, he doesn't control the game and he definitely doesn't lead them around and make them unable to make their own choices. I HATE those kinds of NPC's. My NPC actually follows the party around and doesn't try to lead, works out pretty well. Oh, and don't forget back story, back stories are really important, give things depth...
TempistRane 07-24-03, 09:37 PM	See i dont kill PC's for nothing. My pC's die do to fighting, and exploring and bad rolls which is funny. But if they are ******* me off i will f with there character like tuern them into a rat for 2 quest and the others have to find the ceur if they want
TempistRane 07-24-03, 09:37 PM	See i dont kill PC's for nothing. My pC's die do to fighting, and exploring and bad rolls which is funny. But if they are ******* me off i will f with there character like tuern them into a rat for 2 quest and the others have to find the ceur if they want
TempistRane 07-24-03, 09:37 PM	See i dont kill PC's for nothing. My pC's die do to fighting, and exploring and bad rolls which is funny. But if they are ******* me off i will f with there character like tuern them into a rat for 2 quest and the others have to find the ceur if they want
TempistRane 07-25-03, 12:14 AM	Well Zed i got my character for your campain. a Shield Dwarf Bard cuz they kick ass
VengefulGazeofGod 07-25-03, 03:08 AM	Hey, that's a triple post! Everyone has said all the good stuff already. Where do you guys work? You get way to many days off. A few months back, during the Iraqi war, I was pullin' about 18/7, and I don't get over time, only hazard pay. Hey, Zed using the little '***'s is techniquiely against the CoC, just thought you should know! ;)
Crust 07-25-03, 01:41 PM	I would start with some pre-made modules. When I started DMing FR, I read about 20 novels first, then I started with the Twisted Tower module in the old gray box. It was easy fashioning a campaign around that once I began Night Below. From there, we've been adventuring in the Dales for almost 5 years, and I have so many maps and pages of my own modules and NPCs that I could create my own Night Below.