Post/Author/DateTime	Post
DragonGaea 01-05-06, 11:50 AM	Hey all,I was wondering if anyone had any tips or personal tricks to share with me as I start out along the long winding road of DMing.Ive read the DMG but I dont feel ready yet..I feel like theres something more out there that I should know before I embark on the adventure of dming.Would you kindly please share all your infinite tips and tricks of dming to a new DM. Thankyou Lauren
Illion the Red 01-05-06, 12:04 PM	Tips: 1. Substantially all first time DMs suck. They make mistakes. They forget rules. They let the players get away with things they shouldn't. They accidentally give too much information away. They forget to roleplay. They can't remember any of their NPCs' names. 2. The good DMs learn from their mistakes and steadily improve. 3. Write everything down. A PC talked to a barmaid in the Green Griffon Inn...write down her name and basic description as well as why they talked and what the PC learned. This will help you when the PC comes back 3 sessions later and looks for that barmaid. 4. Read and reread the combat section of the PHB. Learn what the spells do. 5. KISS - Keep It Simple, Stupid! Don't allow the players to bring in other sourcebooks until you are comfortable with both the new books and your players. 6. Have fun. Keep the plot twists coming...and remember that the PCs will do something in every game session that will leave you scrambling to react to. Have a bunch of NPCs, encounters, shop lists, and names ready to be inserted at any time.
DragonGaea 01-05-06, 12:28 PM	Thankyou very much, I am having a meet and greet session tonight with a player and I am restricting source books to MM,DMG,PHB for now.Draconomicon will the 1st source book to be let in since I am very familiar with it.I figure sticking to the basic races and classes is good.Oh yes,I wont be completely alone..the player I am meeting with was a DM for 8 years so I guess I have backup :) Thankyou Lauren
bholdr_mage 01-05-06, 01:02 PM	I always prepare for the upcoming adventure at hand. Prior to any campaign, I write down a list of 20 male names and 20 female names on a piece of notebook paper. Thus when a PC asks the dreaded question, "what's your name?" when they are role-playing, it doesn't always have to be Bob or Sue. When you tell your characters this, they will think the "Bob" character is unimportant to the campaign. Have a theme in mind. Do you want to use undead? Abberations? Humans? Sometimes it's best to work backwards. Think of where you want your characters to be, then delegate clues, story, and characters accordingly so you don't give out too much information at one time. Always remember the +2/-2 rule in the DMG. It's very important. Read the DMG2. It has a lot of great stuff for learning the "types" of players you will be telling your story to. Get a subscription to dungeon magazine. This thing is awesome. Monte Cook, one of the creators of the D20 system does an article every month. This alone is reason to get it. It also comes with NPC portraits, 3 adventures, and other useful articles. Subscriptions are well worth the cost. Hope those help. Good Luck!
bholdr_mage 01-05-06, 01:04 PM	Oh, and how could I forget- When preparing for the adventure, find out what kind of setting they will be in. I either use random generators (either photocopy them or mark them in your DMG) or I create my own, knowing what kind of monsters are going to be present.
Eksem 01-05-06, 01:05 PM	You should think about restricting the character options to the easiest classes and races. Allow humans, elves, dwarves and halflings. Allow fighter, rogue, cleric and sorcerer. Let that experienced DM decide which rules that would apply if you can't figure it out yourself in the heat of the moment. Decide that together with all the players ahead of time, so everyone knows and are ok with that. Don't have to many complicated scenes, focus on easy scenes, like exploring and roleplaying. Then really prepare yourself for the few complicated scenes. Really try to make those scenes really cool. Make sure your players know that you are a bit nervous, and they will be forgiving your mistakes. But never apologise for the mistakes you make, at least not during game time. Tell your players that you are open for discussion, but not until the session is finished.
Jesper 01-05-06, 01:08 PM	always ask your player after the the session what they liked and what they did not like. Remember your job is to make sure everone has fun both you and the players
DragonGaea 01-05-06, 01:11 PM	Thankyou all very much, I am still deciding what adventure to run when I do run a game.I picked up a 3.0 copy of the Sunless Citadel..anybody know where I can find the 3.5 version?I read through that and it looks neat plus its got a dragon ..yay!I will atke a look at DMG 2 ,I love dragon magazine for everything they have ..i will take a look at dungeon now also. kisses to all Lauren
SimianShaw 01-05-06, 01:29 PM	Ah the joys of the first timer. . . As a recent virgin myself, here's some things that did/didn't work for me. 1. Maps. Quite simply. I didn't have enough. I didn't know what the terrain was supposed to look like for the ones that I had. 2. NPC's. They don't all have to be entertaining/or have interesting personalites. Well, they can. . . but your PC's don't have to learn all about them in the first encounter. Also, don't fall in love with any of your NPC's. There is always the chance that you will hear the dreaded words "So I pull out my weapon and I attack (insert beloved NPC here)." The more you love an NPC, the less likely s/he is to survive contact with your PC's. 3. Don't fall into the trap of trying to steer the adventure. Some times there is nothing you can do but watch your PC's walk, nay sprint directly away from the plot. Be prepared to wing it and try to drop that element in at a later time. Don't be afraid to take a five minute break and try to figure out how to get things back on track. 4. You WILL lowball encounters for your PC's, that is, until you overcompensate, which you WILL do at one point. Just be prepared with a couple of plot friendly PC savers before it happens. 5. Ask your players what type of campaign they'd like to play in. There's no point in GMing the "BEST CAMPAIGN EVER" if your players faces all look like they're watching a documentary on the evolution of dirt. If you should ever see that bored expression on all of your players faces simultaneously, either it's time to start the session or to start over again. 6. This is the most important of my suggestions. Have fun. If you're not, chances are, they might not be either. If you should stop having fun, take a break. Your players will thank you for it. Good luck.
LugWrench 01-05-06, 02:20 PM	Be ready for your players to do anything. The story of "We attack the Gazeebo" is more true than you know. Your players could go off in a direction that you never expect. Rather than yanking them back to the storyline, let them have fun but guide them back at the same time. Read the module repeatedly. Knowing what happens where and when will help out your play immensely. You dont have to memorize the module front to back, but take the time to examine it carefully so you can identify any trouble spots; unfamiliar terms, rules that my pose a challange, reading up on what an item does. Have fun with it! Players will kibbitz when they play. Movie lines will be spouted, jokes and puns will get tossed around, sodas (or what have you) will get spilled, dice lost. These things happen. :D
YRM 01-05-06, 03:11 PM	Thankyou all very much, I am still deciding what adventure to run when I do run a game.I picked up a 3.0 copy of the Sunless Citadel..anybody know where I can find the 3.5 version?I read through that and it looks neat plus its got a dragon ..yay!I will atke a look at DMG 2 ,I love dragon magazine for everything they have ..i will take a look at dungeon now also. kisses to all Lauren It sounds like you've had experience playing right? Nobody should try to DM without playing first, unless they really don't have a choice. At least, as a player, you've had some experience with another DM and you know what you liked and didn't like about their sessions. Even if your players are more into role-playing than combat, you'll want to read the Combat section of the PHB very carefully. (many people feel it's helpful to use something to grid and represent the combat accurately) Don't be afraid to ask that other experienced DM at the table about this rule or that rule. Don't plan too many encounters. Your players will get into the story and roleplaying, and even if your encounters are short, don't try to pack too many in. Too many basic encounters become hack and slash as the players rush through them without much thought. Slightly fewer, but more interesting encounters offers more opportunity for the players to use various skills, feats, and spells. Always start your game at Level 1 if you are a new DM, and don't rush to level the players up too quickly. The lower level the PCs, the easier the game is to manage. I wouldn't recommend trying to fit more than 1 encounter for every 1.5 to 2 hours of session you have planned. You want to make sure there is time for all of the story development that goes on. At lower levels, sometimes you can fit, say, 5 encounters into a 5 hour session without detracting from the story, and several of those 5 encounters should be interesting. (like the PCs wading in 4' of water in a hallway, and there's a zombie or two laying prone in the middle of the hall that stands up in the middle of the party and gets a surprise round... perhaps trying to pull a PC under with a grapple-pin) Keep things relatively simple, but interesting. If something doesn't add to your story, don't feel the need to cram it in. The PCs won't always do what you hope or expect that they'll do, so, be ready to ad lib. As the PCs get more powerful, they should be able to affect your story in ways that you hadn't necessarily planned, so, be prepared to re-vamp on the fly. For example, a bad guy was supposed to escape the PCs and report to his guildmaster. The PCs kill or capture that bad guy. Well, the guildmaster can still find out the information you want him to have by later sending an investigative NPC to look into his missing minions. A rogue/ranger or diviner is the perfect sort to investigate something like that. In the end, the PCs affected your story, but your key NPC got the information you needed him to get to keep the plot moving. Try to set up, within the first few sessions, at least a hint of a recurring villain or evil organization. In a first attempt at DMing, you can focus your entire campaign on just one evil organization. Try to have an idea of what you'd like the PCs to be doing in five levels, ten levels, fifteen levels. Even if it doesn't work out this way, you're thinking long term. The Sunless Citidel is a pretty good module, but, after you convert it to 3.5, (pretty much just worry about Damage Reduction and Haste as the biggest things changed in most modules) try to think about what you'll do after they finish the module. If you run a module, read it at least twice before running it. Being a good DM does take some pretty serious work, but, it's a fun and rewarding sort of work. People on the forums will be happy to help you review potential mistakes before or after the session. Don't get discouraged or quit, you will keep getting better and better.
chrisnd 01-05-06, 03:24 PM	Prepare. I have found that being prepared for what you have planned, as well as what the PC's might throw at you, will make the night run much smoother. Adjust. Learn to adjust to the actions of the PC's. If your planning indicated that you would prefer that the party go to a monster's cave, and instead they head in the exact opposite direction towards a forest, use those already prepared monsters in the forest instead. The game mechanics are flexible enough to work that way. Cheat. Not overly blatant. But you are the DM and game controller, after all. Feel free to cheat as a plot device. The characters won't know your cheating if you don't tell them when you are cheating. Be vague on your requests for the PC's to roll 20-siders. You would not believe the number of times you can get a group of PC's alert and responsive to the surroundings that you have created by asking them to roll a few random 20 siders. Regardless of what they get, they will always be think ing about what might be lurking around the next corner (even if there isn't anything there). Good luck. DM'ing is an incredibly rewarding experience, and is a great outlet for one's creative juices.
DragonGaea 01-05-06, 03:59 PM	All excellent advice thankyou, I have been playing on and off since 2ed and I think Im fairly ready to run a game.I am THINKING about changing the lil kobold called Meepo in the module to Deekin the Kobold bard/dragondisciple from Never Winter Nights(I love that game)since Deekin served a white dragon in the game.I figure I will have Deekin be uber uber scared of the white wrymling cause its his Old masters offspring.That should spice the game up if it starts to go awry.I am hoping my meet and greet goes well tonight so that I can run the game soon.I am a firm beliver in that you gotta be compatible with a person before you commit 3 hours of your time during a week to them.Oh yess one more question,I have known dms that run a character while also dming,is this adivsable for a firsttimer? Kisses Lauren
PenderGrass 01-05-06, 04:04 PM	1. Have fun. 2. If you are using miniatures, dump the battle grid - use a tape measure and compass. 3. Roll in the open (except for things that the PCs wouldn't know directly or immediately - like Hide, Spot, Appraise, etc). 4. Make sure your Players are having fun. 5. Have fun - worth saying twice. :dragon: ****
VerinBlod 01-05-06, 04:13 PM	Oh yess one more question,I have known dms that run a character while also dming,is this adivsable for a firsttimer? No this is not advisable. You'll probably have your hands full with keeping the game going for you to get the added stress of runing an extra PC. Stick to being a DM and try not to mix different jobs. Good luck!
Herald@Large 01-05-06, 05:35 PM	1. Learn when to say "Yes": Player: Can I use that broken-off table leg as a club? DM: Sure! In fact that's a very good idea. or Player: Ack! I don't have any silver or magic weapons! Can I use some silver pieces as sling bullets against that werewolf? DM: Why not? In fact that's a VERY good idea! You'll get an XP bonus for thinking of that. 2. Learn when to say "No." Player: I wanna be a drow ranger wielding twin scimitars! DM: NO! or Player: I wanna play a half-kender/half gold dragon! DM: NO! or Player: I wanna be CN so I can do whatever I feel like! DM: :banghead: NO! NO! NO! 3. Bring your own munchies; don't expect your players to feed you. 4. Make sure you have a comfortable chair to sit in, preferably one that supports your back. 5. Bring extra dice. And scratch paper. And an extra pencil or two. 6. Lock all the cellphones in the freezer :D
YRM 01-05-06, 05:50 PM	Do not try to run a PC. Even if you were running something, it'd be an NPC assisting the group at a lower level than the group... you may even role-play a person's cohort (I let them manage the stat sheet, but, no player role-plays multiple characters in my campaigns as I want them to pour all their energy into having ownership of a great and unique character.) A great trick to put fear into players is to have a powerful (+1 or 2 levels) NPC assist the PCs on a job at some point, and prove effective in the first fight or two... then have a trap kill the NPC, or have a Ghoul or something snatch the NPC and drag him/her off, kicking and screaming. If the PCs later locate the NPC, they find a partially devoured corpse. You still design the encounters so that the PCs can find a way to survive or succeed, but, there'd be one trap or ambush that would prove fatal to the NPC. You CAN make players TOO cautious though. I very much agree that it is GREAT to say YES to your players when they have a good idea, even if it spoils your surprise or ambush or plan. Sometimes, the players will find an easy way around a challenge that you hoped would be difficult. Don't worry. Other times, the players will find a way to make an easy encounter into something that nearly results in multiple PC deaths. Try to give each PC a chance to shine... if not in session 1, then over the course of 3 sessions. Nobody should reach your 3rd session without having enjoyed the spotlight of success at least once. (Just FYI on the silver sling bullet thing... it IS a great idea. If you want a reason why it wouldn't work, it's because Sling Bullets are actually relatively large and heavy, much heavier than a typical silver coin. You might treat the Silver Coins as "Tiny" sling bullets, as they wouldn't even be as large as bullets that a halfling might use.) The great thing is that a DM can hear that question and say... "Sure, you can use the silver coins, but they'll do a little less damage and you get a -1 on your attack roll." Or, the DM can say, "No, those coins aren't nearly the size or mass you'd need them to be to do any significant damage." Either ruling is fine, and works within the rules system. Remember, the players finding creative and exciting ways to have success means that you're doing a good job. If you're worried that you're not challenging them enough, simply ask them after a few sessions. As a DM, it always feels like the players are having an easier time of it than they think they are. You may know that the evil Ogre only has 5hp left, but, all the PCs know is that if it gets around to another turn for an attack, and it hits, a PC might die. They don't know that they have 4 chances to do a hit that does 5 damage before the Ogre gets to swing again.
Edymnion 01-05-06, 05:52 PM	I can't over-emphasize the "Know when to say NO" point. The first sign of a bad DM is when they let their players use any material from any source they want. Thats just getting down on your knees and BEGGING them to screw up your game. Remember, it is your game. You are running it, you get final say over what happens. Don't let the players push you around. You should work with them, but you should not allow them to run roughshod over you.
Mind Rogue 01-05-06, 11:06 PM	I definitely don't recommend playing a character. It tends to take time away from what you need to be doing and you are liable to end up 'favoring' your character over the other peoples. The other possibility is that you might intentionally pound on your own character just to prove that you don't favor it, which usually is not a good either (unless you want to give some sort of warning). Earlier in my career I definitely had a few DMPCs and they did tend to take a disproportional amount of spotlight time. Now I know better and I try to have NPCs adventure with the party as little as possible. I'll also have to third or whatever the "know when to say no" rule. Especially when you're new, unusual things can pretty easily ruin your game, especially things like half-celestials, werewolves, and Vow of Poverty. At first, keep them to the PHB, then after you have some experience you can let them take things like Aasimar and Tieflings (which don't deviate too badly) and then possibly onto things like Gith, Drow, and psionics. But remember, if any of this 'extra' stuff makes you uncomfortable or uncertain, or if it doesn't mesh with your campaign, just say no. You can give them a reason if you like, but ultimately it is your call to say that this just doesn't belong. Do ask your players for what they want to do as well as for their background histories. If you don't know where to start, picking one of their story lines and incorparating some part of it can give you something to work with, and you already know that it will motivate at least one of the party members. If you plan on using a grid, and you haven't already gotten one yet, I recommend a hex grid over a square one. It gets rid of any stupid cases wear diagonals are sometimes 5 ft and sometimes 10 ft and sometimes they are 7.5 ft, and it makes it easier to tell where area spells take place. Corridors and small rooms don't turn out as nicely, although you can always chop hex's in half and count one end or the other as a full hex. However, it does make open areas a lot nicer, as well as the aformentioned spells and dragon breath. My group actually uses a homemade grid with the hex's superimposed onto a square grid (since that is part of how I made it). If you like this idea, you can PM me and I'll give pretty good instructions on how to make it. If you don't use a grid, you might still use minis or different state quarters or something to delienate where people are. It actually probably doesn't matter if you get the exact distances right, just move them what looks about right. The important thing really is to keep relative positions intact and possibly approximate relative distances. If you have a range of 110' with your bow, it doesn't matter too much if your opponent closed by 30' or if it was a little bit more or less, since it will still take about 4 move actions or one run to close the entire distance no matter what. Ask people to bring food, and when they do, give them a small amount of Xp for it, as this encourages them to keep on doing it, and it also keeps you fed. When I started my latest campaign last spring, I gave out 25 Xp for anyone who brought something edible. It was definitely on of my more popular houserules, and numerically, that much doesn't have a whole lot of impact. When we resumed at the start of fall term, I decided to boost it up to 50, since being around 5th level, the 25 Xp ment much less than it did originally. Definitely bring an extra pencil or three, since invariably someone will forget to bring one. Also, take notes on what you are doing, since this will also help to keep important things consistant. You might want to encourage your players to do the same, since people tend to forget things, especially if you play less than once a week. It becomes even more important if you want to run a campaign with an overarching story where you are leaving clues and foreshadowing that your players might want to remember. At some point, you will put in things that are way too easy for the PCs, and at another, what should have been an easy encounter will turn sour. That's okay, since at the lower levels, things tend to be very hit and miss: either the PCs will have a flawless or nearly flawless victory, or the monsters will knock them an inch from death. Orcs are definitely this type of critter (and popular to use), especially if you have equipped them with a greataxe. One of them can easily take anyone, even the fighter, down with one hit. However, they are pretty squishy, and hopefully, someone will still be around to heal enough people to bring the almost corpses home. Eventually, however, you will end up throwing something at them that is completely out of their league, whatever their CRs say. In particular, creatures with damage reduction such as gargoyles or weres, or incorporeal undead, such as shadows and allips, can easily be overcome a party that is ill-prepared for it. First time players often don't realize how important it is to have a little bit of silver in the party, since they don't realize how early they can start seeing things with DR/silver (wererats and lemures are both CR 2), while it is quite possible for noone to have a magic weapon by 4th level (when gargoyles show up). Likewise, they are likely to be completely unprepared for shadows the first time they see them. Barring having a sorcerer with magic missile, the best they can probably hopefor is a scroll of magic weapon, which first time players won't think to get. Thus, they might not even be able to hurt it, beyond using up what is left of their healing spells. However, this might be a good encounter to give them the understanding that it is okay to run away. Another thing that will happen is that you will give them a disproportionite amount of wealth. Less common is to be stingy and not give them enough, which is easily remedied by giving them more in the near future. However, a more common problem is to give them way too much and somebody becomes overpowered. You might want to ask every couple of levels for them to total their wealth value and compare it to the estimated wealth by level guidelines in the DMG so you know where you stand. Just keep in mind that you won't be able to hit it exactly, and that some will have more wealth than others. If your PC's do accumulate too much, there are several ways to solve it. One, you can simply give out less wealth in the near future (especially by using random wilderness or monster fights). A second possibility would be to have an NPC scam them for some disproportionate amount of wealth or to convince them that they need to buy a house or something that doesn't really help them in adventuring, but they will feal like they bought something worthwhile and it will eat up some of their money. Third, you can destroy some of their equipment, such as with a fighter with improved sunder, an ethereal filcher who steals something, or else the DM's secret weapon (aka: rust monster). Finally, you can say, "Sorry, I made a terrible error, can I get you to trade that in for something else?" That's all for now; I've been plenty verbose enough as it is. Good luck and have fun.
Evengar 01-06-06, 12:57 AM	First of all, DO NOT play a character as well as DMing unless you have to I did that my first time DMing (because I had to), and still do now (because I still have to). It is extremely challenging and frustrating. Besides, your character doesn't really say or do much at all because you don't want to give away something. Second of all, DO NOT try to kill the PCs until they have access to ressurection-type magic. If you do, you will make them very angry. I know. Third of all, read the PHB cover to cover. Knowing about the PC's races, classes, spells, combat abilities, etc. This will help a lot. Finally: prepare, prepare, prepare. I found that when I started DMing, the game went very choppy. What I am doing now is having the players write page #s on their character sheets. I also have all the stats for all the monsters the characters will encounter in one place: a notebook. This notebook is a lifesaver for me. I came up with my own monster stat format that cuts out things that you won't need in a battle like organization, environment, as well as other things. Also write out all spells and spell-like abilities; this will keep you from having to flip through the books. Finally, write down the page numbers that the monsters' pictures so the players have something to look at. goodluck
Grier 01-06-06, 01:34 AM	Thanks from me as well. I'm a new DM, and I only played a one-shot and the basic starter kit before being elected as DM ("He knows the rules best"). I was actually planning on asking this question, but now I don't need to since it's been asked. I will pay attention to the advice and take it to heart. :D
Morbid 01-06-06, 01:42 AM	Remember, you are the DM, they are the players. You're higher than God, and have the power to warp anyhting you wish. You want there to be a potion that grants 10,000,000 gold to sprout up in their pocket, you have that choice. If you want the giant ogre thats one smack away from detroying a player to suddenly fall over from Angina, thats your choice also. And always remember one of the golden rules of D&D. ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE. So prepare well. And Use the depths of your imagination to make all things true. Hail Satan :bow: !... Wait... oops... Forget that last part... :help:
DragonGaea 01-07-06, 11:56 AM	well the meet and greet thursday night was intresting the minute i said the word d&d people at the stars wars table wanted to play too and then i got questions like can i have vow of poverty and can i play a warmage and oooh what about this and that,so come game day if i have to im gonna stand on a table and shout out the rules to be heard LOL the experinced dm is nice enuff to drive 30 minutes to game so im giving him extra xp cause hes making so the rest of us dont have to drive far.game day will be next friday at noon so wish me luck and thankyou to all the wonderful suggestions..keep them coming!! kisses lauren
b5201 01-07-06, 01:18 PM	Tip 1: Give class levels to kobolds :evillaugh Tip 2: make sure you dont roll 2 high (I accidentaly created a bbeg and it was supposed to be 1st encounter that +2 dexterity adds up on ac (18 ac only dexterity other then standard)) Tip 3: GET HEREOS OF BATTLE!! Tip 4: Give class levels to orcs Tip 5: *repeat 2*
Morbid 01-07-06, 06:51 PM	Don't give the Vow of Poverty...
Evengar 01-07-06, 10:33 PM	Don't give the Vow of Poverty... No kidding. As you will soon learn, half the fun in D&D is all the really cool (and therefore expensive) magic items you get. A certain measure of wealth for each character is also assumed when the authors figured out various monster's CR. A player with a "Vow of Poverty" would actually be weaker than a normal character of their level. About the warmage, however, that is a class in Complete Arcane, which is a very good arcane book.