A new DM amongst you :) [Archive] - Wizards Community

A new DM amongst you :) [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Metaldays
06-25-06, 01:03 PM Hi there all,
I'm new on these forums as well to the whole DnD game. :)

I got a couple of guys who want to try DnD along with me but have never played it, and seems like I will be their DM.
I'm pretty excited and I'm getting everything ready for their characters. I guess youll see me asking a lot of DMing questions around here soon now :)
danielinthewolvesden
06-25-06, 01:35 PM Welcome. :)
Guy Humual
06-25-06, 01:38 PM Everyone has to start somewhere. I think everyone here should be happy to help however we can. There are a couple of things you should do for yourself before you try DMing, first and foremost, read the rules! Start with the player's handbook, go over character generation, skills, feats, combat, and the chapter on magic. Skip the spell descriptions for the time being. Now read through you DM's guide. You can probably skip the magic items for the time being. It seems like a lot to take in but you'll want to read through this for a basic understanding only! Your job is not to memorise the rules!

Next you'll want to make sure you got everything you'll need to start playing: paper, pencils, some printed off character sheets, dice, and I'd highly recommend a grid map and something to represent the characters and monsters.

Having done all this you're ready to call your friends over to start playing :D
One last piece of advice: Start your players off at first level. Seems pretty self evident . . . but you'd be surprised at how many new DMs make their games more complicated then they have to. You're a level one DM, Your players are level one, start you're game at level one and let everyone progress through the game together.

And if you have any questions don't be afraid to ask! :D
Metaldays
06-25-06, 01:41 PM Everyone has to start somewhere. I think everyone here should be happy to help however we can. There are a couple of things you should do for yourself before you try DMing, first and foremost, read the rules! Start with the player's handbook, go over character generation, skills, feats, combat, and the chapter on magic. Skip the spell descriptions for the time being. Now read through you DM's guide. You can probably skip the magic items for the time being. It seems like a lot to take in but you'll want to read through this for a basic understanding only! Your job is not to memorise the rules!

Next you'll want to make sure you got everything you'll need to start playing: paper, pencils, some printed off character sheets, dice, and I'd highly recommend a grid map and something to represent the characters and monsters.

Having done all this you're ready to call your friends over to start playing :D
One last piece of advice: Start your players off at first level. Seems pretty self evident . . . but you'd be surprised at how many new DMs make their games more complicated then they have to. You're a level one DM, Your players are level one, start you're game at level one and let everyone progress through the game together.

And if you have any questions don't be afraid to ask! :D

Thanks, I'm really excited about running the game . :) OOohhhh cant wait (flips through the books and looks at the pictures)
Kaligrad
06-25-06, 02:06 PM I know I certainly sucked when I was starting out. Well, if my experience is any guide, you should find yourself a published adventure with which to start out. They take the hassle out of being a DM at first, and are an excellent source of material to build upon later, once you get used to creating your own adventures.
AlanBruce
06-25-06, 02:18 PM Play CORE ONLY! You already have enough stress having to deal with the three core rule books, let alone your players wanting to be monsters or warlocks from other supplements. Make sure you establish that from the beggining. If I may suggest, i would perhaps allow spellcasting classes to be limited to the cleric and sorcerer for now. So you may really get into the wizard and bard (one who has an extremely large list of spells at any given time, and another who deals with the mechanics of Bard music) in between games. Allowing those classes later on. It will be easier for the rookie player since he will only have to worry about magic missile and some other spell. Everyone keeps it simple, game moves along smoothly, everyone has fun.
atog_eater
06-25-06, 02:45 PM Play CORE ONLY! You already have enough stress having to deal with the three core rule books, let alone your players wanting to be monsters or warlocks from other supplements. Make sure you establish that from the beggining. If I may suggest, i would perhaps allow spellcasting classes to be limited to the cleric and sorcerer for now. So you may really get into the wizard and bard (one who has an extremely large list of spells at any given time, and another who deals with the mechanics of Bard music) in between games. Allowing those classes later on. It will be easier for the rookie player since he will only have to worry about magic missile and some other spell. Everyone keeps it simple, game moves along smoothly, everyone has fun.

Very good advise from alanbruce. I would also add from my own expiriance as a rooky DM that you decline any requests to play creatures from the MM - esp. werewolves (although werewolves are not an option if you start at first level).
Let your players read the PH but nothing else just yet - they can move onto the DMG when they turn from 2nd the 3rd level so they'll have a good working knowlage of the rules and the money to buy items from it.
Atirakis
06-25-06, 06:56 PM run a fwe mock battles once they have their characters written up so that they can learn about their characters abilities and you can all learn about the way combat works. Some questions will arise so just post them and we will all do our best. If you ever need any help with designing adventures or anything most of us here love helping new gaming groups cause it swells the ranks of our dark cult. Muhahahahahahahahaha ;)
pierow37
06-25-06, 07:08 PM What a great idea, get on the fourms BEFORE you start DMing.

I have a couple words of advice.
Make you own adventure EVERY time! I started that way, because i didn't know if the pre made ones were worth my money. It turns out just like I thought. A home brew adventure is ALWAYS better!
Sometimes you may need to get adventure ideas of someone else, but remember that DM'ing is about being creative and having fun~

I hope that your DM'ing experiance is wonderful! mine sure has~!
Atirakis
06-25-06, 07:16 PM homebrew rocks but I am going to go against my traditional stance and say that it is ok to start with a prepackaged or two just to get an understanding of what you are trying to accomplish with a world and adventures. After you know what you are doing though homebrew is the ONLY way to fly.
pierow37
06-25-06, 07:19 PM Well, the first thing i ever did was go on the website and read ALL the way through a pre made atventure from WOTC.
It gave me a heck of a lot of inspiration! i would'nt actually play the adventure though.
PingGuy
06-25-06, 07:32 PM I split those ideas and took a published adventure and converted it to fit a campaign I was creating. I learned a lot about things by seeing how somebody had done it already and then looking at the rules of how they did it and adjusting for my style. I was supposed to run it today but only 4 of 6 people showed up so I threw together a mini-adventure for them and ran that instead.

I will say that the published adventure so far seems like it was way too hard. I tuned everything down from max CR's of 4 and 5 to 2 and one mix pair of 2 plus a few 1/6th's. I borrowed several of the 1/6th's and used them today and tuned up the second batch to 1/3rd's by upping their hitpoints. The session ended before I threw the CR2 Goblin Barbarian at them but they left knowing he was running at them. We'll see how that goes against the four of them and I can adjust my next adventure from what I have learned. Maybe I'll end up being wrong about the CR5. ;)
Atirakis
06-25-06, 07:33 PM A very wise move on your part. My hat is off to you and I must admit I think alot more highly of you then I did the first time I saw the uranium sword post (not trying to start anything)
pierow37
06-25-06, 07:39 PM Thank you, it was a rather odd post. Im not offended by anythinmg about it. Someone else made a comment about it on another thread, and i just laughed. I realy dont mind.
hunt1622
06-25-06, 08:30 PM I am also new to the game as a DM.
Steel Cobra
06-25-06, 09:58 PM I am also new to the game as a DM.
Congrats. I can safley say this is the best amount of money I have ever spent. Although the tab has easly run up over a few hundred, I would go back and buy it again.

But as starting I say make your own adventure. But make it simple 'cause you need to get a feel for the rules. Once you can get through a session without looking at the combat stuff your adventures will get so intence it will make your players wanting to play it all night.

I wish the best of luck to both of you, and you won't regret this purchase.
Patheros
06-25-06, 11:20 PM As to premade or homebrew

Do both. First adventure take a premade off the shelf and give a spin. Second one write your own. Then you can decide. They both have their advantages.

My first adventures back in 2 were take out of a box, i then built off of them. Then 3 came out and I decide to start my own campaign. I spend a good two weeks writing the first adventure and it took the group 5 or 6 sessions. And I'll tell you that's the most work I've put into an adventure sense. The upside was I knew what I wanted to happen like the back of my hand. OK back to advice.

Its all about where you want to spend time, and how.

A premade will require you to either read, re read before hand, look up cross references and read them, or spend some unavoidable time looking things when the game is going. The first takes more time over all, but less of your players time. The second takes less time over all but more of your players time.

A homebrew will require time before hand to think of what you want to happen and then looking up the rules to make it happen, or thinking on your feet and looking up the rules for them anyways.

One final note: If your pressed on the spot for some rule decision and can't find it quickly in a book, make it up. Take your best guess and go with it. I know it wont be quite that balanced, but in the end, if you can keep the game going and your players interested. A big clue is if they start taking out there magic cards and playing games while your pawing though books, something is wrong.
danielinthewolvesden
06-26-06, 12:09 AM I am also new to the game as a DM.

Welcome also. I have been DMing for over 30 years, and hang around here a lot, so there's lots of good advice. Have you two folks read the stickies at the top of this forum? Lot's of good advice there (and a little not so good, but oh well!)

How well do you two know the rules and the combat sytem?
was_fired
06-26-06, 02:05 AM I have to disagree about using premade adventurers as a new DM. Doing so will likely lead to railroading and thus harm your players enjoyment as it robs them of their free will, and your enjoyment as you struggle to keep them on the path the module dictates.

Instead try to write up something simple. First figure out the basics:
1. What is going on.
2. How can the players find out about this. (more than one way is a good thing)
3. Where is this taking place.
4. Who is involved in this.

A basic first level adventure might tell you something like:
1. Cultists are stealing children so they can sacrifice them to their god when the moon is new.

2. They can hear this in bars from parents worried about their kids, by seeing a kid taken away at night, and from posters about missing children.

3. This is all taking place in a small town. The cultists are housed in an old tomb carved from a sandstone cliff.

4. Most of the cultists are just commoners. This is nice since it means they will only be using simple weapons, and will only have 2hp each making them easy targets.

Then all that is left is to fully stat out the foes, and draw up the dungeon. When making enemies for first level avoid using weapons with x3 and x4 critical modifiers. These can quickly lead to total party kills (tpks) given a string of bad luck. With a strong understanding of the rules, and a good imagination you should be fine. Just remember if something isn't written down or already mentioned you can create it on the spot.
Patheros
06-26-06, 08:11 AM I have to disagree about using premade adventurers as a new DM. Doing so will likely lead to railroading and thus harm your players enjoyment as it robs them of their free will, and your enjoyment as you struggle to keep them on the path the module dictates.

This is great sentiment, but a poorly made home brew adventure is going to have the same downfall, when the DM wants to keep the players on their own path.

Also if the players are as new as the DM. Very few new players are going to be critical of their first couple of adventures. I would recommend you take advantage of the players inexperience; on their first adventure, they won't have any other adventure to compare it to. It will give you a good idea of how to create your own.
was_fired
06-26-06, 02:00 PM True, but when using a module you end up having to read through it and memorize more of it than might be fun at the time. Since new players don't know how to judge quality yet it is the perfect time to start homebrewing.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Metaldays 06-25-06, 01:03 PM	Hi there all, I'm new on these forums as well to the whole DnD game. :) I got a couple of guys who want to try DnD along with me but have never played it, and seems like I will be their DM. I'm pretty excited and I'm getting everything ready for their characters. I guess youll see me asking a lot of DMing questions around here soon now :)
danielinthewolvesden 06-25-06, 01:35 PM	Welcome. :)
Guy Humual 06-25-06, 01:38 PM	Everyone has to start somewhere. I think everyone here should be happy to help however we can. There are a couple of things you should do for yourself before you try DMing, first and foremost, read the rules! Start with the player's handbook, go over character generation, skills, feats, combat, and the chapter on magic. Skip the spell descriptions for the time being. Now read through you DM's guide. You can probably skip the magic items for the time being. It seems like a lot to take in but you'll want to read through this for a basic understanding only! Your job is not to memorise the rules! Next you'll want to make sure you got everything you'll need to start playing: paper, pencils, some printed off character sheets, dice, and I'd highly recommend a grid map and something to represent the characters and monsters. Having done all this you're ready to call your friends over to start playing :D One last piece of advice: Start your players off at first level. Seems pretty self evident . . . but you'd be surprised at how many new DMs make their games more complicated then they have to. You're a level one DM, Your players are level one, start you're game at level one and let everyone progress through the game together. And if you have any questions don't be afraid to ask! :D
Metaldays 06-25-06, 01:41 PM	Everyone has to start somewhere. I think everyone here should be happy to help however we can. There are a couple of things you should do for yourself before you try DMing, first and foremost, read the rules! Start with the player's handbook, go over character generation, skills, feats, combat, and the chapter on magic. Skip the spell descriptions for the time being. Now read through you DM's guide. You can probably skip the magic items for the time being. It seems like a lot to take in but you'll want to read through this for a basic understanding only! Your job is not to memorise the rules! Next you'll want to make sure you got everything you'll need to start playing: paper, pencils, some printed off character sheets, dice, and I'd highly recommend a grid map and something to represent the characters and monsters. Having done all this you're ready to call your friends over to start playing :D One last piece of advice: Start your players off at first level. Seems pretty self evident . . . but you'd be surprised at how many new DMs make their games more complicated then they have to. You're a level one DM, Your players are level one, start you're game at level one and let everyone progress through the game together. And if you have any questions don't be afraid to ask! :D Thanks, I'm really excited about running the game . :) OOohhhh cant wait (flips through the books and looks at the pictures)
Kaligrad 06-25-06, 02:06 PM	I know I certainly sucked when I was starting out. Well, if my experience is any guide, you should find yourself a published adventure with which to start out. They take the hassle out of being a DM at first, and are an excellent source of material to build upon later, once you get used to creating your own adventures.
AlanBruce 06-25-06, 02:18 PM	Play CORE ONLY! You already have enough stress having to deal with the three core rule books, let alone your players wanting to be monsters or warlocks from other supplements. Make sure you establish that from the beggining. If I may suggest, i would perhaps allow spellcasting classes to be limited to the cleric and sorcerer for now. So you may really get into the wizard and bard (one who has an extremely large list of spells at any given time, and another who deals with the mechanics of Bard music) in between games. Allowing those classes later on. It will be easier for the rookie player since he will only have to worry about magic missile and some other spell. Everyone keeps it simple, game moves along smoothly, everyone has fun.
atog_eater 06-25-06, 02:45 PM	Play CORE ONLY! You already have enough stress having to deal with the three core rule books, let alone your players wanting to be monsters or warlocks from other supplements. Make sure you establish that from the beggining. If I may suggest, i would perhaps allow spellcasting classes to be limited to the cleric and sorcerer for now. So you may really get into the wizard and bard (one who has an extremely large list of spells at any given time, and another who deals with the mechanics of Bard music) in between games. Allowing those classes later on. It will be easier for the rookie player since he will only have to worry about magic missile and some other spell. Everyone keeps it simple, game moves along smoothly, everyone has fun. Very good advise from alanbruce. I would also add from my own expiriance as a rooky DM that you decline any requests to play creatures from the MM - esp. werewolves (although werewolves are not an option if you start at first level). Let your players read the PH but nothing else just yet - they can move onto the DMG when they turn from 2nd the 3rd level so they'll have a good working knowlage of the rules and the money to buy items from it.
Atirakis 06-25-06, 06:56 PM	run a fwe mock battles once they have their characters written up so that they can learn about their characters abilities and you can all learn about the way combat works. Some questions will arise so just post them and we will all do our best. If you ever need any help with designing adventures or anything most of us here love helping new gaming groups cause it swells the ranks of our dark cult. Muhahahahahahahahaha ;)
pierow37 06-25-06, 07:08 PM	What a great idea, get on the fourms BEFORE you start DMing. I have a couple words of advice. Make you own adventure EVERY time! I started that way, because i didn't know if the pre made ones were worth my money. It turns out just like I thought. A home brew adventure is ALWAYS better! Sometimes you may need to get adventure ideas of someone else, but remember that DM'ing is about being creative and having fun~ I hope that your DM'ing experiance is wonderful! mine sure has~!
Atirakis 06-25-06, 07:16 PM	homebrew rocks but I am going to go against my traditional stance and say that it is ok to start with a prepackaged or two just to get an understanding of what you are trying to accomplish with a world and adventures. After you know what you are doing though homebrew is the ONLY way to fly.
pierow37 06-25-06, 07:19 PM	Well, the first thing i ever did was go on the website and read ALL the way through a pre made atventure from WOTC. It gave me a heck of a lot of inspiration! i would'nt actually play the adventure though.
PingGuy 06-25-06, 07:32 PM	I split those ideas and took a published adventure and converted it to fit a campaign I was creating. I learned a lot about things by seeing how somebody had done it already and then looking at the rules of how they did it and adjusting for my style. I was supposed to run it today but only 4 of 6 people showed up so I threw together a mini-adventure for them and ran that instead. I will say that the published adventure so far seems like it was way too hard. I tuned everything down from max CR's of 4 and 5 to 2 and one mix pair of 2 plus a few 1/6th's. I borrowed several of the 1/6th's and used them today and tuned up the second batch to 1/3rd's by upping their hitpoints. The session ended before I threw the CR2 Goblin Barbarian at them but they left knowing he was running at them. We'll see how that goes against the four of them and I can adjust my next adventure from what I have learned. Maybe I'll end up being wrong about the CR5. ;)
Atirakis 06-25-06, 07:33 PM	A very wise move on your part. My hat is off to you and I must admit I think alot more highly of you then I did the first time I saw the uranium sword post (not trying to start anything)
pierow37 06-25-06, 07:39 PM	Thank you, it was a rather odd post. Im not offended by anythinmg about it. Someone else made a comment about it on another thread, and i just laughed. I realy dont mind.
hunt1622 06-25-06, 08:30 PM	I am also new to the game as a DM.
Steel Cobra 06-25-06, 09:58 PM	I am also new to the game as a DM. Congrats. I can safley say this is the best amount of money I have ever spent. Although the tab has easly run up over a few hundred, I would go back and buy it again. But as starting I say make your own adventure. But make it simple 'cause you need to get a feel for the rules. Once you can get through a session without looking at the combat stuff your adventures will get so intence it will make your players wanting to play it all night. I wish the best of luck to both of you, and you won't regret this purchase.
Patheros 06-25-06, 11:20 PM	As to premade or homebrew Do both. First adventure take a premade off the shelf and give a spin. Second one write your own. Then you can decide. They both have their advantages. My first adventures back in 2 were take out of a box, i then built off of them. Then 3 came out and I decide to start my own campaign. I spend a good two weeks writing the first adventure and it took the group 5 or 6 sessions. And I'll tell you that's the most work I've put into an adventure sense. The upside was I knew what I wanted to happen like the back of my hand. OK back to advice. Its all about where you want to spend time, and how. A premade will require you to either read, re read before hand, look up cross references and read them, or spend some unavoidable time looking things when the game is going. The first takes more time over all, but less of your players time. The second takes less time over all but more of your players time. A homebrew will require time before hand to think of what you want to happen and then looking up the rules to make it happen, or thinking on your feet and looking up the rules for them anyways. One final note: If your pressed on the spot for some rule decision and can't find it quickly in a book, make it up. Take your best guess and go with it. I know it wont be quite that balanced, but in the end, if you can keep the game going and your players interested. A big clue is if they start taking out there magic cards and playing games while your pawing though books, something is wrong.
danielinthewolvesden 06-26-06, 12:09 AM	I am also new to the game as a DM. Welcome also. I have been DMing for over 30 years, and hang around here a lot, so there's lots of good advice. Have you two folks read the stickies at the top of this forum? Lot's of good advice there (and a little not so good, but oh well!) How well do you two know the rules and the combat sytem?
was_fired 06-26-06, 02:05 AM	I have to disagree about using premade adventurers as a new DM. Doing so will likely lead to railroading and thus harm your players enjoyment as it robs them of their free will, and your enjoyment as you struggle to keep them on the path the module dictates. Instead try to write up something simple. First figure out the basics: 1. What is going on. 2. How can the players find out about this. (more than one way is a good thing) 3. Where is this taking place. 4. Who is involved in this. A basic first level adventure might tell you something like: 1. Cultists are stealing children so they can sacrifice them to their god when the moon is new. 2. They can hear this in bars from parents worried about their kids, by seeing a kid taken away at night, and from posters about missing children. 3. This is all taking place in a small town. The cultists are housed in an old tomb carved from a sandstone cliff. 4. Most of the cultists are just commoners. This is nice since it means they will only be using simple weapons, and will only have 2hp each making them easy targets. Then all that is left is to fully stat out the foes, and draw up the dungeon. When making enemies for first level avoid using weapons with x3 and x4 critical modifiers. These can quickly lead to total party kills (tpks) given a string of bad luck. With a strong understanding of the rules, and a good imagination you should be fine. Just remember if something isn't written down or already mentioned you can create it on the spot.
Patheros 06-26-06, 08:11 AM	I have to disagree about using premade adventurers as a new DM. Doing so will likely lead to railroading and thus harm your players enjoyment as it robs them of their free will, and your enjoyment as you struggle to keep them on the path the module dictates. This is great sentiment, but a poorly made home brew adventure is going to have the same downfall, when the DM wants to keep the players on their own path. Also if the players are as new as the DM. Very few new players are going to be critical of their first couple of adventures. I would recommend you take advantage of the players inexperience; on their first adventure, they won't have any other adventure to compare it to. It will give you a good idea of how to create your own.
was_fired 06-26-06, 02:00 PM	True, but when using a module you end up having to read through it and memorize more of it than might be fun at the time. Since new players don't know how to judge quality yet it is the perfect time to start homebrewing.