Post/Author/DateTime

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WunderGoat 01-20-05, 04:58 AM

I was just posting on a thread, and I thought that this advice may come in handy for the newbies in the DM community. Its simple: When you run your first campaign, or first few, don't go hog wild on including non-core material. In fact, I would go so far as to say that you should just use the three core books. There are several benefits to just using core books, which are especialy valuable to DMs. 1) It keeps the extent of the rules at a manageable level. Very important if you don't know the rules too well or your players know them better. 2) Less things to know lets you focus on learning the basic mechanincs. More rules/feats/whatever make it difficult for you to know anything to any great detail, thus hurting your DM ability. 3) Less options forces you to be more creative. With less pre-made material to throw at PCs, you have to learn to use monsters in new ways, modify existing monsters, or create brand new critters. A creative DM is often a good DM. 4) Teaches you to say 'NO'. This is very important to a DM's ability to control his or her campaign. Since non-core material is inflexibly banned, you already have the answer to letting PCs use stuff you have never heard of. 5) If most of your players are new, then the core-only rule will force them to learn basic spells and tactics. After all, it is less stuff for them to learn too. 6) More easily manage munchkins and powergamers. Without the less finely balanced / more overpowered material out there at their disposal, then those who abuse rules are less likely/able to break the game. Moreover, this rule will likely filter out the less desireable/more destructive personality types from your game.