Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Supercilious 09-13-04, 01:41 AM	You are suddenly best on all sides by players looking for a DM. Hello, I have finally decided to take the onus of DM in lieu of our previous DM, who has since moved on. I have no DM experience, but I know most of the rules to a decent level, and I am an OK roleplayer, so I hope to make up for my lack of expertise with some excellent flavour at first. Any advice on a first adventure? I am starting with a fresh four-man level one party. It will contain a Rogue, Cleric, Fighter, and a Wizard/Sorcerer (Not sure which the guy wants to play). I am looking for advice on how I should start, what I will need (beyond the core books/dice). What are some of your best plot hooks? And most importently, should I let the player that wants to use a LE Drow (the rogue) to lead into an assassin? So, post away with any suggestions, advice, or comments.
Tifus Artwin 09-13-04, 04:08 AM	As it seems im the first to reply here, let me welcome you to the glory that is DMing. Seeing as how you are new, id suggest a simple adventure for a few levels, track the goblins/kabolds ect. ect. simple, maybe a several room cavern complex for them to explore and get used to each other, your DMing style then start to weave in a plot. As for the rogue character ..... id advise aginst it, atleast in the begenning
Asta Kask 09-13-04, 04:10 AM	The kobolds have captured a fair maiden of the realm, and are going to sacrifice her to the loathsome god Kurtulmak. Work from there. And NO DROW! You can't have them in a 1st-level party anyway, since they're LA +2. Seriously, start with no evil characters, or you'll risk trouble.
Telperion 09-13-04, 04:30 AM	As fun as it might sound to use all sorts of fantastic stuff on your first adventure I would advise against that and simply running a solid and well built short story, which should unfold in a few sessions. There are plenty of published stuff that can get you going. If you feel like doing a dungeon, then keep it simple. This doesn't mean that you can't be creative, but the bigger things get the more difficult they are to manage. Focuse on something that you can manage without having to recheck your details every five minutes. Although you may already have a campaign setting in mind you should just start out of a small town and introduce yourself (and the players) into the gaming trough easily manageable "modules". Once you have completed a short adventure get the party back to their "base" and continue from there. Repeat until you feel comfortable with what you are doing. After you have gone through a few published adventures try writing one of your own, but again: start with something fairly simple and not terribly world altering. DMing is great fun: however you have to learn how to walk before you start running. It can be a hard at first, but given time you can start doing bigger things and using more wondrous stuff. The MM 3.5 has plenty of monsters, so those should keep your group entertained for a long time. Add individuals of greater power (example: goblin with Rogue levels) and you have something totally new again. So...welcome...I hope you enjoy DMing :).
Gray Eminence 09-13-04, 04:47 AM	Greetings, new DM! First of all, DO NOT LET YOUR PLAYER TO PLAY A DROW! First, drow has LA, and this makes it more powerful if you let it into a 1st level party, and it means unbalanced game. Second, it is evil, which is not the best idea to start with. For a new DM, evil party members pose a much greater difficulty than normal ones - for example, in keeping the party together. Other ideas: - For a new party, it is very inportant, how they met for the first time. Try not to use cliches, like meeting in the inn, or a rich noble hires the party, etc. It is important for a party to have a cohesive force other than money. - For the first levels, use less fight and more role-playing opportunities. Low Hp is the greatest enemy of a low level party, and you do not want to make them rest after each scratch. Keep in mind that you do not have to avard Xp only for defeating foes, but also for creative role-playing. - Look for some 1st level adventures for example in Dungeon Magazine. They have quite good ones. - Keep a record of your players' most important statistics, and always check what kind of bonuses do they get from variouos sources. Keep in mind that bonuses of the same type do not stack (except for circumstance bonuses). - Decide the setting. Do you play in Greyhawk, FR, DL, Eberron, or in your own setting? This can be important for a cleric (dieities), for using the map, for the habits of people, for the weather, etc. - Decide which books do you allow into play. Do not use books for NPCs that you do not allow for players, and vice versa.
deadDMwalking 09-13-04, 08:41 AM	First suggestion - lay out the "approved books". These should be ones that you own. If you allow things from a source you do not have, eventually the player in question won't bring it when you have a question about an ability that you think is being used incorrectly. Anything from outside of an approved book can be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Second suggestion - Don't allow an evil character into the first campaign. Tell your players that because you're new to DMing it will be alot easier for you to experiment if you know that they all "want" to do the right thing. This may be a cover story. Generally speaking, most players do not do evil well. They use it as an excuse to steal from the party, and that ruins everyone's fun. Third suggestion - If you're going to have any houserules, write them down. For example, I normally say that if you roll a natural 1 on your first attack you provoke an attack of opportunity. I've been using it so long I thought it was a rule, but I can't seem to find it anymore... Go figure... Anyway, it helps prevent arguments later on. I would suggest some house rules to begin with, but keep it simple (and try to help your players). Example of house rules - 1) Death occurs at -CON instead of -10. For most PCs this can mean several extra rounds. 2) Last chance. -Especially good for 1st level characters. The first time they would "die" from a failed save or a massive hit, they instead make their save or the hit misses. At the very least they end up at negative hit points and stable. 3) Action points - Explained in the Eberron campaign setting and Unearthed Arcana. Every level you get 3 + 1/2 your level in action points. They can be used to add +1d6 to any d20 roll. For example you roll a 12 on your saving throw. With modifiers that only comes to 15. You're worried about failing, so before you're told whether you fail or not you opt to roll a d6 (spend an action point). That increases your roll by 4. A 19 saves! Whew! 4) Don't go overboard with houserules. Try to avoid ones that hurt the players like exploding criticals or instant death rules. Suggestions for the 1st adventure The more your players know each other to begin with the better. Tell them they would like them to explain it to you. Give them up to 500 starting XP for a good explanation. You might also allow up to 500 xp to provide a painted mini for their character. This would allow them to start at 2nd level if they're willing to do both of those things. In any case, it may give you the starting point you need. If they choose to all start from the same town, you might consider threatening the town. It can be anything. The town well dries up. A mysterious shadowy figure is seen lurking about at night, and now someone is missing. The goblins who have been "neutral" the last 6 years have a new chief. He has been telling the goblins that they are going to kill the town. The town might not know of the danger, but perhaps they would like the PCs to see what happened to the merchant that just tried trading with them (and didn't come back). Good luck.
Supercilious 09-13-04, 10:24 AM	So a unanimous no drow, I think I can live with that. I hope he is satisfied with a more "mundane" rogue. The books I plan on allowing are MM1-3, PHB, DMHB (For me only of course), Races of Stone, Book of Exalted Deeds (I want to encourage goodness!), Complete Warrior, and Complete Divine.
Vharuck 09-13-04, 03:34 PM	Try Wizard's home page for DnD, they have free adventures for downloading (though you might want to tone down the orc cleric in The Burning Plague). Otherwise, try really hackneyed and trite topics, with maybe a twist. Orcs siege the town. Seriously though, work on creative writing. Off the top of your head. And be prepared to be so surprised that your jaw drops. I tried to show my players a Red Wizard enclave (a special camp for just selling magic items), and they approached it like it was an enemy base camp and actually spent the night in a tree to keep an eye on them.
darczero 09-28-04, 03:03 AM	If you're looking for adventure ideas, watch movies. Read comics. If your players are young or not exceptionally well-versed in the classics, play those old NES and SNES RPG's. Generally speaking, what they lack in graphics and sound they make up for in gameplay. Generic adventure starters and plotlines work just fine too; I've used more than a few. Recently, my PC's had to engage in a diplomatic mission on behalf of Church and Kingdom; I originally motivated them into the adventure by burning down their cozy little hamlet. And one day, they may get their revenge (the extremely high-powered NPC's that burned down their town, and the entire organization they belong to, will not advance in levels as the players do, so eventually they will catch up). Of course, if you use those generic plot devices, then try to work in long-term plot elements as well; hint at that uberpowerful artifact early on, and slowly feed them the info as the games go on. Eventually, the PC's will want to find the artifact just to figure out what all the hype is about! There's also the classic "Save the Princess!" scenario (any young and defenseless child from a well-to-do family will work) that could easily evolve into long lasting campaign background.