Post/Author/DateTime	Post
sedai 05-26-06, 06:37 AM	ok, my group hasn't been playing for a long while, we are kinda new to the d&d game. in our group, we chose 2 dm's which did a good campaign, for a first campaign. now i myself have chosen to make a try at dm'ing. i have more or atleast as much experience to d&d as the rest of the group, and i like to make stories, so no problem there. i suggested a campaign, and everyone jumped at the idea, with cries of "what a great idea" and "ooow nice! nice!" i gripped the dmg and started reading... i must say it has broadened my view, but are there tips for a beginning dm that you guys have for me? the story i have thought up is that the players play themselves, they have been inserted into the d&d world with a lousy memorie... after their check for how much they remember (50 for remembering D&D) they recocnize eachother as friends and know this world is alot diffrent then the one they went to sleep in... i asked everyone to make a list from 1 to 6 of their own abilities, were 1 was highest, and 6 lowest. 18 16 14 12 10 8 i said to substract 4 points, and add 2. to give them a little min/max capabilities. the class they choose will not be THAT bound to abilities... so thats no worry.. the story so far is that the land they are in is invaded by an army... the special libraries where they keep all the special weapons ask them to bring one of those enemies to them... so they can analyse which weapon is best for that enemie. (for those with bioligie: this is exactly how it works when your body is infected by a virus. you have to bring a part of the virus, so your imunity system can choose the right weapon for it.) in the meanwhile the army of the undead is growing, ressurecting every victim, growing.. like a real virus. then the heroes have to overcome their fear and fight this army, they can either do this in a frontal atack(suicide) or another way, its up to them to make a good plan to do this... the army has to cross 2 bridges, if they can blow these up, the army will have to move trough the dangerous forests to reach the even more cangerous mountains, were they have to go trough a narrow pass (ambush possibility) anyway, in the meanwhile, the characters are advancing in their classes they chose for themselves, altough the classes are a little weakened. (a ranger doesn't get wild emphaty, cuz if you were dropped into a world, and you chose to take the path of ranger, you wouldn't be able to talk to enemies with a snap of your fingers) and more of this sort of abilities.. instead, they will each get a secret power, copy-catted from the 4400 series. :D they will each take a number wich is tied to one of the main characters abilities, some getting more stronger, some more weaker powers... they will have to roleplay pretty good, since one of this abilities only works when you actually hold a person... anyway, this abilities are powerfull, but when facing an army, it comes in handy... and they are all somewhat limited, like once per day, or that you damage yourself doing it, that sort of things, i will make sure it won't make them overpowered. my main question is for dm tips, my side question is comment about the story. thx already :D
kelvinaw273 05-26-06, 07:18 AM	You've chosen a campaign idea that LOOKS easy (players play themselves) but can actually be quite hard. Be careful, as you will find players will try to 'invent gunpowder' and other tricks. That aside, the things to look for ... the best advice I can give you for a good role-playing game (as opposed to a rill-playing game) is this: The DM's job has two halves; the first is to make sure that the player characters stay alive through the course of a dangerous and challenging adventure without losing the thread of the story or theme of the campaign. The second is to keep them utterly unaware of the first. 1) Your adventure should have several plot lines: the main plot, and the side-plots and alternative threads if the characters make decisions you did not anticipate. Some will be cul-de-sacs, others will be entire new adventure threads. This way you will not have to railroad your characters or have white-hatted NPCs save the day if they don't do what you thought they would do, or if they fail due to dumb bad luck. 2) Play your villains and foils intelligently. If they know the PCs are after them, ave them plan their defences or attack the PCs before hand. If they are major villains, they will be so for a reason. 3) Don't be afraid to fudge the dice or the rules behind the player's backs'. Some purists will cry that you have to stick to the letter of RAW, but I have never met a good DM that did this. If a character has (by bad luck) fallen to 2 hp, and you roll the BG they are fighting a critical, let it be a normal hit - give them a chance to survive, not an insta-kill. 4) If players insist on their characters doing stupid things, let them reap the consequences. If they want to try to steal from their allies "because it is easier" in front of the guard captain .... well then they will end up in jail or hunted and with no allies. Them's the breaks. 5) Likewise, allways give them a way out, even if it means running away, surrendering or eating humble pie. 6) Plan encounters in advance, even random ones. Read up on the monster, note down a strategy for it to use, make sure you understand the rules regarding it's feats, powers and spells. Likewise, familiarise the players with the rules for their own abilities. Nothing slows a game down more than having to stop and check the rules on some obscure point, or having a player argue with you that they CAN do something you know they cannot. Players with secret agenders who spring an "and this means I can do X!" on you at the last moment are the bane of a good game. So when a player takes what seems an obscure choice of feats, ask them what they are planning. There was a poster here a while back who figured what he THOUGHT was a way of allowing a rogue to make every attack a sneak attack, even when facing an opponant alone. He had it wrong, plus he was Trolling, but it shows how serious arguments can get when players are denied what they feel is legitemate and you know isn't. 7) Involve all the characters. When the adventure gets personal, they get involved, but you have to do it to all, not just a few.
sedai 05-26-06, 10:00 AM	thx alot for the advice. i just went out to search some pictures on the internet from places they wil probaly visit, to give them a visual to hang on to.. i wil try to make multiple story lines in the.. story. if anyone has another thing to say, please do. ow, and i know it won't be an easy campaign, or atleast, i hope its not. people in d&d kill all the time, but in reallife it takes you an hour to think about ending a life such as that of a poor bird with broken wings... so i will remind them to carefully think of what they would do in such a situation, cuz it seems easier at first... and i know of the danger that ingame fights are going to leak out into out game fights, ill try my best to prevent that though... ow, and now already i am getting complaints from this one guy.. i told the people i wanted to know stats first, before they could think about classes. now that this guy has chosen his class, he has suddenly raised his wisdom, when i asked him why, he told me "because i am going to play monk" when i told him that that was everything i was trying to prevent, he told me something like. "well ok, so i am dead already." and i said that one ac less wouldn't be the end of him. he said it would... anyway i can handle this? suppose not, but still, its annoying.
danielinthewolvesden 05-26-06, 10:52 AM	if anyone has another thing to say, please do. , but still, its annoying. Well,since you ask. If you want to talk about annoying, then think about us, your poor readers. You come here and ask us for advice, but make it hard for us to read your questions. Use the Shift key and Capitalize properly please so those of us that woudl like to help you don't get a head ache trying to do so. Once you go back and make your threads readable, I am sure you'll get more advice. Sorry, but that's the way it is. Spellcheck wouldn't hurt either.
Exooki 05-26-06, 03:07 PM	yes you mgiht want to be careful losing control of your players is a sure way to ruin your game, this has hapened to me before and it ruined the game for a little while, remember as the dm you are pretty much in complete control, make sure that your pcs understand your own house rules (if you have any) and keep their characters at appropriate power, if they become too strong then they will begin to get bored wiht your campaign unless you continue to up the anty of your monsters, about your campaign it is an interesting one but jsut a suggestion people play dnd to playu a fantasy game dont make your game sound too much like real life or it womnt be as interesting thank you and any1 is free to critisize me in i am wrong anywhere these are simply my experiences
sedai 05-26-06, 03:46 PM	i am sorry wolvesden, if i insulted you in anyway... i know i didn't force you to read and respond. thx for the other tips though. i know its supposed to be a fantasy game... but players from this world, being inserted into that fantasy world opens a lots op opertunities... the campaign is going to be short though. we have a week when school days are very short. (i'm still 16) and every afternoon we will do a session, probaly five. still asking: 1) any tips about stuff as preparing. How much do i have to prepare? 2) experienced dm stuff. are there dmg pages i need to keep at hand, or other stuff. 3) tips like handling how to handle rounds(do you write down their initative, or let them remember their roll), and if players can see rolls such as spot or sense motive.
matrix_king3 05-26-06, 07:14 PM	Player inventing gun powder...mmm nice...but in that case I recommended a Knowledge Arcana DC 40 for know : what is gunpowder...you know... Im not a experimented DM but I got this for you...NPC are what you want...you want it to fly and cast crazy spell...k..dont be restrited by the ''Fly'' spell rule and other thing like that...juste dont kill your player...
Eled_the_Worm_Tamer 05-26-06, 07:24 PM	Posit notes. The best thing I ever did was take a pack of posit notes and go through my DMG and use them to book mark critical pages. The glue keeps them in place, but dosent damage the paper, I have half a dosen markers in mine. what you should prepair? varies, I Dm rather fast and luse, mastly because if you prepar too much the players will suprise you, and you wont know what to do, but if your prepared to react with practace they need never know. My notes consist of: Party level, imprtant for picking encounters, treasure ect. Why there involved, The main threats, problems How it hooks into my meta plot A list of the encounters and exp each for the adventure. List of all treasure from adventure, as well as any other rewards. all in all it takes about an a4 sheet per adventure. Other tips, I geep a note book on me at all times for ideas, youd be suprised how often a cup of morning coffie comes with a cool adeventure at the botom. Have fun, your here to play too, Ive discovered that Gming is a great way to try out all the cool Prestege classes Id never use otherwise, and the monster manual is a toy box :evillaugh dont be afraid to stall to check rules either, better to slow things down to make sure you know wat your doing whan rush on in. Thats about all, have fun, and rember if you have to cheat, cheat to help the players, not to hurt them, tpk is not the Gm winning.
nevcoup 05-26-06, 08:20 PM	That is my advice
sedai 05-27-06, 04:26 AM	thx... ill remember it. :D
matrix_king3 05-27-06, 08:23 AM	Geek will rule the world!!! k...another thing...know what your player can do...specialy the spell caster and the rogue...Because you just going to give a monster like a Snow Giant...and your wizard cast Fire ball...you didn't know that he actualy got this spell...And at begining...if your player are beginner...help them whit an NPC that follow them. If they dont know what to do or do stupid thing like jump on a chest without search for trap...make your NPC says WAIT!!!...they gonna learn from that...thats the better way to teach the game and the fact is that...player can do anything...but they dont understand it...