Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Crudough Apr 09, 2015 19:46:08	Hey All!   My friends and I have been trying to get into the universe of D&D and since I have played, we agreed that I am supposed to be the DM for our first Campaign. This being said I have a couple questions:   1) Should I use a starter campaign as a basis, maybe just to get them upto lvl. 2 or 3, and then start writing my own story? I've always wanted to write but I don't know how. (I know confusing and conflicting haha!)   2) When I start to write, is there a certain outline I should try to stick to? ex. Set intro, then many options throughout the universe all leading toa finale.     Any help, feedback or advice is appreciated! Thanks     P.S. I've been a fan of Mr. Sark, if anyone knows who that is, so I'm listening through the Nerd Poker Podcast and I like his style of play!
#2 bawylie Apr 09, 2015 20:05:08	1.) Yes. It's easier to start walking than flying.    2.) Yes, but, if, except, etx. You should find what your players are interested in and hew close to that before spreading those wings.    Ps. No.    Pps. Have a look at DM 101 in my blog. Then go steal plots and rewrite them according to your game and your players' interests.
#3 Varden_Khol Apr 09, 2015 20:13:02	I think taking care of question 1 and getting a number of games under your belt with a pre-written module will really open your eyes as to how to approach question number 2. And I second Bawylie's suggestion that you read the links in his sig. I was in basically the same boat as you a few years ago as designated DM for my group and I ran one or two modules before jumping into a custom setting. The great thing is, your players will also be more familiar with the system by then and can decide whether to start over with a new character or keep trucking with the one they've got.   And my final words: We may be an argumentative bunch at times but this forum is an incredible resource. Welcome, and good luck!
#4 bawylie Apr 09, 2015 20:34:11	Sorry I was playing when I responded. Truly though. Come back, ask more, good luck.
#5 CCS Apr 09, 2015 20:43:16	Crudough wrote:
#6 Crudough Apr 09, 2015 21:06:28	Thanks for the quick response!    Bawylie, I will definitely look into your blog. I'm new to this community site but I will definitely read it over.   I already have the 5 ed Monsters Manul and Player's Handbook so I can't justify buying the starter set just for the one book. I've started looking into the other pre-made campaigns (published) and I haven't found one that I think they'll be able to navigate as beginner characters. I have a pretty good idea in terms of where I want to start and how I want to build a large campaign out of the beginner's adventure.    In terms of loot, rewarding/punishment and the creation of encounters do you guys have any advice. I recently finished up a short campaign with some guys and the DM was not very good at balancing in my opinion. (ie. we all died at lvl. 2 in his basic encounter).   Thanks again!
#7 Macv12 Apr 09, 2015 21:23:58	Crudough wrote:
#8 bawylie Apr 09, 2015 21:26:31	So here's the deal. Eschew "punishment" altogether. Erase it from your lexicon.    For good or bad, actions and decisions have consequences. Not punishments and rewards.    Next, keep in mind your goals of play: create a memorable story, have a mess of fun. This means, even losing must be both memorable and fun.    Design obstacles, not solutions. And adjudicate consistently and fairly.    As you begin, identify players' goals and put obstacles between them and their goals. As you proceed, use the encounter building guidelines and put a lot of stuff in the "moderate" difficulty until both you and your group are fairly comfortable with the basic conversation of the game.    In other words, take steps. Don't make big changes, make incremental ones, so you're not trying to do too many things at once.    for level 1 characters, build a 6 room dungeon. Maybe 12 rooms. Steal from well-known sources (I like legend of Zelda for dungeons, Final fantasy for setting, metroid for complexes, and TV for plot lines: A & b).    blog is oriented toward new DMs. See also @is3rith, @theangrygm, & @slyflourish (aka the lazy GM) on Twitter.
#9 bawylie Apr 09, 2015 21:29:10	Here are some rooms I did as a sort of tutorial dungeon for level 1 players.    http://community.wizards.com/forum/product-and-general-dd-discussions/threads/4198296   They're stripped of story and motivation. Just stuff to teach how to play.
#10 paulstrait Apr 09, 2015 21:40:42	I recommend starting with something basic -- the starter set is remarkably good -- and then throwing out a bunch of different plot hooks.  Then see what the players follow up on.  You don't really have to figure out where those plot hooks go until after the players decide to follow up on them, and that way you can kind of let player interest dictate what you write.
#11 Varden_Khol Apr 09, 2015 21:46:51	bawylie wrote:
#12 CCS Apr 09, 2015 21:54:32	Crudough wrote:
#13 Imaculata Apr 10, 2015 1:53:50	I think the first campaign of just about any player, is something really basic. Either a prewritten campaign, or a simple dungeon where you kill the dragon at the end. And that's perfectly fine. While technically it is not hard to write a campaign, it IS hard to write a good campaign. So you might as well get some ideas from existing modules. Playing through someone elses campaign first, will make it easier to write one yourself.   When I write a campaign, I start with a theme and a setting. What kind of area does it take place in? What is roughly the time period? Then I start thinking up countries and cultures to inhabit my world. I start thinking of how the world came to be, and then a villain often presents itself pretty quickly. All that remains is to think of a good introduction for the players. How do I get them together as fast as possible?
#14 Crudough Jul 12, 2015 16:00:56	Hey guys!    Sorry for not responding to this for a while (and I mean a while) but since the last post we've started a campaign that I've created and it's been going quite well! I've created a seperate universe and interweaved a few side storylines (that each pertain to a different PC's backgrounds). So far it's been going really well! We've only done about 6 playthroughs. This being said I have a couple more questions for you wise and experienced DnDers! These pertain to my PC's more than me though haha!   1) We're all good friends playing and I'm sure you have experienced the shenanigans that they pull on each other, but two of them are actually fighting each other in game. In their defense their characters do majorly conflict but it ruins some of the encounters that I design cause theyll go into it with half health when I've planned it as the first thing that could damage them. I'm really not sure what to do without being to controlling.   2) One of the PC's is a "sh-t disturber" (like thats who his character is, he's a good guy) but its almost a little too much where he'll try to force it in too many ways that drag on the story. I haven't done anything yet as I don't want him to be discouraged from RPing.   Finally 3) One of the PC's is trying to break character and pursuade other PC's to disclose information (loot, a language they can read etc.) and they don't always want to so he then tries to use his skills against them. Now this probably has a really easy solution and I just said that you can't use Pursuasion on a PC. But I know it frustrates other players. This player also will sometimes hear stuff that his character shouldn't (he heard the other players looting something when he already left the area so he tried to go back down a one way street to go get some loot, it almost killed him).    Any suggestions/help/ideas are greatly appreciated!   Thanks!
#15 Imaculata Jul 13, 2015 3:43:59	Sounds like all of the above problems have to do with the players working as a team, and the players working towards their goal. When you start a campaign, it is very important to agree with your players how the campaign will be played. Explain to them that you expect them to work together, and that you don't want behavior that derails the campaign, or causes them to do the exact opposite of working together. Explain that the goal is to tell an exciting story, while you don't want to railroad your players, it is reasonable of you to expect them to cooperate to some degree. If the campaign is all about defeating a dragon, then your players need to be willing to go after said dragon.   But you are not the first to run into this problem, and definitely not the last. I'd have an honest heart to heart with your players, and ask them to fight the villains, and not each other. Inform them that you don't want them robbing each other, or fighting each other.
#16 iserith Jul 13, 2015 7:18:55	Crudough wrote:
#17 Crudough Jul 13, 2015 7:39:56	Thanks for the response I really appreciate the feedback,  iserith wrote:
#18 cjblaney0 Jul 13, 2015 10:21:12	I read this book, it helped out tremendously -  a good part of it talkes about creating your own campaign.   The name of it is "The Lazy Dungeon Master" although it's not really about laziness, more about efficient ways to start and maintain a good campaign.   http://www.amazon.com/Lazy-Dungeon-Master-Michael-Shea-ebook/dp/B00ADV2H8O
#19 Imaculata Jul 13, 2015 13:34:36	I try to have a healthy balance of NPC's in my campaigns that the players can dislike (and thus mess around with), and NPC's that are serious. A campaign doesn't have to be super serious all the time (in fact, I think that would ruin a lot of the light hearted fun that I enjoy about DnD). I make sure that the players know when they need to watch their behavior, and when they are free to make a mess. Never under estimate the importance of allowing players to just have fun. Of course this shouldn't completely disrupt the campaign all the time.   Take this example of the show Critical Roll for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-p9lWIhcLQ&index=2   Its a pretty long video, but one thing that is immediately clear, is that the DM allows the players to do silly stuff with the NPC's. He's pretty forgiving (as I tend to be as well) to the player's tendency for misschief. The DM gives the players plenty of opportunity to recover from the silly acts of one of their party members, and to continue having civilized conversation with an NPC, despite what just happened. When it is really important, the players know when to be serious, and try and get things done. That is the right balance that you want in your campaign I think.   You may have to make a sort of agreement with your players regarding their table manners. But you can also force your hand as a DM, and allow other civilized players to interfere with the plans of the disruptive player.
#20 Crudough Jul 14, 2015 6:20:02	Imaculata wrote:
#21 iserith Jul 14, 2015 6:28:02	Crudough wrote:
#22 Crudough Jul 14, 2015 7:12:26	iserith wrote:
#23 Imaculata Jul 14, 2015 10:26:59	The book Frostburn has a lot of cool (get it?) ideas for icy regions, but it's a 3rd edition book, so not all of it might be compatible. Some of the things this book introduces are:   -Hypothermia rules (DM keeps track of heat levels for each player) -Snow storms / Blizzards -High altitude -Dire winter -Dire weather (acid sleet, blood snow blizzards, death hail, howl of the north, negation flurry, razor sleet, rust flurry, ) -Diseases (cabin fever, coldfire ruin, creeping frost, winter rot) -Snow blindness -Frostbite -Freezing and Thawing -Whiteouts -Everfrost terrain -Glacier terrain -Frozen sea terrain -Terrain dangers (crevasses, quickslush, snow fields) -Magical terrain (acid slush, blood snow, ebony ice, lightning pillars, negation snow, razor ice, rust snow, snow geysers)   You can probably Google a lot of these, and see what the 3rd edition rules are, and then adapt them yourself. Its great for inspiration.