PDA

View Full Version : seeking starter advice



darc
2010-06-15, 02:42 PM
so, i'm a mostly crpg player who wants to make the leap to proper paper form and in need of advice. actually i've been wanting to make the leap for a while but i finally gave up on finding an actual game i'd manage to attend and talked a couple friends to try it out. we actually tried a 2nd edition campain oh, most be 15 years ago by now, with one of them so he seems pretty interested in the game. Since i thought 2 players would be too few to start out, i kinda bullied the girlfriend to atleast give it a shot(we'll see what happens there).
i managed to get my hands on some 3.5 books and am working under the assumption i'll be the gm (atleast to start with). i went oper the players handbook pretty quick and gave it to the player so that they'd get familiar with it before the game.

for now we scheduled our first get together for saturday and planned to start with creating the actual characters. then proceeding to do "a dark and stormy knight" from the wizards website. i also downloaded "wizards amulet" from necromancer games as an option for a followup.

i've looked into all sorts of info i could so that we'd manage to have a decent enough a started to continue it, yet i'm totally dreading things will go wrong. first doubt is number of players(3) being a bit low for such premade adventures and that if anybody bites the bullet they'll get discourages from continueing..
second is my overall ability to tell the story. i've read a ton of books yet feel uncertain i can make stories of my own on the spot if necessary.
thirdly is the fact that i'd have to whip out a rulebook to check things whenever anything happens

Greenish
2010-06-15, 02:46 PM
Well, most pre-made adventures expect a 4-person party, and since all of your players are newbies, you might want to tone it down a bit.

The most important thing is to accept that you will fail. Repeatedly. Everyone does. Don't let it worry you too much, it takes a while to learn the ropes. :smalltongue:

Keld Denar
2010-06-15, 02:52 PM
As a beginner, keep things simple. Some of the rules are complicated, but remember, GM has ultimate control. Encourage creativity. Reward plausable solutions with favorable bonuses to rolls to complete such tasks (the +2/-2 is known as the DMs best friend for a reason).

As for running published adventures for 3 people. One thing you can do is reduce either number of foes to 3/4 of the amount listed, OR reduce the HP of single/duo foe encounters by 3/4. Most published adventures are written for a rather low optimization level anyway, so you shouldn't have to tone down from there.

As far as the storytelling goes...try writing some boxed text and reading it, or taking the boxed text from the module and reading it in front of a mirror. Watch your facial expressions a bit. You don't have to go overboard. Now put the text down and expand upon some facet of what you read, giving it more details. This 2nd part is what you'll be doing 95% of the time as a DM. Its not hard once you overcome the nervousness, and doing this well help.

3rd, I'd talk to the players ahead of time, give them a little bit of a run down what characters are like, and then have them pick out a concept they like. Then, it might be worthwhile for you to pre-generate characters ahead of time, just so that that process doesn't bog you down too much. Let the players pick what they want, and then you actually make it happen (we, the playground, can help you here). Once the players have a run through with a character, they'll understand their attributes much better and in a 2nd game, you can introduce PC generation, but at first, you just want to familiarize them with the game. THAT is the most important part...getting them hooked.

Hope this helps!

Naia
2010-06-15, 06:18 PM
Do read "So You Wanna Be a DM?" under Sticky: Notable Threads...
It's got great advice for a fledgling DM!

Best of Luck & Enjoy yourselves :smile:

Endarire
2010-06-15, 06:51 PM
Read Handbooks (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?board=22.0)! Many people spent tremendous time sorting through the most viable options.

IonDragon
2010-06-15, 07:07 PM
"Toning it down a bit" will probably be a bit tough for a fledgling DM. You may consider the options of giving the players a boost in power, as they probably won't know how to work well with what they have, a small boost (1-2 levels assuming the pre made adventures are about level 1-4) should not cause a negative impact to the enjoyability.

If starting level is 1, then a bonus level will really increase enjoyability because it will not lead to as many instant deaths from cr 1/2 monsters that get a lucky hit. An orc with a Great Axe that rolls max damage can take your Wizard from full HP to straight up dead in one blow. If that orc crits on your Fighter and rolls above average he can take him from full HP to dead in one blow as well. IMO level 1 sucks and if you want to start from the beginning level 2 is the spot. Casters don't get level 2 spells yet, and they only get another spell per day or so. The real buff is in HP to keep you from getting dead and help you get to level 3.

@#2: Yes. You're probably going to mess up a bit. If people get discouraged, remind them that you're just as new at this as they are. The most important bit here is that you be in control of the group. It sounds like you guys are all about mid 20's from having tried 2nd ed 15 years ago? That should help. Just set up a time frame and a game plan. Laptops go away, TV stays off, schedule a meal time, etc.

@#3: Here you go. (http://www.d20srd.org/index.htm) Keep a computer handy to look up rules there, it will probably be much faster to search with that than flip through the books.

Many more experienced groups have this same problem though. In combat, it is the players' job to look decide what they want to do and look up relevant rules and mark the pages DURING OTHER PEOPLES' TURNS. Let them know this. If they don't know what they want to do and the next person does, there's an action in initiative called "Delay". This does not lose them anything. They simply reset their initiative to right after the next person for the rest of the encounter. They can then take that extra time to figure out what they want to do.

darc
2010-06-16, 09:23 AM
thanks for all the advice.
i'm kinda guessing my biggest problem at this point was the sheer panicky feeling that englossed me, but a few simple posts later it starts to clear, ah how nice.
cheers :)

and hopefully things will turn alright on saturday..

Another_Poet
2010-06-16, 09:34 AM
First off I would bear in mind that you will mess things up, all first-time DM's do, and that's OK.

Second, with 3 players, if none of them makes a cleric then consider adding an NPC cleric. In A Dark and Stormy Knight, I would have a kobold shaman walk in out of the rain and claim storm peace to take shelter in the cave with the PCs. Once the door to the dungeon breaks open, the kobold is afraid to follow the party into the depths, but he will be in the entrance cave where they first met him if they need to return for healing.

This way he doesn't become a tagalong and you don't need to stat him, but he is around to dispense a few CLW's if needed. If the party kills him on a whim then maybe he has two healing potions on him.

ap

darc
2010-06-16, 10:48 AM
First off I would bear in mind that you will mess things up, all first-time DM's do, and that's OK.

Second, with 3 players, if none of them makes a cleric then consider adding an NPC cleric. In A Dark and Stormy Knight, I would have a kobold shaman walk in out of the rain and claim storm peace to take shelter in the cave with the PCs. Once the door to the dungeon breaks open, the kobold is afraid to follow the party into the depths, but he will be in the entrance cave where they first met him if they need to return for healing.

This way he doesn't become a tagalong and you don't need to stat him, but he is around to dispense a few CLW's if needed. If the party kills him on a whim then maybe he has two healing potions on him.

ap

ooh, thats a nice one. i was thinking of a npc cleric myself but coudnt figure out a reasonable way to make him not actually do too much.
a kobold shaman witha a friend or two and supersticions agains moving further in would be just the ticket.. and the friends should convince my players to leave him alone for now...ooh, it'd even throw in a nice bit of npc interaction at the start. perfect! cheers

Radar
2010-06-16, 11:19 AM
I can not overstate, how helpful this guide (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=76474) is. It has a lot of practical advice on being a DM.

Apart from that, good luck and expect the unexpected! :smallsmile: