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Half-orc Bard
2010-10-24, 10:55 PM
I'm going to DM my first time game in a while. I was wondering if anyone has any good tips?

Arbane
2010-10-24, 11:32 PM
Try not to freak out when (NOT "if") the PCs go completely off the rails. Be prepared to improvise.

2-HeadedGiraffe
2010-10-25, 08:07 AM
My advice? Don't.

Kidding, kidding. My biggest problem the last time I DM was that the party never really gelled. We sort of had two parties that I kept having to railroad back together if I wanted anything to get done. I did sort of tell the one guy (who was switching characters because another guy was leaving - longish story) that his new character WOULD play well with others.

My advice for dealing with that is to have the characters already be a group when the game starts, assuming the players are willing to go along with that. Secondly, try to involve every character and player personally. Throw in something, not necessarily every session, but now and then, that appeals specifically to each member of the group, as well as their characters. Third, underline what Arbane just said. The players will go off the rails, and they will do things you're not expecting. You have to be able to deal with that.

Dr. Qwerk
2010-10-25, 08:11 AM
Do not overprepare, and don't write a story. Write a bunch of possibilities.

Dr.Epic
2010-10-25, 08:14 AM
Think of enjoyable characters for roleplaying and maybe not make the combat too threatening right away.

misterk
2010-10-25, 08:25 AM
my advice for first time gming is to try and railroad a bit more than might be usual, and put your players in situations where you don't have to plan to far in advance. By this, I mean that its nice to get your players to agree to start with some simple restriction- i.e. they've already agreed to work for the wizard/inquisitor/lord/koblod, and can thus be set missions. A mission structure is a lot easier to create than a "heres a city, find the plot" structure, which is also a lot of fun.

These missions can then be tailored towards yourself and your players tastes. So "theres a magic item in this dungeon that I'd like. Get it and I'll give you money", or "The opposing lord recently embarrased me in court, find out a dirty secret he has, and use it to humilate him" or "There have been reports of heresy in this village, find their source" or "I wants me some vittles. Go raid the local village for babies".

If you want, you can then tie this to a meta-plot, such as "this magic item is the first step towards stopping the dark lord cliche" or "The opposing lord has powerful friends who did not take kindly to his courtly defeat" or "The heresy in the village was caused by a widespread cult" or "There are babies in EVERY village!"

The reason I propose this structure is that it is easier to plan, by giving a central authority over the players it helps make sure they stick to the plot, and their generation should be tied towards meeting that. Certain systems incline themselves towards having a central authority, such as Dark Heresy and L5R. Note that each mission should ideally not be railroaded, i.e. there should be a bad guy in each mission, and an objective, but the players should be able to solve the problem as they will. For example
"the way across this dungeon is full of traps. We will bring a thief/magic them away/run really really fast and hope we don't die" (one can punish stupidity), or "we can find the info on the lord by gossip/threatening people physically/threatening people verbally/getting drunk with people/sleeping with people" or "we can find the heresy by questioning the townsfolk/going undercover/setting fire to the entire village" or "we can get babies by stealing them/paying for them/setting fire to the village"

You should make sure to have an idea of important npcs, and their likely responses to players actions. If you have a reasonable notion of people's personalities then you can react to unexpected player actions. "These goblins guard the main entrance. They're not terribly well paid, and aren't that willing to risk their lives. They'll fight cautiously, and are open to being bribed." or "the brother of the enemy lord is a notorious lecher. While quite guarded in usual circumstances, he's putty in the hands of an attractive woman. He has some knowledge of his lord's activities, but is mostly kept out of the loop." or "jonny the barman is a fairly jumpy guy who has been running an illegal gambling operation. He's petrified that the inquisition will find out, and completely unaware that they couldn't care less. He'll tell them anything they want to know, but most of what he says is nonsense" or "this mother doesn't want her baby stolen. She has a frying pan"

Importantly, if any of your bad guys has a plot running throughout the session, consider what they might do in response to the players actions. Typically my bad guys plots will work if the players hadn't interrupted (unless they're meant to go catastrophically wrong), so depending on their intelligence and the way the players act, they'll react to try and make sure their plan continues. "Baron evil lives at the centre of the dungeon, terrorising the local populace with his evil powers. He has no particular plans and is incredibly arrogant. He assumes no-one can breach his dungeon's defences, so has no escape plans provided" or "The Lord presents a front of purity in court, but has some odd sexual practicies. He does his best to keep these secret, by killing the geisha he uses for his purposes, but one escaped. He is doing his best to hunt said geisha down, before she could speak to the wrong person and humilate him. He comes across as pious to a fault, and refuses to act dishonorably when dealing with people of his own rank in public. However, his desperation to not be caught has driven him to employ (ninjas), something even more shameful than his practices. He is desperate not to be caught in this deception, and will stop at nothing to stop prying ears" or "the magus has converted nearly a quarter of the village to his cause, and is readying for a ritual which sacrifices all the children towards summoning a great demon. He is fairly confident of his abilities to manipulate everyone he meets, and is unaware of the approach of the inquisition. That said, he has a lot of contacts in the village, and will eliminate a perceived threat ruthlessly" or "the mayor of the town probably doesn't want any babies caught. He's pretty bankrupt though, and the town guard corrupt, so any leadership he provides will be piecemeal at best"

Make sure that npcs do not act without some way of getting knowledge. However, don't be afraid to change things if an unexpected player action is going to ruin the plot early. If the players are about to stumble into the plot room by sheer fluke, for gods sake move it. As long as its under the hood, the players won't know. Its usually not a good idea to punish players for intelligence however, so even if you don't want them to find the main bad guy you could reward them in some manner.

Uh.. so yeah got a bit carried away with each of those plots. Well maybe not the kobolds one...