Stadge
2012-02-02, 06:52 AM
First of all, I'll be using 4th edition D&D, but I'm posting here for the possibility of general advice.
The short question is, will attempting to DM a 4th edition D&D game with very little in the way of physical resources (out of game) prove too much hassle?
Longer-information laden stuff:
OK, after ages of not being able to, a group of my friends now want to try out d&d, I'm keen on the idea, and would be more than happy to DM as I love world building and it also probably helps that I have some experience, having ran a brief 4e edition campaign several years ago that ended due to players moving elsewhere.
Now this, would be all well and good, only, I don't have any rules with me, having left PHB 1 and 2, the martial and arcane book, Open Grave, DM Guide and Monster Manuals 1 and 2 at home. None of us can really afford to buy stuff from scratch, and whilst we could probably chip in, the question of overall ownership would probably become an issue when we leave.
So yes, so far, I have a group of keen players, but no rules other than the ones half remembered in my head....
But I think I might be able to do something. I'm a D&D insider subscriber from ages back, which I think will help a lot, well in terms of PC and encounter building stuff. I'm also aware that WotC offer their Quick Start rules as a free pdf, along with Keep on the Shadowfell.
So with this my plan is to use Insider for the technical character creation/management aspects, monster selection/building and general encounter creation, the quick-start rules for the basis of combat and other mechanical rules, and then for the rest rely heavily on role-playing and essentially winging (or at least deciding a rough difficulty for rolls to do stuff).
Oh, I know Insider has loads of content, but I’ll probably limit it to mostly things that I'm already familiar with.
So essential my main questions are; is this possible to do? Will it likely be far too much work for a lapsed DM?
.
And as a sub-question, what did people make of Keep on the Shadowfell? Does it hold up as a good intro adventure? And if not can anyone recommend something else? On the whole I'm keen to make my own adventures again, but thought it bets to start out with something like this as a base.
Thanks for reading guys.
The short question is, will attempting to DM a 4th edition D&D game with very little in the way of physical resources (out of game) prove too much hassle?
Longer-information laden stuff:
OK, after ages of not being able to, a group of my friends now want to try out d&d, I'm keen on the idea, and would be more than happy to DM as I love world building and it also probably helps that I have some experience, having ran a brief 4e edition campaign several years ago that ended due to players moving elsewhere.
Now this, would be all well and good, only, I don't have any rules with me, having left PHB 1 and 2, the martial and arcane book, Open Grave, DM Guide and Monster Manuals 1 and 2 at home. None of us can really afford to buy stuff from scratch, and whilst we could probably chip in, the question of overall ownership would probably become an issue when we leave.
So yes, so far, I have a group of keen players, but no rules other than the ones half remembered in my head....
But I think I might be able to do something. I'm a D&D insider subscriber from ages back, which I think will help a lot, well in terms of PC and encounter building stuff. I'm also aware that WotC offer their Quick Start rules as a free pdf, along with Keep on the Shadowfell.
So with this my plan is to use Insider for the technical character creation/management aspects, monster selection/building and general encounter creation, the quick-start rules for the basis of combat and other mechanical rules, and then for the rest rely heavily on role-playing and essentially winging (or at least deciding a rough difficulty for rolls to do stuff).
Oh, I know Insider has loads of content, but I’ll probably limit it to mostly things that I'm already familiar with.
So essential my main questions are; is this possible to do? Will it likely be far too much work for a lapsed DM?
.
And as a sub-question, what did people make of Keep on the Shadowfell? Does it hold up as a good intro adventure? And if not can anyone recommend something else? On the whole I'm keen to make my own adventures again, but thought it bets to start out with something like this as a base.
Thanks for reading guys.