New DM Help

[Atentora]

So, I'm going to be starting a new campaign soon, and I would love some advice from the wonderful people of this board. I've tried to get a few together before, but I always burn out before anything starts. I tend to try to predict what the PCs will do, and that just is never a good idea. This time I've got the party set, a few encounters set, the city the game will be taking place in, and a story outline. Now, that story outline will most likely be thrown out from what I've gathered from my own experience and from what I've read here. So, how do I deal with that without flailing around for story during a game?

I've also been worried about running encounters. I'm not worried about knowing the rules (one of the players knows most of them) I'm worried about keeping track of everything, and not stopping the flow of the game completely. Any advice or tools to help with this?

Also, I'm worried my encounters will be too difficult or easy. I end up thinking strategically and end up with traps and ambushes that would squash the party. I also want to use poisons but we've never used them in the past and I'm worried it will cripple the party too much. I've been using the Encounter EL & XP Calculator and built an encounter table of sorts, but I'm still uneasy that things will be far to easy. Advice please?

Speaking of encounters, should I continue building encounters, or have a little pause and just create them on the spot as needed (for example PCs start a bar fight)?

tl;dr: Advice for dealing with inevitable story derailment during a session? Any hints or tips on running encounters smoothly? Advice for making sure encounter will challenging without being a TPK?

[dob]

I don't have much advice for the former; my parties tend to be well-behaved. I try to have the nearest 3 or 4 locations important to the plot or setting fully mapped out and populated, and a couple of random encounters in my back pocket, and let the party do what they want. Usually they stick to one of the obviously interesting locations, and if they do decide to go off the rails and go somewhere I haven't fleshed out, it usually takes them an hour or two to commit, at which point we'll either call it, I'll wing it, or they'll get a random encounter to end the session.

I seldom plan specifically for the party's actions, I just make sure I know the events that are, or might be, already in motion and the motivations and characters of the principals and see what happens.

For encounters, make an index card for each participant and their most relevant encounter stats - AC, HP, saves, attacks for the NPCs, and a card for the end of the combat round. Sort the cards in initiative order at the beginning of combat and never skip anyone's turn again (unless they ready an action or delay and forget they did so :)).

When estimating encounter difficulty, I sometimes check the expected damage per round for the enemy against their probable targets. I won't sucker punch the party with an overwhelming enemy, though I have no reservations about throwing an excessively difficult encounter at the party and forcing them to retreat. Knowing when and how to retreat is important and interesting.

If things get out of hand in a combat due to my misjudgment, I'll sometimes adjust the enemy stats or composition on the fly, if I can do so in a way that doesn't break continuity. Many of my encounters don't begin with all of the enemy revealed, I'll add. Not only does it change the contours of the battle when the enemy rogue sneak attacks from his sniper position, or the wargs finally come charging in from the kennels, I have the option to drop, nerf, or augment them if the encounter difficulty isn't appropriate.

[OracleofSilence]

Well considering my own experiences as a DM my personal advice for party control is this. Build dissension in the ranks. Get the players to have slight, slight conflicts and then play this off to your benefit. Also, assume that the party will take not of the most inconsequential things that you say and have some sort of response prepared.

[Trasilor]

So, I'm going to be starting a new campaign ...

I would suggest talking to your players too. Discuss with them the type of campaign they want to play (goals they would like to accomplish) and the type of characters they will be playing (how they plan on doing said goals). This helps keeps players from derailing the story as they have a vested interest in the story itself.

Index cards - I know it has already been said, but these are a must. Personally, I copy the monster stat block from SRD (http://www.d20srd.org) and print it out on 5x8 index cards - keeps me organized.

I personally hate "random" encounters and "random" treasure, so my games have none. For me, I pre-plan all encounters (even those that appear random) as well as the treasure. Keeps helps me keep the XP in check as well as the gold.

You cannot predict how they will react to an encounter. Recently, I had my players engage a fairly tough challenge with the thought they would retreat and regroup. Instead, they immediately came up with a plan (which is a big deal, because normally they take 20 min do decide anything) and they successfully overcame the encounter.

I suggest you start small with your encounters and keep building upon them/changing enemy tactics. I personally like using the same monster (orc, goblin, bugbear, etc) and build upon them to make them tougher and more challenging rather than just getting a bigger monster.

As far as derailing your campaign, as I stated above, talking to your players about the overall story arc of the campaign helps mitigate this. However, players seem to always derail a story one way or another. If it is a small diversion, I just wing it and they usually return back to the campaign (usually from small nudges from me). Sometimes, I use their personal history to keep bring them back into the story line (kidnapped family members are always fun)

If it is a full derailment I do two things:

First, I try and find out why the players want to completely change the story. Usually, one or two players are not having fun, so I try and understand why. Most of the time, a simple adjustment to the current game will get them back to the campaign.

If that fails, I remind my players, that just like them, I am a person with limited resources (i.e. time). As such, I have nothing prepared for this turn of events and will need a month to plan this new campaign. I am not trying to be mean, just realistic.

One of my players reminded me before we started that I, as the GM, am playing a game too and I should be having fun. Constant derailment is not fun for a GM (at least for me) as hours of prep-time have been wasted.

[Kol Korran]

tl;dr: Advice for dealing with inevitable story derailment during a session? Any hints or tips on running encounters smoothly? Advice for making sure encounter will challenging without being a TPK?

first thing- you need to relax. you will mess up, more than once. some things won't work well, and at times you'll realize some damn bafoonery msitakes.

THIS HAPPENS... even to the best of DMs. you need to remember this is but a social game, and the game is complex and things happen. accept it, breath in and out or whateveer, and move forward.

some advice though as to what you were asking:

story derailment in session
- you may try not designing a story, but a situation, with optional routes for the villains to accomplish things. then the characters might move more freely and you don't need to follow a set plot.

- DMs divie roughly into two categories (there are more) in response to derailment. some improvise exceptionally well and need no preperation. for the rest of us bastards (myself included) i suggest preparation- know the setting, the local the party is in and the opponents and allies so you can respond adequately.

- still, when the unexpected happens and blows your mind, it's quite ok to tell the party "hey guys, this is really awesome! but i don't want to ruin it by some poor ass job. give me 10-15 mintues to think this through". you'd be surprised how many parties resond positively to a DM who acts this responsibely.

- also, remember you need to play this session from moment to moment, but once this is over, you have till next session to think things through (or even come here for help) to give the new twist a new meaning.

running encoutner smoothly
- again, accept that some encounters, especially complicatedones won't run that smoothly. you'll get better with experience. start with simpler ideas, adding just one element of complication, and slowly build up.

- if you know certain rules are going to be used in an encounter (or are likely to) read about them in advance, make sure you understand them and summerize them in well marked pointers. this includes grappling, underwater combat, gaze attack monsters and the like...

- i suggest when planning an enciounter to mark yourself boldly any detail that might be extra important, such as DCs for powers and the like. make them large, make them colorful, make them bold, just make these details easy and simple to read.

- delegate as much as you can to the other players. someone should keep initiative, someone should keep track of spell durations (perhaps the same guy), one on party's hitpoints and the like.

- last thing: in our group we often play by the rules of "forgot it= it's lost and gone" if the players or me forget to use some bonus or ability or the like, it's lost. this helps the encounter run smoother without too much lost. it is also quite an incentive for people to try and remember things, and prevents recalculating and going back and so on.

however, beware of abusive players who forget penalties.

building a challenging encoutner
- it will take you time to feel the party's power level. till then i'd suggest to dwelve on the lower side of CR rather than the higher, except for a few choice fights. when you can guague their power better, you can fine tune better.

- on the whole be prepared for encounters you thought might be a breeze to be really difficult and tough ones to sometimes be chooped liver. you can't perdict anything, and they usually even up. that's ok- it's much due to the players' input and you're not playing alone. dopn't be alarmed unless this happens all too much or the players complain of the general difficulty instead of a specific encounter.

- a little trick that worked for me: the party meets a group of enemies. if it's way over their heads then after some rounds some of the monsters "run for back up/ just run away" (try to wait for a good moment so it won't seem forced). if they are too little, back up comes to help! if this is a single monster goons can still come up and it could still run away, or you can "Adjust" it's hit points (though as a general rule i suggest to avoid messing your monsters too much. the players expect a fair fight, and often despise a DM who alters things mid way). this is indeed a bit of cheating, and thus should be used very very very sparingly, and only at the start.

hope this helped,
Kol.

P.S. i highly suggest to keep some sort of log at first and check what worked, what didn't, and what the players liekd best. helps to self improve.

[Ryulin18]

Important Info: What is the setting? D&D3/4, PF or something else?

Starting out as a DM for D&D 3.5 a few years ago, I've found that working CR from the book is a solid basis to encounter setting. But never take it for lore. If you want to add poisons and such, think of how many of your players it would remove (The fighter who got poisoned and the cleric to heal him) and use that as an average of players.

You have 6 players - 1 gets poisoned and 1 needs to heal. You now have 4 people for an ECL for 6. Set the ECL as 5.

[Atentora]

It's 3.5
Thanks guys, this is awesome! I'm feeling better about the whole thing. I'll be back if things explode.

[GnomeGninjas]

Don't use Ghouls, Stirges, DMPCs, invincible NPCs who beat the hell out of the party if they offend the DM, traps which can't be found even if a rogue of the parties level with max ranks in search takes 20, or plots that rely on the players doing something not very obvious in order to move on with the adventure.
Be willing to accept player creativity.

[SleepyShadow]

Don't use Ghouls, Stirges, DMPCs, invincible NPCs who beat the hell out of the party if they offend the DM, traps which can't be found even if a rogue of the parties level with max ranks in search takes 20, or plots that rely on the players doing something not very obvious in order to move on with the adventure.
Be willing to accept player creativity.

I agree with the DMPCs, the invincible NPCs, the impossible traps, and the awkward plots.

But what is wrong with ghouls and stirges? They're classic monsters :smallconfused:

[onemorelurker]

I agree with the DMPCs, the invincible NPCs, the impossible traps, and the awkward plots.

But what is wrong with ghouls and stirges? They're classic monsters :smallconfused:

I think GnomeGninjas' point there was that at very low levels, things like paralysis and ability damage can be much more deadly than the DM expects them to be.

[SleepyShadow]

I think GnomeGninjas' point there was that at very low levels, things like paralysis and ability damage can be much more deadly than the DM expects them to be.

Ah-hah, that makes sense then. Thanks for clearing that up for me. Yes, at low levels such things must only be used sparingly.

[Hanuman]

Look at your players sheets, go over anything complicated and print out cheatsheets. See any maxed stats in skills? Get the DC sheet for that skill. See grapple mentioned anywhere? Familiarize yourself and do like 10 runthroughs by yourself.

Encounters for a new DM:
ALWAYS under-CR them for single monsters. Always. CR = ECL = 5enc/rest at a flat rate, CR+1/ECL means danger if not extreme danger, CR+2/ECL for a single monster means that the monster can possibly 1-shot a player or even worse they could wipe.

If a monster is CR = ECL or higher it's most likely a boss. If they are level 3 you want to use CR1/2, CR1 and MAYBE CR2 mobs.

If you are a level 3 player, it feels nice to be able to 1-shot moonks, and PLAYERS SHOULD BE ABLE TO. If you load all the difficulty into 1 monster you are likely to have them 1-shot it anyway, any T1 or T2 class is about resource management, you are going to have powerful spells so it's the whole party's role to try and preserve those spells until needed. Your role as a DM is to put pressure on those resource managements so the players sweat a bit and have to play it smart. Deny them information, deny them hope, deny them reference. Make owlbears breathe fire, homebrew in things just to mess with their heads.

Alright, let's say a level 3 party...

Figure out what your players want, some sample layers are:
-Social
-Moral
-Political
-Combat
-Intrigue
-Puzzle

I'll draw up a session for you:

The players arrive in the city of shanmoor, sometime during their visit they make it though town square, a buzzing center of commerce and trade, this is a good way to put thieves, rare finds, interesting objects, food and other such supplies for players to spend their money on.

The players notice a change in the packed crowd and whispering starts to pick up, a high listen check might decipher local gossip, but a gather information check, a Local or Bardic knowledge check may also recover anything the players might want even if this fails.

The crowd draws attention to a street coming westbound, in the general direction of the garrison.

4 armed guards escort a noble, the crowd parts to make room, you as a DM make this speech:

"Citizens of Shanmoor, we are looking for several brave lads for to help with town duties, the pay is impressive and so are the "other" rewards. We will be recruiting at the eastpoint garrison. That is all."

The noble then packs up and leaves, unless the players call out, in which case act organically. The noble and guards head back to the garrison.

If the players take the hook, the garrison will question the players giving limited if any data about the job they want until accepting.

The job is to bring back a letter from Redtower, a keep on the southern edge of the coast only 5 hours by horse, they leave with a commanding guard and 2 others and later are informed that the job is actually an infiltration that the players will have to decide whether or not they like being bait and switched.

Redtower has several guards up on the walls, and dozens in the garrison, their kingdom is known to follow a good deity (know: religion, Know: local, Know: bardic, whichever works) so the players know that the guards would rather imprison than an outright cruel action.

Infiltration is by knight, and infiltration missions test a wide range of adventurers skill.

-Social (Traveling with disguised Shanmoor guards, implications of raiding a neighboring keep that might be in the same kingdom are interesting)
-Moral (Any combat has extreme moral implications, as should be obvious)
-Political (The players now are from shanmoor making an act of treason or aggression on Redtower)
-Combat (If discovered, the players may choose to fight, or to neutralize)
-Intrigue (The players are kept in the dark on what they are doing and why, to add layers you could cause different key social roles to ALSO be misinformed on what they are doing and why, and then causing the data to come up false and have players figure out what to do about it)
-Puzzle (Infiltrating a guarded structure itself is a puzzle, you might hand a high-int char a patrol path chart and layout of the guards upper-wall placement, to add puzzle you can have different machines in Redtower which do not have an apparent function, but one that is necessary to the players goals (myst-style) or a standard puzzle lock would also do. If you have a wooden or ring puzzle toy in real life this could work nicely, the piece removed could represent a key, giving the "smart" player something to do IRL while they are "fiddling" with a device in-game, incurring move silently checks as the players guard the room and try and keep watch and listen for guards, then possibly get the fiddler to hide and stay quiet as patrols walk by.

Each of the guards are CR1 you can throw 3 guards at a time at full strength at players and have them come out all alive 100%

Place handfuls of non-guard mobs in there too, fill it with level 1 commoners who will go for a kitchen knife, a broom, or anything else and yell for the guards after getting over the initial shock of seeing strange people in the room and figuring out they are hostile (the more mundane the party looks, the slower this should happen)

If captured, the players enter this:

Dungeons of Redtower

-Social (Being captured is a highly social affair, it's really interesting and is by no means a bad turn of events for a DM.)
-Moral (How will morals fair when you're in a cage or chained to a wall? Perhaps starved and/or deprived of water?
-Political (Post-capture you still have the Shanmoor variable, how will that effect the party? Will they interrogate? Do they have a psion or magic detect thoughts?)
-Combat (An imprisoned orc is within the dungeon, he is CR3 but his attitude whether friendly or not is up to the DM and the PCs actions. He can be a powerful ally, or a chained beast, who knows!) This is a possible boss-type monster, but in this case it's not necessarily against the players. It can stay neutral until activated which means the DM has maximum control over the variable and its easier to think about. Ogres are also loud and hated by humans (easy to justify torture), so you can plothook that in easily.
Escape will likely involve some combat, make to try and limit it to only have 1 or 2 encounters by the time they escape as setting up and tearing down an encounter in 3.5 is actually pretty awkward.
Alternatively, have the exit through the dungeon itself (maybe seward network?), setting up a "candle burning at the bottom" situation, they are between a fire (hunted by redtower guards into the dungeon) and complete darkness and unknown undernetwork of redtower. Give them a starved prisoner and possibly the orc in the dungeon as key flavor points, giving them a "bash, secret or slip by" choice tree where they can fight their way out, try the sewers or try and get out the way they came unnoticed. Any of these ways is going to be a major puzzle
-Intrigue (The gravity of the players actions suddenly kick in post-punishment, and they are stuck in a place designed to make them think about their actions and talk to each other, including the shanmoor agent if he didn't just tell them to break in and stay in the treeline. This is a great place to reveal the truth about Redtower but not about what they are doing here, and generally a great way to conflict information)
-Puzzle (Escape is essentially the best option here, being trapped in a dungeon is a great way to include a variety of puzzles as they contain traps, locks, machines, and so much more.)

ADD FLAVOR! Add as much flavor as you can without boring the players! Lots of players do want to hear the random bits a pieces. Having throwpillows and rugs in a room makes the room 3x more enjoyable even though that doesn't even make sense!

[onemorelurker]

Putting your players in a dungeon for the first session or two isn't a terrible idea. At least at low levels, dungeons (and please note that I'm using that word in the broadest sense possible) are restrictive in ways that make them easier to manage than open environments--you know everywhere the characters can go, and the ways they can get there, which counters most derailment short of the players just deciding to leave. That way, you can focus less on trying to deal with players moving the plot in ways you didn't expect (though you should still be prepared for them to unexpectedly bypass any given dungeon element through cleverness) and more on other things, at least until you get your sea legs.

[GnomeGninjas]

I think GnomeGninjas' point there was that at very low levels, things like paralysis and ability damage can be much more deadly than the DM expects them to be.

Yes that is what I meant.

[Hanuman]

There are also some clearly unbalanced monsters, I remember that giant crabs and http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/bulette.htm can either gank one party member without much repercussion or they can party wipe. Anything with absurd grapple and unique movement like breathing underwater or burrowing, if it gets ahold of your T1 they are pretty much toast as your parties burst damage will drop by about 30%-60%(that can get past the armor) and an ECL = CR won't be able to counter a threat like that.

Kinda loops back to my CR = ECL point.