First-Time DM

[Grue Bait]

So, I'm finally going to get around to running my own game of D&D. I've played a character before, but this will be my first time being a DM. It's going to be a low-level campaign, maybe around level three, but I'm a little overwhelmed. Does anyone have any tips for this kind of thing? If it matters, I'm using 3.5 edition books.

[TheDarkSaint]

Feeling overwhelmed the first time is fairly natural. We've all be there (those of us who DM, that is).

If you remember what your job is, that will make things easier. You're there to tell the PC's how the world is reacting to their actions. If the PC's want to sit around and bar fight, then your job is very easy :)

For your first couple of adventures, I wouldn't get too complicated. Maybe a simple escort mission where PC's get to use some skills, party learns how to interact and nature provides a problem (storm washes out the river they need to cross).

Feel free to let them come up with their own solutions instead of planning their solutions for them and getting frustrated when they don't see it. You might even avoid combat entirely for the first game. Make it more about skills and team work.

2nd game, pull up some goblins or kobolds and start getting the feel for combat, how feats work that you may not be familiar with, initiative order and how to keep 4-6 excited geeks focused enough to whack some kobolds.


Start simple and keep it simple until you start feeling comfortable. Be gentle but firm about your rulings and try to be as fair as you can. If you start getting upset, admit it to them and even ask for advice from them. PC's want to have fun and DMing should be fun too.

Good luck!

[boredgremlin]

Dont be afraid of cheese. People love it, thats why it becomes cheese.

Choose a simple idea, imagine 3 or 4 different ways the PC's can solve it. Make the one thats easiest on you the obvious choice but give the others a little planning attention so you dont have to railroad them.

Then as long as they know your brand new at this and you make sure you have the rules down pat, including the DM's best friend, and focus on fast combats and good descriptions you'll be okay.

Plan your campaign around a smallish area thats interesting but manage-ably sized.

Oh and take notes. If they are talking to someone and you make something up on the fly. Write it down.

Something like if they are asking about who could have killed the cattle (this is low level after all) and you know its goblins but you want some RPing make sure you toss a few red herrings out there. The baker might tell them that the blacksmiths daughter was spurned by the son of the owner of the cattle and it caused a family feud.

Stuff like that, and take a note of it. The players will go and investigate, and of course the blacksmith is innocent of this but if you want to play him as shifty then do so and note it. Just because he didnt do this thing doesnt mean he isnt guilty of something else.

Keep making notes like that soon you'll have a good little town and interesting characters all fleshed out to a point where it feels real and your players might actually give a crap about what happens to it.

Make them part of the locale, a little friendly banter, give them a home even if its just a long term rental in the tavern and you'll be able to keep your adventures manageable and even cheeseball without boring everyone.



In fact once i did a campaign like this where the PC's were part of a colonization fleet that got blown off course and landed in totally unknown lands. That way you have your cast of NPC's, everything they really need to build a little town along with plenty of drama and a feeling of importance.

Exploration is a great theme at low level. Give them a reason to go out wandering around. An old story about lost treasure in the nearby hills. The tomb of an ancient adventurer thats supposedly in the depths of the local forest but long lost and still full of treasure.

All reasons to go wandering so you can practice sandbox style DMing (the best kind IMHO) without having to get too crazy with the prep work.

[Shpadoinkle]

If there's one thing you can be certain to expect, is that your players will not do what you expect them to do. Being a DM requires the ability to improvise. Fortunately, you're going to get a lot of practice at this.

[Grue Bait]

Thanks for the advice, guys! I'll keep it in mind.

[Kol Korran]

ok, first of all- welcome to the world of DMing. it's an exciting and rewarding world with quite a bit of fun in it, if you're into it.

second of all, be prepared to make mistakes. we're human, not super organizers/ master story tellers/ excellent rule lawyers/ great planners of strategy and so on... the DMing role seem to require a lot of skills. none of us have them all. but being aware at what you're good at and what you're not is a start. willingness to learn, accept criticism and improve is the next.

This talented author and game theorist (http://thealexandrian.net/) have some excellent articles on game planning. (read "3 clues rule" and "node structure: for example). some of what i'll mention and others as well is allready summarized in this excellent thread. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=76474) but here a few thoughts:

1) first thing to do is to talk to your players. try and understand what kind of game they want to experience, and what kind of characters they want to play. this includes YOU (for the "what kind of a game" part). note these things down. when planning an adventure and it's encounters think of incorporating these elements into the play. it makes the game more personal, and more enjoyable for all (including you). remember: everything goes back to the people playing the game.

2) not quite related to your role as a DM, but if you have new players (or ones that didn't follow this) try and have them talk a bit about character and player dynamics, and perhaps some simple "party rules" such as what is "out of bounds" (stealing from a party member, executing a prisoner without the party's consent and the like) and more mechanical stuff (how to split treasure for example). this might help smooth some rough patches down the line.

3) also a bit related (i'll get back to DMing advice in a bit) is to be wary of jerk players. these guys usually hog the attention or choose psychotic characters that never care for what the party thinks. (you can play psychotic and cooperative, it's not the same). these guys can utterly ruin your game. if you spot them- deal with them fast.

4) back to DMing: the idea to start small is a good one. as was the stuff about red herrings. however, i am a strong believer in that the characters should always do something really meaningful. find a reason for low level characters to be the pin that holds things together and break them. most players want to do exciting and setting altering things (even if the setting is a couple of villages). find a place to do that. if you need suggestions or advice in this- ask.

5) 90% of the encounters should have some meaning and purpose. don't just "Add battles" because the players need XP. the encounter could provide a clue, add a particular interesting challenge, provide a roleplay opportunity, perhaps affect choices later on (beyond "live or die") and so on. "we fight another bunch of goblins" gets boring fast, but "we fight the goblin archers over the bridge/ we try and haggle with the worgs to betray the goblins/ we must find this secret pass before the moon rises or we have to wait another day" are much more satisfying. again, think of what the players would find fun/ dangerous/ exciting/ interesting/ evoke any emotional response.

6) on battle encounter, it's often quite hard to decide challenging but not party killing encounters (the CR system is not good.) a few things you can do- you can play mock battles between the party and their opponents, and see how it goes. but few people have time for that. i suggest this little trick- make battles with multiple opponents (at what you think might be a good challenge) and then if the battle is too tough, some of them run away/ run for reinforcements. if it's too easy- reinforcements arrive. (or something similar. i once had a pack of stirges follow the party in a swamp, and descend on them whenever the battle was way too easy)

7) despite what i wrote, it's ok if a party member dies, or if a battle you thought was tough is a total wash out. these things balance themselves out. in time you'll get better and better at it. in a campaign i ran the party massacred the first two "supposed to be recurring villains", had an incredibly tough fight with the third, but the last two major battles of the campaign hung on a thread (one of them literally, long story) and proved awesome. i'm fully certain that once you get to learn your players, you'll find your balance as well.

8) it's ok to give the players reasonable warning if they plan on doing something stupid. it's not ok however to either prevent them from doing so, and protecting them from the consequences.

9) keeping notes has been mentioned, to keep your world and campaign straight. however i also suggest to keep notes of how every sessions went, and try and realize what worked well, what the players liked, what they disliked and so on. put a bit of time in it, it's your major tool of improvement.

10) i suggest NOT to start from ready made module. most are poorly made, they often don't fit the specific players well, and most (not all) are quite railroady.

11) i found it quite useful to consult this forum about various problems i had in my campaign. it helped a lot on occasion.

12) quite important- don't "hand wave/ decide on a gut feeling" on things the players have a stake in. i highly suggest to write specific DCs (or decide on the spot in an educated manner if the PCs surprise you) the ability to make something happen. the usual example is Diplomacy, where you decide in advance if this info should or shouldn't be available to the player. the giant made some excellent rules (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=9606632&postcount=2) dealing with it. i suggest to look at it.

the reason to rely on rules is that it gives the players more control, more power, more involvement in the game, and that is CRUCIAL to a good game.

this is long enough, i'll add later if i think of anything.
Kol.