[DnD 3.5] Getting started as a DM?

[theonesin]

I've played DnD for years, so I'm pretty familiar with the game. But, I've only DM'd a single module before(which I don't think went well), and GM'd some games of Paranoia(which wasn't too hard given the lack of rules).

Anyway, I've decided to try to give it another try, but this time I want to make my own one-shot. I have some interesting concepts in mind, and the idea for one or two encounters, but I really don't know where to start with the whole process. Should I be laying out the dungeon first? The encounters? Or what?

Any advice would be appreciated, thanks.

[Aegis013]

Everybody has their own method. Use what you like. I settle on a theme, make a main bad guy (or main encounter monster), decide on a setting and work from there when I make an adventure.

[rollforeigninit]

I usually make the BBEG 1st. Then design the dungeon around his goals. If Possible I try & find out what my players are gonna play & try & hook their characters in personally so they don't just leave if it seems too difficult.

What ideas ya have? We might be able to provide synergy for ya.:smallwink:

[theonesin]

Well, I'm not going to lie and say what I'm planning is really original. My idea is really more of a dungeon crawl sort of thing, and this one-shot won't be planned to allow the party to abandon the "main" quest. I could try to make more afterwards if the session proved successful, but what I want to do now is pretty self-contained.

It's going to start with the standard "your group is hired to go here" thing, but the place is going to be.......weird, to say the least. I'm not sure how to explain the setting of the one-shot's location other than that it's based on a combination of weird dreams I've had in the past(so as far as monsters go, pretty much anything can show up). I didn't really have a BBEG in mind; just that SOMETHING was causing a disturbance to cause the wackiness. Could be an artifact, but I guess it could also be a person.