Any advice for a new DM?

[katiesaur]

Hi,

I'm a pretty new D&D 3.5 player (around 6 months), but I've somehow managed to get elected as this summer's DM for my group. They've all played for years, so I'm obviously at a bit of a disadvantage. :smallamused: I'll put some of the campaign details down below, but I'm just looking for a bit of first-time advice. Mostly I'm worried about balancing the difficulty of encounters; don't want to accidentally TPK them two session in. :smallwink:



The campaign is set in a world of my own creation.
They're starting at 3rd level.
It's a mainly urban campaign.
I'm allowing ToB, but with some restrictions to rein in the serious optimizers in our group. Specifically, I'm not allowing level dipping and the use of stances/maneuvers by classes outside of ToB.
I'm allowing templates on a case-by-case basis; again, I'm trying to rein in my "problem players". (I don't actually consider optimizing to be a problem, but I don't feel confident in my ability to handle them at their cheesiest.)
If there are any other details you would need/like to know, feel free to ask!

[Kane0]

Change your Rule 0 from "The DM reserves the right to veto anything" to "Ensure everyone has fun".

Also make sure to delegate. If you know they are experienced let them help you out. For example have a player track initiative for you, have another (preferrably with good Know checks and isn't likely to metagame) advise on likely courses of action. Just make sure you aren't letting them run things on your behalf, simply helping you run things.

Spend a few sessions getting a feel for your players and their characters, then when your comfortable throw in some wrenches and change things up a bit. Make sure everyone gets a chance to shine and play at different paces. Balance the laughs with the horror stories and the intrigue/RP with hack n' slash.

You've probably heard all that before, but its important enough to bear repeating I guess.

[DigoDragon]

Mostly I'm worried about balancing the difficulty of encounters

Take notes on the fighting styles of your players and the effectiveness of the monster's abilities. That helps when you pick out encounters.

For example, in my current group I've noted that my players lack cold iron weapons. So when I pick encounters, I try not to use creatures that have a high DRonly overcome with Cold Iron. Unless i'm looking to really challenge them that is. :smallsmile:

[sol_kanar]

For the encounters, keep in mind that, for the same EL, usually a single powerful creature is easier to face for a party than a group of weaker ones. Dragons might be an exception.

"Getting a feeling" of what your group can and cannot do is a good advice: you can play a few encounters and then have an idea of what they are good at and what they are not good at. You can then throw them encounters that play on their strengths, and encounters that aim at their weaknesses, to have them have different kinds of fun :-)