New DM, being sorta forced to DMPC, please advise

[Andurian]

So I have an odd situation. We played 2 sessions with a DM and had a lot of fun. There were three players (I was one), and the DM. We have a Beguiler, bard, and a cleric.

I am the beguiler and have the most experience of the players. The bard is set up to be a Dragonfire bard. The cleric is a house ruled vampire (we found some rules online to use). Bonus stats but -4 to fighting to in the day, -2 if covered from shade or heavy clothing and small damage from sunlight. It has worked out well enough.

On the third session, the dm was forced to stay at work due to an employee skipping. The fourth session, he said he would be late but never showed. Another two weeks passed.

One of our members, who is really new, offered to run a short story of how we met. I offered to take over since I am better with the rules than the others and have played a lot more. I never dmed before though.

I set us up following the bard, slowly introduced the other two characters (including my own). We did the adventure known as Looking Glass Deep. It seemed easy enough. I planned on weakening the encounters since it usually plans for level 4-7 and four players (3 players at level 3) but didnt need to. We kinda crushed everything or had luck roll our way.

I encountered some issues here....

1: I know if and where there are traps. I'm also the one who takes care of traps. to counter this I let the other players determine when I look for traps. It wasn't super effective since I get punished if they dont look. Also, I kinda established that I am super paranoid about traps lol. I search doors for traps, poke them and the handle with a stick, and then open the door (sometimes using the Bard's unseen servant). This isn't happening as often now.

2: I need an over-arcing story if I permanently take over. I don't want it to focus on my character though since I have seen a DM do that. It's annoying. I am trying to work out something that would work for all of the characters. That being said, my character has the most direction for traveling. (Bard worked for a Lord but is bad at everything so he is out trying to make a name for himself to prove himself, Cleric is looking for the Misty Ilse... Seeker of the Misty Isle prestige class later, and my character is a ex-noble. His parents made a deal with a demon, the beguiler's soul for wealth and power, so now my character wants to get revenge and take his land back by gaining allies). I know what I want to do and the old dm was going to work with me on it but now I am the DM and am hesitant about doing it.

3: There are a lot of rules I don't know. I am kinda winging it. I think we did well and everyone had fun but I'm sure I botched a lot of it. We also had a bit too easy of a time... but we also had a lot of luck.

4: There are house rules I want to use but dont want to look like I am playing favoritism.

4a For example, we rolled stats and the bard is the only one to not roll an 18. I want to give his charisma a boost to try and balance the party a bit.

4b I heard of called shots before but don't know what book it is in. We played it as, you can target a limb for -2 to attack. If you deal 50% damage of called shot damage you cripple the limb. It has led to hilarity. A goblin was whipping an ogre. We shot the goblins arm so it dropped the whip. call shot legs causes the target to fall prone (ever had a rapier go through your leg). I judged that it was okay for quadrupeds as well because... well, ever seen an animal with an injured leg? Sometimes they fall too. So quadrupeds fall over too (sideways). Besides, go halfway hack through something's leg and see if it stands. Are this unbalanced (half of something's HP is still a lot). Maybe I should make it a 50% chance to fall.

4c There are some skills I want to combine... open lock and disable device. Hide and move silently (combine into stealth). Once again, would these be unbalanced? The first one benefits myself and the second one benefits the bard and I.

5 Where is a good place to get some modules? I would like to have something to base my quests off of but don't have any books or maps, ect.

I actually want to do a city based adventure next. A murder mystery, ect. I am hoping to introduce some background characters this way as well, and reveal my own characters background to the other players characters. The other major reason is because I want to try to dm a different quest other than a dungeon crawl.... a roleplaying detective one. Is there one online? We are only level 4 atm.



Is there any advice anyone can give me?

[ScubaGoomba]

1. Let the players decide when your character searches for traps or have your character search for traps in places that seem "trapped," starting with the closest. I would suggest to let your players keep controlling the character to that end.

2. You say your character has the most direction for traveling, but both of the others have very good hook possibilities. If you're taking over as DM, consider that you now control the world. Everything the players haven't decided about their characters is pretty fair game, especially if its' just minutia about their backgrounds. For example, maybe there is a rival that is seeking the Misty Isle as well, a snooty noble from the same land as the Bard. The noble had constantly harassed the Bard during his time with the King and might be the reason he was sent out.

Obviously, you can make other plans around the characters, but be creative!

3. You'll figure them out as you go; don't worry about it. Maybe get a DM screen.

4a. Don't. If you decided to roll stats, then just keep them as they are. Alternatively, you can have the two players re-stat their characters using an average of the point buy values. If you had more players, you could also figure out the average of the point buy values of the rolls and allow any characters that fall under that average to buy up to it.

4b. Be careful with this. If PCs are calling shots, NPCs should be, too. NPCs throw more dice per turn, which means you're really risking your players becoming paraplegic and, well, that's not very heroic.

4c. Those should be fine. Other editions combine Skills in a similar way and it's been no problem.

5. TV, comics, movies, novels... they won't have stats in them, but they will have quest ideas. To challenge yourself, try taking your favorite movie and turn it into a 3-session arc (I find most movies are about 3 or 4 sessions in total, if put into game terms).

Also, have you considered writing the Beguiler out? I don't know how many people you know, but I do know I've never had trouble finding extra players for my games, so you could probably solicit a new player to make a Rogue-type or you could just not include situations that require your Beguiler's skills. Remember, everything is in your hands, now.

[Andurian]

Everyone wants to stick with close friends (we have all known eachother for... well... at least 4 years at most ~15). The bard is actually very very shy normally. This is the most outgoing I have seen him in a long time and it's great. I'm very happy about it. When we go out, he quiets down around other people, even some people who knows but not too well. I'm hesitant about including more players.

And to be completely honest, I want to play as well lol.


Oh yeah! Important question... how do people handle DMPCs talking to NPCs? It was a bit awkward and I had one of the players (talked to before hand), take over one of the minor NPCs. This went a wee bit awry. An Inn got burned down and we were talking to the angry Innkeeper... who apparently, according to the player, advertised the newly burned down Inn to be a 'real city experience for 1 silver!' (we rolled it against NPCs and he passed by 18). Not what I intended for the character but greatly entertaining.


I will definitely keep the idea of other people searching for the Misty Isle. The bard revealed that his father was a highly ranked guard. It was more of a favor to the father to employ the bard... who is terrible at EVERYTHING. So he was an odd jobs man (part time bard, part time insert literally anything you want here) before being sent away on 'far away dangerous missions'.

He mentioned possibly introducing his Lord later.... actually, this could work well O.o I'm thinking...

[Grod_The_Giant]

Also, have you considered writing the Beguiler out? I don't know how many people you know, but I do know I've never had trouble finding extra players for my games, so you could probably solicit a new player to make a Rogue-type or you could just not include situations that require your Beguiler's skills. Remember, everything is in your hands, now.
I second this. If you still can't find enough players, allow your players to run two PCs each. As a bonus, not running a DMPC lets you focus more on doing your DM thing.

Houserules are usually OK, just make sure you discuss 'em with the group first. (Especially if you're altering pre-existing characters).

[Chronos]

Some years back, I was in a group that rotated DMs. We each had a character, and each of us DMed one adventure, at which point that character would stick around, but become mysteriously much more stupid than usual. It got to the point where we were even joking about it in character, but it worked.

We did have the advantage that we had multiple coverage on most of the party roles, though. So, for instance, when my cleric-thief (it was 2nd edition; that combination was actually workable) became a DMPC while I was DMing, the party's mage-thief took the lead on the thieving-stuff, with my character tagging along and helping. Obviously that isn't directly an option for you, though.

[mattie_p]

We did have the advantage that we had multiple coverage on most of the party roles, though. So, for instance, when my cleric-thief (it was 2nd edition; that combination was actually workable) became a DMPC while I was DMing, the party's mage-thief took the lead on the thieving-stuff, with my character tagging along and helping. Obviously that isn't directly an option for you, though.

It kind of is. A small group like this would be one of the only times I'd consider running a gestalt game. Throw a gestalt class in there for their two characters (via zapped by a cosmic ray or something) and you should be ok.

[JusticeZero]

Yeah, put the DMPC on a bus. Give the players some way to deal with any resulting holes in skill.

[Pink]

I'm gonna go against the tide a bit here. If the players are having fun, keep the DMPC in. You are already aware and trying to avoid the pitfalls, which means you're very unlikely to go off the deep end.

1. You either continue having the payers decide when to servh for traps, make a standard opperating procedure that isn't too tedious for searching (like, say, all doors and treasure chests in a dungeon) and allow the party members to suggest additional search points, or figure out a percentage to roll for to decide if your character suggests to search a trap area or not (25% or something). If the current system work fine though, keep it.

2. If possible, see if you can't incorporate each character's plot hooks at one point or another. Don't be afraid of nabbing a module and just reworking the story elements to work on it.

3. If everyone is having fun, and you're winging it easily enough, this isn't too much of a problem. If you want to get better with the rules though, I have two suggestions. First, read the combat chapter of the player's handbook. The is where the majority of rules are. Second, whenever something is brought up in game that you're not sure of, write it down, and either look it up out of game or post it in a question thread. Then at the start of the next session explain to the players.

4. In general, I advise against house rules after the campaign has started. However if you want to, poll the group to see if everyone agrees, and be willing to change them if they prove not to work out well.

5. You appear to be playing 3.5. Are you looking for free, or willing to pay money?

Anyway, the important thing is that the game belongs to your group, and if everyone is having a blast you are doing it right. So, if you are having fun, take any major change suggestions with a bit of salt.

[Andurian]

If it seems to become an issue, Ill have my character die or something along those lines. I will definitely take a 'standard operating procedure' into account to make it easier for everyone.


As for the modules, I would prefer free, if at all possible, but would pay money if I had to. Just not too much O.o

[ScubaGoomba]

Why does he have to die? That seems like a silly way for him to leave. Maybe he takes a contract elsewhere or his background catches up with him, so he goes in a different direction. This way, you have a possibly reoccurring NPC that can factor into some quests but not be any kind of a driving force.

Also, if one player offered to run a session and you'd really rather play, why not let him be the DM?

[DeadMech]

Would it be possible to have one of the other players place and run the traps? That would let you play your character for relevant skill checks. Perhaps give them a list of generic sounding locations and a certain number of traps to place. They write it down on a piece of paper and as the party explored locations give cues to match them to the list he has. May be a chance to give the other player who volunteered some practice.

[Harlot]

just this: as a new DM the articles and newsletters from this site may be helpful: http://www.roleplayingtips.com/ (http://www.roleplayingtips.com/)
I started out as a DM app. a year ago and this has helped me a lot. It's very basic, so no help as to superoptimize epic characters, but a lot of advice on building scenarios, modules, winging encounters etc.
also, I'd very much recommend studying magic thoroughly. I made a lot of rookie mistakes because I ignored that for too long...

Speaking from experience, I have to agree with Pink on sticking to the house rules: You have to know what the rules are, and why, before you can meaningfully and informedly veer from them. A bad houserule (or two) has messed up my game a lot in the beginning and made it harder to DM than it ought to be!