Attempting to DM

[BlitzKriegRDS]

Hey everyone first time poster.

Going to be first time DM as well.

Any tips? I can't think of any story lines I to do. I mean really.. The thought of DMing has me terrified I want to run a good story with deep and vivid story and what not but I don't know what to do..

I don't want to bore the party or have them killed first time out because I over-powered the creatures. But I don't want to soo underpowered that I they just walk past and blow air at them.

Sorry if my spelling is off as well.

help?

[Equinox]

You don't need to have any storylines. Start with a generic wilderness adventure or a dungeon romp. A simple kill-the-bad-guys-and-take-their-stuff. It's hackneyed, but it works.

"You all meet in this tavern, and hear rumors of goblins raiding a nearby town... the mayor is looking for mercenaries to help eradicate the goblins."

[ArcturusV]

Okay. Here's my general tips for new DMing:

One ) Don't try too hard.

This is an important one. The biggest mistake I see rookie DMs try to make is by making everything "special" and trying to be unique, and clever, and awesome. YOu don't have to be, and by trying to put in that extra effort you usually end up ruining things. That's where a lot of stories people tell about Bad DMs come from, Railroad Plots, Mary Sue NPCs, excessive cruelty, etc. They were trying too hard to be awesome and failed.

Your players are already bellying up to the table. They WANT to play. They're already there to have fun. They're into the basic premise of the game, being heroes, killing monsters, getting their stuff, etc. With your first few times out of the gate, let them have that fun.

Two ) Simple and Heroic

Your first time out, I wouldn't focus too much on story and being awesome. What you should do is find a really simple adventure. You want to make sure your players can feel heroic however and avoid "killing rats for XP" or something. I would seriously suggest starting at level 1 by the way, it's easier to run at low level, especially when you're new and may not be used to dealing with casters who have dozens of magic bullets up their sleeves fighters who can just plough through entire mobs or suplex a dragon, etc.

So start them off on first level. Give them a quest that lets them feel like they're being heroic. Say... start them off in the wilderness with a simple hook like "Goblins have been attacking caravans and some mucky muck in town hired you all to go out and deal with them". Create a small ruin. Maybe something like 6 rooms, a crumbling old building out in the wilderness. Use some Goblins, and maybe an Orc "boss". Goblins are weak enough that unless you use really clever tactics they should be difficult but not impossible to deal with. The Orc can be a threat to any level 1 character and so suitably dangerous that your players will have a hard (But not impossible) time with it. In the end? They recover some loot from the caravans, killed some gobbos and an orc, and actually feel a bit heroic.

Before your next session you can start fleshing out the town, think of reasons why the goblins suddenly moved in, create a few other plot hooks if your players like the Heroics but didn't seem too into the Goblin thing (Maybe next time it's rumors of graverobbers, necromancers in the city to track down and brign to justice?).

Simple ideas, well executed will have them enjoying the game and will be easy to run.

[aeauseth]

For a 1st time DM I would recommend your players are all 1st level and use only the player's handbook for source material (class, feats, etc). You should have 3-4 players.

There are two basic starting points. Download a free mini-adventure such as A Dark and Stormy Knight (http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=a%20dark%20and%20stormy%20knight&source=web&cd=2&sqi=2&ved=0CDQQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.padnd.com%2FdirLIST_files%2Fd ownload.php%3Ffile%3DZG93bmxvYWRzL0NsYXNzaWMgRWRpd GlvbnMvY2xhc3NpY3MvQV9EYXJrX2FuZF9TdG9ybXlfS25pZ2h 0LnppcA%3D%3D&ei=jeowUpPWD6W5igLVjIGgAQ&usg=AFQjCNHrC1EoQFQgtTID4B-BpUyfx-WEXA&bvm=bv.52109249,d.cGE). Read the adventure, you can skim a bit. Make sure you understand each monster and it's capabilities.

The second way is to pick an environment (forest or underground) and throw several 1/3 or 1/2 CR single creatures at the party. Start increasing the number of creatures to up the challenge. Just remember that the party is always supposed to win (unless they do something stupid).

If your really overwhelmed, then make a simple fighter, rogue, wizard, and cleric (all 1st level). Then do a mock battle with a hobgoblin raider and your fictional party you just made. Make sure your comfortable with all the game mechanics.

I presume you have played before. You know what a good DM is like? If not then I suggest you join a DnD group as a player to make sure you understand the rules and flow of the game.

[BlitzKriegRDS]

Okay. Here's my general tips for new DMing:


That's Fine and all the only reason I want to something more in-depth is that the group of people who have been playing for 5+ years. Who have been in story's like creature companys met god's have traveled far and wide in games.

That's why I can't think a goblin + orc wilderness story would catch there attention. Right now we are all kinda of leveling so it is a story free-for all for levels before we start on the DM's Big "Heart's Desire" story. So I guess I want to be able to give them a run for there money

Half Dragon Fighter (Level 5)
Half Dragon Cleric (level 5)
Dragon Shaman (Level 7)
Human Wizard (Level 7)
Dwarf Cleric (Level 7)
(I am a Human Rouge)
Our DM has a char. Gnome Bard(Level 7)(Not yet played)

Our last outing we had gone in to the Catacombs of a city. Fought a CR15 (most creatures we CR1/2 or CR1) Demon we should have not beaten but we did. So right now we have no Destination or venue.

First quest
Retrieval of flowers for a Sick monarchs son.
Second quest
Catacombs
Third Quest
?????

Idea's kinda of floating in the noggin:

Arena Trip
Party members are kidnapped and brought in to a dark underground Arena where they must traverse room to room to get thur this to meet the final boss which is a idk. defeating him gains freedom. if not die in the pit.

Seductress's Travels
party members must take the daughter of a rich Nobel to a prince in a kingdom in the land a jaunt away. Daughter turns out to be able to seduce turning the party on each other for the love of this women. IF not caught quickly might end up the death of the party. if caught and the true identity of the female is revealed captured/slain brought before the king of the town they are traveling to.

Puzzles of the Crypt
a Cave with many puzzles to be done. wrong triggers opens up to creatures. correct answers moves the party forward and rewards with gold and treasures each door dispense coin to the party. Money is gained quickly as well as EXP.

Those are what I have right now.

Maybe someone can comment on these tell me which one they would want to do?

[ArcturusV]

That's a bad position to be in as a first time DM, it really is. As you're taking over most players probably have expectations, as you touched on. Though never underestimate the "simple" stuff. Particularly for players who usually do marvelous things like chat with Gods, wipe out legions of Hell, etc. Either it has nostalgic appeal to them, or they never had "simple" quests, so they stand out as more interesting.

Of course depending on the mind sets of your players.

Out of the three? I'd suggest the Arena. And even the Arena i don't quite like. It's very Railroady, you got teleported against your will, given only one option (Fight or die), and it doesn't have a lot of natural plot hooks built in.

The reason I don't like the others is the Seductress thing keys in on a few things that get really old, really fast, and sometimes make players uncomfortable or have a bad time. PvP is the nature of it. Mind manipulation of sorts. And the typical "every girl who is sexy/likes sex is evil".

The third? Well... I really hate Puzzle sessions and Puzzle Dungeons. REALLY hate them. It breaks up the flow of the game so that you don't feel like you're playing DnD because the answers are usually not "in character". It turns into sessions where you're Roleplaying for 5 minutes... then spend 2 hours playing "Guess what the DM is thinking?", and fall into a pattern like that. It's frustrating for players, and frustrating for DMs.

If you fleshed out the Arena story a bit more, and gave it more options for victory other than "beat a big guy to death", it might be a good basis. Remember that you typically want at least three solutions to any problem. At least I like to have at least three solutions to any problem. Typically these are:

1) Beat it with sticks until it dies. The standard solution.

2) Trick it into no longer being a problem. Stealth, guile, bluff and diplomacy. Can be fun for a change of pace.

3) Master plan. In the sense that the players can learn about a problem ahead of time, plot, plan, trap, and manipulate events so that when they actually run into a problem, beating it is almost a trivial thing.

[Lightlawbliss]

your falling into a common trap. your trying to one-up the experienced DM.

getting flowers: doesn't sound heroic and it's the first quest. The first quest is what ties the group together. Maby getting flowers is a side objective, but the main goal is getting a rare medicine found only in these specific "dangerous" spot. That SOUNDS like an adventure, so the players will get pulled in.

Catacombs: should work, need a tie together but that shouldn't be to hard.

now your debated ones:
Arena: if your a first time, which you said you are, this can be very good or very bad. Arena fights are very easy to make too weak or too strong but have a very small floor-plan to worry about... assuming the PCs don't just "walk out" of the arena.

Turning party on each other: Be VERY careful before you start forcing them against each other. That can have some very undesirable results, like campaign over.

Crypt: puzzles work well with the "crypt" idea. This is also easy to link from the catacombs. Make sure you choose monsters fitting the crypt idea.


With all of these, Have ideas ready cause the best made plan is the one you will try to force them to and they will sometimes go another way.

[BlitzKriegRDS]

That's a bad position to be in as a first time DM, it really is. As you're taking over most players probably have expectations, as you touched on. Though never underestimate the "simple" stuff. Particularly for players who usually do marvelous things like chat with Gods, wipe out legions of Hell, etc. Either it has nostalgic appeal to them, or they never had "simple" quests, so they stand out as more interesting.

Of course depending on the mind sets of your players.

Out of the three? I'd suggest the Arena. And even the Arena i don't quite like. It's very Railroady, you got teleported against your will, given only one option (Fight or die), and it doesn't have a lot of natural plot hooks built in.

The reason I don't like the others is the Seductress thing keys in on a few things that get really old, really fast, and sometimes make players uncomfortable or have a bad time. PvP is the nature of it. Mind manipulation of sorts. And the typical "every girl who is sexy/likes sex is evil".

The third? Well... I really hate Puzzle sessions and Puzzle Dungeons. REALLY hate them. It breaks up the flow of the game so that you don't feel like you're playing DnD because the answers are usually not "in character". It turns into sessions where you're Roleplaying for 5 minutes... then spend 2 hours playing "Guess what the DM is thinking?", and fall into a pattern like that. It's frustrating for players, and frustrating for DMs.

If you fleshed out the Arena story a bit more, and gave it more options for victory other than "beat a big guy to death", it might be a good basis. Remember that you typically want at least three solutions to any problem. At least I like to have at least three solutions to any problem. Typically these are:

1) Beat it with sticks until it dies. The standard solution.

2) Trick it into no longer being a problem. Stealth, guile, bluff and diplomacy. Can be fun for a change of pace.

3) Master plan. In the sense that the players can learn about a problem ahead of time, plot, plan, trap, and manipulate events so that when they actually run into a problem, beating it is almost a trivial thing.



Ok So if I do the Arena maybe change it to "Join for Prizes!" instead of kindnapping.

Kinda of push them toward the Arena Sign? with a list of things to be fought? with the last few things not there and have it a surprise?

like

"In a village outside of a capital. Warriors, Rangers, Wizards, and Rouges gather to buy in to the "The Pit"(or the Crucible or the Forge/ Warforge /Kiln) Test of endurance and strength lay wait for a single or Party of hardened veterans to claim the prize that resides in its depths!" Buy in 1000 GP per person 500 of it added to the pot for the Winner/Winners at the end of the Arena run.

Then have the levels open and round with things that can be activated in the arena to fight the creatures so then fighting is not a option but the buttons are 2nd option). As Well as doors with puzzles or skill tests (Like "Show me your STR! Pick up this item! with a STR check for it) on them to bypass the creatures (3rd option). After the crawl (maybe 10-15 levels) a Prize of XP and coins (possible loot depending on what the DM suggest for me).

Does that sound better?

[Amphetryon]

Start small, whether a single tavern, dungeon, arena, forest, or whatever. Populate this small sector with one eye toward verisimilitude (so, no ice drakes in the fire swamp) and one eye toward approximately appropriate CR encounters, with the general guideline that several under-CR creatures are a better fight than a single at-CR creature. Give each of the creatures treasure or a backstory that hints at another adventure. See which one the PCs show interest in, and plan from there.

[Lightlawbliss]

Ok So if I do the Arena maybe change it to "Join for Prizes!" instead of kindnapping.

Kinda of push them toward the Arena Sign? with a list of things to be fought? with the last few things not there and have it a surprise?

like

"In a village outside of a capital. Warriors, Rangers, Wizards, and Rouges gather to buy in to the "The Pit"(or the Crucible or the Forge/ Warforge /Kiln) Test of endurance and strength lay wait for a single or Party of hardened veterans to claim the prize that resides in its depths!" Buy in 1000 GP per person 500 of it added to the pot for the Winner/Winners at the end of the Arena run.

Then have the levels open and round with things that can be activated in the arena to fight the creatures so then fighting is not a option but the buttons are 2nd option). As Well as doors with puzzles on them to bypass the creatures (3rd option). After the crawl (maybe 10-15 levels) a Prize of XP and coins (possible loot depending on what the DM suggest for me).

Does that sound better?

sounds like something where the base idea can be thrown into your "general adventuring signs to potentially use" folder.

with a buy in and money going to the pot, money will be the most likely thing to have in there. Maybe some equipment that people threw in as collateral, collateral being more then the players could just sell it for.

[Equinox]

Sorry, I have assumed that since you're an inexperienced DM, your players are inexperienced too. Well, since this is not the case, here's Plan B: ask them what kind of adventure they want to play. Simple or epic? Pursue personal goals or serve as someone's mercenaries? City, dungeon or wilderness?

Communicating with players. It's just crazy enough to work.

[Mystral]

Repeat after me: I will mess up, and it will be okay.

:)

[fluke1993]

If you want more advice than what the above posters have offered, we are going to need some more information.

First: how long have you been playing?

Second: how long have you been playing with this group and how familiar with this group are you?

Third: what kind of game does your group want?

Fourth: what is the op level of your group?

Fifth: how forgiving is your group?

Without knowing at least a couple of these things, I can't advise you more than what has already been said.

That being said, if you have an idea for a campaign, maybe it would be a good idea to start off at level 1 and work your way up, leading into the main plotline.