New to the RP thing, but I have to DM soon

[ZeroHEart10]

I have just about all the books, and have a fully crafted character and a (admitted flimsy) grasp on the rules and workings, but I'm still a tad worried about how to be a good DM. Would someone be willing to help me out? (and also give tips on how to run a game while also having your PC in it, since one of my players wants me to do that. I worry if that'll be fair or not.)

[jjcrpntr]

I have just about all the books, and have a fully crafted character and a (admitted flimsy) grasp on the rules and workings, but I'm still a tad worried about how to be a good DM. Would someone be willing to help me out? (and also give tips on how to run a game while also having your PC in it, since one of my players wants me to do that. I worry if that'll be fair or not.)

I would avoid the dmpc thing if I were you. It can be done but it's tricky. You're already playing all the NPC's, you have knowledge of what's to come so you may know that a PC having ranks in a specific knowledge would be REALLY helpful so you take it in advance. It's tough to distance yourself in that regard and can lead to handholding/railroading of the party. I would really advise against you playing a character unless that character is basically a NPC that does nothing but help in combat and take a share of the loot.

I've only been dming for about 4-5months now. So my advice would be as follows:

1) keep it simple. In my group I made people stick to only core and advanced players guide to do their characters (banning only the summoner). By limiting the books they have access to it allows you to bring things into the world as you are comfortable with them.

2) Don't worry about the rules. Just know the base/important stuff. How to calculate damage, save dcs, skill checks, stabilization dc, stuff like that and you'll be fine. I can't tell you how many times I have to tell my pc's how to calculate a spell dc on the fly. It's really helpful.

For other rules my suggestion (as this is what I do) if something comes up that I'm not sure on, I make a ruling on it on the spot. After the game, or during a break I'll look it up and see if I'm right or wrong. If I'm wrong then we address it the next week. But I always make sure the players know that. So I'll say "I'm not entirely sure, so we'll go with X for now and I'll look it up after the game." that way they don't think I'm changing rules just to mess with them.

3) Start simple with your campaign. Either get a premade adventure path or if you want to make your own world prepare something small. But be ready to have your PC's take left turns on you.

4) Probably the most important, stand your ground! I have a few PC's that like to test me. For example we have a barbarian that wanted to take the rage power that gave him the claw attacks. Problem is he uses a two handed weapon. So he argued that I should let him do a kick attack or something. Originally I almost gave in then he started arguing that it should be a d12 dmg since he's only doing 1 kick instead of 2 claws. After he and I talked I told him that he couldn't use the rage power at all unless he went down a 1 handed weapon. He got upset and argued it but I had to stand my ground. Players will test the boundaries and see what they can get away with, don't let them run the table, that's your job.

5) Lastly, have fun, and don't stress out. Don't be afraid to change stuff on the fly. If you see your PC's are getting smacked around lower the monsters ac/hp. They may notice but they wont complain. If they are getting beat up, don't be afraid if the monster rolls a 20 to just say.. oh well it missed.

[Angelalex242]

You should always decide how you want to handle rolling. Some DMs do it behind a screen so they can fudge battles as they see fit. Others believe in being as impersonal as a computer, and roll all their dice where the players can see it. If an encounter proves too easy, so be it. If the encounter kills the whole party, so be it. Rolling where players can see it does increase verisimilitude of the dice. But it also means you can't save them even if you want to.

[ZeroHEart10]

I would avoid the dmpc thing if I were you. It can be done but it's tricky. You're already playing all the NPC's, you have knowledge of what's to come so you may know that a PC having ranks in a specific knowledge would be REALLY helpful so you take it in advance. It's tough to distance yourself in that regard and can lead to handholding/railroading of the party. I would really advise against you playing a character unless that character is basically a NPC that does nothing but help in combat and take a share of the loot.

I've only been dming for about 4-5months now. So my advice would be as follows:

1) keep it simple. In my group I made people stick to only core and advanced players guide to do their characters (banning only the summoner). By limiting the books they have access to it allows you to bring things into the world as you are comfortable with them.

2) Don't worry about the rules. Just know the base/important stuff. How to calculate damage, save dcs, skill checks, stabilization dc, stuff like that and you'll be fine. I can't tell you how many times I have to tell my pc's how to calculate a spell dc on the fly. It's really helpful.

For other rules my suggestion (as this is what I do) if something comes up that I'm not sure on, I make a ruling on it on the spot. After the game, or during a break I'll look it up and see if I'm right or wrong. If I'm wrong then we address it the next week. But I always make sure the players know that. So I'll say "I'm not entirely sure, so we'll go with X for now and I'll look it up after the game." that way they don't think I'm changing rules just to mess with them.

3) Start simple with your campaign. Either get a premade adventure path or if you want to make your own world prepare something small. But be ready to have your PC's take left turns on you.

4) Probably the most important, stand your ground! I have a few PC's that like to test me. For example we have a barbarian that wanted to take the rage power that gave him the claw attacks. Problem is he uses a two handed weapon. So he argued that I should let him do a kick attack or something. Originally I almost gave in then he started arguing that it should be a d12 dmg since he's only doing 1 kick instead of 2 claws. After he and I talked I told him that he couldn't use the rage power at all unless he went down a 1 handed weapon. He got upset and argued it but I had to stand my ground. Players will test the boundaries and see what they can get away with, don't let them run the table, that's your job.

5) Lastly, have fun, and don't stress out. Don't be afraid to change stuff on the fly. If you see your PC's are getting smacked around lower the monsters ac/hp. They may notice but they wont complain. If they are getting beat up, don't be afraid if the monster rolls a 20 to just say.. oh well it missed.

Thanks. Honestly, I didn't really want to play my PC if I'm running it either, for the very reasons you mentioned. but one of my players got attached to my guy and wants me to play him. And I'm running the Rise of the Runelords published campaign first to make it simple yeah. This is all helpful though, thank you!

[jjcrpntr]

You can make it a npc. In my game I have a party of npcs that are friends of the players. Throughout the game so far one or two pop in and act like npcs but help in fights. It let's me "play" a bit they really seem to like the npc party but it keeps things from getting weird. The npcs function just like normal npcs only they are strong and help in fights more.

I'd also suggest you decide how you want to handle magic items. Are you going to have an open magic market? Are magical items rare in your set up? Even when running a module you can fluff that stuff if you want.

2 hen I first started dming 9 was also playing in a 3.5 game. The dm from that game gave me good advice. He said you're going to screw stuff up. Do your best not to let the pcs know about it and just roll with it.