Help me become a good DM

[nokla]

I'm starting a new campaign this Friday (War of the Burning Sky, to be precise) and I'm playing with players who have never played the game before.
So I was thinking instead of overwhelming them with rules right in the first session, I let them ease in in their characters and learn the basics of the rules in a comfortable fashion.
I've been playing D&D 3.5 for a few years now (something like 4 years), almost exclusively as a rogue/assassin


1.
I was wondering do you DMs implement some sort of mini-games in your campaign?
Something like pazaak in Knights of the Old Republic, some fun little games players can play in game with their characters?

2.
One guy said he wants to play a mage, what's the best spell based class for a beginner that's fun to play? I was thinking of letting him play a Sorcerer but he might **** his pants when I hand him the sorcerer spell list.

3.I'm thinking of barring leveling by EXP, and make role play and creativity a bigger factor here. So instead of leveling up after battles automatically, I'm gonna give them points when they do or say something good or, and when they stack up a few points they gain a level. I think this will make them more focused on the story and provide better gameplay. Thoughts?

Also, as a newbie DM, I was wondering if there are some really useful DM tools out there, most of what I've found was rubbish. But I have no problem with oldschooling it with a DM journal.

That's all I can think of right now, there will be more questions after the first session which is Friday.

[BWR]

1.
I was wondering do you DMs implement some sort of mini-games in your campaign?
Something like pazaak in Knights of the Old Republic, some fun little games players can play in game with their characters?

2.
One guy said he wants to play a mage, what's the best spell based class for a beginner that's fun to play? I was thinking of letting him play a Sorcerer but he might **** his pants when I hand him the sorcerer spell list.

3.I'm thinking of barring leveling by EXP, and make role play and creativity a bigger factor here. So instead of leveling up after battles automatically, I'm gonna give them points when they do or say something good or, and when they stack up a few points they gain a level. I think this will make them more focused on the story and provide better gameplay. Thoughts?

Also, as a newbie DM, I was wondering if there are some really useful DM tools out there, most of what I've found was rubbish. But I have no problem with oldschooling it with a DM journal.


1. No. I do not recommend this. You are there to play characters. Playing another game like that runs a very high risk of either boring the players or, at best, distracting from the game you wish to play. It would basically be playing blackjack or gin or something instead of the game.

2. I prefer the wizard, but sorcerer works too. They are pretty wussy at low levels, so make sure he knows this.. And what do you mean 'might **** his pants'? Too many choices, too few, not powerful enough, too powerful too complicated; what?

3. Lots of games do this, lots of people like this. The d20 system isn't designed this way, and if you are not familiar enough with the way xp is meant to work you run a very great risk of giving inadequate or too generous amounts. In published campaigns of this sort, where the scripted xp is meant to level the characters at the appropriate rate, this can be especially bad since you can't really adjust the story/event progression to the xp they have. If you decide to go ahead with this idea you will need a pretty solid xp table, listing all the things that grant players xp, and what amounts. Many players are displeased with xp being handed out on a whim.
If you want to encourage roleplaying with mechanical benefits you might e.g. grant '+1's. Every time they come up with a clever idea or roleplay well, give them a +1 they can use on any roll at a later point. +1s can also be traded in for minor hints about where to go and what to do if the players are stuck. This option is a far more radical alteration of the rules than a different manner of gaining xp, but let's them advance at the expected rate and gives them some useful tools to make up for inexperience.

Or you can just play by the book and let them live or die by trial and error and their wits. That's fun too.

[dascarletm]

1.
I was wondering do you DMs implement some sort of mini-games in your campaign?
Something like pazaak in Knights of the Old Republic, some fun little games players can play in game with their characters?



I agree with BWR on this one. It may sound like a good idea, but it can prove too distracting.



2.
One guy said he wants to play a mage, what's the best spell based class for a beginner that's fun to play? I was thinking of letting him play a Sorcerer but he might **** his pants when I hand him the sorcerer spell list.



Limit the list to just the PHB spells at first. It's not too long, and he will only have to worry about the level 0 and level 1 spells for the first few levels anyway. You can help him decide at first.

An alternative is going with a warmage. Print out a spell list for them and all his spells are at his fingertips and pre-chosen (except for advanced learning).



3.I'm thinking of barring leveling by EXP, and make role play and creativity a bigger factor here. So instead of leveling up after battles automatically, I'm gonna give them points when they do or say something good or, and when they stack up a few points they gain a level. I think this will make them more focused on the story and provide better gameplay. Thoughts?


If it is per-published, go with what they say. If it is your own campaign you have made, leveling the party after a certain amount of play-time isn't bad. I'd do that over adjudicating what is "good" and "bad" roleplaying. Can lead to perceived favoritism. Just make sure to plan what treasure you give, and keep it roughly close to the WBL. Otherwise you'll run the risk of over/under feeding the players.

[Bloodgruve]

1. I agree, mini games aren't that great. If you wanna simulate mini games have the characters make ability checks or skill checks to see if they succeed in the minigame but playing a poker tournament isn't a good idea. Make sure it's their characters playing the game not the player playing a minigame. Gauntlets and contests are good 'encounters' that simulate this.

2. Sorcerer is a good class for beginners. Maybe have him read a Sorcerers Handbook on the net so he sees what some good spell selection is. They're not that great below 5th level but after that they start having a lot of fun. If he just wants to play a blaster look at Warmage. If he wants to play a sneaky caster look at Beguiler. These classes have fixed spell lists so there's no decisions there.

3. I don't use XP in my games. I level the party together, its easier for me and less bookkeeping for the group. I run them through approximatly 10 encounters of appropriate CR's then hand them a level when the story seems right. XP costs for items and spells equal 5gp per xp needed. Since you're running a prewritten campaign it will either tell you what level the PC's should be at a given point in the campaign or go through, add xp for a party of 4 and figure out ahead of time when they level, like milestones.

Lastly, a good DM IMHO allows the players to explore their characters and do what they want. I rarely tell a player 'no' but I'll add on a 'tax' for anything they wanna do outside of the norm. With that said though try not to homebrew or stray from RAW as much as you can manage. A small rules change here can potentially have a huge effect some where else. I speak from experience ;)

GL
Blood~

[nokla]

Thanks for your advice.

I apologize for not clearing #1 up, but it would be an IN GAME mini-game that their characters would play.
So I'm not talking about Poker or anything, I'm talking about made up D&D-setting-fantasy game they would play with the skills of their characters.
But yeah, it might get too distracting I guess.

And regarding to the leveling up system, I thought of it as something like overcoming challenges. Kinda like:

If you manage to do X, then you get a point. I don't care how you'll do it as long as you do.
Or in other cases, when they manage to outwit the enemy NPCs, predicting traps, making smart choices in diplomatic alliances etc.
_______

As with the class choice, I think what I want to ask you guys, what's the best substitute for a Wizard/Sorcerer in a party?
Regarding the rest of the party, I have a Rogue, a Cleric, a Barbarian and some homebrew Martial class I found on the net.

[Zman]

How about letting him play a fixed list caster, say Warmage? Finite number of spells, and new players will love blasting. Will feel much more powerful than a sorcerer at low level too.