D&D for the family

[torrasque666]

So over the coming christmas season I was considering running a D&D module for my family(two parents and older brother, possibly older sister if she's in town) and was considering either The Forgotten Forge or Eyes of the Lich Queen. Of the three, none have any experience(my sister might though) and I am still learning. Any advice? Should I make some pregens as an option for them? I've never really DM'd before.

For those of you who have been following my preposterous ideas on fixing the magic system, no. I will not be implementing them with my family.

[Troacctid]

Definitely make pregens. Character creation takes a long time and a lot of system mastery; it's not the best place for a newbie to start.

[Nibbens]

Definitely make pregens. Character creation takes a long time and a lot of system mastery; it's not the best place for a newbie to start.

Seconded. Get them into the game first, before throwing the whole character creation debacle at them. lol

[dascarletm]

I would suggest using what you know about your family when deciding pregen/non-pregen. For example I recently got my wife into dnd. I knew she would hate the idea of a pregen. She's big on character creating. It took a little time, yes, but it also serves as a way to help them crash-course into the system. This may not work unless your family is quick to pick up things of this nature.

[Flickerdart]

Pregens are a good starting place. Come prepared with a couple of kits and some suggestions for how to fine-tune them in case the players want to swap around a couple of feats. Framing their choice as "do you want to do more damage or be tougher" (Power Attack or Stone Power) helps them think about character building without getting too specific and becoming overwhelmed or falling into traps.

[ZamielVanWeber]

I would say avoid pregens, but limit the books they can use. Say PHB (or SRD), PHB II, and Complete Divine, Arcane, Adventurer, and Warrior for example. This will give them lots of options, but avoid having issues like picking their race between a Primordial Mentes Cyclopes Sorcerer with the metamagic ACF whose name I forget or an Incarnate Dustform Wood Elf Spirit Totem Lion Barbarian dip, Fighter, into whatever they wish. There are a lot of options out there, so if you let them avoid pregen it would be good to keep them limited to a small pool initially.

[Nightraiderx]

I would also ask them what concepts of character they would like to play.
When they say, "I want a big guy that can hit things with a club"
Then you can make pre-gens closer to what they like. (eg: archer character- fighter/ranger/scout)

[Red Fel]

First off, I'd like to address the pregen discussion. There are pros to using them, and pros to not using them.

Pros of using pregens: Save time. You can hand out character sheets and jump directly into the game. Convenience. If you're using pregens, you can also make cue cards that easily explain each of the character's abilities, providing the players with a quick reference that dramatically cuts down the need for questions and looking things up.Pros of not using pregens: The players feel more invested in characters when they've taken a more active hand in creating them. Because they actively build their characters, the players are more likely to have read about their abilities, and may need less reference assistance in figuring out how thinks work.
Ultimately, as others have said, it boils down to what you know about your family. When they play a new board game, do they prefer to read over all of the rules in advance, or do they like to skim the rules, start the game, and consult the book if they have a question? If the former, let them create their own characters. If the latter, do it for them, and include quick-reference note cards.

Now, onto your own concerns. Since you haven't really DMed before, I'd keep this simple. Whether you're using pregens or letting them generate their own characters, I agree with Zamiel that limiting the books you use will be helpful to everyone. What you need to do, in advance, is this: Re-read all of the basic mechanical rules. Attacks, spells, saves, grapples, all of the standard mechanics. Then do it twice. You don't have to memorize every spell effect or the damage of every light and martial weapon, but you need to be able to understand generally how things work, and you need to have sufficient familiarity that you can look things up quickly if you need to. Be prepared to wing it. Players, particularly new players, are prone to asking questions you may find irrelevant, and going off on wild goose chases. If you're playing a module, you may have to tell them "The module really doesn't have that, and I'd appreciate it if you could stick to the script," but otherwise, you have to be prepared for random stuff. Stuff like: *upon meeting the royal family* What does the princess look like? What color dress is she wearing? Is her hair up or down? *upon entering the tavern* How big is it? How many seats? How full is it? Who's sitting there? What drinks do they have? Is my glass clean? *upon engaging with the dragon* How big is his treasure trove? Can I hold one of his goblets hostage? Can I throw it at him? Can I offer him some of our treasure? Can I switch sides and work for him? Decide whether to use a module or to write your own. The advantage is that they often make great, low-work one-shots with a simple beginning and end. The disadvantage, as explained above, is the lack of flexibility. If you're still wary of your own DMing skills, however, running a pre-written module is a great, training-wheels method of learning the ropes.
My personal suggestion would be to run a pregen one-shot module with pregen characters. (And note cards.) If they like it, you can consider expanding into a multiple-session campaign, and possibly letting them generate their own characters. But when you aren't sure whether this would be a recurring thing, having everyone invest so much energy feels a bit anticlimactic.

[Flickerdart]

On the topic of limiting books, I would recommend sticking to the material available online for free (d20 SRD, WotC 3.5 archives) because it can be Googled and is therefore much better than digging through books for ages.

[dascarletm]

On Red Fel's note, I think you should be ready to go off the rails if you use a module. Have some stuff that can be interjected almost anywhere.

I'm unfamiliar with both of the modules that you listed, but going off Red Fel again, if they decide that these tavern glasses are just not up to health codes then let them go on a quest to bring the city health standards to code. Or really whatever is interesting.:smalltongue: