Need advice on whether to DM or not

[Vemynal]

Hey yall, so here's the thing. I'm thinking of running a 5th edition campaign as the DM but I have never played 5th edition before.
Brief history: Got into this comic in '08. Started learning 3.5 in '10. Played a single game in a friend's campaign before it fell apart from people flaking on game night. I then DMed a 3.5 campaign for 2 sessions before mine fell apart for the same reason (Mythbuster came back on the same night as our campaign night lol).

So while I enjoyed DMing and would like to DM a 5e campaign I'm wondering what your guys take on this is. Is it a bad idea? I have every 5e source book currently released in PDF format so access to information isn't a problem. Unfortunately there really isn't any chance for me to play in another person's campaign to learn the rules first.

[eleazzaar]

There are a lot of ways you can play online.

Check out the sidebar at:

http://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/

[Vemynal]

Thank you for the advice =). But the truth is I much prefer to play with people in person with any sort of games. I think its part of why I prefer board games over video games in a lot of regards haha

[jaydubs]

I'd suggest taking the time to watch a game, if you don't want to play while not in person. There are several games available on youtube and such. You don't have to watch the whole thing - just enough to get a feel for it.

After that, make sure you're with players who are okay with you being unfamiliar with the system. And you should be good to go. 5e is a lot less complicated than previous editions, both to DM and to play.

[eleazzaar]

Thank you for the advice =). But the truth is I much prefer to play with people in person with any sort of games. I think its part of why I prefer board games over video games in a lot of regards haha

It may not be the best way to have fun, but without any local games, it is the best way for you to learn and get familiar with the system.

[silveralen]

The system is not hard to learn. The majority of the rules are quick to learn and straightforward, reading the important parts of the PHB a couple times is typically all you need to get the gist.

Now, I don't know how much PnP experience you have overall, if DnD is just what you've done, but this edition does tend to be a little heavy on judgment calls. Which might be a bit tough if you have limited experience with these games. However, running a premade adventure helps with this and is a good way to gain experience DMing.

So my recommendation would be go for it, just familiarize yourself with the book and start with a premade adventure. Between the two it isn't hard to DM a game well, and honestly even if you forget a few rules here and there it doesn't hurt anything bad. I ran the first few adventures at my table forgetting about cover and a couple other small rules that didn't change much anyways.

[Daishain]

Learning a new system can be interesting enough as a player, as a DM it presents a particular challenge. As a result, running a premade adventure would be my initial recommendation as well. Call it training wheels for the first campaign while you're still getting used to the system.

However, there's a catch. Some of the current premades, HotDQ in particular, are bloody tough. Just keep that in mind and be prepared to adjust a few things if need be.

[Vemynal]

Gonna do Mines and definitely keep the kid gloves on with the players for Part 1. Giving suggestions about whether or not they think they should openly carry visibly bright light into a dark cave full of enemies, that certain bridges might look unsteady etc

[silveralen]

Yeah that's how I started DMing 5e, it's a fairly decent introductory adventure.