New DM with a few questions of RPG and 5e

[TheloneWagon]

Hi, never having played any kind of RPG, I have now two kids that wants to try it all out.
That leaves me as a DM.

I really would appreciate any kind of advice or input on this.

Even though I have spend several days watching games played at Youtube, reading lots of forums, and reading through a lot of pages in the starter kit, I can't get to grips some things.
As a DM, am I supposed to just ad hoc everything not explicitly stated in the adventure book?
Or am I missing something, and there is a script to follow more or less exactly?
I understand that as a DM I can make up my own adventures, but as a beginner, that's not what I want to do, I want to follow a script.

Like the hook to begin the adventure, should I just make something up?
The starter kit has just a very short sentence or two about this, where there is a potential hook to use.
If I remember correctly the starter book says you can just make something up, and use an NPC, but how do I use this NPC later?
Wouldn't that involve a lot of work keeping track of the lives of NPC's?

More on NPC - am I correct in that a DM decides (depending of how the game goes) if, when and what to use as an NPC.
Like if it's too easy for them, I can just insert a random beast, and if it's to hard, I can insert an object or character to aid them.
And these I can just discard later, or keep with them, limited just by our imagination?

Resting - is it me as a DM that decides when it is time for a rest (or if it's allowed if the players suggests it)?
Is it supposed to be an actual break from the game, or just something that I say "you rest 1 hour", and then it's back to action?
Like long rest - do I just say that now you have a long rest, but irl it just takes a few seconds?
Wouldn't the rules for resting just make the players immortal?
If they are injured they can just take a rest to restore health?

Crafting - how am I/we supposed to do that, and why - what's the benefit for the player?
Do the players just say that "now I'm crafting 'something' for two hours" and what they crafted, they now own, and can do with it whatever they want?
Like if they want to sell the item, am I supposed to come up with an NPC that buys it, and then keep track of the money they gets?

Armor - if there is some armor that takes x minutes to put on, how am I supposed to act upon that fact?
How does this play out (examples)?

Likewise "duration spells"

A round takes 6 seconds. Ok, but what does it mean?
If an armour takes 15 minutes to put on, is that equal to 150 rounds?
Then the game ends quickly.
Or what does this mean?

Well, these are some of the wuestions I have struggled with the last week.
I appreciate any and all help I can get.

[Starchild7309]

Ok I going to try and help as much as I can. Let me assume first you are playing D&D 5th edition as you are on this forum.

Your first question about filling in the things not found in the adventure books...Yeah that's you as a DM. If there is something the players want to know about, then its on you to paint that picture in their mind. The books says they go from point A to point B....you can just have them arrive there...but thats kind of boring...describe the journey, perhaps they run into bandits on the road, perhaps a passing unicorn...who knows. You know your kids and what sort of things will make them happy and also how to best challenge them without making them hate the challenges. There really isn't any sort of script.

As for NPC's, yeah its a little bit of work, I mean you don't have to know everything they are doing, but you should start a list. Borman the Barkeep in tavern X, Lilly the innkeeper at Inn Y...Tartar the shop keep in village Z. Just have a list, you know where they are going you just make up some characters. For the most part, unless your players become murder hobos most of the interaction with NPCs will be just conversation. Therefore stating out every NPC is not necessary, plus there are sample humans and such in the books to use if you need it on the fly.


More on NPCs. If your party is in need of an NPC then yeah its on you as the DM to help them out. Create a character give him a personality, and let him go along with your players, though be careful not to fall into the DMPC trap of making the NPC so super cool and amazingly lucky that it outshines your players. Again as with the travel the NPC could just show up, but in a world where you are already suspending disbelief about so many things and it plays out in your mind, having a NPC appear out of nowhere seems far fetched. However if you know where they are going is too dangerous for just them, perhaps the local Lord wants to send along someone to make sure you do the job properly, or perhaps whatever missin they are working on is of importance to some group and they send a spy along to keep tabs on the party, all the while pretending to be a reliable friend. Its all up to you. When the party doesn't need them, have them go their own way...each NPC has a "life" of its own when its not travelling or interacting with the party.

Resting. I would leave it up to the party, but as a DM you can always explain to them that its not possible to take a rest now because there might be something in the next room or you hear screaming in the basement or whatever...Though since this is the first time you are all playing I wouldn't be too hard set on rules until you learn to play better. As for what happens during a rest I would have your players tell you what they are doing. There is a rule on how much health a player can get back during a short rest. Check the Players Handbook pg 186.

Crafting-I don't have the rules for that in front of me , but crafting things of value take time. Days of in game time. So first to craft something they need the requisite ability and skills and then the materials and proper place to do the crafting. I believe that is covered more in the DMG and I do not have one presently.

The armor takes X minutes to put on....So say your party is sleeping outside on the road...In the middle of the night a party of orcs attacks. They are spotted by your look out, but will be on top of you in a matter of seconds. What that means is your fighter who wears plate, he doesn't have X minutes to put on his armor and the orcs won't wait. So he is going to fight unarmored. If you are in town, between adventures, your heavy armored characters most likely won;t be wearing their plate or whatever in the tavern.

Spell duration. Spell X lasts 1 min, concentration. This means it will last for 10 rounds if the caster keeps concentration. I will assume you have read the Players Guide and DMG. So you know what concentration is. When the duration is up or the concentration is lost the spell ends. A caster can only concentrate on one spell at a time, but can cast other spells that do not require concentration while concentrating on the first spell. And yes you are right 150 rounds is equivalent to 15 min.

I hope this helps some. I would definitely look over the DMG and the Players guide completely until you understand the rules so you can help your players and so it creates a much more enjoyable experience for all involved.

[Laserlight]

DMing is largely "making stuff up".

D&D is basically three chunks of rules: a) how to build a character, b) how to resolve combat and its consequences, c) how to resolve other tasks. What you will spend the most time on, for most sessions, is combat. Therefore I would suggest that you start by practicing with a few combats, with low level characters. Start with bare, flat, open terrain. Then add trees or rocks or something to hide behind. Then add some elevation changes--they're in a terraced field, for example.

It sounds like you have the starter kit with Lost Mines of Phandelver. I would suggest that you use the characters provided in that (or other pre-generated
characters you can find online)--that way you don't have to digest the character-building chunk.

NPCs? Don't worry about them too much. Your players probably are not going to remember most of them anyway. Make a list of five male names and five female names and a note on personality. Imitate a real person (or movie character you know well) so you're not coming up with something from scratch. "Ragnar (Rich from tech support), Agnes (Tina from accounting)", etc.

[INDYSTAR188]

Hi, never having played any kind of RPG, I have now two kids that wants to try it all out.
That leaves me as a DM.

How old are the kids if I may ask? Might help put the game in reference.


As a DM, am I supposed to just ad hoc everything not explicitly stated in the adventure book?
Or am I missing something, and there is a script to follow more or less exactly?
I understand that as a DM I can make up my own adventures, but as a beginner, that's not what I want to do, I want to follow a script.

Like the hook to begin the adventure, should I just make something up?
The starter kit has just a very short sentence or two about this, where there is a potential hook to use.
If I remember correctly the starter book says you can just make something up, and use an NPC, but how do I use this NPC later?
Wouldn't that involve a lot of work keeping track of the lives of NPC's?

You are supposed to follow the adventure in broad terms where it offers a series of minor goals and encounters that lead up to a final confrontation. Let the players set the tone. There is no script and you don't literally have to 'act' out everything, word for word. Describe the situation and ask the players what they want to do. You tell them what happens or have them roll when there is a chance of failure. Regarding the overall plot and NPC usage of the adventure, may I suggest reading this (http://slyflourish.com/running_phandelver.html)excellent advice.


More on NPC - am I correct in that a DM decides (depending of how the game goes) if, when and what to use as an NPC.
Like if it's too easy for them, I can just insert a random beast, and if it's to hard, I can insert an object or character to aid them.
And these I can just discard later, or keep with them, limited just by our imagination?

You literally play every other character in the game aside from the group of player characters! So if you want a mountain lion to follow the party around (because they feed it scraps) and save them from orcs, you can do that. If you want a literal angel to be invisible, watching over the party, you can do that. Or not. Most players (in my experience - I know I'm painting with a broad brush here) like to do things on their own rather than have the DM save them. Let them be the heros as much as possible.


Resting - is it me as a DM that decides when it is time for a rest (or if it's allowed if the players suggests it)?
Is it supposed to be an actual break from the game, or just something that I say "you rest 1 hour", and then it's back to action?
Like long rest - do I just say that now you have a long rest, but irl it just takes a few seconds?
Wouldn't the rules for resting just make the players immortal?
If they are injured they can just take a rest to restore health?

They can spend hit dice on a short rest and they start frest after a long rest. Just because the players are taking a rest doesn't mean the world around them stops. They can be ambushed, robbed, kidnapped... it's dangerous being an adventurer and you should look at the context of the situation to determine when a rest is appropriate. If they're in the middle of a dungeon with bad guys around then they might not get a full rest in. A rest is a good time for a game break, definitely. Stretch and get some snacks.


Crafting - how am I/we supposed to do that, and why - what's the benefit for the player?
Do the players just say that "now I'm crafting 'something' for two hours" and what they crafted, they now own, and can do with it whatever they want?
Like if they want to sell the item, am I supposed to come up with an NPC that buys it, and then keep track of the money they gets?

Let's pretend you have a player who was a leatherworker. Maybe his father was one by trade and taught the character as a boy. So to remember home he makes leather items, maybe small shoulder bags with elaborate etching. Now he has something to 'do' during downtime that adds a touch of detail to his character and for every 8 hours of work he does he can produce 5gp worth of small shoulder bags (w/elaborate etching). The next time he's in Phandelver he can find a place to sell the bags. You will be the shopkeep and he'll try to convince you to pay 5gp for each of the small bags with excellent etchings. You (the DM) will have him roll a Persuasion check.


Armor - if there is some armor that takes x minutes to put on, how am I supposed to act upon that fact?
How does this play out (examples)?

If your players are resting and they are out of armor when the amazon women raid their camp, they had better grab their shield and weapon and forget the chainmail. Otherwise, when a rest is over and adventuring beings, they will don their armor and you just 'handwave' it away.


Likewise "duration spells"

A round takes 6 seconds. Ok, but what does it mean?
If an armour takes 15 minutes to put on, is that equal to 150 rounds?
Then the game ends quickly.
Or what does this mean?

Well, these are some of the wuestions I have struggled with the last week.
I appreciate any and all help I can get.

Spell durations last as long as the descriptor says in the spell. From the PHB pg 203 "duration can be expressed in rounds, minutes, hours or even years." So if a player has Bless cast on a friend, the duration is "Concentration, up to 1 minute". That means the player who cast the spell has to 'concentrate' on it while the other player benefits from it. If he is attacked or falls in a hole or whatever, he'll have to make a save to maintain that concentration. But only for one minute, then the spell is over. Most combat only lasts a few rounds (maybe 5? so 30 seconds?) so that would probably be plenty of time for one encounter and then the spell slot is used.

You're going to do fine. Just have fun, work with the players and encourage creative and fun play! Remember to say "yes but..." when players ask to do weird stuff!

[bid]

Wouldn't the rules for resting just make the players immortal?
If they are injured they can just take a rest to restore health?
Once per 24 hours.

Remember, you and your players/kids are playing roles and telling a story. If they are spending a week to cross mountains, you can skip that part of the story, tell them in 5 minutes what happened or let them tell you what problem they encountered and how they solved it.

If they tell you they spent the night in a cave and a bear came, ask them if they want to play the encounter. Maybe a character can and will cast speak with animal and try to convince the bear (you) they are friends, or maybe they want a fight.

Everyone is there to have fun and improvise something akin to bedstories. The rules and dice are only there as a guide, to keep things predictable.


The armor example mostly means that they don't have 15 minutes to don it once the fight starts. As long as they don't get attacked in the morning, they should have time to get ready for the day.

[Ninja_Prawn]

I haven't read any on the previous responses. I assume they're good, because this forum usually is. Edit: yeah, looks like some good advice there.

Congratulations on having awesome kids! D&D is a great game - it's fun, social, creative and (compared to some things at least) inexpensive! Anyway, onto the advice...


As a DM, am I supposed to just ad hoc everything not explicitly stated in the adventure book?
Or am I missing something, and there is a script to follow more or less exactly?
I understand that as a DM I can make up my own adventures, but as a beginner, that's not what I want to do, I want to follow a script.

The simplest answer is that there is no script. Trying to write and stick to a script will make the game less fun, for reasons that are too complicated to go into here. As a DM, you are the chief storyteller, so it's your job to come up with a plot, which you can do either beforehand or on the fly - though some improvisation is usually required. The 'plot' is more of an outline, most of the time; just a villain with an agenda, an 'ending' you want to aim for and maybe a few set-pieces you want to put in along the way.

Pre-made modules / adventure books give you a lot to work with in terms of plot, but you need to use your judgement with them. Change parts that don't work for you. Remix the NPCs. Add stuff in. Tailor it to your players' characters. You mentioned you've watched youtube videos... have you seen these (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8ygtxmCqZs) two (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH1pUha8IfA)? They are quite instructive (it might be better if you watched the whole campaign, but that would take hours. Those two focus on how the DM planned sessions).


Like the hook to begin the adventure, should I just make something up?
The starter kit has just a very short sentence or two about this, where there is a potential hook to use.
If I remember correctly the starter book says you can just make something up, and use an NPC, but how do I use this NPC later?

Adventure hooks have to be tailored to your PCs, so yes, you have to make them up. If you have a player who is a cleric, you could tell them their god appeared in a dream and told them to go to such-and-such a place. Or something. That's not an especially good hook, but you have to work with what you're given. That's why it's important that your players have good ideals and bonds - you can use them to craft better hooks.


Wouldn't that involve a lot of work keeping track of the lives of NPC's?
More on NPC - am I correct in that a DM decides (depending of how the game goes) if, when and what to use as an NPC.
Like if it's too easy for them, I can just insert a random beast, and if it's to hard, I can insert an object or character to aid them.
And these I can just discard later, or keep with them, limited just by our imagination?

Welcome to DMing! A player plays 1 character: keeps track of their stats, personality, voice, backstory, emotional state, etc. A DM plays 10 million characters in 100 locations simultaneously... you have to keep track of everything that's going on in the world. Or at least a good chunk of it. Write stuff down!

And yeah, if your players enjoy interacting with an NPC, bring them back in a later episode! Why not? If they kill an NPC, probably don't bring them back. :smalltongue:


Resting - is it me as a DM that decides when it is time for a rest (or if it's allowed if the players suggests it)?
Is it supposed to be an actual break from the game, or just something that I say "you rest 1 hour", and then it's back to action?
Like long rest - do I just say that now you have a long rest, but irl it just takes a few seconds?
Wouldn't the rules for resting just make the players immortal?
If they are injured they can just take a rest to restore health?

Ultimately, the DM decides. Your players will likely say "can we take a rest now" and you'll have to say, "well, it might be dangerous, but go ahead and try" (in which case you might roll for random encounters) or "you just took a rest 5 minutes ago. don't be ridiculous" or "sure, you all get a good night's sleep. In the morning, you are shaken awake by your butler. He is in quite a state of panic..."

Generally, in-game breaks and real-life breaks are not the same thing, but if someone needs the toilet, you probably shouldn't not chain them to the table...

And well, PCs are supposed to be legendary heroes. They can get beaten up in the morning, rest over lunch and be ready for more in the afternoon. Your players won't have much fun if their characters (who they should highly be invested in) keep dying. On the other hand, PCs can die. Like, if a dragon breathes on them and they fail their save. Don't be afraid to string encounters together with no chance of rest, either. The game kind of assumes you do that most of the time.


Crafting - how am I/we supposed to do that, and why - what's the benefit for the player?
Do the players just say that "now I'm crafting 'something' for two hours" and what they crafted, they now own, and can do with it whatever they want?
Like if they want to sell the item, am I supposed to come up with an NPC that buys it, and then keep track of the money they gets?

The 5th edition crafting rules are a mess and you should avoid them if possible. I actually wrote an unofficial (https://www.dropbox.com/s/fxshenxuvv6ystn/Advanced%20Crafting%20Rules.pdf?dl=0) supplement (https://www.dropbox.com/s/qjnfaxsuwupwdvr/Advanced%20Crafting%20Rules%20-%20DM%20Reference.pdf?dl=0) that fixes some of the problems.


Armor - if there is some armor that takes x minutes to put on, how am I supposed to act upon that fact?
How does this play out (examples)?

Most of the time, people will put armour on before they set off in the morning and take it off before they go to bed. So it doesn't usually come up. The change-up is when you catch your PCs by surprise; then they will most likely not have time to don armour, and have to make do without until the crisis is resolved.

Sometimes, you might run the game minute-to-minute rather than round-to-round. So, say goblins have attacked the village in the night, and the party was sleeping in different place. One might say "okay, I hear the fighting and pull on my leather armour" and another says "well, I run outside and hide in an alleyway". You can say both of them take a minute to do that, and then figure out what the goblins did with that minute - maybe another two buildings are on fire or something.


Likewise "duration spells"

Things that last 1 turn/round are short duration things that you use in combat.
Things that last 1 minute are supposed to last for the duration of 1 fight - 1 minute is 10 rounds, and not many combats take more than 10 rounds in 5e.
Things that last 10 minutes are useful in long combats or social encounters - maybe the meeting with the mayor takes 5 or 10 minutes.
Things that last 1 hour are for whole encounters.
Things that last 8 hours are for a whole day of encounters - adventurers are all unionised and only work 8 hour days.
Longer durations are rare and serve special purposes.


A round takes 6 seconds. Ok, but what does it mean?
If an armour takes 15 minutes to put on, is that equal to 150 rounds?
Then the game ends quickly.
Or what does this mean?

Turns and rounds are abstract concepts to help you keep time in combat. The 6 second thing only matters when an ability says it lasts a minute - then you know it's 10 rounds.

So, you get into combat and start round 1. Everyone takes a turn within that round. They go in initiative order, but everything sort of happens in the same 6 seconds, if that makes sense. One round can contain any number of turns without getting longer. Then it's round 2, which goes from the 7th to the 12th second. Etc.

So yeah, you can't spend 15 minutes putting armour on in combat. You have to do it before you get into combat. Like a sane person.

[TheloneWagon]

Wow, what a great response I got from everyone, you're all very kind and helpful.
I think I got answers for all my questions.

A short background, that I probably should have mentioned at the start.
The kids (boys) is 11 and 13, going 12 and 14 this year.
We have played some Hero Kids rpg and they have loved it.
Actually it was my wife that suggested we as a family should start playing together, but as soon as she saw the 350 page rulebooks she dropped out.
She doesn't like time consuming games that much, but perhaps I can persuade her somehow.

I have the starter adventure and have tried to grasp the players guide and dm guide, but it all gets very complex very quick, with all the character building, monsters etc.
We live in Sweden (and I probably write lousy English), and I never heard of anyone playing D&D here, so there isn't any big communities around this that I know of.
There is some Swedish RPG's like "drakar och demoner" or Dragons and Demons in English, that's been around for 30 years, but I don't think there is much of a community there either, and I want to play D&D because of all support from publishers and communities like this.

The reason I asked all the questions is if and when we will be playing with others, I don't want to do something "wrong" that no one else is doing.
Probably we would have a really hard time finding anyone to play with anyway...

I will buy the Pathfinder card game next week as an intermediate game before we go all in with D&D though.
We will play through a couple more Hero Kids adventures too.

I think we will just skip all about crafting for now, as it seems overly complex/unnessescary for us as beginners.
Thanks for the very nice links about crafting though, a great read!

Thanks for the tip about narrative combat in one of the links. Hero Kids felt somewhat time consuming because of the grid map.
If I can use narration to skip some aspects of the precise movement measures it would benefit gameplay for us - or so I think.

I probably will use miniatures without a grid, and just "near", "far away" etc.
Or a combination with a grid when it seems appropriate.
Hero Kids was very specific with amount of steps ets every turn, which felt a bit boring.

best regards!

[mgshamster]

The rule books may seem big and intimidating, but most of that is for the GM. A player only needs to know a few select sections:

Their race, class, background, and any spells they may have or any specific rules on abilities they may have. That's it. The total reading for a player may be only a handful of pages. Of course, they may want to read more so they can see the different options they have. For example, if a player doesn't know what race they want to play, they may choose to read the entire chapter on races. But if they're just going to be human, then they just have to read the section on humans. Same goes for classes, backgrounds, etc...

But as a GM, it's good for you to have read most of it so you know what's going on. One thing I've done in the past is have each of my players read one chapter, and then teach that chapter to everyone else. That way, one person gets to know those specific rules pretty well, while everyone else gets a general understanding of it.

Also, only the PHB is truly necessary. The monster manual helps the GM create some amazing opponents, but you don't have to use it. Likewise, the Dungeon Masters Guide (DMG) is just there to help you design your campaign world. Not necessary. It does have some cool treasurer charts, though. As you expand on your game, you'll likely want to expand to the MM or DMG, by starting out you don't need to.

Feel free to come back here and ask any questions you may have. The rule books may seek intimidating, but they're not that bad and they help you create a full imaginative world to explore.

Remember, this game isn't just some board game. It's a social game that teaching social interaction, effective communication, arithmetic and maybe some bad algebra, and most importantly - creative thinking and imagination. Depending on your campaign, it could also teach the importance of diplomacy, consequences of one's actions, problem solving skills, and more. D&D truly is a wonderful learning tool.

[Laserlight]

I have the starter adventure and have tried to grasp the players guide and dm guide, but it all gets very complex very quick, with all the character building, monsters etc.

Exactly. Which is why I was suggesting just to start out with a few combats rather than "make sure you understand everything in the Player's Handbook and DM Guide". Eventually you will get to all that, but there's no need to try to grasp it all before you get started. In fact, I would suggest that you start just with melee characters -- barbarian, rogue, fighter, monk. Leave the spellcasters for later.


We live in Sweden (and I probably write lousy English)

Nope, you're fine.


I will buy the Pathfinder card game next week as an intermediate game before we go all in with D&D though.

Pathfinder is based on a somewhat different version of D&D.


I think we will just skip all about crafting for now, as it seems overly complex/unnessescary for us as beginners.

If your players want to craft something, you can just ask yourself whether they have, or can buy, the needed raw materials. If so, "Okay, two weeks go by and you finish making your ax." If not "If you want magic armor, you'll need to go bargain with the dwarves", and have the dwarves send the party on a quest in exchange for their armor-smithing services.


If I can use narration to skip some aspects of the precise movement measures it would benefit gameplay for us - or so I think.

Sure. I occasionally say something like "Okay, we have a montage showing each of you training--Collette sparring in the fencing school, Aberthal praying at the hidden shrine, Matt studying with the priest, Shay polishing his swords. Two months pass. It's now June and the midsummer feast is tomorrow night. You are dining together at Matt's house, when suddenly...."

[ChelseaNH]

The Players Handbook is the only one you need to play the game. It has three main parts.

Part 1 describes all the character options. If you use the pre-generated characters in the Starter Kit, you only need to look up the races/classes of the characters you're using.

Part 2 describes the play of the game, including combat. This is the most important part. Fortunately, it's also the shortest.

Part 3 describes the magic system. Chapter 10 talks about how magic works, so you'll want to be familiar with that part. Chapter 11 is all the spells -- again, you can just look up the details for any spell being used.

So spend your time on Combat, Using Abilities, Chapter 10 on the Magic system, and the adventuring chapter, and then read up on the details of the characters.