I need Help with DM start

[durrukgreatjaw]

Okey, so this is my situation, o have played pathfinder for a while now and i want to try DnD 5th now, so i ordered the DM guide and players handbook yesterday and they will be here within a week. I have heard that Dnd 5th and pathfinder are simular enough that GMing my firdt game ever there instead shouldnt be an issue. But my problem is this, i will be GMing a game for 1 that has never played any rpg, 1 veteran pathfinder player and 1 semi veteran DnD 5th.

My questions are these:
1: Where do i start, what is a good way to start GMing? Start building my own world or should i just start with some kind of template.
2: I dont have the books yet so im not sure bit how big are the differences betwenn Path and DnD, will i be avle to do this relativly smoothly
3: Any tips on beeing a GM are always welcome, especially tips on how to get the 1 that has never played a first and wonderfull experience


I hope someone has some awsers because i am both exited and a little scared to go through with this, i have had a bad played experience because of a GM and i dont want to be the source og a bad DnD game

[Ninja_Prawn]

Hmm... where to start?

Whichever way you slice it. DMing isn't easy. You're effectively 'playing' a whole world full of people as well as telling a story and implementing the rules. There's a lot of balls to keep in the air and no training courses you can do to 'learn the trade'.

It's also a big responsibility; you want your players to have fun, which means you need understand what they enjoy and make sure they get it.

On the flip side, it can be a lot of fun! You'll never know if you don't try.

I'd advise that you get your head around the rules first and foremost. Just the basics, enough to understand how the game is played. Obviously it's got similarities to PF, but I'm sure there are differences too.

Then, think about the kind of game you want to play. Tailor it to your players if you can; if you know they like noir mysteries, find a way to work that in. It's generally best to start with a villain/antagonist, since they drive the plot. Figure out their goals, motivations, methods and personality, as well as their 'mechanical' abilities.

Some people like to do a lot of worldbuilding, but it's not strictly necessary. As long as your players have enough information to write their backstories, you should be OK. You will need to build a pantheon for your clerics/paladins though.
Learn from other people's mistakes. If you saw a DM ruin a game, don't do whatever they did.

I'd also recommend watching people DM on YouTube. Maybe start with Chris Perkins and the Acquisitions Incorporated games?

Finally, read the Angry DM's website. His advice is awesome.

[mgshamster]

Welcome!

First off, be very wary with any assumptions going from PF to 5e. They are very different games, and while they could seem similar because they're both iterations of D&D, they require very different mindsets to play.

Please check out this thread I made over on the pathfinder forums discussion this exact topic: 5e Advice for Pathfinder Players (http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2t6qj?5e-Advice-for-Pathfinder-Players).

I've met quite a few people who end up hating 5e because they either cannot or will not change their mindset from pathfinder. Pathfinder is a very "rules complex" system that seeks to provide a rule for every occasion, big or small. Throughout all of it, you can always go to a book to find a ruling and rarely have to rely on GM judgment. Conversely, 5e is a "rules flexible" system that provides customization where the GM is required to make judgments all the time.

For your players, 5e may feel very limited in options - this is because the majority of the options a player can do are not listed on the character sheet. Instead, all the classes are wel balanced through abilities beyond the number bonus, throught short/long rest resources management, and through narrative power.

Bounded Accuracy is a thing - the DCs for numbers are much lower, meaning that you won't have as high of a bonus to accomplish the same thing. This means that your 20th level characters won't have giant number bonuses and may look weak (they are not). What it really means, though, is that certain challenges remain viable throughout the game and you can even have lower level allies that can still contribute to your quests.

There are a ton of subtle differences between the games, and I strongly recommend my above link. I've found that using both websites (Paizo's boards for 4th Edition and Beyond) as well as the 5e forums here on GitP have made for some great online resources. Also check out EN World's 5e forum. Lots of good people all around! :)

[durrukgreatjaw]

Aaaah, thank you so much, this will help me greatly to start working a little on my plot building and challenges before my books arrive :D oh i love this community and again thank you!!

[gfishfunk]

I like the Fear the Boot approach (they have a podcast) where you ask your players what they want to get out of the game plot wise, character development, and so on. Then ask them to figure out inter-party relationships, and then build from there.

That way you can tie your plot / villain directly into the players.

[Brendanicus]

I like the Fear the Boot approach (they have a podcast) where you ask your players what they want to get out of the game plot wise, character development, and so on. Then ask them to figure out inter-party relationships, and then build from there.

That way you can tie your plot / villain directly into the players.yhis could work well. Starting up gming can be hard, so dont try to overdo it, your first plot should be simple and doesnt reauire more world building and such than necessary.

Modules are also great to run because they save you a ton of time and provide an excellent example of how to use the system to build encounters, plots, etc. i reccommend getting your hands on Lost Mine of Phandalar or however its actually spelled. Its a higly rayed low level adventure

[ChelseaNH]

The basic rules are available for download here: http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules. Concentrate on Part 2, the actual play of the game, and the first chapter of Part 3 on how magic works. Overall, the rules are a lot simpler than Pathfinder.

I found it easier to start with a module (specifically, the Lost Mine of Phandelver module from the starter kit) because it let me focus on the mechanics of the game.

One of the things I'm still figuring out is what information I want to track and the most convenient way to do that. With new players, you probably want to keep track of their renewable resources (like Action Surge for fighters or Channel Divinity for clerics) in parallel with the players, until they get the hang of it. Plus the usual tracking of loot and XP.