Help for first time DMing

[Ethernil]

Hello good people of the forums :smile:

After the general discomfort with my group's previous dm (all players in the group kinda grew to hate him) i decided to take on the mantle of DM... for the first time.

I would like some pointers as to which adventures (i want to start with something ready till i get my feet wet at least) are good - easy to run as a DM for a group of players (3-5) who apart from the previous dm, who made a ton of houseruling partially because he doesn't understand english well enough, haven't really read the books. I mean i want to show them how the game is normally played, how attacks of opportunity work (previous DM played without them saying they make the game needlessly complex), how special combat mechanics like grapple etc are calculated and generally how to make the game really fun for everyone.

We are playing DnD 3.5, i m open to anything wotc official (we got most books anyway) when it comes to gaming material. I don't want to mix third party stuff at least for the first campaign. And no pathfinder, pure 3-3.5.

Also general DM tips are more than wellcome, i want to make the game an enjoyable experience for my players.

Mistakes i noticed the previous DM make and i don't plan on replicating are the following:
1)Homebrew natural 1s failing skill checks(rogue with +15 climb falling from a regular tree is dumb) as well as natural 1s making the combatant drop his weapon, drop prone or injure a nearby ally(i think this was a 2nd ed thing he used), the latter made melee combatants even more lame, as more attacks with 5% chance to get screwed suck, big time.
2)Making the players feel that in the low levels they are scum, weaklings pussed over by npcs. I had a clothes shop owner intimidate me into giving him 10 gold(i rolled 1 on the will save but still the vendor isn't supposed to intimidate you).
3)Challenging the party with harder stuff than i should (that takes experience to calibrate i think) but adding extra abilities to monsters without increasing their CR is plain dumb.
4)Using npcs run by the DM fighting in the encounters stealing the spotlight from the players who are supposed to be the heros.
5)Not handling apropriate gear per lvl. Mundanes need certain magic items to stay relevant throughout the mid to high lvls.
6)Not focusing on 1 player leaving the rest as his cohorts, that hurts their fun.

I m open to any suggestion

[NevinPL]

Also general DM tips are more than wellcome, i want to make the game an enjoyable experience for my players.

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?484765-First-time-DM-looking-for-advice
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?485158-Advice-for-starting-a-new-group

[Ethernil]

One thing i forgot. Modules have some indications like d1, t0 etc, what do they mean? I take it has something to do with the apropriate players level?

[evangaline]

I'd also like to inform you of the presence of the guide to dmming (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?76474-So-You-Wanna-Be-A-DM-A-Potentially-Helpful-Guide-(Reposted-and-Updated)). It is very comprehensive and very useful.

It was made a while ago in a collaboration by some guys from this forum.

[MisterKaws]

I'd also like to inform you of the presence of the guide to dmming (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?76474-So-You-Wanna-Be-A-DM-A-Potentially-Helpful-Guide-(Reposted-and-Updated)). It is very comprehensive and very useful.

It was made a while ago in a collaboration by some guys from this forum.

Eight years is not a while ago. Stop denying your old age.

[Inevitability]

Sunless Citadel is widely regarded as a very good low-level adventure.

[Sword-Geass]

Well I came to suggest the sunless citadel and also that same post that was already suggested, but I think I could give you some more advice since I was in your position like a month and half ago...

1) Low levels characters tend to be hyper frail, they can easily die with just one or two bad rolls, but they are also the easiest to learn and to DM.

2) Weight the party against the encounters using http://www.d20srd.org/extras/d20encountercalculator/ (this.) Also keep in mind that monsters with special abilities are harder to beat if their abilities are been well used, while easier if they don't.

3)I would be optimal to have the 4 roles covered (skillfull character, divine caster, arcane caster, tank/melee combatant), as encounters are balanced against this four pcs. Regardless, if your players want to play overlapping roles (mines do) let them, but take into consideration to lower the challenge of the encounters acording to what the party lacks (ex. give them more oportunities to rest if they lack a divine caster, forget about the traps if there is no rogue, etc.).

4) If you decide to run the Sunless Citadel, but the party is non-standard (less than four, overlapping roles) or you aren't totally confident of your players ability, consider letting them start at level 2. That will give them some extra power which will help by making combat encounters easier and safer. Just remember that first level character will never have more that 16hp, and are more likely to end in the 6-12 spectrum. Letting them start at second level is not subestimating them, is just that lvl.1 pc can easily die in one roll.

5) Read that post which was linked above me. It's pure gold.

6) Talk with your players, ask them to give a read to the combat rules, ask them what they want to play.

[RegalKain]

Other than browsing what far more capable GMs have said in those other threads. One "house-rule" I run is just automaxing HP per level. The barbarian always gets 12 the wizard always get 4 so on and so forth. This can make the early levels slightly less frail and it means your barbarian doesn't have equal or less HP then your Cleric by level 4

[Ethernil]

That link is gold indeed.

We have run sunless citadel with the other dm, or just a small part of it and he changec alot of stuff but he has read the adventure extensively.
I ve found, after browsing through several modules in my pc an interesting and seemingly easy one that has followups i think. It's about the pcs trying to save a village from an ogre thats is stealing their sheep etc and later the players find a deeper plot of a necromancer whose secret base is beneath the ogre's cave.
*The module is called dungeon crawl classics, Legends Are Made Nnot Born.

Full hp might be a tad op and as a possible balancing factor making monster hd full is gona screw balance imo. The 5th eddition rule for no roll hp isn't bad. D12 means 7 hp if you don't want to risk rolling, d10 is 6 and so on.
Also rolling for stats makes some people unhappy, it made me with my crappy rolls on my factotum when the fighter started with and 18 and a 20 while my best roll was 15.

The group hs been playing for over 10 years, they have just been using botched rules cause the only person who actually bothered with reading the rules was the gm who happily went to howmebrew town.
I want to show them how the game is normally played and alternative options if they like. I don't plan to ban classes as they are not optimizers and the only classes i m not familiar with atm are psionics. And they don't seem any more complex than the tome of magic ones.
Maybe showing the old dm dude the game through the scope of the player will make him understand what is fun and what is't.

[Sword-Geass]

Also rolling for stats makes some people unhappy, it made me with my crappy rolls on my factotum when the fighter started with and 18 and a 20 while my best roll was 15.


Oh, I forgot, I also hate rolling for stats, use the point buy variant instead. With it all your stats during character creation start at 8, and you can raise them by one spending the actual modifier of the stat, with a minimum of 1. So one point to bring it to 9, 2 for 10, 6 for 14,2 more to bring it from 14 to 15 (since at 14 the modifier is +2), capping your stats at 18 before racial modifiers. You chose how many points do the players have to spend, the classic amounts been 28 or 32 (32 been the most favored). This system also makes it possible for your players to distribute their stats as they like.

[justiceforall]

Seconding Sunless Citadel, gawd I love that adventure.

Sunless Citadel assumes the PCs are using 25 point stat arrays, but if your players aren't veterans more points won't skew things. I just ran through the Citadel again as a player recently with a 4-5 person group with 25 points (low optimisation) and it was a medium challenge.

Given your list of frustrations with previous GMs, I also recommend you don't let anyone in your party play a druid, since at low levels that basically means they are playing 2 characters (the animal companion will potentially be better than the fighter). Down the track it doesn't matter so much, but it can be pretty annoying for other members of the party at levels 1-3.

[Ethernil]

From what they 've told me they ll be playing a cleric, a wizard and a rogue. The 4th guy who is still not sure he ll be playing hasn't decided on class. If it's just the three of them the early levels are going to be hard. Having read the temple of elemental evil i got ideas about them hiring mercenaries when needed, although said mercs aren't always honest :) .

[Sword-Geass]

Being a Cleric, a Wizard and a Rogue they actually have everything covered... It should be quite easy actually. The so called "4th leg" would be a beatstick, which only brings some hits when in a fight... and the cleric can also do that, while helping with other things. You shouldn't worry about them.

[Inevitability]

From what they 've told me they ll be playing a cleric, a wizard and a rogue. The 4th guy who is still not sure he ll be playing hasn't decided on class. If it's just the three of them the early levels are going to be hard. Having read the temple of elemental evil i got ideas about them hiring mercenaries when needed, although said mercs aren't always honest :) .

What kind of cleric/wizard? A conjurer/battlefield controller or melee cleric could make up for the lack of meatshields, a healbot and blaster will have more trouble with that.

[Ethernil]

The cleric definitely wants to smack things with his hammer and maybe cast a spell now and then. The wizard might be going for the archmage prc and i think he mostly likes control spells. It wouldnt hurt much the adventure if i see them strugling to offer them a mercenary warrior npc taking payment/share of the loot mostly as a damage sponge, with shield and all. You could be right though, i guess those classes are called tier 1 for a reason.

[Honest Tiefling]

Lowball early encounters. Calculating (even with tools!) what is a good encounter at first is hard, so I'd lean to easytown first and foremost. Gives people time to adjust to the normal rules, and the easy combat won't slog as much when people are trying to understand combat. Easy encounters can lead to more plot quite easily.

If you have someone with organizational skills, consider some printouts or apps to help people. Some printouts of the rules people can read when it is not their turn might help them learn the rules a bit faster and give them something to do while others are taking their turn.

I wouldn't disregard house rules entirely, but I would suggest to the group that any house rule is voted upon and needs a clear majority of people to agree in order to use it. Some are good, some are bad.

If your group is good at building, that rogue will be quickly outclassed. One house rule to consider is letting him sneak attack more things, because a necromancer means undead, and undead means the rogue is nothing more then a skill monkey at best. Otherwise, consider aiding him with squishy not-dead necromancer cultists, or even some sweet gear or an interesting race/template. Also consider looking into prestige classes and builds...

[Theobod]

One module I would suggest is Dungeon Crawl Classics #1: Idylls of the Rat King
It has a little bit of everything to cater to all roles, it has a few undead for the cleric to turn, but mostly on a single level later on, its first level is mostly goblins using one handed weapons so none of that 'single crit from an orc' nonsense that tends to kill first level characters, it has corridors and rooms to showcase fights in bottlenecks and open space, it has a few traps but none outright lethal ones, it has secret doors but none too hard for a non rogue to find, and for the rogue 70%+ are sneak attackable, there are magical aspects, even a magic circle and a goblin mages lab for the wizard to play with spellcraft to get wands, a new spellbook and a few scrolls midway through, it shows that a single enemy type can portray a variety of strengths and be more of a threat than the common variety (there is a goblin wizard, as mentioned, and a few wererats goblins), it shows the limitations of stealth to the rogue when fighting ones with Scent. It even has branching plots and an optional boss that is CLEARLY a trap and the end boss is a cinematic use of disposable items, minions and support casting (using Feather tokens, some fiendish dire rats and summons rats with a flute like the pied piper unless directly threatened) AND if it all goes wrong for them there is even provisions for a TPK (kidnapped and taken to level 2, the dungeons, and can stage an escape (the rat king wants to keep them and offers them lycanthropy for service).

All in all a great starting module for any new DM and new players that I heartily suggest, there is a followup module for the Revenge of the Rat King by the same author and the hidden knight tomb and the vampire in the jar are both excellent hooks to send the party to other places to return the sword/destroy the sealed vampire at a temple, etc.

[Ethernil]

Actually i thought of using Dungeon crawl classics #0: Legends are Made, not Born (level 0). It is meant for a party of 6 npc classed players but it should be easy for 3-4 normal class players. If not too easy.

[Sword-Geass]

Oh, please, tell how it went! Did everything go well?

[martixy]

You know... A lot of what you'll see here has already been written in the various books.

I know it's so passe to read books in today's age, but people have been there before us, and 90% of the wisdom we could dispense here has already been penned by the very creators of the game.

I'll just reiterate my one eternal chunk of personal wisdom:
Set expectations.

Get together one time and talk to each other about the game you want like you're confessing your love to another person for the first time.

That's usually called session 0.

[atemu1234]

You know... A lot of what you'll see here has already been written in the various books.

I know it's so passe to read books in today's age, but people have been there before us, and 90% of the wisdom we could dispense here has already been penned by the very creators of the game.

I'll just reiterate my one eternal chunk of personal wisdom:
Set expectations.

Get together one time and talk to each other about the game you want like you're confessing your love to another person for the first time.

That's usually called session 0.

Really? Session 0 for me is having the players and I all get together, and work together to build a party that works with the setting we're using, along with having backstories that don't immediately clash.