Prospective DM looking for a place to start

[Blue Lantern]

Hello,

I am halfway thinking about starting to DM some 5e, I ordered the DM guide and Monster Manual and I am looking for some tips on where to start.

Besides the Lost Mines of Phandelver what is a good module for a novice to get some experience.

[mgshamster]

I would not recommend any of the major campaigns put out by WotC at this point. All of them are large and require quite a bit of prep work.

There are many decent and smaller modules available for free or cheap on the DM Guild, Drive Thru RPG, or even Paizo. Stick to modules that only run 1 to 2 levels, such as The Ghost and the Peddler (http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/176922/The-Ghost-and-the-Peddler-5e) (excellent module), Troll Trouble (https://www.dmsguild.com/product/171601/Troll-Trouble?), or Rescue from Tyrkaven (http://paizo.com/products/btpy9h21?Deadly-Delves-Rescue-from-Tyrkaven).

There's lots of decent to good short modules for you to gain experience as a GM before you hit the large campaign books than span 10+ levels.

[MaxWilson]

Hello,

I am halfway thinking about starting to DM some 5e, I ordered the DM guide and Monster Manual and I am looking for some tips on where to start.

Besides the Lost Mines of Phandelver what is a good module for a novice to get some experience.

I wouldn't start with a module. I'd start by running a very simple scenario so you can get used to the flow of DMing:

(1) DM describes a situation and optionally outlines some potential options,
(2) Player declares an action, which may include things that the DM didn't list as options,
(3) DM describes the outcome of the action.

Then repeat, occasionally skipping step #1 when it's obvious that nothing has changed.

Here's the simplest possible scenario I can think of that would still be fun to play: get a friend, and draw a map of your house. Have your friend make a level 3 PC. Choose two rooms of your house. In one of them, place an Ogre (http://www.5esrd.com/gamemastering/monsters-foes/monsters-alphabetical/monsters-o/ogre) that wants to kill your friend. In the other room, place a 500 gp emerald necklace. Have your friend pick which room he wants to start in. If your friend gets out of the house with the treasure, he gets to keep it. 500 gp ~= $50,000 in the real world, so have your friend describe what he buys with it, then tell him what happens because of that. The End.

If the Ogre ever catches up to your friend, then use the combat rules, which could include fighting it out, running away down the stairs of your room, pushing the ogre out of a window (d6 falling damage + he lands prone and has to somehow climb back up), etc.

By keeping the scenario really simple, you only have to keep track of two things (the ogre, and the PC), and you're already really familiar with the area where the fight takes place (your own kitchen, bedroom, etc.), so you can concentrate on the important stuff (steps 1-3 above).

Do this a few times with different monsters and different locations until you start feeling comfortable, and then make it more complex, and start doing things like letting the same PC be used multiple times in multiple "adventures." Congrats, now you have a campaign! That's how D&D began.

[mgshamster]

Damn good advice by Max Wilson.

Do that before taking on a module. If you like it enough, expand on it and eventually you'll only design your own adventures instead of paying to play things other people made up.

[Foxhound438]

I agree with maxwilson, it'd probably be better to start with a couple of "one-shot" adventures