Never been the DM before, need help please :D

[Tom Clarke]

Hi guys,

In my DnD group, we take it in turns to DM for the rest of the group, allowing us all to play and DM at different times. Its finally came round to me being the DM, which is my first time and a little daunting. The Characters (consists of a 3 to 4 man group) are level 2 and have just completed some tasks get by a group know as 'The Order' at an ancient temple. The Order are a group of templar like people, who are tasked with destroying evil entities and safeguarding magical items of all types. I have no experience with creating plots, encounters or anything of the sort, so any help or pushes in any direction would be brilliant. The plot is the thing that is troubling me the psot so any help on that would be great. thanks in advance

[BrianDavion]

ok time for my first peice of advice to new DMs...

you're going to screw up, but noi one is going to notice. 90% of DM mistakes slip right past the players

[Tom Clarke]

Yeah, People have been saying that. Good to hear its the same with everyone :)

[Blue Lantern]

Remember that the DM job is 50% preparation, 50% perspiration.

AKA, the players will surprise you, so when you create your story and hooks try to always allow flexibility in the solution.

Also be sure to have fun yourself, noting worse that a passion starting to feel like a chore.

That said good luck.

[Tom Clarke]

cheers buddy

[MrStabby]

It's not a bug, it's a feature...

Any time you players pick up a plot hole, treat it as an opportunity to advance the story in a different direction. Your forgot to add paladin smite bonus damage to the lich for being undead? Well maybe it isn't a lich but a powerful illusionist in disguise. Create a rich world full of characters and names you keep in reserve and then when the players do something unexpected there is a character on hand which just happens to tie into the existing world in some way. Yes you cant prepare anything in depth but an idea of purpose gives some dialogue and some info on how to flesh them out on the fly.

Homebrew a few monsters. Take a few sessions to get used to it, but creating the perfect monster for the location is rewarding for both you and the players. Want some guards for the tomb of a pyromancer king? Well homebrew some burning skeletons of the right level. You want some kind of holy warrior of Lolth? Build one - think of the abilities that are thematic and appropriate.


General guide for encounters - never use a single monster. These tend to be all or nothing removing a player or two (who then tend to sit out the fight not having fun) or dying to a save or suck effect.

For every encounter, have a reason why the players should remember it and why it was an awesome encounter. Some will miss the mark but it is a good tactic.

Most importantly to having fun, have a chat with the players and make sure everyone understands wht type of game you are going to run and they are ok with it.

[uraniumrooster]

Know that, no matter how well you prepare, at some point (probably sooner than later) the players are going to take a path you didn't anticipate. It's best to just roll with that.

I usually prepare for DMing a campaign the same way I would prepare for giving a speech or presentation. I don't prepare down to every last detail, or memorize a speech word for word, I just put together an outline of ideas, events and characters in the world that I want to get across. It allows me more freedom to improvise and I don't get as flustered if I have to go "off-script," since there isn't really a script to begin with. It's also worth noting that most players are unlikely to pick up on subtleties, so you'll probably have to hammer them over the head with 3-4 fairly obvious, related clues before they pick up on your lead.

Also, on the subject of mistakes. I've found it's best to just treat any plot-related mistakes I make as being in-character... in a realistic world, nobody is going to have perfect information, so if captive BadguyX gives the party some information in one session that I later forget about or decide to change, it's not immersion breaking, it's just that BadguyX didn't know what they were talking about. For mechanical mistakes, most players probably won't notice, but if it's blatant, just own up that it was a mistake and nobody's going to care unless you have some hardcore rules lawyers in the group (in which case, making homebrew monsters can be your best bet because they don't have anything to call you on).

[R.Shackleford]

Hi guys,

In my DnD group, we take it in turns to DM for the rest of the group, allowing us all to play and DM at different times. Its finally came round to me being the DM, which is my first time and a little daunting. The Characters (consists of a 3 to 4 man group) are level 2 and have just completed some tasks get by a group know as 'The Order' at an ancient temple. The Order are a group of templar like people, who are tasked with destroying evil entities and safeguarding magical items of all types. I have no experience with creating plots, encounters or anything of the sort, so any help or pushes in any direction would be brilliant. The plot is the thing that is troubling me the psot so any help on that would be great. thanks in advance

The first piece of advice on can give you is to think like a videogame or movie. The biggest problem with table top game encounters, especially D&D, is that they are very one dimensional are boring. It really doesn't take much to spruce up the encounters.

Also if you want players to be able to do something, don't tell them, show them. Want them to use the environment? Have their enemies use the environment. Have enemies swing in chandeliers to get across a room (DC 10, don't go crazy on DCs).

This may seem like a lot but it is better to push through it now than pick up bad habbits of a very very boring stock encounter.

The second piece of advice I can give... Start with a simple plot and then take ideas from the player's and twist them a bit.

The players find a dead body and says "perhaps bears did this", they find out that owl bears did it. You tell the ranger that they know that owl bears don't live in this region. The party brain storms why owl bears may be in this region... Take one of those ideas (later you can take more or all of them at once ;) ) and expand upon it. Perhaps one player says that maybe wizards are introducing them into the wild or maybe one got lost from being shipped. What ends up happening is an illegal owlbear fighting ring. When an owlbear lost they just three it away in the woods.

Don't do more work than you have to :). There are 3 to 5 extra minds at the table, use them.

[Fruitbat1919]

Try to think and talk like a narrator of a story. There is less chance anyone will have game rule related issues if you use real would mixed with fantasy film related terms.

Don't worry about what the monsters or NPCs have as stats all the time. If the PCs are doing good, they are winning, if not, give them clues how to do good. Don't be afraid though to make things harder if they actively ignore your help and choose plainly bad ideas.

Always let the PCs try something. If the thing they ask to do is outrageous, warn them that you are almost certain to fail. Tell them how hard or difficult something is in story and real life terms - avoid rules terminology.

If you get your story telling head on, decent players are more likely to just run with it and they will take over - let them! By the end of it, you should have to do little work, as the Players will do it for you🙂

Example: a player thinks that something is not realistic (you realise you've made a mistake). Agree with them. Tell them that, it does seem strange, I wonder why? Let them think it's something wrong and while they are trying to decide what could be happening they don't know about, come up with a plan😎

Example: you've accidentally made a fight too difficult and the PCs have no chance of winning. Remember you can have anything happen. The villagers come to help and the monsters retreat at the overwhelming numbers (remember, monsters see a lot of angry people, not low level NPCs). Always have some get the PCs out of jail cards ready😉

When PCs die, try to make it memorable. A PC being told he is hit for 21 damage and losing his saves is not memorable. Describing his wonderful death in detail is best done by the player, but help them out by describing dramatic actions and the players will soon copy your lead.

Above all, let the players feel they have control of the game most of the time, then dramatically shock them with overwhelming odds. Let them feel the loss of control at times. Always give guide them towards dramatic actions to gain back control.

Hope some of this helps🙂

[Fruitbat1919]

O one more tip:

Voice acting is a difficult skill for most. Best avoided if you don't want to make the night cringing 😝

Use description instead. Boulderdwarf turns to you and says "blah blah blah" you can see he looks in fear for his life - much better than trying to voice act fear, unless you have good acting skills😉

[R.Shackleford]

Example: you've accidentally made a fight too difficult and the PCs have no chance of winning. Remember you can have anything happen. The villagers come to help and the monsters retreat at the overwhelming numbers (remember, monsters see a lot of angry people, not low level NPCs). Always have some get the PCs out of jail cards ready😉


Most of Your stuff is spot on but I have a problem with this.

This is terrible advice to do more than once MAX. If you keep bailing your players out then they have no reason to fear their actions. Even then, if you do it once it can feel cheap and make it seem like there was no reason for the player's to be there in the first place. Machinas must be handled with care.

There are plenty of other options.

A) Head monster (Captain Hobgoblin McHobgoblin) tells others to stand down, these intruders aren't worth their time and *head monster* will handle it. The other enemies hoot and holler their dear leader on.

B) Set means of escape. Having side doors that are out and in then open works well for *exit stage left*. You can also have trees or boulders set up to where a well placed attack will knock them down and separate the party from the enemies long enough for the party to run.

C) Take prisoners. This can lead to many great things

D) Kill the party/party member. Way to many parties and players need to feel character death, this causes later characters to become more attached to them. Also it will show that if you play stupid games you win stupid prizes (meaning, you do stupid stuff stupid stuff happens).

Don't go kill happy but killing a PC is important from time to time. Also, don't always make it memorable, sometimes people die in less than glorious fashion. Waiting for a glorious/memorable death means that you planned it and that is kinda... Meh. As a player and DM I prefer the PC make their death memorable.

Party is running away from spiders (Uncharted 3 number of spiders) down a series of tunnels. The door we broke down in the way in is sitting next to the frame... I tell my allies goodbye and use mending on the door, then arcane lock, and as they continue running I unload all my spells as the spiders came (i didn't have much lol)

The DM didn't plan for that death but it was memorable and it allowed the other to get away safely. The DM said he didn't plan on the spiders even reaching the PCs and I just replied something like "doesn't matter, the character saw a threat and did what he did best".

[ChelseaNH]

How much material do you need to come up with -- how many sessions of how many hours?

With the Order, you're set up for either "Defeat the evil thingy" or "Carry this magical item from point A to point B" basic plots. The main difference from a prep perspective is that defeating an evil thingy has one major location (wherever the thingy resides) while the delivery mission is a road trip. Which sounds more fun to you?

Whichever you choose, remember that the opposition should be more than just animate props for the party to defeat. Try thinking of them as the heroes, and the party as the bad guys -- how would the heroes fight to win?

[R.Shackleford]

How much material do you need to come up with -- how many sessions of how many hours?

With the Order, you're set up for either "Defeat the evil thingy" or "Carry this magical item from point A to point B" basic plots. The main difference from a prep perspective is that defeating an evil thingy has one major location (wherever the thingy resides) while the delivery mission is a road trip. Which sounds more fun to you?

Whichever you choose, remember that the opposition should be more than just animate props for the party to defeat. Try thinking of them as the heroes, and the party as the bad guys -- how would the heroes fight to win?

But remember that "beating" the enemy doesn't always mean you win.

If you are tasked with infiltrating a castle, killing anyone or everyone, inside could mean you lose.

Success doesn't have to equate to winning in battle. Just because you fail your task doesn't mean you die or have been beaten in combat.

In some games if you fight a boss/mini boss more than once it is because you did something wrong and you have a chance of missing your goal (coughFinalFantsyVIIIcough).

:)

[Malifice]

Hi guys,

In my DnD group, we take it in turns to DM for the rest of the group, allowing us all to play and DM at different times. Its finally came round to me being the DM, which is my first time and a little daunting. The Characters (consists of a 3 to 4 man group) are level 2 and have just completed some tasks get by a group know as 'The Order' at an ancient temple. The Order are a group of templar like people, who are tasked with destroying evil entities and safeguarding magical items of all types. I have no experience with creating plots, encounters or anything of the sort, so any help or pushes in any direction would be brilliant. The plot is the thing that is troubling me the psot so any help on that would be great. thanks in advance

To begin with when desigining encounters, use the guidelines out of the DMG. Stick to the [medium-hard] bracket for your encounters.

You want the players facing around 6-8 such encounters in between long rests as a default average, and you should be designing your encounters to facilitate around 2 short rests between long rests.

The ideal way to maintain this pacing is to have the PCs employers (the Templars) engage the PCs on a quest with a time limit attached (and a penalty for failure if they dont do it in time, or a reward for success if they do).

Some examples are:


Save the princess/ captured NPC before the bad guys sacrifie them releasing the demon.
One of the items we protect has been stolen by an evil cultist. He intends to use it to summon a powerful demon at midnight. You need to defeat him and recover the item before midnight.
The head of the temple has been cursed. He will die in [time X] if you cant recover the cure
A plaugue sweeps the town and people are dying each day. You need to find the cure before X
A bandit camps location has finally been found. They move every couple of days and the Templar order needs the PCs to root them out of hiding before they relocate

etc

Within that broad adventure hook/ paradigm/ time limit you can design encounters. Excluding travel time to the central location of the adventure (the ruin/ dungeon etc) figure out how many days the PCs will need to acomplish the mission and design around 6 encounters for every such day. There is nothing wrong with the PCs having two days to complete the mission, and them defeating 4 encounters on day one, making day two harder (or vice versa). Let them set the pace and manage resources within the broad paradigm you set them to do so.

This is vital to adventure design, and encounter and class balance. It also gives the PCs a clear framework within which to police resource expenditure (DnD is at its heart, a resource management game mechanically), and maintains pacing, realism and external pressure to complete a task and thwart the bad guys within a time limit.

Finally, know when not to set a time limit. Sometimes you want to back off and create a more open ended quest, or give the PCs all the time in the world to manage themselves with no time pressure (long rest dependent classes will shine in this model such as full casters, barbarians and paladins). On the flip side dont be afraid to occasionally do the opposite - give the players a tight time limit in which they have to defeat a series of 10+ encounters with only time to short rest or no time to rest at all (the latter option favors short rest dependent classes like the fighter, monk and warlock). From a meta perspective this gives the PCs different times to shine, shifts the spotlight, and stops the game from feeling 'samey'.

As an example, here is a quick adventure hook (assumes 4 x 3rd level PCs, notes for 2nd level PCs included) for you:
___________________________________

The Forbidden Catacombs of Shadowy Doom

Hook: One evening, the PCs are urgently summoned by their Templar masters. A long sealed catacomb in the Templar headquarters (which stores a relic of great evil and tremendous power) has been invaded by a powerful evil BBEG (A creature of shadow and great evil'). The chamber was warded against intrusion by members of the order as a saftey measure to protect them against corruption, meaning they need the PCs help to storm the forbidden catacombs and thwart the evil force before it can use the 'evil relic'.

The Templars have discovered via augury magic that the evil BBEG intends to use the Relic at midnight - three hours hence!

They beseech the PCs for help, and promise the PCs a reward 250gp each on success, and a further reward befitting great champions of the Holy order - a magic weapon from their armory (choose a weapon that a PC uses, preferably a Paladin or Cleric. The reward is a weapon of that type. Give it some kind of awesome name. It requires attunement and deals an extra 1d6 radiant damage against fiends and undead on a hit and emits light as the cantrip at will). They also also offer to provide the PCs with two healing potions each now to help them in the mission. [A relevant social or Charisma based check might up the reward at this point to more GP or a payment in advance - however this also likely makes the Templars view the PCs as mercenaries and perhaps not fitting for the orders inner secrets or trust. The effect of this on future adventures is up to you.]

If the PCs accept, the templars lead them down the forbidden catacombs at once...

[Now draw up a dugeon featuring a trap or two, a dozen or so rooms etc]

Insert the following encounters:


1 x Skeleton Champion [minotaur skeleton] and 4 x skeletons [1300 xp] Hard
1 x Helmed Horror [1100 xp] hard
1 x advanced Carrion crawler (add an extra +1 to AC and save DCs, add +20 hit points, increase CR to 3) [700 xp] medium
4 x Darkmantles [800xp] medium
1 x Bearded devil. (Wears banded mail AC 17, increase CR to 4) a lieutenant of the BBEG [1100xp] hard
1 x Shadow devil and 2 x shadows [2600 xp] deadly [BBEG who guards the 'evil artifact']

For your encounters, be sure to include intresting terrain to fight on. Pits to push things into, a bridge spanning a 20' chasm, stairs, difficult terrain, cover etc. The BBEG should be encountered in an area of magical dim light at a minimum. I'd probably make the darkness eminate from the 'evil artifact' and negateable by the PCs messing with it somehow as an action and with a DC 15 Check of some kind.

For 2nd level PCs, add 2 more skeletons (and remove the minotaur skeleton), remove the buffs to the carrion crawler, reduce the number of darkmantles to 3, replace the Bearded devil with 4 x shadows, replace the helmed horror with 2 x sets of animated armor, and remove the two shadows from the BBEG room.

The PCs have three hours to do the above (allowing two short rests the players can decide between them to take whenever). Keep the time pressure on them, by reminding them they dont have much time to rest (but also if they push themselves too hard, gently remind them to rest if they need it).

Have fun!
____________________________________

The above took me around 30 minutes of prep and encounter design time, and that included typing it out for you. It should provide a whole evenings entertainment for a group of 3rd or 2nd level PCs.

[2D8HP]

1)Make up or steal find a scene that looks like it will be fun/exciting.
2) Listen to what the players say.
3) Have them roll some dice for suspense.
4) Tell the players what changed in the scene.
5) Repeat
Despite changing "Editions" the game is largely the same:
Example of Dungeon Mastering in 1980 (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/14957979/ConfessionsOfADungeonMaster1980.pdf)
Except for character creation, try to open the rulebooks as little as possible when your actually playing. If you misremember a rule? So what! It's your game! Usually keeping the action flowing is more important. You can cop to your mistake later, or just declare it "home brew".
Years ago I found that as fun as it is for the GM, most players just don't care that much about elaborate "world building ". I remember some of the most successful sessions I GM'd were basically cribbed from movie plots, they don't need to be "high quality films" either (I remember that a mash-up of "Conan the Destroyer" and "Young Sherlock Holmes" worked very well). In fact while it was frustrating at first, I found that the less I pre-prepared, and the more I improvised on the spot, the better the players liked it.
Don't use any published adventures exactly as written, use two or more at the same time so if they go left instead of there is something to see (but most of the time just switch left for right etc.).
The "Curse of Strahd"/"Ravenloft adventure while it has good stuff in it, the basic set-up of a "mysterious fog" that traps in the players is lame (players hate realizing there on a "railroad"). Use fire instead! Or the classic "falling through a sinkhole into a Dungeon"!

Try not to use obvious "hooks". Back in my day we didn't bother to use hooks.
Use settings/situations instead.
"Your at the entrance of the Tomb of Blaarg what do you do?" If they're real contrary "Your inside the Tomb of Blaarg, what do you do?".If they're super contrary, "your trapped deep inside the Tomb of Blaarg" etc. Just quickly narrate to the part where the actual adventure begins. They can role-play how they turned tail and ran back to the tavern.
If they still make a fuss?

Hey! How did we wind up here?! I didn't vote for this!
Sheesh!
Damn kids today!
Being a player is most of the fun, and less than half of the headache of being a DM! Your doing them a favor!

Sorry guys, I don't have anything else prepared. How about a game of risk? I've also got Excalibur on DVD and Conan the Destroyer, and Hawk the Slayer on VHS.
or even make one of them "put on the daddy pants" and be the DM!

Here's the screen and some dice. Shall I play my Fighter/Rogue or my Ranger?
If the "campaign" lasts long enough be sure to have A freakin' Dragon in a Dungeon that sits on a giant pile of treasure!
Good luck, and have funhttp://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QTIeBuLnD-A/UR_ToMA9-VI/AAAAAAAAAKA/q8g2RT4XY-s/s1600/holmes+box.jpg

[Beardyface]

I might be dming a game for the first time myself soon. I wish us both luck!

[Gubbster]

The DM-guide has a whole load of random tables. With those and a bit of inspiration you should be able to easily make an interesting and engaging session for your players.:smallsmile:

[MBControl]

I wouldn't consider myself a new DM anymore, but that wasn't so long ago.

After my first session, I came away with two main things:
1) I prepared waaaay too much
2) I didn't prepare nearly enough

To be clear, I prepared the wrong things. I over prepared the story and environment, creating back stories and motivations for every body in town. First of all, half the time the party will decide to walk around the town anyway. That happens. But then I realized, that improvising the minor story elements, and at times the major ones, isn't as hard as I thought. In fact, it can lead to new and interesting plot lines, that your players have helped create.

Secondly for me, I didn't prepare my nuts & bolts enough. I knew what monster they may encounter, but I didn't have a quick reference to their stats. There is nothing more uncomfortable to me, as a DM, then telling a cool speech and setting up an encounter, and then making everybody sit in silence while I flipped through books.

To summarize, have a well thought out outline of the major story, and some ideas of emergency plans if you need to, but don't stress out about the details right away. Have your mundane stats and maps prepared. It will help you keep the flow of the game, which will keep the players and yourself engaged.

Have fun, remember you're the boss, and sometimes a PC has to die.

[Fruitbat1919]

Most of Your stuff is spot on but I have a problem with this.

This is terrible advice to do more than once MAX. If you keep bailing your players out then they have no reason to fear their actions. Even then, if you do it once it can feel cheap and make it seem like there was no reason for the player's to be there in the first place. Machinas must be handled with care.

There are plenty of other options.

A) Head monster (Captain Hobgoblin McHobgoblin) tells others to stand down, these intruders aren't worth their time and *head monster* will handle it. The other enemies hoot and holler their dear leader on.

B) Set means of escape. Having side doors that are out and in then open works well for *exit stage left*. You can also have trees or boulders set up to where a well placed attack will knock them down and separate the party from the enemies long enough for the party to run.

C) Take prisoners. This can lead to many great things

D) Kill the party/party member. Way to many parties and players need to feel character death, this causes later characters to become more attached to them. Also it will show that if you play stupid games you win stupid prizes (meaning, you do stupid stuff stupid stuff happens).

Don't go kill happy but killing a PC is important from time to time. Also, don't always make it memorable, sometimes people die in less than glorious fashion. Waiting for a glorious/memorable death means that you planned it and that is kinda... Meh. As a player and DM I prefer the PC make their death memorable.

Party is running away from spiders (Uncharted 3 number of spiders) down a series of tunnels. The door we broke down in the way in is sitting next to the frame... I tell my allies goodbye and use mending on the door, then arcane lock, and as they continue running I unload all my spells as the spiders came (i didn't have much lol)

The DM didn't plan for that death but it was memorable and it allowed the other to get away safely. The DM said he didn't plan on the spiders even reaching the PCs and I just replied something like "doesn't matter, the character saw a threat and did what he did best".

Depends on many things and many situations, but I disagree that it's terrible advice. Plenty of ways within a story to make sure the PCs have challenge and know that the next challenge could be spell doom😛 It's not always black and white. Usually there is no need anyway, as once you know the system well, it's usually easy enough to get the challenge level you want.

Remember there are plenty of game styles and some include the use of story as the main enjoyment. The groups I have DMd for know they will get good and difficult challenges. They also know that they have great input into the story. They also know they can die, but mostly when they make mistakes or desire to follow the story they are helping make and that story leads to death.

A different way of thinking to yourself maybe, but calling it terrible advice is probably not very open minded towards how others play the game sometimes🙂

[RickAllison]

I wouldn't consider myself a new DM anymore, but that wasn't so long ago.

After my first session, I came away with two main things:
1) I prepared waaaay too much
2) I didn't prepare nearly enough

To be clear, I prepared the wrong things. I over prepared the story and environment, creating back stories and motivations for every body in town. First of all, half the time the party will decide to walk around the town anyway. That happens. But then I realized, that improvising the minor story elements, and at times the major ones, isn't as hard as I thought. In fact, it can lead to new and interesting plot lines, that your players have helped create.

Secondly for me, I didn't prepare my nuts & bolts enough. I knew what monster they may encounter, but I didn't have a quick reference to their stats. There is nothing more uncomfortable to me, as a DM, then telling a cool speech and setting up an encounter, and then making everybody sit in silence while I flipped through books.

To summarize, have a well thought out outline of the major story, and some ideas of emergency plans if you need to, but don't stress out about the details right away. Have your mundane stats and maps prepared. It will help you keep the flow of the game, which will keep the players and yourself engaged.

Have fun, remember you're the boss, and sometimes a PC has to die.

Riffing off this, note cards with important information (there are resources online that can make monster and spell cards quite efficiently) can speed up improvised encounters. With a collection of monsters/NPCs that fit the area you are in, you can create an encounter by randomly selecting a bunch of them.