Need alot of help :(

[mallowe]

Hello, so i am a new DM and will play with a group of all new players to the game and i would like to start a long and epic campaign in the Forgotten Realms map.

I have a couple of questions.

1.Where can i find a detailed list about the gods, their alignment, their worshippers, the main locations in which they are worshipped.

2.Where can i find a detailed list of how the races are located in the map of the Forgotten Realms?Where are the human settlements? the elves? the dwarves? etc...

3.Where can i read up on some history regarding the Forgotten Realms?Some events of notice, something to decide in which timeline i should start my campaign, how the current situation is.

4.Where can i find detailed information about the factions present in Faerun?Where are their Headquarters, where do they conduct their activities, some people of interest, what i can expect from their members, and what they expect from new members.

5.Some famous and internationally known artifacts? Please do tell.

6.A list of alot of monsters and npcs?The ones in the monster manual just don't cut it.I want some variety of bandits, more demons, types of wolves, spiders, pumas, panthers...you get the point.

7.A detailed list of items? Magic items? Rare items?And when should i give loot to my characters?

8.What should the rewards for finishing quests be? # of gold and XP received.

9.Any tips for a new DM?

Thank you in advance!!! i know it is alot..hope someone can help me.I might come back with more questions as i am building a story for my campaign...

[Lollerabe]

There hasen't been a full 5e update yet but I would highly recommend these two books:

Forgotten realms - faiths and pantheons. This book lists Every God in FR with long descriptions regarding the gods history, their worshippers and customs (it's really detailed) it's from 3e but 90% of the information is good to go I believe.
Hell they even listed levels for the gods avatars and they're gear so you really can't get more detailed than that.
Forgotten realms campaign setting - again 3e but has almost all the info you are asking for.

We got both books as PDFs in our dnd GDrive, they have helped our Druid of malar and paladin of bane a bunch in terms of rp and fluff ideas.

[hymer]

As mentioned by loller, you won't find the stuff you're asking for in 5e. Looking up some older editions' sourcebooks is probably your best bet.
But there's also the Forgotten Realms wiki (http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page), where you can find a lot of info, and using the notes you can see which books contain more info about the subject. Both ought to be helpful.

[Gastronomie]

Ohai!

1, 2, 3, and 4 can be solved to some extent by reading the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, while 5, 7, 8 can be solved by reading the Dungeon Master's Guide (both books being 5e material).

As for 6, it's easy to add variety to humanoid monsters - give them different weapons, possibly some Fighting Styles or Feats, and it's done. Don't know how to add variety to wolves and panthers though…

And for 9: My advice to a newb DM is, going against everything you seem to be geared towards going - "start out small".

In role-playing games, thinking a hundred sessions ahead will never work, because it's impossible to predict what the players will do. Focus on your next session, possibly the one after that, and perhaps vaguely set up an overarching plot… but don't think too far ahead. Chances are, they will end up not being used. Or worse, you might railroad your players in an attempt to show off the grand awesome plot you created over the course of three years… but if you want to do that, you should be a novelist, not a DM. The plot should be created based on the players' decisions and actions, and never vice versa. That's why thinking too far ahead can be pointless.

Also, your first session should not be the epic opening to a grand mega-campaign - it should be a self-contained mini-adventure in which the players get to understand the rules and test their characters. If you can do it, it can be what looks like a self-contained mini-adventure while actually being the epic opening of a grand mega-campaign, but don't try too hard. Don't aim to be the best, just aim to be good. Relax. You'll get to enjoy it more.

[HammeredWharf]

If all of you are completely new, I'd recommend using a premade module like Lost Mine of Phandelver. Then, if you want a longer campaign, you can just alter the story a little. For example, the main antagonist of the Lost Mines campaign could be you big bad's underling or something like that. You can always switch to making your own stuff when you feel like you're comfortable with the rules.

[Willie the Duck]

If you need more than SCAG offers, and prefer things outside of wiki format, the 3rd edition Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting book is still one of the better contained-in-one-book campaign references made. Much of the lore has even returned to the way it was in 3e (as compared to 4e) in the new edition. None of the crunch will work, but that rarely matters.

[ruy343]

And for 9: My advice to a newb DM is, going against everything you seem to be geared towards going - "start out small".

[...]

Also, your first session should not be the epic opening to a grand mega-campaign - it should be a self-contained mini-adventure in which the players get to understand the rules and test their characters. If you can do it, it can be what looks like a self-contained mini-adventure while actually being the epic opening of a grand mega-campaign, but don't try too hard. Don't aim to be the best, just aim to be good. Relax. You'll get to enjoy it more.

In general, I agree with most everything that Gastronomie posts. And they're right: if its your first time, start low level, and maybe start with just a town and its immediate surroundings if you're going to do a homebrewed adventure (and since some modules can be a little complex, homebrew isn't a bad idea). Maybe create a town and have some names and quirks lined up for the local blacksmith, innkeeper, and other characters in the story you want to run.

Try to keep your overall goals simple: many DMs try to make each and every campaign about saving the world, right off the bat, but at lower levels, characters are better suited to be local or regional heroes: the kind of people whose fame hasn't spread farther than a few towns over, and who help with very real, practical problems.

EDIT: Please note: worldbuilding, while fun, can prove a hinderance to those who are just getting started because it can feel very overwhelming. For your first session, start with a small area (like the town I mentioned above), and grow from there. Your players might not even know that they're in the Forgotten Realms for several sessions, and that's OK: it gives you time to get a feel for the game as a whole before you jump into making your campaign fit the world.

Also, don't try too hard to make your story fit the setting: it's your world after all!

Here are some first-time DM tips that I'd like to share with you:

If it's your first session, it's often a good idea to make the players' characters yourself (make a number of characters equal to the number of players +2 using the standard array, and don't take too much time on them) and let them choose from among the characters you've provided, allowing them to make personality tweaks as they see fit. Many groups don't get off the ground because they spend their first session poring over rulebooks, so this method lets them jump right into the fun (and provides backup characters in case someone dies!). Let your players know that after this adventure, they can switch it up and start over (making their own character if they don't like what they've picked).
Don't be afraid to say to your players that they've met up previously, and are all friends and "we're moving on". I've had far too many groups spend their first session distrustful of one another, and it just doesn't go well. The game is more fun when everyone can get started on the same foot, as friends.
Also, just like with a first date, don't plan on it taking 4-5 hours on your first attempt: give it a 2 hour block max, and be OK with stopping the fun where it feels natural - this gives you a short exposure to the rigors of DMing, and helps you know how to be better prepared for next time.
Don't be afraid to take a break to think about what happens next in the story when your players do something unexpected. Your players will love to laugh at your consternation anyways. (Often, they'll even provide suggestions for what happens next that you can mine for later!)
Try not to let the fun be ground to a halt over rules questions. The best ways to do this are to ask each player to think about what they're going to do on their turn (warn your spellcasters when their turns are coming up) so that they can ask questions before their turn. The other important thing is to say, "I don't know the rule for that, but this sounds reasonable: what do you think?" and foster a quick discussion on the ruling. Ultimately, you make the final call, but take others' input into account: they're telling the story just as much as you are.


I hope that helps!

[Willie the Duck]

Also, while learning to DM, you are learning how to make combat encounters and balanced fights for your players. Don't be afraid to say, "that was clearly too hard, those of you that ran come back 30 minutes later to find those that 'died' unconscious with their stuff rifled through and their pocket change missing." Players: "But... we were fighting tigers." You: "Yeah, well they're putting their kids through college. Don't bother me with details."

[mallowe]

Thank you all for your quick replies!
Where can i find the books mentioned by loller? "We got both books as PDFs in our dnd GDrive, they have helped our Druid of malar and paladin of bane a bunch in terms of rp and fluff ideas.".What is that GDrive?

I will look into what you guys told me and where you told me to search.I will return this weekend with a follow up on my questions!
Thanks alot!!!

And...it is a new group, but we have already done...like 5 sessions i believe? 2 of them have been DMed by me and then i said that i wanted to play too so another guy DMed.I guess it went pretty well.I drew a simple map based off of one i found online, gave them a quick small story:"you are brought in as criminals and forced to follow the emperors will in his quest for exploration".As in, the map was not completed, and they had to go and explore before i told them what was where and they had to always report to a "lieutenant" which was stationed in the first town/port they encountered.And to justify them being "criminals" i invented some quick stories based on their backgrounds.

A guy made a folk hero dwarven fighter, so i told him he got drunk, got in a fight and accidentally killed a man with one punch, so he was put in chains.
Another guy was a charlatan drow elf rogue...i just told him he got caught doing his usual stuff xD.
An guy was a human sorcerer, told him he accidentally started a forest fire while training his fire bolt cantrip and being lawful good he admitted it and got sent to jail.
A girl made a human warlock...told her "warlocking" is illegal in general so somebody saw her summoning a zombie and she got beaten up and sent to jail.
The last guy was a human ranger, he chose a criminal background but he told me he lived the past few years of his life alone in a forest, so i just told him a scouting party was send to find him and bring him in for his criminal deeds, and after a game of cat and mouse in the forest he got caught.

They really enjoyed the game, everything was pretty smooth.Had a little argument with the Drow Elf Rogue as he wanted to climb a big tree in order to ambush a group of 3 wolves and i made him do an athletics check which he failed with a 3(2 on the dice and +1 str modifier), at which point he started arguing that how is a nimble elf not able to climb a tree...so i just thought that he may be right, and let him do it.

Other than that nothing too exciting, they were made to kill some wolves, hunt some bandits, investigate a strange graveyard...in which they died because they decided to do a bit of grave robbing and defiling and they woke up some zombies that anihilated them(they also rolled really bad that night)...but i cut the story by saying 2 paladins come down into the crypt, defeat the zombies and save them..."you were really lucky they were there".


Have a pretty funny story though...i mean, we had fun doing it.So the ranger and warlock could not make it to the game that night so me and the other guys decided to do a little session in which we wouldn't do one of the main quests(the ones the lieutenant made them do).So the dwarven fighter, the drow rogue and the human sorcerer went back to town, turned in the quest with eliminating the wolves by showing their heads to the commander and they decided to go to the inn as they were provided with lodging there.
They went to the inn, the rogue bought drinks for the party, then he got drunk and bought drinks for the whole inn(he went and stole from some merchants and some peasants the day before so he had a bit of gold).Everyone cheered and they had a good time, the rogue decided to go upstairs with a half orc girl he just met and the sorcerer was also flirting with a human female that admitted to him she was part of the city guard(good charisma on that sorcerer).So the dwarf was sitting there bored and he asks me who he sees in the inn...while describing the people he can see, he stopped me when i told him that in the corner of the inn there is an old druid meditating, he went to the druid and asked for any "hallucinogenic substances".After a succesful persuasion check, he was in the possession of 5 vials of a highly hallucinogenic substance, a mix of herbs and poison.
He decided to throw the damn things in the fireplace and everyone got plastered.Destroyed.The drow elf came down, saw the party, got high himself and cast his dancing lights spell to create an even more psychedelic effect.
The party was stopped when the guards came...it was really really bad, and the guys framed the half orc female that went upstairs with the drow rogue.She is currently in chains awaiting her executions for the use of a mass charm spell on unsuspecting, innocent citizens.
We really had alot of fun that night xD

[raspin]

Google...

More specifically, Forgotten realms wiki. There are also other sites with a lot of info so Google is your friend. There is quite a bit of Faerun with not that much info on it so you can use a wiki to get a flavour of the area and what is there and then freestyle...basically avoid the sword coast if this is your intention.

On the other side of things there is reams of stuff on the sword coast including the 5e Sword Coast Adventurers guide. It really depends how much freedom you want.

As a new Dm I set my campaign around Almraiven, Tharsult and Tulmon as the info I could find gave a nice flavour of the area but not much specific info, particularly in the late end of the time line. This means I can make a lot up as I go but don't feel lost .

[Falcon X]

If you have specific questions about gods, artifacts, or other things, we will be happy to expand. Such as, what is one item I could drop as loot that would suddenly make a character who found it way more important than they should be, we can answer that.


Where can i find the books mentioned by loller? "We got both books as PDFs in our dnd GDrive, they have helped our Druid of malar and paladin of bane a bunch in terms of rp and fluff ideas.".What is that GDrive?
I would purchase them at DriveThroughRPG (http://www.drivethrurpg.com/index.php). Obviously there are ways to find free copies, but I don't advocate it and it breaks GiantITP rules just to discuss it.
Faiths and Pantheons is a really strong one for the Forgotten Realms gods. I personally enjoy "On Hallowed Ground" from 2e Planescape for how the gods interact with each other and their people, or the original "Deities and Demigods" from 1e for the breadth of pantheons it covers.

GDrive is probably Google Drive. I imagine the DM has access to several books, puts them into the cloud on Google Drive, and allows all his players to access them.

Now to my point-by-point answers:
1. God lists
- Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Dungeons_%26_Dragons_deities) actually tends to have the broadest reach with it's lore as it isn't tied down to Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greyhawk_deities), Dragonlance, etc.
However, Forgotten Realms and Greyhawk each have their own wikis that are pretty strong in-universe.
So you know, around 3rd edition, Planescape and the Greyhawk deities all but became the official default pantheon for D&D, so if you see people off-handedly refer to Wee-Jas or Boccob as core D&D deities, that is why.

2-4. Forgotten Realms Wiki is the best place I know for anything Forgotten Realms. However, it will always only give you a summary. If you REALLY want to dive into lore, you have to go to the sources. For example, Ed Greenwood actually wrote an entire sourcebook on the Harpers (http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/16839/FOR4-The-Code-of-the-Harpers-2e?it=1)

5. The list of famous artifacts seems endless, but some have a lot of story to them. Such as the Hand and Eye of Vecna, Orcus's scepter, or Asmodeus's Ruby Rod. I could talk endlessly about some of these. Here is the wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_major_artifacts_in_Dungeons_%26_Dragons

8. Experience and gold is something I tailor-fit to every game. I personally like to try to give enough experience for people to level up every other game session.
As for gold, I see many games where gold isn't handed out liberally for the sake of realism. That may be true, but it isn't half as fun as when players feel like they are getting things for their accomplishments. Always give enough so that your players feel rewarded.

9 General tips:
- Make a goal of being planned, but not too planned. You can develop a story, but be ready for the characters to do something that breaks your story. When that happens, don't retcon out their accomplishments, but actually recognize them as having changed the state of the world. Roll with it.
- Become a scholar of the game. Read wikis. Read old books on topics you are diving into. If you want to work Orcus into your game, having a knowledge of the Dead Gods adventure is a good idea. If you want to work out the origins of demons, the theoretical knowledge is out there (start with Obryths). Google is your friend.
- There is a big difference in fighting intelligent enemies, and unintelligent beasts. Learn the nature of the monsters and the game will be more fun.
- PACING. Figure out whether a series of short adventures, or one massive adventure is better for your group. It will surprise you how many people prefer the short accomplishments. Also figure our how goofy or serious your party wants it to be.
- The name of the game is to HAVE FUN. If you see something you do that prevents fun, change it. Either it's an impractical ideal, or you aren't experienced enough to pull it off.

[Falcon X]

Commentary on your current game:
It sounds like you are doing a lot right and have the right mindset. Good job. A few notes:
- For the, you are all in prison thing, all your ideas make sense. However, I would have made sure to have run those ideas by the players before game starts. Some players are very picky about characters they have created themselves and don't like to be told how it was they were caught.


arguing that how is a nimble elf not able to climb a tree
I would adjudicate that he was right. There's not much logic in an elf not being able to climb a tree. What I would do is make the roll be for HOW WELL he climbed the tree. Did it take him one round, or a full minute?
Course, there might be rules for that too...


but i cut the story by saying 2 paladins come down into the crypt, defeat the zombies and save them..."you were really lucky they were there".
That's legit. I save players every now and then. Just don't let them think it's habit or they won't see the game as a challenge.
What I WOULD do is send something to save them, but do it in such a way that it feels like they are saving themselves (and still might lose a party member or two). Have them stumble upon some magical holy water, have them see a paladin's gravestone with the inscription "I will rise for those in dire need", or something like that.

the rogue bought drinks for the party, then he got drunk and bought drinks for the whole inn :) Reward this, and if he is consistent, keep rewarding it. When he walks into a town, he is everyone's friend. Bump down the difficulty or give him advantage on all social checks for those who like him.

After a succesful persuasion check, he was in the possession of 5 vials of a highly hallucinogenic substance, a mix of herbs and poison.
Warning! A character has figured out that he can get hallucinogens and use them as a potent weapon. Please let this happen because it will be SO MUCH FUN, but do know it might derail your game.

[mallowe]

Thank you for all the replies and the support!
And thank you for encouraging me with the current game state.

Well..to be honest i am feeling like i am trying to chew alot more than i can swallow...i did some research and it's just dazzling as to how much information there is about the gods, the races, wars, political situation...there is no way i will ever get to know all that..at least not all at once.

What i was planning to do, was to have all the players create characters and make them really focus on the background.Then i would do some quick (1 hour) 1 on 1 sessions with each of them, to get them on the track for the main story in which they will meet.For example a guy already said he plans on playing a human warlock and his background will be something along the lines of:"a criminal murdered his whole family when he was a child, when he grew up he found and killed the criminal.He still felt empty inside and fueled by anger and all of those other nasty feelings, he decided to join a warlock sect in order to be able to capture the soul of the criminal and torture him for eternity(he will probably try to turn into a lich...he told me he will play as chaotic evil).
So in the 1 on 1 session with him, i want to go by his story part by part and for example tell me which sect he could have joined(this is why i need to learn of the factions), the city in which he was born(I will make him roll for this, but i need to know where humans live in Faerun, where there is a warlock sect nearby...etc).
Then i will also tell him that one night he had a dream in which he was fighting a big shadowy figure alongside other normal shadowy figures, he could see their faces but not clearly.->i will tell this to every one of my players, then when they meet i will tell them->you immediately realize that the people you just met are the shadowy figures from your dream.And i want this dream to be a sign from a god(have to learn the gods), and they will later learn that they were, by chance, born with the ability to resist a certain disease(will later find out it is magical) that ravages the entire land.
And that disease is actually a form of mind control of sorts that makes the infected people fanatics of another certain god, which plans on arriving in the forgotten realms to destroy all living things.
I want to say that this disease started when an expedition party in a desert or a mountain or whatever opened an ancient tomb to which they were drawn with promises of magical items and incredibly valuable books and tomes.They wanted to keep it all for themselves so they decided to do a big number of small runs to and from the tomb, they contracted that disease there and spread it.The disease was the only manifestation that the Evil God could accomplish on this earth, and he used it to gain followers which he will order to kill millions of people in order to fill some sort of soul gems that they need in order to perform a huge ritual to summon the deity in all of its power.
And i want by using their starting zones and backgrounds to have them meet in the same town, where there will be a huge attack by the god's minions and they will learn about their powers.
I was thinking about having each of them lured to the town, from where the mortal races will try to make an advance on the minions by using things from their backgrounds.For example, the warlock may hear about this expedition and of the disease, and he may want to go there because there may be something in the tomb that could help him accomplish his lifelong dream of summoning and torturing the criminal.
As you can see, i believe that the god's plan will take a huge amount of time, so they will not be pressed to immediately go to the said tomb, kill the minions, top the ritual or whatever.I want to fill the world with lots of sidequests and interesting landscapes and dungeons and secret areas and etc.I want them to feel like the main quest is the end of their journey, but the fun happens on the road there.There will be certain areas where they will encounter main quest related side quests and items and NPCs and boss monsters, but i want it to be a sandbox, if they want...they can just ignore it and do whatever they like.No one will make them use their gift of not being able to be controlled by the god.
I have alot in my head, and this is just a raw sketch of what i want my story to be, things will probably change...but i will want to do something around those lines.

I need all the information that i asked about, because i want to be prepared for everything they might encounter...and have them feel like they are discovering a real world, not something that i make off the bat.(for example if they are in neverwinter and they want to go to the forest i don't want to be like: emm...you encounter...trolls?emm...a hidden stash of gold and weapons that belong to some bandits?", i know that this improv is good, but i want to have alot of things set in stone.The general idea of the settlements, the population, which races live where, which monsters you encounter where.
If my approach is bad...please tell me.I just want my campaign to feel epic, and i want to finish it in maybe...1 year?


Thank you again for your support.It's really heartwarming to see so many nice people here.