First-Time GM: Module or Original

[Kosmopolite]

Hello everyone. Wow, I haven't been here for a long time.

Anyway, I'm planning to DM DnD 3.5 for the first time (and I've never DMed a campaign longer than two sessions before. Hopefully this one will be longer). I'm comfortable with the rules and I'm find creating new stuff. The question is: should I? Is shooting out on my own a good place to start, or should I start with a pre-printed module? If the latter, which do you recommend?

[Mike Miller]

Hello everyone. Wow, I haven't been here for a long time.

Anyway, I'm planning to DM DnD 3.5 for the first time (and I've never DMed a campaign longer than two sessions before. Hopefully this one will be longer). I'm comfortable with the rules and I'm find creating new stuff. The question is: should I? Is shooting out on my own a good place to start, or should I start with a pre-printed module? If the latter, which do you recommend?

Good luck starting a campaign as DM! As a veteran DM, I actually like both creating my own campaigns and using pre-made adventures. If I have the time to make a thorough, interesting campaign, I will do that. However, these days I find preparation time limited, so I prefer modules. It just comes down to personal preference and group preference. Some groups like to branch out to the point that they will go off rails no matter what with pre made modules. Other groups enjoy being led by the hand and railroading works. Figure out what is best for your group by talking to your players and experimenting.

Having said all that, doing a quick google search will find you the most popular modules for 3.5 overall with lots of opinions. Some fun ones that come to mind are the Shattered Gates of Slaughtergarde, the Sunless Citadel, the Forge of Fury, and Red Hand of Doom. The first two are probably easier for a newer DM. Sunless Citadel is 3.0 though, so some stats won't line up with 3.5. There are also tons of free modules you can find that are worthwhile in case you can't get your hands on those. It all depends on what you are looking for in terms of a pre made module. There are so many out there.

[zlefin]

I'd say start with a module or two first. Just running the game itself is a fair bit of work, and is rather different from playing. Of course I tend to like taking things slow, your tastes, and your playgroups preferences, may vary.
It also depends how much time you have to create something original.
note that even if you want/choose to make your own campaign/adventure, it's still helpful to read through some modules just to get a feel for various possibilities and things you can do.

Note that even with a module you may have to tweak/adapt things a little bit, and have to make some rulings to cover problem cases.
I don't have anything particular to recommend, I chose to start my gm'ing with a simple level 1 dungeon crawl module. you definitely want to keep it fairly low level at the start of course, to make things a bit easier.

i'd say it's too soon to plan for a full campaign, better to first try a couple simple adventure modules that could be the prelude to a campaign.

[edathompson2]

Hello everyone. Wow, I haven't been here for a long time.

Anyway, I'm planning to DM DnD 3.5 for the first time (and I've never DMed a campaign longer than two sessions before. Hopefully this one will be longer). I'm comfortable with the rules and I'm find creating new stuff. The question is: should I? Is shooting out on my own a good place to start, or should I start with a pre-printed module? If the latter, which do you recommend?

Do Both. Have the modules connect to each other and create the "inbetween" time to flesh out the world. If you're creating your own world. Build from inside out. Don't try to build the entire world.

Only make the parts of the world that the PCs can actual travel to. This will allow you to create detail in the realm they are working. It will also give you a springboard and ideas to create the rest of the world based upon your groups choices and experiences.

Most DMs make the mistake of building from out to in which makes a very generic feeling world.

You can also use the towns from the modules and add them to your world map. Most modules also have named terrain and have done some mini world building for you.

[Nifft]

Hello everyone. Wow, I haven't been here for a long time.

Anyway, I'm planning to DM DnD 3.5 for the first time (and I've never DMed a campaign longer than two sessions before. Hopefully this one will be longer). I'm comfortable with the rules and I'm find creating new stuff. The question is: should I? Is shooting out on my own a good place to start, or should I start with a pre-printed module? If the latter, which do you recommend?

If you have sufficient free time, then I recommend starting out on your own.

Doing everything yourself gives you a lot of information:

- What parts of the creative process do you enjoy? (In the future, only do those parts yourself. Get the non-enjoyable parts from a module or the internet.)

- How good was your judgment about encounter balance? (You can fine-tune this but it gets harder as level increases, and you CANNOT farm this out entirely -- you'll need to adjust encounters / eyeball book monsters / modify traps even if you run someone else's module.)

- How much do your players want to direct the plot? (Modules can be plot rail-roads whereby the PCs run through encounters like a video-game RPG, with a linear start-here, end-here, visit-these-in-between. But that's only a limitation for pre-written material like modules and video-games. You can do something relatively unique in the gaming world: let the players determine the plot. That's only viable if they're into it, and you're into it.)


The early game is the easiest time to learn about running the game. I recommend doing as much learning here as possible, and doing everything yourself is a way to maximize that.

But you can only put this advice into practice if you have enough free time.