First time DM questions comments and concerns.

[TodChuncker]

Are you kidding me... my whole post was deleted..

Here we go again.

First Time DM and minor experienced player. Avid watcher of Crit Role. DMing for very experienced players. Doing a Suicide Squad meets The Thing type game.

Have 3 PCs, their leader, and some red shirts.

Takes place on a floating research facility.

Place is overgrown with nasty vines and fungus. First NPC is being chased by a horde of CR 0 fungus creatures and a “shambler”.
Secretly he PC is bad... duh. Two more PCs locked in a room (The last two guys from the thing) both think the other is infected.

The team gets to the main lab and discover the Spore Druid has fused with the entity that is the source of the vines and infection. Druid dies, one or more of the NPCs turns, and then the source turns into a shambling mound and hopefully chases the team around the facility/ back to the ship. It is very slow at first but picks up speed every few turns.

They can blow up the floating island. “Finish off” the creatures, burn the place down, or just bolt.

Twist: when they are safe in their Spelljammer one surviving member or the pilot starts acting funny(you wanna see something really scary..?) just before the session ends.
If they don’t blow it up they see the island begin to drift slowly downward.

Specs:

PCs: Gunsmith Artificer, Choas Knight, Bard
Team: Fighter, Cleric, Rogue, red shirts

Small spore: CR 0
Shambler: very small Shambling Mound. CR 1
Druid Spore Cloud at 1/2 or 1/4
The Source: Shambling Mound, Druid Spore effect.

Con save for infection gets harder with each attempt at assimilation. On touch, and inhilation of spore cloud.

I intend to have creepy music the whole time, the vines will attempt to touch the team every now and then. Red shirts will vanish and maybe come back as a shambler or the team will see them being consumed as they run back to the ship.


I would love some questions, comments, and concerns from the internet hive mind.

Thanks so much!

[E’Tallitnics]

What's a "Chaos Knight"?

[ImproperJustice]

Be willing for Players to completely go off the rails and bypass certain story elements.
Let them know up front that you may need to take 5-10 minute time outs occasionally, to adjust things.
It’s completely acceptable and allows them more freedom and you more sanity.
Remember that the goal is for everyone to have fun and sometimes the narrative has to take a back seat.

Otherwise, relax enjoy and have fun.

[TodChuncker]

What's a "Chaos Knight"?

A home brew class from one of the D&D wikis.
Kinda like a hex blade warlock.

[TodChuncker]

Be willing for Players to completely go off the rails and bypass certain story elements.
Let them know up front that you may need to take 5-10 minute time outs occasionally, to adjust things.
It’s completely acceptable and allows them more freedom and you more sanity.
Remember that the goal is for everyone to have fun and sometimes the narrative has to take a back seat.

Otherwise, relax enjoy and have fun.

Thanks so much. Yeah I’m trying to plan some other side stuff that might come in handy if they go off the rails. One player is a bit of a loose canon and another is very strategic and thinks outside the box. So I want to give them some stuff that compliments their playstyles.

[ad_hoc]

I very strongly recommend first running a published adventure and having a game without houserules and homebrew.

It's easy to set down the wrong path and end up having a game that isn't fun and not knowing where the problem is.

This board is littered with people saying the game is broken one way or the other but they're not playing in ways it is intended. Play the intended way first and then change things to your liking once you fully understand the game.

[JNAProductions]

I very strongly recommend first running a published adventure and having a game without houserules and homebrew.

It's easy to set down the wrong path and end up having a game that isn't fun and not knowing where the problem is.

This board is littered with people saying the game is broken one way or the other but they're not playing in ways it is intended. Play the intended way first and then change things to your liking once you fully understand the game.

I wouldn't advise a published modules (some are good, some... aren't) but definitely suggest minimal-to-no homebrew for an initial foray.

[ad_hoc]

I wouldn't advise a published modules (some are good, some... aren't) but definitely suggest minimal-to-no homebrew for an initial foray.

There are countless threads where people try to teach others pacing.

It's much easier for someone to learn by doing through a published adventure.

Among other things.

[BloodSnake'sCha]

I wouldn't advise a published modules (some are good, some... aren't) but definitely suggest minimal-to-no homebrew for an initial foray.
+1

There are countless threads where people try to teach others pacing.

It's much easier for someone to learn by doing through a published adventure.

Among other things.

I don't agree with you, I think the published modules are bad for a starting DM, I think that the best thing is a self made railroad or a sami-sandbox with no homebrew content.

[Laserlight]

Have a couple of generic encounters you can throw in anywhere to give yourself some time to think about what you want to do after the players do something you didn't expect. Just refluff the monsters to suit. For instance, ogres might be "several bodies merged into one, spare hands and heads sticking out here and there, the whole beast nearly eight feet tall".

And remember that when you give the players three options, A B and C, the players will usually pick Pi and Tuesday, and then set everything on fire. Don't get too attached to your plot.

[TodChuncker]

Have a couple of generic encounters you can throw in anywhere to give yourself some time to think about what you want to do after the players do something you didn't expect. Just refluff the monsters to suit. For instance, ogres might be "several bodies merged into one, spare hands and heads sticking out here and there, the whole beast nearly eight feet tall".

And remember that when you give the players three options, A B and C, the players will usually pick Pi and Tuesday, and then set everything on fire. Don't get too attached to your plot.

This group will definitely go off the rails. Thanks for suggestions.

[TodChuncker]

I very strongly recommend first running a published adventure and having a game without houserules and homebrew.

It's easy to set down the wrong path and end up having a game that isn't fun and not knowing where the problem is.

This board is littered with people saying the game is broken one way or the other but they're not playing in ways it is intended. Play the intended way first and then change things to your liking once you fully understand the game.

I have a Lost Mines practically ready to go. But these guys have already ran it into the ground. One is running two games of it as a DM.

Appreciate the suggestions. I may pull back the home brew a bit.

[ad_hoc]

I have a Lost Mines practically ready to go. But these guys have already ran it into the ground. One is running two games of it as a DM.

Appreciate the suggestions. I may pull back the home brew a bit.

No problem.

Hope it goes well.

There are always smaller adventures too (rather than as chapters of a storyline). DM's guild has AL adventures. Tales of the Yawning Portal is a collection of individual adventures too.

[Man_Over_Game]

The Sunless Citadel module is really good for getting players through the first few levels. It doesn't have much for a social element, but it definitely covers the Exploration and Combat aspects of a campaign, and it's a good way of getting your feet wet.

One particular thing that is difficult to throttle is the fact that the game is balanced around having two short rests per long rest. At minimum, this means having at least 3 difficult encounters per day. Now, this doesn't exactly have to be the same thing as a fight (a particularly dangerous trap room would work fine, or a non-violent/high stress social encounter), but having fewer short rests per day will cause some features and classes to fall flat.

For example, take the Bard features Song of Rest and Font of Inspiration. Without ample Short Rests, those do nothing.

Consider this when you're planning the day's events. This is one of the most common problems I've seen at tables.

Some DMs manage to balance it so that there are at least 3 fights per day with Short Rests in between (as the game is designed to be). Some DMs make Short Rests easier to get (making them 5 minutes) in order to fit them in the day. Some DMs make Long Rests harder to get (taking a full day of rest or longer) so that you still fit in two short rests per long rest.

But the worst thing you could do is nothing.

[TodChuncker]

The Sunless Citadel module is really good for getting players through the first few levels. It doesn't have much for a social element, but it definitely covers the Exploration and Combat aspects of a campaign, and it's a good way of getting your feet wet.

One particular thing that is difficult to throttle is the fact that the game is balanced around having two short rests per long rest. At minimum, this means having at least 3 difficult encounters per day. Now, this doesn't exactly have to be the same thing as a fight (a particularly dangerous trap room would work fine, or a non-violent/high stress social encounter), but having fewer short rests per day will cause some features and classes to fall flat.

For example, take the Bard features Song of Rest and Font of Inspiration. Without ample Short Rests, those do nothing.

Consider this when you're planning the day's events. This is one of the most common problems I've seen at tables.

Some DMs manage to balance it so that there are at least 3 fights per day with Short Rests in between (as the game is designed to be). Some DMs make Short Rests easier to get (making them 5 minutes) in order to fit them in the day. Some DMs make Long Rests harder to get (taking a full day of rest or longer) so that you still fit in two short rests per long rest.

But the worst thing you could do is nothing.


Thanks so much. This one shot is contained to one location and happens in real time. I might allow for one short rest if they roll well enough for putting up defenses but I want them to feel fragile and think their way out situations.

Also they know in the grand scheme of things that their characters are expendable and the difficulty is going to be high.