Any DMing tips?

[autistic_lilix]

Ok, first of, hello (let's not forget our manners here).

I'm DMing my first ever campaign sometime around february 2023 and to be honest, I don't really know where to start looking. I am not exactly an experienced player (I only ever played 3 characters: Athénée, Saphyr and Calanix) so I fear I might not be a great DM if I don't pour my heart and soul into this game.

I know the base of storytelling (I'm currently in the process of writing a sci-fi novel) and how to keep an audience attention but that's pretty much it? I'm no monster expert and I struggle to live up to my own expectations so I have no idea how I could make the game as fun as possible for my players.

(The following text is a description of my players and the campaign settings so if you have generic tips feel free to just ignore it, but if you think you could add something or that I could do something to really play with my players' profiles, you can go ahead and read, I'd greatly appreciate)

For the campaign, I plan on doing a session 0, mostly RP heavy so that I can familiarize with my players' characters, their personnality, flaws etc.
Since I'm a little scared of having too many options, I plan on having the tavern they're in sort of "raided" by authorities, and they will simply have to do a few simple tasks to pay a sort of bail? (again, I'm new to DMing, so this might be a bad idea, I don't know, I'm scared they'll get bored but I don't want them to have too many options yet so I can take things nice and slow).

They can just end session 0 without a fight or they can try to fight the authorities, but the authorities are too high level for them to handle, but since they're reprensentant of order they can't kill the players. They can't die in session 0 btw, except if they like jump of a bridge or something?

All 4 of them have different profiles and archetypes of characters they like:

• L is playing a dragonborn, he already has the sheet but I haven't seen it yet. He tends to play more chaotic characters and likes to fight, so I'm kind of scared he might get his character in a bad position early on, but he's also really creative when it comes to finding solutions. He also like to subvert expectations with his characters and overthink NPC's he meet
  
• J is calmer, they mostly play diplomatic faces of the party. They're playing an half-elf ranger, who is the twin brother of one of their previous characters who I actually already know, so normally it won't be much of a struggle (hopefully?)
  
• C is playing an artificier homebrew called "Child of the depth". I'm actually both terrified and really excited. His character has blindsight (terrifying for the baby DM that I am tbh) but is more of less mute (they speak in a frequency too high for people to hear anything they say). (I might put the homebrew on another tread if anyone knows a little about how to balance them and wants to help, but this is already super long and I'm sorry). C likes to think character wise, and act how he thinks would better impact his characters and their development
  
• And finally M has a style very similar to mine, she gets carried by her characters and will often speak without thinking when RPing, because it just comes naturally to her. She hates choices tho, and doesn't like fighter classes, so often time we'll have to wait because she gained a level and doesn't know what spells she wants (tho she knows the ones she doesn't want). She doesn't know what she wants to play yet, but I think she'd be an amazing support. Ultimately the choice will be her's but I can't shake the feeling that she's a caring person at heart, and so are her characters so it would be fitting

I have no idea how to balance L's love for battles and her hatred for long fights so again, I need help, I need tips and I'd take anything. I just want them to have fun.

Thanks

[1Pirate]

Session 0 is usually more of an OOC talk with the players about what they're looking for or comfortable with during the campaign(what tone do they like, how graphic can your descriptions be, do they have any potentially triggering topics like racism or domestic violence, are they comfortable with profanity), general themes about the campaign (low magic/high magic, are any races/classes despised or exalted). Basically it's to make sure you and the players are on the same page before actual play starts.

Have you DM'd any one-shots? Highly recommend doing that before starting a campaign. It can help work out jitters when everyone at the table starts looking at you.

More to follow when I'm off my mobile...

[JNAProductions]

General pieces of advice:

-Make sure everyone is having fun as best you can, yourself included. This is a hobby we do for fun, so if it's not, that's an issue regardless if all the rules are being followed.
-Listen to your players. Ask questions, especially before and after a session, about what they've been liking or not. And listen too! Don't just ask, but listen to the answers!
-As a new DM, keep houserules and homebrew to a minimum. Try the game stock first before you start fiddling with it, since it works pretty well. I do see you're already using some brew, and that's okay, assuming it's not gamebreaking or anything.
-Be consistent. If need be, write down rulings you make so you can reference them later.
-Don't be afraid to say no. You should err on the side of yes, but if you need to, say no.

For the homebrew content, we have a specific subforum for it. Post it there and we can critique it!

[Unoriginal]

For the campaign, I plan on doing a session 0, mostly RP heavy so that I can familiarize with my players' characters, their personnality, flaws etc.

As 1Pirate said, a Session 0 is when you meet with all the players together to discuss the upcoming campaign, making clear what is expected, what people want, what is their no-nos, what kind of rulings and houserules you'll be starting with, which character creation options are allowed, who the respective characters are, etc.

Since I'm a little scared of having too many options, I plan on having the tavern they're in sort of "raided" by authorities, and they will simply have to do a few simple tasks to pay a sort of bail? (again, I'm new to DMing, so this might be a bad idea

Advice number 1: the "you get beaten and now you have to work for X" can sometime work, but it *will* piss the PCs and possibly the players off 99% of the time, and it's immensely best to not use it as the players' introduction to your campaign, campaign world and DMing style.

I don't know, I'm scared they'll get bored but I don't want them to have too many options yet so I can take things nice and slow).

Advice number 2: If you don't want your players/PCs to have too many options at the start of the game, simply tell them "this is the start of the adventure". Ex: "You found a treasure map and decided to go on a journey to see if the treasure is legit. Comes up with a reason why your characters would do that."

They can just end session 0 without a fight or they can try to fight the authorities, but the authorities are too high level for them to handle, but since they're reprensentant of order they can't kill the players. They can't die in session 0 btw, except if they like jump of a bridge or something?

Advice number 3: Never play out a fight that the PCs don't have any way to succeed, just narrate it. If it's a fight where the PCs cannot beat their opponents via violence, but the PCs can still run away, slow down the foe enough to escape, outsmart/trick the foe, prove to the foe they're worthy of what said foe is guarding, or any other situation where victory condition isn't "get the foe to 0 HP or unconsciousness", then playing the fight is still worthwhile, but no one enjoys wasting time playing through a fight where it's already decided they can't do anything except lose.

L is playing a dragonborn, he already has the sheet but I haven't seen it yet. He tends to play more chaotic characters and likes to fight, so I'm kind of scared he might get his character in a bad position early on, but he's also really creative when it comes to finding solutions.

Advice number 4: nothing wrong with a character getting in a bad position, so long as everyone (including the player and the DM) is having fun.

I have no idea how to balance L's love for battles and her hatred for long fights

I mean, having short fights would work, wouldn't it?

To that effect:

-4 PCs vs 1-2 big monster(s) usually goes faster than vs a group of weaker monster outnumbering them (do note that 5e's combat system means the bigger group of combatant has a big advantage over the other).


Hope it'll be useful.

[truemane]

My advice is:

1. Relax. No one gets it right the first time. Everyone has to learn. And a lot of what makes a 'great GM' is stuff that you pick up over time and that can't be rushed or easily duplicated. So don't stress about being amazing out of the gate. You're going to stutter step, make mistakes, forget the cool thing you had planned, get derailed when someone guesses who the murderer is right away and skips to the end of the adventure. That's all fine. That's all a part of it. Every good DM stands atop a pile of the flaming wreckage of every game they completely screwed up for one stupid reason or another.

2. RELAX. Most of the time, most people who want to play D&D want to sit at a table with some friends, roll some math rocks, every now and then get a natural 20 and do something super cool and cheer, quote Monty Python and giggle about comely tavern servers. I don't know your friends, of course, but unless they're deep immersion method actors or super-intense hi-op theorists, they're going to have fun almost despite whatever you have planned. So don't fret. If they don't know you're new, tell them. If you get stuck on something, say so out loud and take a moment if you need it. It'll be okay.

3. Until you get some time under your belt, it's probably going to feel very chaotic and you may feel like you need to pay attention to a million things at once, but if you can choose one single principle to focus on, it's this: play fair. Present the world fairly. Answer questions fairly. Apply the rules fairly. Holding back information and being mysterious is easy for a DM to do (because the players can only know what you tell them) and it is a quick and dirty short-cut to generating tension, but the line between 'mysterious' and 'intentionally obtuse' is not always easy to see. So, at first, I recommend focusing on giving them as much information as possible. Tell them what the world is like, tell them what they want to know, give them everything they need to engage with the world in good faith. Instead of writing stories that depend on solving mysteries, write stories where everyone knows what's happening, and the tension is created by the choices everyone makes.

3a. (sorry, that paragraph got overlong) Because most players, most of the time, are happy so long as they get to roll some dice and tell some jokes, if you can point them at something to do, be as transparent as possible about what they know about it, and then apply the rules fairly as you go, that's most of the job.

4. The best thing you can get good at is establishing stakes. Every adventure, every story, every encounter, every scene, ask yourself: What are the stakes here? If you can get good at establishing stakes your players will do most of your job for you. A villager kidnapped by bandits is fine, but if you can have one scene where a cute kid is fun and scrappy and charming, and then he's kidnapped by bandits? Same encounters. Same dice. Same minis. But your players will burn the world to the ground to get that kid back, even if there's no treasure anywhere. Get good at establishing stakes and your stories basically write themselves.

5. If you can, especially at first, try to have your encounters end after three or four rounds. Save the attrition marathons for special occasions (and even for long, dramatic boss fights, I always try to have a major component of the fight change every three to five rounds). Mostly what you want in an encounter is a flashpan-quick bit of danger and a chance for the players to do one or two cool things. Avoid chases. Avoid bad guys establishing overly defensive positions. Avoid high AC, low damage monsters. Avoid excessive use of conditions that slow things down. Until you get better at pacing combat, you're probably better off having a group of enemies just zerg rush the players screaming obscenities (especially if you've made sure there's good stakes involved).

6. I do not recommend this at 1st or 2nd level, but if you're still DM'ing when they hit 4th or 5th, I recommend cutting all monsters' HP in half and doubling their damage. This is very easy to do on the fly, requires no tweaking of Challenge Ratings, and it turns routine encounters into high-stakes rocket tag. This has been a literal game changer for me for the space between 5th and 10th level.

7. Don't be afraid to talk to the players about what you want to do and how you want to do it. If one player is doing stuff that's technically in the rules but outside the genre or the feel or mood you're trying to create, tell them so. In my experience a lot of DM's try to use in-universe ways to control problem players. But, also in my experience, the best way to handle them is to just ask the player to stop. "But it's not against the rules!" "Sure, but it's not the kind of game I want to play."

8. Decide ahead of time (and tell your players) how to resolve disputes. If someone disagrees with a call you made, or thinks you got a rule wrong, how do they bring it up? Do you want them to raise their hand? Interrupt you? Wait until there's a pause? And what happens then? Are you the final authority while the game is in session? Or is it the book? If it's you, then there's some risk of inconsistent rulings upsetting the players. But if it's the book, then you need to worry about people interrupting you and pausing the game while they look things up. Also, in my experience, when you say the book is the final authority, what really happens is that the loudest, most argumentative players wind up with all the authority (because they're the ones most likely to be willing to interrupt). So there's no 'right' answer to this. For myself, when I'm playing with people new to the game, we always pause and refer to the book (because consistency is more important for new players than pacing). When I'm playing with more experienced players (especially players I know well), I usually just make a call and move on, and then someone looks it up later.

9. Relax! You'll be fine. D&D is fun! DM'ing is fun! I know from the outside it looks like you have to put on a performance and you're worried about doing every little thing right. But in practice, it's way more like you're leading a conversation. You tell them what's there. They say what they want to do. You tell them most logical result whatever that is, and so on. They say it's the DM's job to make sure everyone has fun (including themselves), but I actually think that's everyone's job. Not everyone has the same view of what fun is, of course, but my experience is that most people, most of the time, are happy to contribute to the group experience. Take a pause when you need to. Take a break when you need to. Be upfront about what you need, where you're coming from, and what you want to do.

Let us know how it goes!

[autistic_lilix]

Session 0 is usually more of an OOC talk with the players about what they're looking for or comfortable with during the campaign(what tone do they like, how graphic can your descriptions be, do they have any potentially triggering topics like racism or domestic violence, are they comfortable with profanity), general themes about the campaign (low magic/high magic, are any races/classes despised or exalted). Basically it's to make sure you and the players are on the same page before actual play starts.

Unfortunately, we all live pretty far and it's kinda hard to get together, especially since all of us are in different schools now, so that function had to be filled by texts. It's not as good as being able to discuss it face to face, but it's at least something. Things might be added to the "off-limit" list of topics but so far, everyone is ok with graphic violence (so long it's not too graphic) and darker themes (excepted homophobia, biphobia and so on, but we're a group of queer people so it's kind of understandable and I wasn't going to include it regardless since I'm not comfortable with it either, there's enough hate already in the real world). I'm genophobic so no sex scene either, not even a "fade to black", and they seem ok with that. Nothing is set in stone tho, and they might decide that, hey, ultimately this one topic is uncomfortable for them and they're no longer comfortable with it (which is fine for me) or I might find that, hey, I think the story is getting too dark for me and I'd rather we avoid some topics (which is also fine, at least I hope).

But I get that maybe the term "session 0" is kinda misused. When I talked to it to my players, J refered to it as a session 0, and L refered to it as a session "0,5"(not yet a first but not a session 0 either for him) but 0,5 is just a bit weird to me haha

Have you DM'd any one-shots? Highly recommend doing that before starting a campaign. It can help work out jitters when everyone at the table starts looking at you.

I'm a theater kid, so I'm used to people looking at me expectingly and I've learned how to improv (which is always a great thing when playing D&D, regardless of wether you're a DM or a player). But thanks a lot for the suggestion, I'll try to see if it's possible for my players (or some of my other friends honestly, most of them play D&D) to do a quick one shot to train (or a few quick one shots for that matter) before the actual campaign, even if it means delaying the start of the campaign, as much as I'm excited I would like to be at least somewhat prepared.

Thank you so much for the help!

[Mastikator]

Have one moment for each character. It's important that each player has at least once chance to do their favorite thing.

• L seems to like action rather than combat, so give them opportunities to kick down doors and take names. Glass cannon enemies tend to lead to short but devastating battles, probably to L's liking.
• J would probably be happy if there was at least one NPC interaction where they can flex their thespian skills, make sure that if they roll poorly on their charisma checks something bad happens, and if they roll well, something good happens.
• Ask C to write a backstory, their backstory should include items and NPCs, reference those items and NPCs somewhere in the game. Be sure to ask the player how their character feels about events.
• M will probably be most happy if she gets to help the other players, remind her of the help action.

Also I agree with what others have said about session 0. It's OK if you don't actually play at all during session 0.

Finally: be prepared for scheduling. The hardest part of running a game is scheduling. It's harder than prepping and running put together IMO. Stupid players and their "families" and "jobs"

[autistic_lilix]

-Listen to your players. Ask questions, especially before and after a session, about what they've been liking or not. And listen too! Don't just ask, but listen to the answers!

I... Made a Google Form for their feedback and showed them. They laughed, and M admitted that she'd rather fill in the form rather than directly talk to me if she had any complaints or anything. Maybe you know how I could try to make her more comfortable giving feedback, both positive and negative?

I do see you're already using some brew, and that's okay, assuming it's not gamebreaking or anything.

I tried to compare it to existing races, and it seems ok to my players so far. The blindsight is definitely a big big plus, but I tried my best to counterbalance it

For the homebrew content, we have a specific subforum for it. Post it there and we can critique it!

I'll do that, thank you so very much!

[JNAProductions]

I... Made a Google Form for their feedback and showed them. They laughed, and M admitted that she'd rather fill in the form rather than directly talk to me if she had any complaints or anything. Maybe you know how I could try to make her more comfortable giving feedback, both positive and negative?

I do not know, unfortunately. If your players don't like talking directly, that Google Form is probably a good idea. Maybe also have a Google Doc they can all edit or leave suggestions on, or on the Form, have a catch-all at the end.

Related to this, observe. I once stopped a game mid-session because one of the players wasn't engaging as much as she usually did, and that's because she felt useless compared to the others. That session ended early, but by next session, she had a re-specced character, and all was well! (I also made sure that the next few sessions let her showcase herself a bit.)

Oh! Another thing-if a player is not having fun with a character, it's okay to change! Sometimes you don't even need to touch the narrative-a Champion Fighter who finds it boring switching to Battlemaster is the same PC narratively, even if the mechanics have changed. A Samurai to Eldritch Knight should probably have some in-universe reasoning, same with Fighter to Paladin or whatever.
But, I've played in games where I was just not having fun with a PC. I talked to the DM, and changed my character-and it was more fun for it.

[autistic_lilix]

Have one moment for each character. It's important that each player has at least once chance to do their favorite thing.

Each PC is going to have a counterpart on the longer run, either directly or not (like J's counterpart is a death obsessed pyromaniac forest burner, directly mirroring J being a ranger for instance, while C is planned to meet a water elemental, mostly to remind him that he left his people behind despite his specie being really tribe centered)

L seems to like action rather than combat, so give them opportunities to kick down doors and take names. Glass cannon enemies tend to lead to short but devastating battles, probably to L's liking.

I'm ashamed to never even have put things under this perspective but it does make a lot of sense?? Thank you so much for the advice!

J would probably be happy if there was at least one NPC interaction where they can flex their thespian skills, make sure that if they roll poorly on their charisma checks something bad happens, and if they roll well, something good happens.

I have no idea what thespian means (dumb dumb frenchie brain) but this sounds great! Thanks!

Ask C to write a backstory, their backstory should include items and NPCs, reference those items and NPCs somewhere in the game. Be sure to ask the player how their character feels about events.

C already shared half of his character's story with me (it's simple but gosh, I'm in love?? It works perfectly with what we established his specie was like, it's straight forward and it gives his character a motivation to go on adventure, I feel like it's a DM's dream to be able to work with something like that, giving a lot of room for creativity) and he's working on the second half so that his charatcer at least have a few connections. With them being mute tho, we both know it's kind of a challenge.

M will probably be most happy if she gets to help the other players, remind her of the help action.

Tbh I tend to forget this exists myself (shame on me)... I'll add it to my campaign's notes, next to her (blank) character details, thank you for the perspective!

Stupid players and their "families" and "jobs"

Imagine having a social life. Can't relate

[Unoriginal]

I tried to compare it to existing races, and it seems ok to my players so far. The blindsight is definitely a big big plus, but I tried my best to counterbalance it

What makes you consider blindsight to be so powerful?

[JNAProductions]

What makes you consider blindsight to be so powerful?

Counters invisibility and many forms of concealment.
Moreover, unless it's immediately obvious that someone has blindsight, a foe wouldn't KNOW that they need specialized forms of cover/concealment to sneak up on someone.

[Unoriginal]

Counters invisibility and many forms of concealment.
Moreover, unless it's immediately obvious that someone has blindsight, a foe wouldn't KNOW that they need specialized forms of cover/concealment to sneak up on someone.

It does counter invisibility and some other forms of concealment, but it doesn't counter being sneaky.

Point is, that doesn't answer the question "What makes you consider blindsight to be so powerful?". You can get that power with a Fighting Style, and you can get a Fighting Style with a feat.

[JNAProductions]

It does counter invisibility and some other forms of concealment, but it doesn't counter being sneaky.

Point is, that doesn't answer the question "What makes you consider blindsight to be so powerful?". You can get that power with a Fighting Style, and you can get a Fighting Style with a feat.

10' of Blindsight.
If the homebrew gives the same, okay. On par with a good feat with not too strict requirements. But we haven't seen the homebrew yet-it could be 30'. It could be 60'. It could be 56,891'. I doubt it's more than 60'. But we don't know.

As for not countering "being sneaky", if you don't have cover or concealment from your target, you cannot Hide from them. Some abilities can change that, but those are the general rules. So, someone who sneaks in under the darkness of night or while under an Invisibility spell or in a fog bank or something would be automatically detected as soon as they entered the Blindsight range. Doesn't matter if their Stealth check was 500*.

And, as I said, unless it's immediately obvious that the PC has Blindsight, an enemy wouldn't know they'd need more than the usual to sneak up and ambush them. The DM could just arbitrarily make any sneaky enemy aware of this or just so happen to not be detected... But that'd be pretty cheap DMing.
Related to that, Lilix-do NOT be afraid of letting the PCs be awesome! If they have a cool ability, don't just shut it down. Let it be awesome!

Spoiler: *Stealth Check Of 500

Show

If a player actually managed to get a Stealth check of 500 (or, more realistically, 50, let's say) I'd let them hide in plain sight. Don't know what the exact cut-off would be, but I think a -20 penalty seems reasonable for hiding without ANY cover, concealment, or other abilities.
Even a Rogue with +17 to Stealth would have a -3, meaning that Reliable Talent only scores them a 7. Not enough to sneak past any decent guard. But, if they roll well, they could sneak in without needing a shred of concealment.

This isn't the RAW... But I think it'd be cool.

[Samayu]

Advice number 3: Never play out a fight that the PCs don't have any way to succeed, just narrate it. If it's a fight where the PCs cannot beat their opponents via violence, but the PCs can still run away, slow down the foe enough to escape, outsmart/trick the foe, prove to the foe they're worthy of what said foe is guarding, or any other situation where victory condition isn't "get the foe to 0 HP or unconsciousness", then playing the fight is still worthwhile, but no one enjoys wasting time playing through a fight where it's already decided they can't do anything except lose.

I agree very strongly with this. Just tell them what happened. And make sure you don't narrate any actions they took - don't leave them thinking I would have done it differently. Just sum up, something like "A big fight broke out and the town guard rounded everybody up. It's the next morning, and you're standing in front of the magistrate. He says..."

In one campaign, scene 1 was "you're in prison. What do you do?" We spent 45 minutes of play time trying to break out. Breaking out was impossible. It turned out the GM just wanted to know how we filled our time there. If he'd told us that, we could have spent 15 minutes role playing, and then got on with things.

[Nidgit]

Advice number 1: the "you get beaten and now you have to work for X" can sometime work, but it *will* piss the PCs and possibly the players off 99% of the time, and it's immensely best to not use it as the players' introduction to your campaign, campaign world and DMing style.

This is really good advice. Forcing your PCs in-universe to work for someone will create an antagonistic relationship and, especially for the first quest, can create a sour note for your campaign. You usually want the PCs rising to the adventure or working towards some prize that better allows them to establish themselves in the world. If you're looking for a similar premise but less antagonistic interaction you could have the local authorities deputize the party instead, possibly to help handle things before some impending event.

In terms of combat, I'd suggest planning around 2-4 enemies per combat initially. A single monster can create an extremely swingy combat and too many can also cause swinginess while also being difficult to manage. I would suggest using something like Kobold Fight Club to help gauge the difficulty, aiming for Medium or Hard at low levels and potentially scaling up (or down) as the party gains levels and you get a better sense of their capabilities.

[Bodyofstraw]

A couple of things come to mind:

It's your player's adventure. Not yours. It's always good to keep that in mind that they're the writers of the story, you're just part of the team making it exciting. Some DM's forget that.

Let them shine. Toss in situations to make each and everyone shine and make them feel they are integral parts of the story. They're there for fun.

One constant I use is throwing lower level monsters at them so they can feel powerful and successful and the fights are over quick. Just vary up the obstacles and environment to keep it fresh and offer a little bit of challenge.

[Sigreid]

Play with people who are ready and willing to forgive the mistakes you are going to make. Because you're going to make a lot of them and you always will.