First-time DM would like some advice

[MorkaisChosen]

I'm going to be running my first game soon, and I'd just like any advice you can give me (on just about anything- adventure design, running it, how not to be stupid...). There's going to be a small party of experienced players (a bit more experienced than me, to be honest, but I still want to have a go). It's going to be Gestalt (risky, but I think I can handle it- if encounters are too easy I'll bring in reinforcements, too hard and the monsters'll probably start bleeding to death and stuff).

Basically, I'm after tips on starting levels and encounter design to start with (I'm intending to go fairly free-form, start with a choice of a few ways to get to the goals (phat lewts or political?), so some basic guidelines would be good). The style will probably be fairly combat heavy, because I don't think I'm up to a huge amount of politics...

I have access to the SRD and most other books are an E-mail away.

If anyone brings something ridiculous like Pun-Pun, they will be murdered by either a Divine Rank 99999999999999999999999 Tarrasque or a goblin with a stick, depending how I feel.

[DrizztFan24]

If you are runnign Gestalt the players may think they will wip eout anything you throw at them, I would suggest a few evil spellcasters with some dispels or wind walls to help even things out, have the PCs use their brains

[MorkaisChosen]

Yeah, I know the players fairly well and they definitely have senses of humour. Hopefully they'll decide to be kind and bring something reasonably powerful (good enough to kill things reasonably well) and not argue tevery little thing.

I think the main thing to remember is that if they're saying, "Yes but on page 2875698257 it says you can do that which means I can do this," the correct answer is something like, "That's ridiculous, so no you can't. Sorry."

[Legoshrimp]

I am also a new DM but I think that you should probally at least make your main npcs also gestalt. That is so that everyting seems consestent. That will also make the game harder for the pcs. Since they are expericed players I do not see any reason for you to start at level one. It depends on what you want to throw at them. If you want to start at an early level where they will not die eaisly maybe three or four. This is basically what people have been telling me. You might want to look at the new dm thread or the a dark and stromy knight thread. I hope this helps

[valadil]

The biggest mistake I see new GMs make is biting off more than they can chew. This happens a lot to WoD where a player will want to have a giant game with vampires, werewolves, and mages, (oh my!). You're in danger of doing that with gestalt. Have you played gestalt before and seen how it works? How about your players? I'd definitely limit the number of source books either way.

Other than that just remember that the players are more important than your plots, NPCs, combats, plans, etc. You should still be having fun too, but that fun should come from telling a story and letting the players interact with you in your world. If it comes from beating someone down with crazy NPCs, you're doing it wrong.

[Corolinth]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KISS_principle

If it's your first time running a game, don't do gestalt, don't screw around with too many optional supplements, and start them at level 1.

[hawkboy772042]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KISS_principle

If it's your first time running a game, don't do gestalt, don't screw around with too many optional supplements, and start them at level 1.

I second that one and I even go farther to only allow newbies to Player's Handbook at 1st level. (Only case I didn't do that was with one guy that came in mid-campaign)

[MorkaisChosen]

The players know what they're doing and they do seem to be aiming more for "Let's have fun" than "Let's massacre everything to death with Pun-Pun," so I'm in luck there.

I'll keep it as simple as I can- I am familiar with the inner workings of Gestalt and so, I think, are the players. The Gestalt NPCs is a good idea- I'll keep that in mind. I have a few plot ideas, which I'll outline here (if you're going to be in a campaign with a new GM who's a fairly young nerd with long hair and a "Guns Don't Kill People" hoodie and you live in Yorkshire, don't read this)...

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Magic Thing has been nicked and the PCs are hired to find and retrieve it (this'll fit with the character plan I've seen, a nomadic Elf Ranger/Cleric horseridery guy), probably hunting it across some big plains and stuff. They'll also have the opportunity to find out about it- there's a prophecy (carefully worded...) that it must be kept safe in the (castle, temple, hole in the ground- depends) in order to avert a big disaster. Signs of something bad going to be going on- demonic whispers, occasional attacks of extraplanar gribblies; someone gets the Magic Whatsit and starts a ritual; the PCs are then informed that it's a prison for an Extraplanar Gribnbly Death-Beast and have to stop the ritual or beat up the monster.

Thoughts on that?

[Storm Bringer]

not too bad if played well. important points/ plot expansions:

Do the people stealing the Macguffin know that it's the key to the binding of a Big Evil? If the item has material value independant of it's magic (for example, was a elaboratey carved disk of gold), then you could have someone steal it for it's material worth, then the evil cultists find out and take it by force of the orginal thieves. this allows you to A) get more milage out of the plot B) have a low-level threat for the party to start with and a higher level one for the finale (if this adventure is going to be a campgain).

Do the players know of the prophecy when they set out to get the Macguffin? Any seasoned RP'er is going to decode the prophecy pretty quickly, so trying to wring supense out of it could go wrong if not done well. I'd suggest either telling them it right at the start in the mission brief, thus granting them higher motives for finding the Macguffin then We're Being Payed, or only telling them quite close to the finale

Also, how long is this quest supposed to last? is this something that you plan to have wrapped up in a few sessions, or is this the plot of a longer arc that sees the players end many levels above thier start?

edit:

a "Guns Don't Kill People" hoodie

Guns Don't Kill People, Rappers Do!

[MorkaisChosen]

Not rappers, Magic Missiles.
Some clarification of the whole thing: (it's not a MacGuffin, it has a purpose!) the people doing the ritual think they're stopping the demon gribblies, so the PCs will have a bit of a dilemma- kill the innocents or fight the thing?

The original thieves: I was thinking of having it being stolen by some people who want to put it somewhere safer, but it might work better if it's a big diamond (Trap the Soul style), gets nicked by thieves for money, gets taken by other people for protection of world, PCs get it back, someone is misguided, protection-of-world people tell PCs that they have to stop the gribbly.

How's that?

EDIT: That's another thing that might help: ideas for building non-monster NPCs (especially if they're Gestalt). Thieves I guess would be rogue/casters, probably- any help there?

[Human Paragon 3]

I'll give you some advice i'd give to anyone (and have). These are both taken from other threads:

Juris on designing an encounter:

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My advice:

Know your party's abilities. Design the encounter with them in mind. Your encounters should challenge and engage every member of the party- if there's undead or constructs, give the rogue something to do (dissarming a trap, deciphering a riddle) for example.

Nail-biting encounters that aproach total party kills are very exciting, but avoid spells and attacks that disable or kill party members in one go. If a PC goes down, it should be because of sustained HP damage, abillity damage, or repeatedly failed skill checks (swim, climb, jump, balance etc) over multiple rounds, not one unlucky saving throw or a single, mega attack from a monster.

Your enemies should use tactics that increase their challenge (terrain, formations etc.) and test the PCs inginuity.

Juris on plotting:

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What I look for in a campaign, as a plyer:

-Shocking betrayals and plot twists
-Challenging combats that make you **** your pants in fear
-Verisimilitude i.e. dungeons and monsters make sense
-Occasionally laying down the law and splitting some well-deserving heads
-A sense of danger and urgency that grows and leads to a meaningful climax

There was another thread I was looking for where I described how to design encounters for all-caster parties which sort of applies to gestalt, but it's too old and dissapeared, I guess. I'll say this though:

Your parties will be a lot more resourceful and able to dish out more damage in gestalt, but they won't be significantly tougher. If you want to tweak a monster to give them a good, fair challenge, drop their damage output and raise ther HP and other defenses.

Generally speaking, one monster is a poor encounter for a powerful party, especially a gestalt. Be sure to include weak underlings and cohorts in any boss encounter, and in general, hordes of weaker enemies make a better battle than one large one if you want to use up player resources. Just be sure the small enemies are still tough enough to harm the players.

[MorkaisChosen]

Thanks for those...

I was thinking the Final Gribbly would be a HUGE guy with the Magic Thing stuck to his head, probably summoning Imps or Fiends or similar smaller, nasty things- impending apocalypse style, the longer the fight goes on the bigger the mooks get...

[Corolinth]

Bear in mind that as gestalt characters, your PCs will probably have good saves across the board. This will make it extremely difficult for them to actually fail a save once they reach the mid levels, and battles will not be as challenging as you might like them to be.

Likewise, expect them all to have a spellcasting class (they may not all have the capacity to cast spells, but it's more likely than not). While they will be making lots of saves, you will be rolling a lot of them which will invariably lead you to fail often enough that fights feel anticlimactic.

Never, ever throw just a single opponent at them. Even a gestalt NPC should not engage this party alone. Even your big bad, who you've indicated summons imps and such, should not fight them by himself. This creature should be accompanied by some other suitably tough opponent (a gestalt blackguard, an evil cleric, or some such thing).