So You Wanna Be A DM?: A Potentially Helpful Guide (Reposted and Updated)

[Duxus]

Wonderful thread, extremely helpful! =)

I have a question regarding social or mental attributes of the players against the PCs.
I think an example will be a best way to explain it:
Imagine a lady's man PC; but the player has zero talent, zero experience on that department. Or a very sharp player, wanting to play a dim-witted PC; but he can't stop himself acting smart, also vice versa... What to do? Just roll the corresponding dice, and don't play it out loud?

[AKA_Bait]

Wonderful thread, extremely helpful! =)

I have a question regarding social or mental attributes of the players against the PCs.
I think an example will be a best way to explain it:
Imagine a lady's man PC; but the player has zero talent, zero experience on that department. Or a very sharp player, wanting to play a dim-witted PC; but he can't stop himself acting smart, also vice versa... What to do? Just roll the corresponding dice, and don't play it out loud?

Well, for each of those situations I'd think that the DM's response ought to be different and, honestly, as the DM there is only so much you can do for some of these things. You cannot roleplay the character for your PC's.

For example, if a player has zero experience with the ladies but a great charisma and wants the character to be a hit with the ladies, that's something you as the DM can make work since you control the NPC's reaction. Simply have female NPCs inexplicably find whatever the PC says, even if it would normally be off-color or weird, to be interesting, adorable, witty etc. This can lead to some pretty funny exchanges later betweent the PC's as well. "How does he do that?" kind of thing.

With the PC wanting to play a character with a different level of int than they have it can get tricky and it will really depend a lot on the playstyle of the group. Personally, when I played characters dumber than myself, I would generally figure out, roughly, how much difference there is numerically between myself and the character then roll a die to myself and determine from that if whatever ever it was that I figured out or come up with is something the character would also have come up with. There's no set way of doing this and honestly at the end of the day, the PC is the only one who can really address this problem. As I said, you can't RP their character for them.

As for playing a character with a higher int, that can be trickier. I have to run now but I promise I'll post again soon with some thoughts on that.

Also, given that I'm now unemployed and living in a new city, I may be able to FINALLY finish the guide in the next week.

[Duxus]

It's real nice hearing that you will be able to write again! Hurray! (I hope in the light of unemployment and new city, I'm not being a dork; and they are temporary and the things are under your control.)

Let me add another question. How much of this social aspect of the game you roll with dice, and how much you let your players play it out loud? Do you let the role playing effect rolls, as bonuses or penalties? As an example: Bluffing, or (This happens to me a lot when we play WoD; it seems I can't intimidate no one without getting really angry. (= ) intimidation...

[Raum]

There are a variety of methods for dealing with such social skills:
- Some mature (certainly not old!) gamers prefer leaving role play entirely up to the player and only using rules for combat and possibly skills. This is the model for the first couple versions of D&D (and many other games of course).
- Another option is to add a modifier (positive or negative) to the roll based on the player's description. Some games enshrine this in the rules but often it's simply a situational modifier left entirely up to the GM.
- Finally there's the pure roll...no matter how well or poorly (or even if) it is described, only the roll matters.

As always, use whatever method the group finds most enjoyable. I've used versions of all three over the years with different groups. My personal preference is a combination of the first two, but that is simply preference.

@AKA Bait: Good luck with the job search! That can be a full time job in it self. It's obvious advice but worth repeating - remember to network. :)

[Forbiddenwar]

Wow. Just wow. This is the most amazing thread I have read in a long time.

And I've been DMing for 10 years.

Just WOW.

I got a couple of questions I want to throw out here. I tried asking in the general forum, but saw silence as the questions got pushed down to the second page:

The use of a laptop and DM tools have been mentioned: What DM tools on the laptop do you recommend? I've always used pen and paper, but my characters are heading into a city and I'm facing the prospect of creating 100s of NPC, some in depth and some not. Is there a good NPC generator that can be recommended? Also, do you use elctronic dice or real ones? If electronic what's your favorite?

I recently have discovered D20srd.org and found it a very good tool to have up.

[ChronoDwarf]

Hey Ive been thinking of starting a game and DM'img it, I was thinking it would be a world where all magic users are outcasts, Needless to say all of the players would be spell casters of some sort (dusk blade, cleric, sorcerer), and the large portion of game would be surviving the law, (Or it would be the exact opposite) Please get back to me on this with your thoughts, (yes I know this isnt really the place to post this but I dont know where else to post it) THANKS FOR ALL YOUR HELP.

[Mr. Mud]

Firstly, this guide has really helped me to begin to lose my DMing-virginity... So, thanks .

Secondly, I have a question that I could see both in this thread, or in Homebrew but...

I'm making a dungeon map for player's convenience... In your expired, should I just do a smaller map for their viewing pleasure, on something like a 8.5' by 11' piece of graph paper, or should I use a big poster sized graph paper? I'm leaning towards the latter, but the former seems easier and less... well, less intimidating to make. Also, we don't use figurines or anything like that, it's really just to make moving around a lot easier.

[TheOverlord]

The use of a laptop and DM tools have been mentioned: What DM tools on the laptop do you recommend? I've always used pen and paper, but my characters are heading into a city and I'm facing the prospect of creating 100s of NPC, some in depth and some not. Is there a good NPC generator that can be recommended? Also, do you use elctronic dice or real ones? If electronic what's your favorite?

It will become painfully clear how biased I am in a moment so I apologize. I wanted some good tools...didn't find ones that really did what I wanted...so I made some.

I am not just some guy developing tools for others. I use everything I have made. I am continuing to develop what I have for use based on what people tell me they want and need. But I think they get the job done nicely for npcs, monsters and encounters.

My biased opinion: Monster Advancer

Before I stepped out on my own I used Jamis Buck's npc generator coupled with a npc gear generator (whose name I have forgotten), the online javascript dragon generator as well as jamis buck's dungeon generator. I will provide links to all these soon. There are tons more but these are the ones I found myself using.

Thanks,
The Overlord
Monster Advancer - D&D 3.5 Monster, NPC and random encounter generator, customizer and advancer.

[Coidzor]

Firstly, this guide has really helped me to begin to lose my DMing-virginity... So, thanks .

Secondly, I have a question that I could see both in this thread, or in Homebrew but...

I'm making a dungeon map for player's convenience... In your expired, should I just do a smaller map for their viewing pleasure, on something like a 8.5' by 11' piece of graph paper, or should I use a big poster sized graph paper? I'm leaning towards the latter, but the former seems easier and less... well, less intimidating to make. Also, we don't use figurines or anything like that, it's really just to make moving around a lot easier.

I'd say it's probably better for you to go with the plan that won't expend as much of your time and resources. Since if you're not having it double as a battle grid, then the map only really needs to be about the size of what'll fit in with the rest of the notes they should be taking and not get lost.

My group has done very well with maps on 8/11 paper and marking the rooms out as we need to fight in them on a friend's poster-scale roll-up battle grid(one of those squares on one side, hexes on the other deals).

[Superglucose]

For the "keeping of people's character sheets" there are a lot of great options. Myth Weavers, for instance, lets you organize sheets online. I like doing this for my NPCs and monster foes (I'll actually write all the stats of the monster into a character sheet so I don't need to look at the MM), and I also transcribe their sheets onto the site. I'm sure there's other online tools that let you do this.

The reason I like myth-weavers (and other such sites) is that it can be easily edited.

Another option is to simply scan your PCs character sheets onto your computer before hand. This also saves a bunch of trees, though sometimes it'll be hard to read their handwriting.

Also, encourage your players to NOT look at each other's character sheets. you're the boss, like it or not, and while curiosity is a great temptation, I personally find it very annoying when people are looking at my sheet without permission.

[Mr. Mud]

If one of my (4 total) players is going to be absent for about a month (in which we plan to have about 10-20 sessions...) should I replaced him, if that's fine with him, or should we try and play long distance... ie, over skype or conference calls or something... Does anyone have experience with that? Alternatively, I could play his character for him, or we could all take turns, or all partly manage him while he is away, and be non-bias. Would a video chat between the rest of the group and me, be able to suffice? The only problem I see is moving on a grid... but that could be easily maneuvered around by showing him where everything is or something...

Thoughts ?

[Je dit Viola]

If one of my (4 total) players is going to be absent for about a month (in which we plan to have about 10-20 sessions...) should I replaced him, if that's fine with him, or should we try and play long distance... ie, over skype or conference calls or something...........

I think that, if you can't figure out a way to work out a long-distance play, then an effective (probably not the best) way to work around it is to have their character have some 'family buisiness' like, for example, a baron-warlord overly taxing his family and neigbors and he has to leave to form a resistance akin to the OOTS where they got split up. Meanwhile, you control a non-shiny NPC that fills his role. Then, when the player comes back from his vacation, you and him can 'speed-RP' to catch up and find his way back to the party. That will form some interesting plot-hooks, and give his character some character development, and enough EXP to stay at the same level as everyone else.

That's just one way that I think would work.

[Eurantien]

Sometimes one player has a build that just kicks the snot out of everyone else *cough* wizard *cough* druid *cough*.

Or rogue, if you play 4e. Bloody backstabbing Sneak Attack using the paladin as cover *grumble*. Need more monsters with tremorsense

Originally posted by AKA Bait
he says he’s a good guy as he lobs fireballs at the party bard.

Who hasn't lobbed the odd fireball at the party bard?

[Woodsman]

It's often perceived that bards aren't the most useful of characters, and the bard might get on the guy's nerves. If he's CG, it's not entirely out of character if he wants the bard to shut up, so long as he's not trying to kill the bard.

Y'know, there should probably be some hints as to PbP DMing, just in case. I've just recently started PbP DMing (Well, DMing in general), and it's helpful that so far, all the people in my game are well-known friends who I can contact easily. One is an experienced DM, and I'd trust him to help me out occasionally.

[Eurantien]

I was kidding, but hey. Bards are comic relief. Besides, he's probably stood close enough that, unless you resist fire, fireball will hurt both of you.

Originally posted by Woodsman
Y'know, there should probably be some hints as to PbP DMing

As for PbP gaming, I've never tried it personally, but I'd warn against too many hurt feelings on behalf of your players. I can imagine it happening.

[Scactha]

To budding DM´s: White Wolf who makes the monsters in modern settings games call roleplaying Storytelling. Keep that thought in mind and the job becomes much clearer.

Your job is to be sensitive to what your audience expects. Forget the rules aspects when you are starting out but learn drama. Why? Biology. We humans thrive on the roller coaster of emotions. It fuels the mind and is why we guys love action and the ladies the love stories.

Imagine how a good story is told and the mechanics of it. Are you good at telling jokes? That´s a good start. Jokes are all about timing and suspense. Laughter is the easiest emotion to summon up because we expect to have a good time when being with friends.

Next look for talents. Who amongst the play group are the good story tellers? These are the people who vividly tells you about this awesome movie trailer and you get a high just from that! These players are your helping tools. Give them much "air time" but be sensitive to what the other players feel so no one feels left in the shadow.

Your goal is to create escapism. The magical rule of role playing is in the words; when role playing happens it all works out by itself. When you get peoples heart strings to move just a little they will have a much stronger experience and just by doing that you are succeding in your goal. The fact is that in time you will notice that your players will remember the heart string moments (biology again) but not other important moments. H*ck, they will even forget about what is happening as long as it is good drama.

So next time the party resupplies play out a little scene with your local talent. Maybe a child asks what that big book the mage has in his knapsack is about ("It is about deeemons lad. Want to look...? *evil chuckle followed by a grin and wink at his mother nearby*) or the stoic knight bumps in the local femme fatale in the doorway to the inn ("Wearing armour sir knight? Are we fearing someone will...break in?" *puts a gentle hand on his chest with a meaningful smile*).

It doesn´t matter what happens as long as something does. The plot is the stage but the drama is the action that goes on there.

[Blackjackg]

One tool I always use when I start a new campaign (as a GM) is the Hotseat. It's something I cribbed off of writing and acting workshops I used to do in my college days, and it's really helpful for letting the player, the other players, and yourself get to know each character.

The Hotseat comes after character generation has happened, but before the first session. The players should already have a basic back-story worked up. Start by laying the ground rules: you will ask each player a series of questions. They answer honestly, in character, and "I don't know," is never an acceptable answer. You can do this with all the other players around, which is great for campaigns where the characters are already supposed to know one another, or you can do it in private so it's between you and and the player.

There are a lot of different questions you can ask, but I try to keep the number around 20-25. That would probably take you about an hour to get through with a party of 4-5 players. The questions can be very general, or specific to your world. They can be fun and funny, or very serious. They can be strictly for the players' benefit, or they could elicit some information that you can use later as a DM. A few questions I might ask:

"Where were you born, and when were you there last?"
"Who in the world do you feel closest to?"
"What was the best day of your life, so far?"
"What is the most embarrassed you have ever been?"
"What is your greatest fear?"
"What color are your eyes?"
"If you were a vegetable, what sort of vegetable would you be?"
"Have you ever broken a bone?"
"Where were you at the moment of the nuclear apocalypse?"
"What do you really think of [the character to your left]?"'
"If you could be anywhere right now, where would you be?"

If you're feeling bold, encourage the other players to ask a few questions of their own. It helps to take notes as you do this, and I even encourage the players to take their own notes as they answer. That way, when you work their beloved Aunt Sally into the plot, they don't look at you blankly and say "who's that?"

Anyway, that's a tool I use for my campaigns, and I thought I'd toss it out here for DMs who might get some use out of it.

[VirOath]

I can only offer one piece of advice for those that find the Party completely bypassing an entire dungeon that was planned a week ahead of time.

Save it. Save the traps, save the monsters, the little itty bits that were completely bypassed.

Why?

Well, you can always toss them back at the players in another form. It's a shame to let all that work go to waste.

[Lord Loss]

Good guide. I've been DMing for years, and i have to say that I approve of it.

[Aphaedon]

I would just like to say thanks for this DM's Guide. I'm going to be DM'ing for the first time next weekend and found this very very informative and helpful.

[Superglucose]

I assume since this is 'stickied' (at least as stickied as anything can get in this forum) I can't necro it?

Anyways I'd like to add:

Do not turn the party's familiars into GMPCs so you can create party conflict.

To that end, I will likely be burning my familiar at the stake soon enough in keeping with the first rule of GMPCs:

Kill it with fire.

[Iban]

Amazing I have a feeling that I will keep coming back to this over and over again.

Oh and

My biased opinion: Monster Advancer

is very useful; I've been looking for a way to advance monsters for a while. It was kinda naff in the latest combat where one of the PCs could auto-hit and auto-kill two things a turn. Their turn ended up being "Which two do you want to kill this round?" -.-

[Ranger Mattos]

Great guide. I was thinking of DMing a game in maybe a year or 2 and this will help a lot.

[101jir]

Spoiler

Show

Sometimes your players suck. You heard me. They suck. Sometimes you have a plan. And exquisite, detailed, plan that you think would keep Hari Selden up nights wondering at your amazing powers of observation and group guiding. Then with one fell utterance of “Muck this, I stab the prince” the whole thing comes crashing down and you want to curl up into a little ball and weep.

If your players are anything like mine, this will happen on a weekly basis. There are good ways and bad ways to handle it and recover from it. One important thing to remember is that a good resolution will vary from situation to situation. There are a few general dos and don’ts though.

Question True Stupidity:

Player 1: I jump into the spiked pit.
Player 2: Um, why?
Player: I can take it.

A fair amount of the time, the player action that causes a WTF on the DM side is a silly impulse or an intentional (funny or unfunny) joke on the part of the player. If there is laughter, let it recede before doing anything. Afterwards, a simple raised eyebrow or other meaningful look accompanied by “So, you really use prestidigitation to soil the back of the Duke’s pants?” is generally enough to get a reasonable player to think twice about whatever truly stupid action they were about to take. If not…

Let Stupidity Take Its Course:

DM: Ok then… you take 12 damage from the fall and another 8 from the wooden spike that you greeted crotch first. Oh, and make a fort save against the poison on the spike.

If a player insists on doing some really stupid thing, let them and have the natural consequences of that action befall them. This can be whatever you think is appropriate but also keep in mind that you (probably) don’t want to derail the immediate or long term future of your plot in the process. In some cases, this isn’t a concern (al la spiked pit diving) but in others it could change the entire complexion of what is going to happen in the session you have so carefully planned out.

In cases like that, consider drawing the consequences of the stupidity out or delaying them. An angry look from the Duke now, or his pretending not to notice, and his revenge 2 sessions later, after the PCs have done whatever task the Duke wanted, can be a reasonable reaction and buy you some time to plan. After all, as far as the Duke is concerned, he’s probably sending the PCs to their deaths anyway. Why potentially waste men subduing the party and have to re-sharpen the headsman’s axe when the ogres might well perform the execution for him? If they manage to make it back, well, he can just arrest the offending oaf then. Or, if he’s not that hot tempered, he can just refuse to hire them for anything else and put out word among the other local nobility.

Don’t Flinch From The Unexpected Solution:

Beguiler: Well, I know that when you step on one of those three tiles a big swinging poisoned scythe comes out and then automatically resets, but I can’t figure out how to disarm the thing.
Crusader: Ok. I’ll disarm it then. I ready an action to attack the scythe when it comes out of the wall and take a 5ft step onto the tile.
DM: You know that if you do that then the scythe is going to hit you right?
Crusader: ::shrug::

I have actually had the above happen in a game. I let it work, and I suggest that most DMs do the same. In this instance the crusader took the damage from the trap but his attack did enough damage to destroy the scythe and disable it as well.

When players come up with some off the wall solution to a problem, if it makes sense, let them attempt it and if it works, it works. Although it can be disconcerting as a DM to have a player solve a problem in a way you absolutely did not expect (I expected the party to just jump over the tiles…) it makes a player feel awesome to have something like that work. If it doesn’t work, at least they get to feel like they tried. In D&D tis better to try and fail than be told by the DM that you aren’t allowed to try at all.

It can be tough, mechanically speaking, to determine how to resolve a strange solution to a problem. What skill, exactly, applies to swinging across the room on a chandelier? Well, the long and short of it is that you need to make a call on the spot. You can either use something similar, like tumble in this case, or make it an ability check, using just the characters modifier for whichever ability makes the most sense.

However, as solutions like this tend to bend rules or go beyond their scope as written, you must be careful that leeway here doesn’t snowball. Odd uses of spells can be a particular source of trouble down the line. If you let a player get away with using Detect Magic to pinpoint the location of an invisible item in a room then, mark my words, they will want to use detect magic that way to find the invisible BBEG. Consider the implications first. If you need a second to look up the spell, take it. If you have to say no, say no but have a reason beyond ‘because I didn’t see that coming.’

Have A Key Information Backup Plan:

DM: The once human creature emerges from the darkness, its red eyes reflecting equal parts madness and sorrow. “I will tell you who transformed me and trapped me here to suffer. But first, tell me…”
Player: I charge and hit it with my mace. ::rolls:: I crit!
DM: Sonofa…

As tempting as the idea is to have only one vital NPC in your campaign setting that has the essential piece of information for the ‘big reveal’ you need to get the PCs on the right track, it is frequently a recipe for disaster. PCs often have an annoying habit of scorching raying first and asking questions later. My theory is that much time in dungeons where everything actually is trying to kill them gives them PTSD. So, have a backup plan, possibly several, in case the PCs off the person with the information before they have a chance to squeal or just simply don’t talk to them. What the backup plan is, specifically, must vary from game to game but just remember there is almost never any secret so well kept that only one person ever knows about it. Butlers, maids and gardeners are good for this.

Have Some Stock NPCs:

Player: I set fire to the Inn.

Keep a few NPCs statted out and to the side in case you need impromptu guardsmen, healers or a bucket brigade. Trust me, you will. be happy you did.

Admitting Defeat:

DM: It doesn’t work.
Player: Why not?
DM: You don’t know that do you?

Once in a great while a player will come up with something so ludicrous, so off the wall, so totally within the rules, and so bloody effective that either the adventure you had planned or the entire campaign has just been radically altered or even rendered moot. Refrain from strangling them. Depending upon the level of destruction that has just been wrought, there are at least 2 more reasonable courses of action than violence:

Fess up and ask for time to plan: Let it work and say you need a 20 minutes or so to figure out what happens next as they have totally thrown you for a loop. Don’t say you need 20 minutes and then have it not work. The player who came up with it will probably feel cheated. This is most appropriate for adventure level destruction. This might seem lame but really, it will likely be one of the most memorable moments of your game. Your players will literally talk for months about the time that they ‘broke the labyrinth and got the DM to chain-smoke half a pack of Camels in 20 minutes.”

DM Fiat: Take the player who came up with it aside and be honest with them. Tell them that although it should work, you need to house rule in this case that it won’t or the entire campaign goes to Hades in a hand basket. Be apologetic that you are going to have to be arbitrary in this one case and be sure to compliment them on what an awesome idea it was. If your player is a reasonable person, they will understand. In many cases, they will volunteer to take some other course of action so as not to screw everything up.

Admitting defeat can be a pain. It’s not much fun to have what you planned shattered before your very eyes and the temptation will be there to simply squash it beneath the iron boot of DM Fiat without owning up to the players that you are doing so. DMs have egos too and the temptation to invent some ad-hoc rules interpretation, whip up some unjustifiably large negative circumstance modifier, or simply say ‘it’s a mystery because of some thing your characters don’t know’ is totally understandable.

Still, don’t do it. For one thing, your players will probably know that you are full of horse dung and experienced players, who understand that sometimes the DM needs to fiat, may be annoyed or even insulted that you weren’t up front about it with them.

This is particularly true if they spend some time trying to figure out whatever the in game reason was for the course of action not working when, in fact, there isn’t any reason other than hidden DM Fiat. I, personally, have threatened to walk out of games where I discovered my DM was doing just that.

Refrain from strangling them.... My theory is that much time in dungeons where everything actually is trying to kill them gives them PTSD.

I have only done a part of a campaign (In a sense, 2 ended in total party wipeout early on, the other never finished) and I have DMed about 3 independant practice encounters. This will really help a lot, THX! I have a lot of trouble coming up with stuff on the spot, so it was kindof helpful when you said just point out that you need more time to think about it. I used to rush myself on those three encounters and it caused some problems.

I know what you mean about things not working out the way you anticipated. One of the encounters I DMed was the player was in a wood elf prison, and was being interregated to see if he was worth being set free, or if he was a spy or had bad intent toward their woods. Turned out, he swore a divine oath that he had no malicious intent, and the player rolled a critical! What could I say? It was a crit. He let the character off with a stern warning that his trust was not in vain.

Love your humor. And yes, I like that PTSD theory. In the game I played, the party rogue threw shuriken at almost everything that moved that she didn't anticipate. Talk about PTSD! So there was a bartender with valuable information, but he was severely injured (hence the red eyes and foul breath) and she shurikened him. So we had a good time riding him about that.

Also, I found that it is a good idea as a player to give your characters RP some leeway, especially if your character has recently irritated the other characters. I was playing an abnoxious paladine that was always getting on everyone's case. To keep the game fun, I kindof had to change my RP plan when after the battle the wizard gave me what was left of my teddy bear! Gave them something to laugh about with my character, and probably increased my chances of not getting killed by the rogue.

EDIT: In summary, it seems that sometimes the players can do more to keep the game going well than the DM, even though its the DMs responsibility.

[sournote103]

The DM in my group varies some, but EVERYONE hates my Gnoll Ranger, and they use the exact methods of dealing with it that this says NOT to do.

The way I see it, DMs run games basically in one of four ways:
1. The game should be fun for the players. I am here to tell the story.
2. I am the GOD of this game. Let those who oppose my will suffer and perish!
3. Well, this is a game, so I should be having fun. Darn. I rolled a 1. Let's just pretend it was a 20.
4. OH GOD SOMEONE BROKE THE RULES! THAT IS NOT ALLOWED!

The last three represent the DMing strategies I have encountered.

[Omeganaut]

I love this guide. Basic and not long, but it gives a lot of info and I think its about everything you can learn as a DM without actually DMing. I'm definitely using this when I start DMing.

[Liliet]

I'm a newbie DM. And this guide is so... so unhelpful.

Well, it's just me, since long before starting the game I've been reading all DM tips I happened to come across, and they all had the same points, and more: do not railroad, do not make DMPCs, don't be a ****...

There are so many difficulties to being a DM... especially when you have never played DnD in your life. I'm going to list just a few questions here, so you understand what I'm talking about.

What's the best way to prepare a map? How many copies of a map do you need? How many different maps do you need in a session, how do you determine it?

What other notes do you need? Monster stats, class abilities, world map, pantheon description, combat rules? How do you determine that?

How do you go about the stats? Should the players know them? Do you tell them the amount of HP of the enemies? Do you tell them who's most dangerous?

Just where the hell do you get information for playing in the fantasy setting? What the cities were like, how the villages were organised, how much wilderness is there likely to be around villages and how many fields; what should local authorities logically be... Do you really need to conduct a historical research with encyclopedias and thematical sites, or is there a simpler source?

How do you calculate the random encounters rolls? For example, you are walking in a forest known to be dangerous. How do you determine what to roll and how to interpret the results to know if you are going to encounter something?

And oh, just how the hell do you adjust and plan out and design combat encounters? To what degree is adjusting them even possible?



I can't think of more questions right now, because I've already DM'd a few sessions and kind of worked out answers for them, but there was a lot of them. I really wish there were some kind of total-newbie-friendly DM guide which would make the first session something other than a big awkward moment.

[Roland St. Jude]

Sheriff: If the OP wants to restart this thread, he can, but please don't revive old threads.