Beat piece of advice I can give you: You are going to mess up, and that’s fine. Whether it is a rules mistake, story mistake, accidentally doing something one of your players dislikes, etc. it will happen—it happens to everyone, even DMs with years of experience.
When you make a mistake, don’t be embarrassed about it—good players will be forgiving of the errors. Do your best to fix the problems, either in a narrative sense or with a “whoops, did that wrong. I’ll fix it next time” and move on. That’s how you learn and develop as a DM—and not a reflection on your DM skills.
Second best piece of advice: Don’t be so married to your campaign’s story that you try to force it to work. Sometimes things just do not mesh with your players—you have to be prepared to chance course (and sometimes even change the entire shape of the campaign) if something is not grabbing their attention.
Third best piece of advice: There are lots of different DM styles. Some folks obsessively chart out their next session; others throw together just an outline and rely on quick thinking during session. Neither is the objectively better option, and neither is always the right option even for the same DM. Figure out what works for you and make adjustments as you learn more.
Final piece of advice: Don’t forget to also have fun! DMing is a bit more work than being a player—but the fact it requires some more effort than being a PC does not change that D&D is a game and you should be enjoying yourself as well.
To add a couple of other things is it’s easy to get angry/annoyed with your players when you start. Avoid the temptation to punish them and if you sense you (or they) are getting frustrated try to diffuse it (even stop the session and play a board or card game instead). You can always discuss the cause of the problem between sessions once everyone has calmed down.
Also don’t over prepare! As time goes by you’ll get a feel for what suits your group and style but you don’t need to know everything about the world your campaign runs in.
As well there are loads of videos on YouTube to help first time DMs
There's benefits to having experienced and new players when you first start DMing. The newbies won't know any better, and the veterans can help you find your footing because they know how a game is run and will need less hand-holding from you.
Awesome thanks! Would you recommend starting with new players or throw a few experienced players in. One player in my current group and I are really meshing well and he is very knowledgeable. Was thinking of inviting him (if he’s interested) and possibly a few close friends who have never played to get started?
Thoughts was do a Lost mines play through using only the basic rules to let my close friends try the basics of the game and go from there.
Lost Mine is an excellent starting place. There's also Dragon of Icespire Peak, from the Essentials Kit, though to my knowledge it isn't free on D&D Beyond.
LmoP is a relatively linear adventure, but don't worry if your players go beyond the expected paths.
Everyone else here has given great advice, so I'd like to add: don't get bogged down with the rules. If a player asks to do something that either isn't covered by the rules or you don't remember what the rule for it is, just make a ruling on the spot if you can. I'd recommend trying to get comfortable with improvising rules on the fly. 5e is good for this because the game is pretty much just d20 + ability modifier, so improvising things is relatively easy.
Also, for LMoP in particular: don't throw too many hobgoblins at the players. Their AC is super high, so despite the CR it can sometimes just become a slog when fighting them. 1 or 2 would usually be fine, along with a couple normal gobbos.
Awesome thanks! Would you recommend starting with new players or throw a few experienced players in. One player in my current group and I are really meshing well and he is very knowledgeable. Was thinking of inviting him (if he’s interested) and possibly a few close friends who have never played to get started?
Thoughts was do a Lost mines play through using only the basic rules to let my close friends try the basics of the game and go from there.
So there's pros & cons to having an experienced player at your table:
Pros:
They're gonna have a good grasp on how the game itself runs, whether they were in a homebrew game or not.
They'll be better able to adapt to your game and work with it to make the most of it.
Some experienced players are also DMs, so they can help you get a grasp on the role & help you develop your DMing style.
The experienced players can help nurture the newer players and really help coagulate the group.
Cons:
Not all "experienced players" are experienced players. You have to have a discerning eye to tell the difference.
Some experienced players got their experience from trying to survive an abusive DM, which likely means powergaming, muchkinry, and other less than savory play tactics.
In general, it's a big help getting a pro at the table, much more than it is for it to be a burden or problem. While there are points to not having a pro at the table, they are mostly circumstantial and easy to detect ahead of time so that you can protect your play group.
One last thing, though it's anecdotal: Your play group is a friend group first and a TTRPG group 2nd. Life is a ***** named Emily, people have jobs & school, someone WILL get sick, shit WILL hit the fan. Your job as the DM is to ensure your players are comfortable playing at your table, and that means ensuring that when this happens, you make sure you are there for them. If they need to call the session a wash, that's fine. If they got called in for weekend duty & literally physically cannot be at the table to play, that's fine.All you should expect is that they give you notice as in-advance as they can (optimally one week's notice, but shit comes up so as early as they can) and that you are able to adjust as necessary for when this happens.
Beat piece of advice I can give you: You are going to mess up, and that’s fine. Whether it is a rules mistake, story mistake, accidentally doing something one of your players dislikes, etc. it will happen—it happens to everyone, even DMs with years of experience.
When you make a mistake, don’t be embarrassed about it—good players will be forgiving of the errors. Do your best to fix the problems, either in a narrative sense or with a “whoops, did that wrong. I’ll fix it next time” and move on. That’s how you learn and develop as a DM—and not a reflection on your DM skills.
Second best piece of advice: Don’t be so married to your campaign’s story that you try to force it to work. Sometimes things just do not mesh with your players—you have to be prepared to chance course (and sometimes even change the entire shape of the campaign) if something is not grabbing their attention.
Third best piece of advice: There are lots of different DM styles. Some folks obsessively chart out their next session; others throw together just an outline and rely on quick thinking during session. Neither is the objectively better option, and neither is always the right option even for the same DM. Figure out what works for you and make adjustments as you learn more.
Final piece of advice: Don’t forget to also have fun! DMing is a bit more work than being a player—but the fact it requires some more effort than being a PC does not change that D&D is a game and you should be enjoying yourself as well.
Excellent advice from Caerwyn.
To add a couple of other things is it’s easy to get angry/annoyed with your players when you start. Avoid the temptation to punish them and if you sense you (or they) are getting frustrated try to diffuse it (even stop the session and play a board or card game instead). You can always discuss the cause of the problem between sessions once everyone has calmed down.
Also don’t over prepare! As time goes by you’ll get a feel for what suits your group and style but you don’t need to know everything about the world your campaign runs in.
As well there are loads of videos on YouTube to help first time DMs
There's benefits to having experienced and new players when you first start DMing. The newbies won't know any better, and the veterans can help you find your footing because they know how a game is run and will need less hand-holding from you.
Lost Mine is an excellent starting place. There's also Dragon of Icespire Peak, from the Essentials Kit, though to my knowledge it isn't free on D&D Beyond.
LmoP is a relatively linear adventure, but don't worry if your players go beyond the expected paths.
Everyone else here has given great advice, so I'd like to add: don't get bogged down with the rules. If a player asks to do something that either isn't covered by the rules or you don't remember what the rule for it is, just make a ruling on the spot if you can. I'd recommend trying to get comfortable with improvising rules on the fly. 5e is good for this because the game is pretty much just d20 + ability modifier, so improvising things is relatively easy.
Also, for LMoP in particular: don't throw too many hobgoblins at the players. Their AC is super high, so despite the CR it can sometimes just become a slog when fighting them. 1 or 2 would usually be fine, along with a couple normal gobbos.
[REDACTED]
So there's pros & cons to having an experienced player at your table:
Pros:
Cons:
In general, it's a big help getting a pro at the table, much more than it is for it to be a burden or problem. While there are points to not having a pro at the table, they are mostly circumstantial and easy to detect ahead of time so that you can protect your play group.
One last thing, though it's anecdotal: Your play group is a friend group first and a TTRPG group 2nd. Life is a ***** named Emily, people have jobs & school, someone WILL get sick, shit WILL hit the fan. Your job as the DM is to ensure your players are comfortable playing at your table, and that means ensuring that when this happens, you make sure you are there for them. If they need to call the session a wash, that's fine. If they got called in for weekend duty & literally physically cannot be at the table to play, that's fine.All you should expect is that they give you notice as in-advance as they can (optimally one week's notice, but shit comes up so as early as they can) and that you are able to adjust as necessary for when this happens.