I have been watching Matt Colville's YT videos on DMing and they have been fantastic. Would it be easier, as a first campaign, to run a module of one of the adventures? I have a TON of the adventures already, but was curious if it would be better to take the time and make a homebrew campaign.
Some parts of the modules are confusing about what to read aloud or what not to. If you are planning on running, lets say Storm King's Thunder, is it normal to completely read through the entire book/adventure or do read it session by session? Would love thoughts and feedback thank you
You have to find what works best for you. If you use modules then there's less prep time you have to worry about. But modules are going to be more railroady since there's a story to follow, and some people don't like that. A homebrew campaign is more prep time, but has a more sandbox feel. And you don't have to build all the campaign at once since you never know where your players are going to end up going.
It would certainly be easier to run a published adventure first. Imo, it’s not nearly as fun, but unquestionably easier. Playing and DMing are very different experiences, so running a published campaign where most of the prep work has been done can be a good way to feel out the expectations of the new role. And you can always homebrew in little changes or side quests to get some practice there. Just be careful not to over-level the characters, or give them much more gear than the story does, or you’ll have problems. As far as reading. I’d say yes read the whole thing through — this goes double if you want to homebrew a tangent or two. Then the night before or day of, re-read the parts you’ll be playing that session.
I do recommend a module, Dungeon of the Mad Mage. It is impossible for me to stress how important this one is for brand new Dungeon Masters. By the end of it, you will be able to both create and officiate dungeons which are the core functions as a referee of the game Dungeons and Dragons. Which to be clear, is what you are attempting.
Dungeon of the Mad Mage is perfect for this. It is a large multi layered dungeon complex with placeholders for you to expand the dungeon with your own content. Let’s talk officiating first- officiating the dungeon involves tracking time, location, and resources of the players. This can be done in an orderly manner by considering the idea of a “turn”. A turn in a dungeon is an interval of time, roughy 10 minutes long, where the players can move up to 100 ft quietly with their passive stealth in effect. They have the privilege of mapping the dungeon during this time. You can enable auto-mapping in a vtt (explorer mode in roll20, my vtt of choice) or describe the shape of the dungeon and let them sketch it. Once players have mapped out a region, assume they can move 300 ft quietly through it. Alternatively, the player can move up to 500 ft in a turn but they sacrifice any pretense of being quiet and get no mapping privileges. Lastly a player can choose not to move but instead use the turn to perform a task of some sort typically related to a skill. This could be searching for a secret door or trap, investigating something, attempting to pick a lock, attempting to force a stuck door, listening intently for danger, or anything else that might warrant a skill check. We can also estimate that combat or other encounter events take a turn.
So why does tracking turns matter? Because every so many turns you are rolling for random encounters. This is what creates tension in a dungeon. The players feel pressured to move quickly so they don’t get bogged down by random encounters, yet want to move slowly to allow themselves time to find traps, avoid getting ambushed by monsters, and give themselves a chance to unravel the mysteries of the dungeon and find the treasure. It also lets you judge when resources such as torches expire, how long certain spells are in effect, and estimate how hungry and tired the characters are becoming.
And the important take away is you are learning your own style. What I described is my style of officiating, but yours might be different. The important part is you are learning what style you like and are refining it with consistency.
As a backdrop to all this, you are soaking it all in and contemplating trying your hand at making a dungeon yourself. Look all around you for inspiration- what’s the layout like? What sorts of monsters are there? What other mysteries and challenges could I add? Once you make your own dungeon, it fits into the module seamlessly at one of the designated dungeon expansion points. Place the entrance at the first one of these the players discover, staying flexible.
This is why I believe Dungeon of the Mad Mage is the most important module for new DMs such as yourself.
There is more adventure material than what is Published by WotC... Look at the Drivethrurpg/DM's guild. Look at Goodman Games Original Adventures Reincarnated or other third party published material. Google One Page Dungeons... If those do not pique your interest you can always make your own Classic OPD Template If you want to try your hand at digital mapping Inkarnate offers a free plan and can make decent maps. If you need a fast map there are Generators like DunGenordonjon.
I won't push you one way or another rather broaden the scope of material available for you you can look and tools you can use.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I have been watching Matt Colville's YT videos on DMing and they have been fantastic. Would it be easier, as a first campaign, to run a module of one of the adventures? I have a TON of the adventures already, but was curious if it would be better to take the time and make a homebrew campaign.
Some parts of the modules are confusing about what to read aloud or what not to. If you are planning on running, lets say Storm King's Thunder, is it normal to completely read through the entire book/adventure or do read it session by session? Would love thoughts and feedback thank you
You have to find what works best for you. If you use modules then there's less prep time you have to worry about. But modules are going to be more railroady since there's a story to follow, and some people don't like that. A homebrew campaign is more prep time, but has a more sandbox feel. And you don't have to build all the campaign at once since you never know where your players are going to end up going.
It would certainly be easier to run a published adventure first. Imo, it’s not nearly as fun, but unquestionably easier. Playing and DMing are very different experiences, so running a published campaign where most of the prep work has been done can be a good way to feel out the expectations of the new role.
And you can always homebrew in little changes or side quests to get some practice there. Just be careful not to over-level the characters, or give them much more gear than the story does, or you’ll have problems.
As far as reading. I’d say yes read the whole thing through — this goes double if you want to homebrew a tangent or two. Then the night before or day of, re-read the parts you’ll be playing that session.
I do recommend a module, Dungeon of the Mad Mage. It is impossible for me to stress how important this one is for brand new Dungeon Masters. By the end of it, you will be able to both create and officiate dungeons which are the core functions as a referee of the game Dungeons and Dragons. Which to be clear, is what you are attempting.
Dungeon of the Mad Mage is perfect for this. It is a large multi layered dungeon complex with placeholders for you to expand the dungeon with your own content. Let’s talk officiating first- officiating the dungeon involves tracking time, location, and resources of the players. This can be done in an orderly manner by considering the idea of a “turn”. A turn in a dungeon is an interval of time, roughy 10 minutes long, where the players can move up to 100 ft quietly with their passive stealth in effect. They have the privilege of mapping the dungeon during this time. You can enable auto-mapping in a vtt (explorer mode in roll20, my vtt of choice) or describe the shape of the dungeon and let them sketch it. Once players have mapped out a region, assume they can move 300 ft quietly through it. Alternatively, the player can move up to 500 ft in a turn but they sacrifice any pretense of being quiet and get no mapping privileges. Lastly a player can choose not to move but instead use the turn to perform a task of some sort typically related to a skill. This could be searching for a secret door or trap, investigating something, attempting to pick a lock, attempting to force a stuck door, listening intently for danger, or anything else that might warrant a skill check. We can also estimate that combat or other encounter events take a turn.
So why does tracking turns matter? Because every so many turns you are rolling for random encounters. This is what creates tension in a dungeon. The players feel pressured to move quickly so they don’t get bogged down by random encounters, yet want to move slowly to allow themselves time to find traps, avoid getting ambushed by monsters, and give themselves a chance to unravel the mysteries of the dungeon and find the treasure. It also lets you judge when resources such as torches expire, how long certain spells are in effect, and estimate how hungry and tired the characters are becoming.
And the important take away is you are learning your own style. What I described is my style of officiating, but yours might be different. The important part is you are learning what style you like and are refining it with consistency.
As a backdrop to all this, you are soaking it all in and contemplating trying your hand at making a dungeon yourself. Look all around you for inspiration- what’s the layout like? What sorts of monsters are there? What other mysteries and challenges could I add? Once you make your own dungeon, it fits into the module seamlessly at one of the designated dungeon expansion points. Place the entrance at the first one of these the players discover, staying flexible.
This is why I believe Dungeon of the Mad Mage is the most important module for new DMs such as yourself.
There is more adventure material than what is Published by WotC... Look at the Drivethrurpg/DM's guild. Look at Goodman Games Original Adventures Reincarnated or other third party published material. Google One Page Dungeons... If those do not pique your interest you can always make your own Classic OPD Template If you want to try your hand at digital mapping Inkarnate offers a free plan and can make decent maps. If you need a fast map there are Generators like DunGen or donjon.
I won't push you one way or another rather broaden the scope of material available for you you can look and tools you can use.