Hey, after searching forever, I've finally got a party to play with. They have characters with some ok backgrounds but I'm having a lot of trouble. I have a world kind of set but I'm unsure how to really do and tell the story. Also, names are really hard, to be honest. Can you guys give me some advice with telling this story to my two players and if you guys learned any mistakes from your first time being a dm, how to avoid them as well. I'm kind of prone to mistakes.  

I'll see if I can be the first person to recommend Matt Colville's Running the Game series.

Thanks!

First, let me welcome you to the other side of the DM's Screen. Honestly, if someone hadn’t beaten me to it I or someone else would have posted that series for you anyway. That really is the best advice I can give you. After that, here are my top pieces of advice:

1. If everyone is having fun, even if you are not strictly following the rules, you're doing it right. (If you ever wonder if you’re a good DM, this is how you know.)
2. If a rules question comes up and you cannot find the answer in under a minute, then make a ruling, tell everyone that's what you are doing, and let them know you will look up the official rule before the next session. (I break this one all the time and kick myself for it every time. 🙄)
3. It's okay to make mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes, that’s the best way to learn how not to do it again. 
4. Reread chapters 7, 9, and 10 of the PHB. (The vast majority of what you need every session is in there.)

Good luck.

Thank you! the chapters have been marked and I know for certain I shall be reading combat like 10 times before I start. 

My #1 tip is don't try to write anything too big. Don't plan more than a couple sessions ahead, or give a quest like "cast the Ring of Power into the Cracks of Doom." Stick with simple, small stories where the player characters can make a real difference, like "get the magic sword back from the goblins." When I first DMed, I thought it was supposed to be like an epic movie...it's not! (At least not until both you and the characters have a lot more XP.) A lesson I learned the hard way!

As for names, most characters can just have medieval-appropriate regular names, maybe spelled differently if you want (like Edward, Morgan, or Petyr). Or names that are two words put together (like Greythistle, Riverwind, or Lionstone). Alternatively, choosing a country and looking up names from there can also give your world a nice flavor (like Friedrich, Elise, or Josef for Germany). Hope that helps!

Quote from IamSposta >>

First, let me welcome you to the other side of the DM's Screen. Honestly, if someone hadn’t beaten me to it I or someone else would have posted that series for you anyway. That really is the best advice I can give you. After that, here are my top pieces of advice:

1. If everyone is having fun, even if you are not strictly following the rules, you're doing it right. (If you ever wonder if you’re a good DM, this is how you know.)
2. If a rules question comes up and you cannot find the answer in under a minute, then make a ruling, tell everyone that's what you are doing, and let them know you will look up the official rule before the next session. (I break this one all the time and kick myself for it every time. 🙄)
3. It's okay to make mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes, that’s the best way to learn how not to do it again. 
4. Reread chapters 7, 9, and 10 of the PHB. (The vast majority of what you need every session is in there.)

Good luck.

 

 Odd, I frequently disagree with this poster, lol, this time, I think he nailed it.  Using these words of wisdom, the video guidelines and the other tidbits here will have you rolling along fine.  IMO, #1 above is MOST important, with the rest helping keep #1 being a "Yes, everyone IS having fun!"  Everything else is just decoration and added flavor.  

For tips on flavor and storyline ideas, you say they have good backgrounds, so sprinkle a couple little tales about things that hint or relate to their bacgrounds.  See what they jump on and what they brush off, and start developing around the parts they seem interested in.  That way you can do a wide range of ideas (shotgun approach to quest/task offering) and as you see what they like, focus in more and start steering and writing the world to follow/lead those paths.  In my own, I have "railroaded" the party early, to get the base down, so they understand what the overall arc IS.  Now they are opening stuff up and given the freedom to pick a path (there are many)  Each potential path right now has one, maybe 2 sessions worth of stuff.  As they proceed down one, I continue that part of the story, while the remainder stews on the back burner (or expires in some cases)   It has allowed me to set the party up to know what's going on and now they can decide what they want to do.  Address this major threat to the realm, or pursue their own personal agendas?  So far, it is looking like they will be doing some personal desires exploring, looking for treats.  It's not what I wanted them to do, but I only forced them down a short path to roll out the situation and agreed (in my own head) to give them freedom after that.

General tip with names, I keep a list of 10 random male names and 10 female names to apply to random NPCs my players connect with

Name Generator : https://www.name-generator.org.uk/

I would recommend writing down about a dozen male/female/whatever names. Then when the players meet somebody and want to know their name, you assign one of the names you have on hand to that NPC (non-player character).

If you want to give your NPCs personality, think of people you know in real life like your favorite waiter, teacher, grumpy cousin, checkout clerk, etc. Think of that person when you interact with the party to give the NPC a real feel.

You only need to create what the party can reach. You donot need a fully fleshed out world. You only need to have their village or town and the area within a few days of it. You can create a world if you want to but the only part that matters to the game is where the party is.

Give them something to do. Throw obvious hooks at them.Like mentioned above, there can be a bounty board in town, or "Hey, I heard you all just got out of hero academy, you think you can help with a problem I have at my farm?" or "AHHHH! goblins!" first adventures don't have to be complex.

Don't sweat the small stuff. If you can't find the rule in 3 minutes make it up and let stand for the night. Unless a PC death happens, it does not matter if the fire ball 8d8 or 100d6s. Buy some tier 1 modules from DM's Guild and steal from them.