Im still relatively new to this whole thing, I joined a group for a while when I first came to college, but i didn't feel like I really meshed with the other players or the tone of the game so i left at the end of the year. This summer I was able to get back into it by infecting my friends, now that were all back at college I was able to set up a group with the one friend that came to the same college and some of the friends we made up here at MTU. I don't know how I agreed to DM but it happened and I was able to punch out a general outline for the characters to meet up along with an initial quest that should keep my head above water for the first two weeks. Any advice on how to go about the larger part of the story or any pitfalls to avoid at a DM? Any help would be great!
- Use the couple of weeks you have planned to get a feeling of what the players might like in terms of tone and direction: do they really look forward to combat? do they like exploring a lot and asking questions about the environment and lore? do they seems suspicious of most things and seem to have a liking to intrigue? based on the answers to these questions you can already make a mental picture of what kind of follow-up adventure you should point at. As most often than not a group would have at least two areas of their liking (if nothing because there are multiple people involved, with their own tastes and preferences) I'd suggest to alternate between the things your group likes, with small-ish section of one thing leading into the other; not enormously easy, but being a new DM in a new group you can take your time and "dilute" things a bit more.
- Do not rush on planning too much. From the above get the idea of what the players might like, pick your choice of enemies/adversaries/one-two mini-bosses/one big boss for any new adventure, (regardless of the tone, these can be also social or exploration challenges/encounters), put down an idea of a few settlements they might encounter and a few names and professions of NPCs they might encounter, nothing too in-depth; everything else: improvise. It might seem scary and dangerous at the beginning, but once you get to know your players and they get to know you, it will come as second nature for you to react to their questions/choices (it will take time, ofc).
These are my main two advice, for the rest: HAVE FUN! that's the most important thing. As long as you guys have fun, it doesn't matter if you follow the rules to the T or if you end up spending a good chunk of the session going shopping for items in a nameless village you just came up with as a pass-by location, as long as you have fun, everything is cool.
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
"Orcs are savage raiders and pillagers with stooped postures, low foreheads, and piggish faces with prominent lower canines that resemble tusks." MM p245 (original printing) You don't OWN your books on DDB: WotC can change them any time. What do you think will happen when OneD&D comes out?
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Im still relatively new to this whole thing, I joined a group for a while when I first came to college, but i didn't feel like I really meshed with the other players or the tone of the game so i left at the end of the year. This summer I was able to get back into it by infecting my friends, now that were all back at college I was able to set up a group with the one friend that came to the same college and some of the friends we made up here at MTU. I don't know how I agreed to DM but it happened and I was able to punch out a general outline for the characters to meet up along with an initial quest that should keep my head above water for the first two weeks. Any advice on how to go about the larger part of the story or any pitfalls to avoid at a DM? Any help would be great!
Hi SlamMan o/
My personal advice:
- Use the couple of weeks you have planned to get a feeling of what the players might like in terms of tone and direction: do they really look forward to combat? do they like exploring a lot and asking questions about the environment and lore? do they seems suspicious of most things and seem to have a liking to intrigue? based on the answers to these questions you can already make a mental picture of what kind of follow-up adventure you should point at. As most often than not a group would have at least two areas of their liking (if nothing because there are multiple people involved, with their own tastes and preferences) I'd suggest to alternate between the things your group likes, with small-ish section of one thing leading into the other; not enormously easy, but being a new DM in a new group you can take your time and "dilute" things a bit more.
- Do not rush on planning too much. From the above get the idea of what the players might like, pick your choice of enemies/adversaries/one-two mini-bosses/one big boss for any new adventure, (regardless of the tone, these can be also social or exploration challenges/encounters), put down an idea of a few settlements they might encounter and a few names and professions of NPCs they might encounter, nothing too in-depth; everything else: improvise.
It might seem scary and dangerous at the beginning, but once you get to know your players and they get to know you, it will come as second nature for you to react to their questions/choices (it will take time, ofc).
These are my main two advice, for the rest: HAVE FUN! that's the most important thing. As long as you guys have fun, it doesn't matter if you follow the rules to the T or if you end up spending a good chunk of the session going shopping for items in a nameless village you just came up with as a pass-by location, as long as you have fun, everything is cool.
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/dungeons-dragons-discussion/dungeon-masters-only/6695-so-youre-going-to-dm-tips-for-beginners
"Orcs are savage raiders and pillagers with stooped postures, low foreheads, and piggish faces with prominent lower canines that resemble tusks." MM p245 (original printing)
You don't OWN your books on DDB: WotC can change them any time. What do you think will happen when OneD&D comes out?