so I want to get in to being a DM (I have friends and family that play) and I want to go all out. I’m talkin full blown story, with different paths they can choose as they go, custom treasures that may or may not apply down the road, scenarios that really challenge them, even preplanned easter eggs in the map as they go that they’ll have to just stumble upon. So I guess what I’m wondering is am I going too big? I’m the kind of person who can’t help but give everything to a project so if I’m going to do this I want it to be the best damn game they’ve ever played. I can’t say anything to them till it’s done though because it could take me weeks to finish and I really don’t want a deadline or expectations. That’s why I’m turning to random fellow nerds on the internet, what say you: tone it down or no such thing as too big or don’t even bother?

other questions I also have:

could I make it life size or is this meant to be played sitting still? can I create characters for them to play that they can choose from when they arrive? where can I watch some games on the internet without playing myself? should a game start small or could them jump into the first scene fighting a frickin hydra?! is there a rule book I should start with?

 If I do this I’m going to write a big fat three ring binder, because if they want to run off in to the forest, I want to just flip to that page. If they choose to befriend the damn ogre I want to know what I’ll respond. I also understand that I cannot plan for everything. And the reason I’m here being anonymous asking my questions is because if I plan this whole big thing I don’t want anyone to feel like they have to play if they aren’t interested, I’ll just have this kick ass story binder hiding in my closet. I don’t care how much work it is, it’s not a problem. I don’t care if they say no thanks when I suggest it, because i just don’t mind. So bring it on, I want to do this right.

Pretty much every new DM, with their own homebrew campaign, goes too big. I got one such DM that has created a world, places static events and static loot drops and static quest lines. If you don't go to x location and interact with y quest/activity you lose out on z item.

Now I understand that you're passionate and invested to create and delve into your inspiration. My advice is to keep it as simple as you can and go for a more modular approach. Work on the big outlines of how your world works. What pantheon there is, how does religion and certain divine interventions work and such things. It'll give you something to work with when players have questions. Then when players come with ideas and suggestions, or when un-expected creativity occurs during playsessions, use that too insert into your world. 

Have an outline of the continent with some big cities in each area, the kind of climate in that region but leave it blank for the rest. Start to work on the environment that players start in with some stuff in the near surrounding. Then add to that with each new session as the story progresses. The players will do things that could give you some new interesting ideas to create new content you hadn't even considered.

Try to be modular as much as possible. A lot of being a DM is creating the illusion that the players choices matter. If you create a bunch of possible encounters and environments and players reach a fork in the road. Does it really matter whether they choose to go left or right? you can just drop the piece of content no matter which direction they choose to go. It does mean that, should the players return in the future, that piece of environment should be in the same place however.

Same with the story. Have the big red thread first. Then add a dozen or so micro-story events/cut scenes. Each scene should also be from the bad guys point of view and their resources. What would they do. Then you know what the players should attempt to go against it. That way you have the outline for the players and where they should eventually end up at. But everything in between is open for them to do as they see fit. Even if they go off-track you still know in which direction they should move and roughly which events should take place. Which makes it easier to improvise.

You can create a full campaign (lvl 1 to 20) story arch as a big outline. Dropping twists and turns and foreshadowing as those micro-events along the way. Creating them can be quite a puzzle and take time. But its cool if you can pull it off.

If you want a big binder where you just flip pages... why not simply run a pre-made module instead. You do pretty much the same there. I can understand you got a binder with a random table for overland travel or whatever. You'll  have notes with outlines for the villages/cities and npc's. But seriously... 3 binders? That's excessive and over the top information wise. Having too much stuff already pre-made and set in stone will only limit you in your DM "work". It'll also limit the impact and contribution of your players to the world and its development.

In short keep it simple. Create the big outlines and don't waste too much energy on the details. Details are improvisational work. Then co-create the details together with your players. Let them do most of the work for you ;)

======
What do you mean with life size? You don't have to play sitting still at all. My group projects the maps through a beamer on the wall with some LED atmospheric lighting around it. Since we don't use a table there is a lot of space in the room too stand and move freely. I notice that standing automatically makes you do movements with arms and body language... making it easier to "be in character" then it is when just sitting at a table.

It is more fun to start with a session 0. Get together and create your characters together. Talk with the players and figure out what and how they would like to play. Then they can create their own matching characters. It'll also allows you, as DM, to ask questions about who that character is, where did it come from, its past...maybe some future goals. All kinds of things you can then use to create a more personalised experience. You can also talk with your players to see if their expectations of combat/story balance is in line with what you can provide. It sucks if you want to be more combat oriented while they want less of that for example.

There are core rulebooks such as the Dungeon Master guide, Monster Manual and Player Handbook. Honestly you don't really need the DMG since the Player Handbook provides sufficient info that you can extrapolate with some common sense and logic. On youtube you can search for Critical Role and High Rollers to get an impression on various styles of play. And I'm sure there are more of them. Also check out WebDM, WASD20, Matt Colville and such for DM tips and tricks.

You can start the campaign with immediate action where the players find themselves in a sticky situation. Then as the story unfolds afterwords they learn how they ended up in that starting situation. A hydra would be too tough for them at lvl 1 however. But I suppose you can take the hydra statistics and down-tune them to fit the players.

Knowing what an Ogre responds is mostly improvisation. Just as with most NPC's. In most cases you'll just have a little note written if that NPC's is hostile/friendly, what its personal goal is, some minor personal traits and appearance. If it is a noble it uses more "fancy" words and phrases while a commoner uses more "slang" and such for example. Then you improvise from there and be surprised at how the NPC develops as you go. You can't write entire dialogues and such before hand since you will NEVER know what the players will say or do.

There is no such thing as too big, but your players are very likely to go someplace you didn't plan on. It's totally fine to do world building, it can be a lot of fun! 

I would just advise to plan a lot of shorts in specific areas and shorts for when things don't go according to plan.

Wysperra: Sounds great! I can do that! Thanks

wow, Giblix, you really jumped in, thank you for giving me so much to work with.  By life size I meant either turn my living room into a forest and my kitchen into a village or turn it into a thing outside where we travel from place to place around town like a scavenger hunt. And what is a pre-made module?

Quote from Beccababe114 >>

 And what is a pre-made module?

 If you click on the marketplace tab, many many modules will pop up.