My friends and I want to start playing d&d and I have taken the roll of DM because I really like it from a brief previous experience. A couple of players started Lost Mine of Phandelver but never finished it and the rest is completely new. So for the adventure I thought Tales of the Yawning Portal would be fun as a campaign, however it seems to be optimal for a party of 4-5. How should I tackle this? (PS. if you would rather recommend a different adventure please share, all help is welcome!)
If you guys are all friends and just want to go nuts and learn the rules, I think those old dungeon crawls are a great way to do it. That's basically how the game got started in the first place.
I wouldn't worry about game balance issues until you kind of understand the basics of what you're doing. Right now, I'm just suggesting you guys splash around in the mud together, and make mistakes and have fun. If I understand you right though, you're also trying to make sure that all seven of your players get a couple of at-bats. And that could be a problem because seven is a lot. Maybe I'd double the unnamed mobs in Sunless Citadel and then take stock of where you were at the end of that one? Maybe after that, they can interact with some people in town and find a use for their skills and backgrounds. See how you guys like that part of the game.
How long has it been since the couple of players played LMoP? Do they still have their PC sheet? if so, do they still want that PC?
with that in mind... if they do and still want to keep them they can run thru the adventure again helping the new players as a training and a refresher for them and then everyone can continue where they left off all together, or it has been some time they could reset the PC to Level1 and start over at the beginning.
Thank you so much for the awesome advice! So just that I understand, this would mean doubling goblin, rats and similar creatures. But not "Special" enemies with a name and background right? I'm going to do my best to make it enjoyable!
Yes it has been over a year since they stopped LMoP. They don't have the PC sheet anymore so that could provide a great opportunity to start over. I am a bit worried though that it might be boring for them as they have already experienced the beginning. This might just be from my very limited DM experience though, if you have any tips or ideas to fresh it up for them, I am all ears!
in that case I would ask them how they feel about starting fresh since it has been a year. they might want to run thru it and try doing something different(battle choices/characters) then they did last time, kind of like a fresh slate. a bit of a different option could be them still running thru as sort of a refresher helping the new players(while building new characters of their own)and continue on the adventure with the new players in the spot where they left off with their new characters(At the appropriate level in the campaign) from there.
The essentials kit has a adventure that uses quests to fulfill the campaign, that everyone can play at the start from scratch. the essentials also has three adventures that can be added on at the end to make a decent extended campaign.
I will ask them if they are fine with starting over as I understand that LMoP is a really good starter adventure. I did look at the essentials kit, however the reviews don't seem overly positive, hence the choice for the Tales of the Yawning Portal adventure.
This feedback was amazing, thanks!
I will try and if I have any more questions, I am sure I will find more helpful feedback on this forum.
If there is any way for you to start out DMing fewer players, at least for an adventure or two, I would do it. Trying to run a game with 7 players is rough even with experienced DMs, and for a new DM might be incredibly difficult. Battles in particular are rough because of how long it takes to get back around to the next turn of the first person to go. You have to be very efficient managing these, and if you do things like double the # of goblins and you now have 7 PCs and 12 NPCs in a single round of combat. Ugh. I don't even want to think about it.
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WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
With new players especially, I think it's fine to run them through an adventure where there's technically more of them than the adventure is intended for. There's a lot to learn, and needing to work their way through a finely tuned, perfectly balanced campaign where every choice matters is a recipe for trouble in the long run.
That said, I agree with the suggestion to increase the number of weak mooks in combat. A 7-person party, even when not run particularly well, will still steam-roll through a lot of lower level monsters, and any players with low initiative might not be able to do anything in combat.
I'd also offer some advice that might not be relevant to your group, but it's something I see come up some times... don't worry about making sure that everyone has a "balanced" set of classes. If you've got 4 people who want to play as Warlocks, go ahead and let them. If nobody wants to be a Cleric or other "healer" class, nobody has to. Trust me... with 7 players, you'll be fine even if you end up with a wild, bizarre group of PC classes.
I'd be upfront with them and let them know that 7 is a ton of players for one game and that they need to read their sheet ahead of time, know what their characters/spells do, and figure out what they are going to do on their turn in combat before their turn comes up. If people in a game that large aren't quick on their turns you are going to have a lot of extremely bored players waiting around for their next turn.
I'd consider saying no druids or artificer Druid because new players seems to always take forever figuring out wild shape forms and it bogs the game down. Artificer because they are just complicated for a first time player.
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Hi,
My friends and I want to start playing d&d and I have taken the roll of DM because I really like it from a brief previous experience. A couple of players started Lost Mine of Phandelver but never finished it and the rest is completely new. So for the adventure I thought Tales of the Yawning Portal would be fun as a campaign, however it seems to be optimal for a party of 4-5. How should I tackle this? (PS. if you would rather recommend a different adventure please share, all help is welcome!)
Thanks for the advice in advance!
If you guys are all friends and just want to go nuts and learn the rules, I think those old dungeon crawls are a great way to do it. That's basically how the game got started in the first place.
I wouldn't worry about game balance issues until you kind of understand the basics of what you're doing. Right now, I'm just suggesting you guys splash around in the mud together, and make mistakes and have fun. If I understand you right though, you're also trying to make sure that all seven of your players get a couple of at-bats. And that could be a problem because seven is a lot. Maybe I'd double the unnamed mobs in Sunless Citadel and then take stock of where you were at the end of that one? Maybe after that, they can interact with some people in town and find a use for their skills and backgrounds. See how you guys like that part of the game.
hello,
just some quick questions,
How long has it been since the couple of players played LMoP? Do they still have their PC sheet? if so, do they still want that PC?
with that in mind... if they do and still want to keep them they can run thru the adventure again helping the new players as a training and a refresher for them and then everyone can continue where they left off all together, or it has been some time they could reset the PC to Level1 and start over at the beginning.
Thank you so much for the awesome advice! So just that I understand, this would mean doubling goblin, rats and similar creatures. But not "Special" enemies with a name and background right? I'm going to do my best to make it enjoyable!
Hi, thanks for the feedback!
Yes it has been over a year since they stopped LMoP. They don't have the PC sheet anymore so that could provide a great opportunity to start over. I am a bit worried though that it might be boring for them as they have already experienced the beginning. This might just be from my very limited DM experience though, if you have any tips or ideas to fresh it up for them, I am all ears!
your welcome,
in that case I would ask them how they feel about starting fresh since it has been a year. they might want to run thru it and try doing something different(battle choices/characters) then they did last time, kind of like a fresh slate. a bit of a different option could be them still running thru as sort of a refresher helping the new players(while building new characters of their own)and continue on the adventure with the new players in the spot where they left off with their new characters(At the appropriate level in the campaign) from there.
The essentials kit has a adventure that uses quests to fulfill the campaign, that everyone can play at the start from scratch. the essentials also has three adventures that can be added on at the end to make a decent extended campaign.
Hi thanks again for you advice!
I will ask them if they are fine with starting over as I understand that LMoP is a really good starter adventure. I did look at the essentials kit, however the reviews don't seem overly positive, hence the choice for the Tales of the Yawning Portal adventure.
This feedback was amazing, thanks!
I will try and if I have any more questions, I am sure I will find more helpful feedback on this forum.
your welcome.... Happy Dm'ing
If there is any way for you to start out DMing fewer players, at least for an adventure or two, I would do it. Trying to run a game with 7 players is rough even with experienced DMs, and for a new DM might be incredibly difficult. Battles in particular are rough because of how long it takes to get back around to the next turn of the first person to go. You have to be very efficient managing these, and if you do things like double the # of goblins and you now have 7 PCs and 12 NPCs in a single round of combat. Ugh. I don't even want to think about it.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
With new players especially, I think it's fine to run them through an adventure where there's technically more of them than the adventure is intended for. There's a lot to learn, and needing to work their way through a finely tuned, perfectly balanced campaign where every choice matters is a recipe for trouble in the long run.
That said, I agree with the suggestion to increase the number of weak mooks in combat. A 7-person party, even when not run particularly well, will still steam-roll through a lot of lower level monsters, and any players with low initiative might not be able to do anything in combat.
I'd also offer some advice that might not be relevant to your group, but it's something I see come up some times... don't worry about making sure that everyone has a "balanced" set of classes. If you've got 4 people who want to play as Warlocks, go ahead and let them. If nobody wants to be a Cleric or other "healer" class, nobody has to. Trust me... with 7 players, you'll be fine even if you end up with a wild, bizarre group of PC classes.
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7 new players is ambitious
I'd be upfront with them and let them know that 7 is a ton of players for one game and that they need to read their sheet ahead of time, know what their characters/spells do, and figure out what they are going to do on their turn in combat before their turn comes up. If people in a game that large aren't quick on their turns you are going to have a lot of extremely bored players waiting around for their next turn.
I'd consider saying no druids or artificer
Druid because new players seems to always take forever figuring out wild shape forms and it bogs the game down.
Artificer because they are just complicated for a first time player.