To give a quick summary of the situation, I was gathering a bunch of first time players to have a game with an experienced player being our DM. I've never played myself, but I've caught the bug after watching Fables of Refuge on YouTube. Our experienced player now can't be our DM due to a bunch of reasons, so I've taken up that mantle.
As we're an inexperienced bunch who can't meet up more often than once a month, I'm designing our first campaign to be something like 6 sessions long. I've got an idea for the final boss fight (sidenote, I see BBEG used a fair amount, is this referring to final boss fights?), I've got the starting city where our adventurers meet and I've got a rough idea of how the first session and a half is going to go. This is where I started to feel horribly out of depth as I realised I wanted to start mapping out the world, and at least the immediate areas in case my group asks for maps or something.
So, hoping you kind folks might be able to help me out.
What's your preferred way of creating a world map? Do you hand draw or do you use some kind of website/software to help?
How do you connect your starting area to the end game? I have an idea of how I want the end game boss fight to go, but I'm struggling with how to organically lead my players to finding the guy.
I bought the Players Handbook, DMG and Monster Manual, a DM screen and dice trays for everyone to use. I still need to buy a squared game board that I can scribble on for combat and so on - is there a cheapish alternative that I can use as opposed to the £35-40 dry erase ones that I have found on Amazon?
Any other general tips for a first time player who is also going to be a first time DM?
Cheers, hoping you guys can give me plenty to think about!
I've got an idea for the final boss fight (sidenote, I see BBEG used a fair amount, is this referring to final boss fights?),
Close. It stands for Big Bad Evil Guy. So it's the main villain whenever they show up, not just in the final fight.
1) I hand draw, and I keep it really vague. If you've never done this before, don't torture yourself trying to map out the world. You have enough to do. If your players want a map, look at some medieval maps from the British Library. They're like a comic strip of the sequence of cities you arrive at by following one particular road going on a pilgrimage. If they wanted anything better than that, they should have rolled a ranger. Tolkien didn't draw his maps before he started writing, and you shouldn't feel any pressure to do so either.
2) You and me both, brother. I think I JUST broke a story I've been noodling around with for a year now. It only started making sense after I jettisoned the NPC I thought was the one holding it all together. Writing is hard, sometimes. Try using a template, like a Bond movie. Get the mission at Location 1. Go to Location 2; meet an enemy who turns out to be a friend and a friend who turns out to be an enemy. Chase scene. Kill one or both. Go to Location 3. Meet Weird Henchman. Chase scene. Kill. Go to Location 4. Confront BBEG. Kill. Sex. XP.
3). Pathfinder flipmats are £15 on Amazon. I find that they work fine. If you're not sure that you guys will stick with it, nothing wrong with sketching on an £8 roll of brown paper. That'll last you months.
4). You're taking on a big job, so make it as simple on yourself as you can. If your friends are having fun, sit back and let them have fun. Don't feel that you're responsible for keeping the railroad running on a schedule. The fun IS the end goal. Paper clips are useful for a lot of things. Write down a list of random names, so you don't have players ask an NPC what their name is and they have to reply that they don't know. That's always embarrassing.
I'll look at the flip mats you mentioned, and having a list of names seems like a great idea. Definitely would want to avoid a situation where they ask for a name or something and I'm not prepared!
Be prepared to improv mainly. you don't necessarily have to improvise a lot, but if you do, it'll mean that you have to prepare less stuff in advance. The way I normally DM is that I quite literally explore the world with the characters.
I'll have the general contour of the story mapped out, and perhaps 1 or 2 beats I would want in there, but if my players ask something I don't know, I'll just make it up on the spot, write it down, and now it's canon.
granted, this is not everyone's style of playing, but it helps me when I don't have a lot of time to prepare and it also makes the preparation less daunting
Also, when I'm out of ideas I kinda just flip through the monster manual. The monster manual has not only stats but also great background information to all the monsters.
If you have you BBEG, think of what kind of underlings this guy would have. who are is followers if he has any? what are his plans normally, and why is the party in the way of those plans? or, if it's not such a schemer, how and when will they encounter this baddy?
basically I find a lot of support in asking myself questions. And if that doesn't work, there is a great series of video's on geek&sundry with tips on DM'ing:
I take it your D&D sessions are real world meet ups but thought it worth mentioning, I've been using Discord https://discordapp.com/ with my "inexperienced bunch" quite successfully for online/virtual meet up's as we're scattered across different countries...
1) world maps haven't used this myself yet but have seen World Anvil being recommended certainly worth a peek.
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
What's your preferred way of creating a world map? Do you hand draw or do you use some kind of website/software to help?
How do you connect your starting area to the end game? I have an idea of how I want the end game boss fight to go, but I'm struggling with how to organically lead my players to finding the guy.
I bought the Players Handbook, DMG and Monster Manual, a DM screen and dice trays for everyone to use. I still need to buy a squared game board that I can scribble on for combat and so on - is there a cheapish alternative that I can use as opposed to the £35-40 dry erase ones that I have found on Amazon?
Any other general tips for a first time player who is also going to be a first time DM?
1: I usually draw by hand or use Dungeon Painter Studios. It's on steam. Around 15 euros I think. Awesome tool, my dad uses it too. Else, if you really wanna get into it, there are many recommendations, and it's really just what suits you the best. A lot of them don't work for me, so I really have no choice but to draw by hand. My tip however is, use the town in Forgotten Realms called "Daggerford". It's got a few shops already there for you. A temple for resurection should it be needed, and is a brilliant starting place. I'll leave a link for both a map of Faerun and for Daggerford later.
2: This is a little hard, as I don't know anything about your main villain. So let's say it's Mor'weth. A tiefling paladin of conquest. She has gathered a few monstorous races (like kobolds, bugbears, hobgoblins and a few ogres), and made a small army. But nobody knows that she is their leader. Suddenly, all these races just started to organize and band together. The local wizard, say Merrin Hollowcrest (Human wiz, abjurer, level 14) set out two ten days (that is a week in forgotten realms) to study why these creature suddenly starts to act like this. But she hasn't returned. So her assistant, hires the party to go find her. They have to go to a dungeon where she went, they then find her notes there, travel somewhere, then perhaps encounter the army (gotta show them it's dangerous), and then they find the wizard. Maybe she is hurt in a dungeon, her leg smashed and she forgot to prepare sending? Maybe she is held captive by the army, or just some bandits who caught her off guard. Then they learn that Mog'weth is behind it all and return the wizard ally to the town and have to prepare to defend the town. But to do that, they need magical items! Off to the second local dungeon, the tomb to some adventurers. Kill undead, loot magical items and return to town. Now they are ready for the final showdown. Ta- da!
Maybe a little too much text... sorry. But a good way to tie the main villain to the town is the local wizard, or the villain comes from the town. Just make sure that the villain gives the PCs (player characters) a reason to fight them. You can also speak with your players. And explain that this is around 6 sessions. So if they would be kind to follow the plot, as you are putting in a lot of time and effort into writting this and you're new and it would help a lot if they didn't go completely off the rails.
3: Truth be told. I don't know much about that. I again, use Dungeon Painter Studios. Print out what I did and use squares. My dad also uses tape to glue the maps together. So his forest map is 9 A4 maps with I think 1 inch squares. There are many tutorials out there for that, and I don't know anything about that. But I use normal grid paper a lot. Using simple letters and symbols to show where monsters and PCs are. If you do find something useful, I would love to hear about it! ^^
4: I have a few yeah. Okay. If you're still here, probs to you my friend. You are almost done!
The warlock wants to take the branch while the guard is not looking, and bash the guards head with the branch. Hopping it will knock him out. If you don't know the rules, make something up! A simple way of doing so is breaking down the actions. So say, the warlock makes an attack and hits the guard with a natural 18 (meaning the die rolled 18), then the guard makes a constitution saving throw. The DC (Difficulty Class) is up to you. Don't worry. It comes to you in the moment. I rarely have a set DC for things. I set a DC according to the actions. So the warlock with 17 str rolls natural 18 on attack roll? That DC might be 15 or 16. The guard fails even with a +2 and the warlock is now happy. What I'm trying to say and failing horribly at it is, don't be afraid of improvised rules. You can always retcon them after the game. When players get an idea, that sounds a little crazy. Like jump of a 10 foot cliff, and assassinate the guard. Let the rogue do it! Make him feel like Corvo from Dishonored, or the 17M different assassin's creed dudes. You decide what rolls, if any, should deside the outcome.
You are the DM. So if a player disagrees with you, tell them. This is how you rule it, or if you feel like they are write and you are wrong. Then go with it. Make a note of a rule you don't know, make up on the spot and after the game read the rule. You are the DM, you decide the rules. But before you start. Make sure the players are on board with some of your rules. Like Carry Weight. My dad didn't tell me we played with that, nor with how much ammo we have. And as a ranged based character. I now have to keep track of that. Which is a waste of time in this style of play. So make sure you talk with your players on some rules, and what they expect from certain rules.
Lastly. HAVE. F#CKING. FUN! If you don't like to DM, then tell them. If you think the warlock went a little overboard with the toture scene. Then tell them. If you have a couple who are playing, and the girlfriend starts to flirt with an NPC or another PC. Make sure the other players are comfortable with it. It is all for fun. And it should be fun!
Sorry for the mass overload of text. Always happy to lend a hand to new players and DMs! Welcome to the club! We are happy to have ya! :D Good Luck!
I take it your D&D sessions are real world meet ups but thought it worth mentioning, I've been using Discord https://discordapp.com/ with my "inexperienced bunch" quite successfully for online/virtual meet up's as we're scattered across different countries...
1) world maps haven't used this myself yet but have seen World Anvil being recommended certainly worth a peek.
WorldAnvil is not a map maker. It is a place to store notes and uploaded maps and images that you create to flesh out your game. You can create cascades or interlink the articles with in text hyperlinking (Webs). I find it is an invaluable tool. DungeonFog and Inkarnate are world and game map designers, you can also google up and join a few patreons for some excellent maps!
All that said, as far as maps in combat go, 5e is built for Theater of the Mind so a map is not required. Savage Worlds is a game that needs a map, but 5e does not have those requirements.
First you don't need to draw the whole world first. Your starting location and nearby surrounding areas is all you need for your "world map". I used a tablet sketch program called Autodesk Sketchbook for all my maps.
I wouldn't invest to heavily in Maps and miniatures yet, your players may decide d&d isn't for them. Office depot has a 1" square grid paper you can use in the meantime for battle maps.
Go soft for the first combat encouter, you and the players aren't familiar with the rules yet. No reason to have a Tolal Party Kill (TPK) in these first six secessions. Remember they tell you what they want to do and you decide how it's happens. If it's not given outcome, then roll a check for it. Job of the DM is to provide a fun environment and not to kill party members, unless they do something stupid like jump off a thousand foot cliff, even then have them make an intellegence/wisdom check first.
Also don't feel like you need to wrap up everything in six secessions, one it adds unneeded stress and two things rarely go to plan, especially for the DM. Also after a game ask for feed back, what they liked or didn't like. It will make tailoring the game to your players easier over time.
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Hey all.
To give a quick summary of the situation, I was gathering a bunch of first time players to have a game with an experienced player being our DM. I've never played myself, but I've caught the bug after watching Fables of Refuge on YouTube. Our experienced player now can't be our DM due to a bunch of reasons, so I've taken up that mantle.
As we're an inexperienced bunch who can't meet up more often than once a month, I'm designing our first campaign to be something like 6 sessions long. I've got an idea for the final boss fight (sidenote, I see BBEG used a fair amount, is this referring to final boss fights?), I've got the starting city where our adventurers meet and I've got a rough idea of how the first session and a half is going to go. This is where I started to feel horribly out of depth as I realised I wanted to start mapping out the world, and at least the immediate areas in case my group asks for maps or something.
So, hoping you kind folks might be able to help me out.
Cheers, hoping you guys can give me plenty to think about!
Close. It stands for Big Bad Evil Guy. So it's the main villain whenever they show up, not just in the final fight.
1) I hand draw, and I keep it really vague. If you've never done this before, don't torture yourself trying to map out the world. You have enough to do. If your players want a map, look at some medieval maps from the British Library. They're like a comic strip of the sequence of cities you arrive at by following one particular road going on a pilgrimage. If they wanted anything better than that, they should have rolled a ranger. Tolkien didn't draw his maps before he started writing, and you shouldn't feel any pressure to do so either.
2) You and me both, brother. I think I JUST broke a story I've been noodling around with for a year now. It only started making sense after I jettisoned the NPC I thought was the one holding it all together. Writing is hard, sometimes. Try using a template, like a Bond movie. Get the mission at Location 1. Go to Location 2; meet an enemy who turns out to be a friend and a friend who turns out to be an enemy. Chase scene. Kill one or both. Go to Location 3. Meet Weird Henchman. Chase scene. Kill. Go to Location 4. Confront BBEG. Kill. Sex. XP.
3). Pathfinder flipmats are £15 on Amazon. I find that they work fine. If you're not sure that you guys will stick with it, nothing wrong with sketching on an £8 roll of brown paper. That'll last you months.
4). You're taking on a big job, so make it as simple on yourself as you can. If your friends are having fun, sit back and let them have fun. Don't feel that you're responsible for keeping the railroad running on a schedule. The fun IS the end goal. Paper clips are useful for a lot of things. Write down a list of random names, so you don't have players ask an NPC what their name is and they have to reply that they don't know. That's always embarrassing.
Good luck and good hunting!
Thank you!
I'll look at the flip mats you mentioned, and having a list of names seems like a great idea. Definitely would want to avoid a situation where they ask for a name or something and I'm not prepared!
Be prepared to improv mainly. you don't necessarily have to improvise a lot, but if you do, it'll mean that you have to prepare less stuff in advance. The way I normally DM is that I quite literally explore the world with the characters.
I'll have the general contour of the story mapped out, and perhaps 1 or 2 beats I would want in there, but if my players ask something I don't know, I'll just make it up on the spot, write it down, and now it's canon.
granted, this is not everyone's style of playing, but it helps me when I don't have a lot of time to prepare and it also makes the preparation less daunting
Also, when I'm out of ideas I kinda just flip through the monster manual. The monster manual has not only stats but also great background information to all the monsters.
If you have you BBEG, think of what kind of underlings this guy would have. who are is followers if he has any? what are his plans normally, and why is the party in the way of those plans? or, if it's not such a schemer, how and when will they encounter this baddy?
basically I find a lot of support in asking myself questions. And if that doesn't work, there is a great series of video's on geek&sundry with tips on DM'ing:
https://youtu.be/6XikjjQok5Y
hope it helps
I take it your D&D sessions are real world meet ups but thought it worth mentioning,
I've been using Discord https://discordapp.com/ with my "inexperienced bunch" quite successfully for online/virtual meet up's as we're scattered across different countries...
1) world maps haven't used this myself yet but have seen World Anvil being recommended certainly worth a peek.
Edit ) Oh if you are tempted to try out discord for a virtual meet up I found Dice Maiden Bot invaluable https://top.gg/bot/377701707943116800
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
1: I usually draw by hand or use Dungeon Painter Studios. It's on steam. Around 15 euros I think. Awesome tool, my dad uses it too. Else, if you really wanna get into it, there are many recommendations, and it's really just what suits you the best. A lot of them don't work for me, so I really have no choice but to draw by hand. My tip however is, use the town in Forgotten Realms called "Daggerford". It's got a few shops already there for you. A temple for resurection should it be needed, and is a brilliant starting place. I'll leave a link for both a map of Faerun and for Daggerford later.
2: This is a little hard, as I don't know anything about your main villain. So let's say it's Mor'weth. A tiefling paladin of conquest. She has gathered a few monstorous races (like kobolds, bugbears, hobgoblins and a few ogres), and made a small army. But nobody knows that she is their leader. Suddenly, all these races just started to organize and band together. The local wizard, say Merrin Hollowcrest (Human wiz, abjurer, level 14) set out two ten days (that is a week in forgotten realms) to study why these creature suddenly starts to act like this. But she hasn't returned. So her assistant, hires the party to go find her. They have to go to a dungeon where she went, they then find her notes there, travel somewhere, then perhaps encounter the army (gotta show them it's dangerous), and then they find the wizard. Maybe she is hurt in a dungeon, her leg smashed and she forgot to prepare sending? Maybe she is held captive by the army, or just some bandits who caught her off guard. Then they learn that Mog'weth is behind it all and return the wizard ally to the town and have to prepare to defend the town. But to do that, they need magical items! Off to the second local dungeon, the tomb to some adventurers. Kill undead, loot magical items and return to town. Now they are ready for the final showdown. Ta- da!
Maybe a little too much text... sorry. But a good way to tie the main villain to the town is the local wizard, or the villain comes from the town. Just make sure that the villain gives the PCs (player characters) a reason to fight them. You can also speak with your players. And explain that this is around 6 sessions. So if they would be kind to follow the plot, as you are putting in a lot of time and effort into writting this and you're new and it would help a lot if they didn't go completely off the rails.
3: Truth be told. I don't know much about that. I again, use Dungeon Painter Studios. Print out what I did and use squares. My dad also uses tape to glue the maps together. So his forest map is 9 A4 maps with I think 1 inch squares. There are many tutorials out there for that, and I don't know anything about that. But I use normal grid paper a lot. Using simple letters and symbols to show where monsters and PCs are. If you do find something useful, I would love to hear about it! ^^
4: I have a few yeah. Okay. If you're still here, probs to you my friend. You are almost done!
The warlock wants to take the branch while the guard is not looking, and bash the guards head with the branch. Hopping it will knock him out. If you don't know the rules, make something up! A simple way of doing so is breaking down the actions. So say, the warlock makes an attack and hits the guard with a natural 18 (meaning the die rolled 18), then the guard makes a constitution saving throw. The DC (Difficulty Class) is up to you. Don't worry. It comes to you in the moment. I rarely have a set DC for things. I set a DC according to the actions. So the warlock with 17 str rolls natural 18 on attack roll? That DC might be 15 or 16. The guard fails even with a +2 and the warlock is now happy.
What I'm trying to say and failing horribly at it is, don't be afraid of improvised rules. You can always retcon them after the game. When players get an idea, that sounds a little crazy. Like jump of a 10 foot cliff, and assassinate the guard. Let the rogue do it! Make him feel like Corvo from Dishonored, or the 17M different assassin's creed dudes. You decide what rolls, if any, should deside the outcome.
You are the DM. So if a player disagrees with you, tell them. This is how you rule it, or if you feel like they are write and you are wrong. Then go with it. Make a note of a rule you don't know, make up on the spot and after the game read the rule. You are the DM, you decide the rules. But before you start. Make sure the players are on board with some of your rules. Like Carry Weight. My dad didn't tell me we played with that, nor with how much ammo we have. And as a ranged based character. I now have to keep track of that. Which is a waste of time in this style of play. So make sure you talk with your players on some rules, and what they expect from certain rules.
Lastly. HAVE. F#CKING. FUN! If you don't like to DM, then tell them. If you think the warlock went a little overboard with the toture scene. Then tell them. If you have a couple who are playing, and the girlfriend starts to flirt with an NPC or another PC. Make sure the other players are comfortable with it. It is all for fun. And it should be fun!
Sorry for the mass overload of text. Always happy to lend a hand to new players and DMs! Welcome to the club! We are happy to have ya! :D Good Luck!
Links:
Forgotten Realms Map of Faerun: https://www.aidedd.org/atlas/index.php?map=R&l=1
Daggerford Map: https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Daggerford
WorldAnvil is not a map maker. It is a place to store notes and uploaded maps and images that you create to flesh out your game. You can create cascades or interlink the articles with in text hyperlinking (Webs). I find it is an invaluable tool. DungeonFog and Inkarnate are world and game map designers, you can also google up and join a few patreons for some excellent maps!
All that said, as far as maps in combat go, 5e is built for Theater of the Mind so a map is not required. Savage Worlds is a game that needs a map, but 5e does not have those requirements.
First you don't need to draw the whole world first. Your starting location and nearby surrounding areas is all you need for your "world map". I used a tablet sketch program called Autodesk Sketchbook for all my maps.
I wouldn't invest to heavily in Maps and miniatures yet, your players may decide d&d isn't for them. Office depot has a 1" square grid paper you can use in the meantime for battle maps.
Go soft for the first combat encouter, you and the players aren't familiar with the rules yet. No reason to have a Tolal Party Kill (TPK) in these first six secessions. Remember they tell you what they want to do and you decide how it's happens. If it's not given outcome, then roll a check for it. Job of the DM is to provide a fun environment and not to kill party members, unless they do something stupid like jump off a thousand foot cliff, even then have them make an intellegence/wisdom check first.
Also don't feel like you need to wrap up everything in six secessions, one it adds unneeded stress and two things rarely go to plan, especially for the DM. Also after a game ask for feed back, what they liked or didn't like. It will make tailoring the game to your players easier over time.