HELP Tomb of Annihilation 1st Time DM

Hi, ive been playing D&D for about a year now. I just started DMing my first campaign, and my group decided to play Tomb of Annihilation. 

Im confident in my writing and story telling, but voicing throws me off and I have a hard time with improv(I get uber nervous when full attention is on me and get shaky)

Do you guys have tips to try to feel more comfy with playing different NPCs, improv, or how I can make sure im DMing "properly"? 

Thank you!

First of all DON’T PANIC! You’ve got this, you’ll be great. Second thing is to remember that you’re friends want you to succeed, they’re not expecting you to be the next Critical Role or Dimension20, they just want to have fun and so long as you deliver that you’re golden. You don’t have to be amazing at voices, I’ve been DMing for five years and can do exactly three accents including my own, so don’t worry about that part but make sure you’ve got a good idea of who the major characters are. Having them act consistently is much better than doing a silly voice and will bring them to life much better. Also try not to be nervous, it’s totally natural but your friends aren’t going to mind if you need to take a minute to figure out what to say or how to respond. 

As for advice on running the actual campaign YouTube is your friend. Tomb of Annihilation is a very popular campaign and theres loads of how to videos for it. Find a creator you like and follow their tips. I’d also recommend a channel named Mystic Arts, he’s not done a ToA video but he did a very good one on running hex crawls which is a big part of ToA so might be helpful. He’s also done loads of general tips on how to run games so theres plenty of help there. Matt Coleville is another creator with a wealth of DM how to videos for you to mine for advice. 

Good luck. 

Thank you so much! Ill definitely check out those creators. Ive been listening to DMs Block which has been helpful, but after the first session, I felt funky. Thanks again!

Seconding the advice and comments above, particularly the pitch for Mystic Arts.  I find most D&D video channels to be a bit more style over substance - Mystic Arts tends to be very straightforward, direct, and information dense.

The couple specific specific piece of advice I want to flag for you:

First and foremost, you are going to mess up.  You very well might mess up in a way that derails the campaign.  Or in a way that absolutely ruins someone’s enjoyment of a session, an arc, etc.  We all do it.  Even some of the most famous DMs in the world make campaign derailing mistakes - heck, much of campaign 3 for Critical Role, the most famous actual play around, can be used as an object lesson in DM errors. 

The thing to remember is that, at the end of the day, you’re playing a game with your friends.  Own your mistakes, apologize for them if you need to, and be willing to accept feedback.  There are very few unforgivable things DMs can do - not listening to feedback is high on that list, followed by burning out because you have impossible standards for yourself, 

Second is a perception improve is about “yes, and.”  That is not your job as DM.  Sometimes, you will have to say “no, but” - “no, you cannot do that thing, but you can try this instead.”  And sometimes you will have to say no to players - “no, that thing will not work, and there may be consequences for trying.”  Figuring out how to use what tool is hard, and you’ll sometimes get things a bit wrong.   See above. 

Finally, DMs have the right to enjoy the game also.  Figure out what you enjoy and focus on those things, and find ways that help ease your burden on the things you do not enjoy as much.  For example, outsourcing scheduling to a player so you can focus on DMing, if you find the scheduling stressful.  Or if you don’t have time to figure out individualized loot, asking players to give you a list of items they’re interested in that you can pick from.  Looking up videos on what others have done to improve combat encounters if that’s something you struggle with.  Pretty much every “I don’t like this part of DMing” has some solution out there - do not feel like you have to do everything if that is going to make it so you want to do nothing. 

If you are having trouble with voices for NPCs or staying in character for them, there is one trick that I've used, because I am just awful at voices.  As an alternative, you can deliver a few sentences in character, and then switch to narrating the rest of what they have to say.  And if you're struggling with picking a particular voice for someone, sometimes you can get away with a few sentences that convey their attitude or personality even if it's just in your own voice.  You can still maintain immersion for the group this way as a storyteller, even if you're not roleplaying every single word that comes out of every NPC's mouth.