A small group of friends and I want to start a weekly d&d thing over discord whilst we’re all quarantined. I’m going to be the DM, but I have never DM’ed before. I’ve also never taken part in a d&d campaign before. But I did used to run written RPGing on the Elder Scrolls forums, and I am familiar with the way that d&d works. (I’ve played loads of Neverwinter, and you know tonnes of other fantasy rpg games.)
The other players have also never done a d&d campaign before so they wont be that familiar with all the mechanics and details. I’m confident in my ability to prepare myself and improvise as the story unfolds but I have a few questions about what I will need.
I’ve chosen to do the Sunless Citadel campaign as it’s not too complicated and not too long.
How specific do I need to be with their starting equipment? I have the PHB where it has lists of what a character can start with, but I’ve also been listening to the Join the Party podcast which is meant to introduce new players to concepts of d&d, but as far as I can tell they have clearly state exactly what’s in each characters inventory. During the start of the story they pull out mundane items like napkins and pens in order to move the story along. So if I’m starting with a group of people who’ve never played d&d before shall I just go with a general rule of you can have plausible items in your inventory for the sake of storytelling, or should I have a specific inventory details for each character?
How much information should I prepare for the various NPC’s? Should I pick a few traits for each NPC and then use those traits as starting points from which to improvise? Do I need an inventory list for them? If one of the characters decides to try and pickpocket someone in the bar, how shall I decide what kind of items they might find?
If there are shops in the starting area do I need to prepare a list of items each vendor has?
How do I know when to do ability checks?
Is there a good way to decide on a difficulty challenge, when a player wants to attempt something?
So I am planning to buy the Dungeon Master’s Manual but it wont arrive until mid June, so I’m trying to find as many resources as possible until I can get a copy.
A small group of friends and I want to start a weekly d&d thing over discord whilst we’re all quarantined. I’m going to be the DM, but I have never DM’ed before. I’ve also never taken part in a d&d campaign before. But I did used to run written RPGing on the Elder Scrolls forums, and I am familiar with the way that d&d works. (I’ve played loads of Neverwinter, and you know tonnes of other fantasy rpg games.)
The other players have also never done a d&d campaign before so they wont be that familiar with all the mechanics and details. I’m confident in my ability to prepare myself and improvise as the story unfolds but I have a few questions about what I will need.
I will first say that a lot of your questions have no clear "right" answer. Different DM's choose to do things different, and even the same DM might do things differently in different campaigns. I've answered how I would have done it. I run my adventures quite loose and use a lot of improvisation, so my answers reflects that. I also focus a lot more on role playing, and we don't care too much about the more tactical aspects of the game.
I’ve chosen to do the Sunless Citadel campaign as it’s not too complicated and not too long.
How specific do I need to be with their starting equipment? I have the PHB where it has lists of what a character can start with, but I’ve also been listening to the Join the Party podcast which is meant to introduce new players to concepts of d&d, but as far as I can tell they have clearly state exactly what’s in each characters inventory. During the start of the story they pull out mundane items like napkins and pens in order to move the story along. So if I’m starting with a group of people who’ve never played d&d before shall I just go with a general rule of you can have plausible items in your inventory for the sake of storytelling, or should I have a specific inventory details for each character?
Personally I would have gone for allowing characters to have anything plausible on them, but that's how I run games. You could choose to not allow the players to choose "gold", and rather choose "equipment". That way they at least get some of the more standard "adventuring gear". I usually don't care to spend too much time on equipment management unless that it has a purpose in the campaign. If you decide to play in a world where every resource is really rare, then it is a point to keep track. If it's not, I don't care to spend a lot of time on this.
How much information should I prepare for the various NPC’s? Should I pick a few traits for each NPC and then use those traits as starting points from which to improvise? Do I need an inventory list for them? If one of the characters decides to try and pickpocket someone in the bar, how shall I decide what kind of items they might find?
For the vast majority of NPC's pick a few traits and improvise from there. You really only need stats for NPC's that you are fairly sure will be a part of combat, and even then you will get a long way just using some of the templates in the Monsters Manual. When picking traits for NPC's, I usually try to add some that tells a little about the story of the character and what she wants. Like this NPC dreams about studying at the university or is broken hearted because her husband was killed by goblins etc. I never care about inventory lists for NPC, but if an NPC has a special item, note that down. For pick pocketing, roll some random gold or use the trinket table in DM-guide if you don't want to just improvise.
If there are shops in the starting area do I need to prepare a list of items each vendor has?
For "standard" items, just use the equipment lists in the PG and rule out anything that doesn't "fit". Could be a good idea to decide on a few "special" items the players might be really interested in.
How do I know when to do ability checks?
I would at least warn you to do not ask for ability checks when:
If the player rolls a 20, you still wouldn't allow success (the classic: I try to persuade the dragon to give me the treasure and roll persuasion. No, there is no chance the dragon will do that, thus do not roll).
If you need the players to succeed on the roll for the story to continue. Like: If you need your players to find a secret door to continue to the end of the dungeon, do not ask for a die roll since if the players fail, you have effectively removed any chance of progress.
Besides that, ask for rolls when there is uncertainty if the PC would succeed and you don't just want to decide that yourself.
Is there a good way to decide on a difficulty challenge, when a player wants to attempt something?
I use the 10=easy, 15=moderate, 20=hard etc. Most rolls are at DC 15, if I think it's easier DC 10, if I think it's harder DC 20. Other DC's like 5 or 25 should be used rarely in my opinion.
How much preparation you want to do as a DM is up to you. If a player pick pockets someone and you’re confident in your improvisation, just make something up. Giving NPCs character traits brings the game to life and can only enhance the experience. Add as much detail as you’re willing to spend time on.
you can do ability checks whenever you want, the point of the game is to roll dice. Not everything requires a dice roll but if a character asks to try to jump a pit, make an acrobatics check. If they want to know about some symbology on a wall, make a history check.
if you’re starting at level 1. 10 is a good DC (difficulty class) to set for checks and anything u dear 10 is a failure to a certain degree or another, that is how I’m doing it. For a difficult task at level 1 I may go up to DC15 or higher. I like to err more on the side of success than failure as to not discourage the players, as long as they roll dice and there is at least a chance to fail they should feel rewarded in their actions
in the sunless citadel they may even provide you with DCs and I’d use those. I actually just played a rogue in the sunless citadel and unlocked a door with a DC25 by sheer luck which eventually led us to a troll encounter that was way too tough and we barely made it out alive because our DM was very kind to us in that encounter lol. But I should “not” have been able to unlock that and it was very difficult for a reason.
Inventory management is one of those things that varies from group to group. Some people get invested in thinking about what their character would carry, what would be most useful in their travels, and where they're putting all of those things. Other players don't want to think about inventory too much and will happily put a greatsword, 5 javelins, a heavy crossbow and a shield on their character sheet even though none of those things would fit in a backpack or sheath and they only have two hands.
The bottom line is it's your game and it's supposed to be fun. It doesn't matter which approach your group takes but you should have a short discussion before the first session to figure out what everyone prefers and establish expectations.
For NPCs you'll want to write down a couple of physical and personality traits that'll make them stand out to the players, and that'll serve as a useful reminder to you for how to roleplay them. If the NPC is important you might want to pick an NPC stat block for them (don't be afraid to tweak it) or write down ability scores and a few skill or tool proficiencies for them. Either way, sooner or later players will interact with some NPC or try to do something you hadn't planned for. That's fine, keep a poker face and make it up on the spot. The players can't tell the difference between what you planned and what you made up. As you pick up on player habits you'll be able to plan more efficiently.
You didn't ask about this specifically but you should treat environments similarly; keep a few notes on every room or location detailing what stands out immediately, the light conditions (it's harder to see things in dim light!) and what details require certain actions to discover. e.g. If a room has a secret door, players might need to be within 5 feet and make a DC 15 Perception check (or a suitably high passive Perception.)
You (not the players) should call for an ability check if the players ask to do something that might fail. Stick to DC 10 for easy things (good chance of success even without training or suitable abilities), 15 for medium and 20 for hard (very unlikely without proficiency and a good ability score.) For example, with a +0 on the roll the odds of hitting those DCs are 55%, 30% and 5% respectively. With a +5 bonus (common for starting characters with proficiency and a score of 16) those odds change to 80%, 55% and 30%. Anything lower than 10 or higher than 20 is usually too easy or hard to bother rolling unless there's some additional bonuses or penalties in play. It's also ok to decide that a task is impossible no matter how high the player rolls.
There's no right or wrong way to handle ability checks, they're an open-ended tool for you to resolve moments of uncertainty in the game. You can let a player use a skill with an unusual ability (e.g. a Strength (Intimidation) check instead of Charisma (Intimidation)) if you think it makes sense. You can give advantage or disadvantage at any time for any reason. You can allow retries or decide something can only be attempted once. You can add degrees of failure or success if they fall short or exceed the DC by a large amount. You're the storyteller; the rules are at your disposal to put smiles on other people's faces.
Thank you so much for your replies, they're really helpful :)
So the main thing I'm going to be doing is offering a description of the setting and providing basic inofrmation. If they want they can ask for more information, i.e. with perception checks and stuff, but I can also ask them what they can see (if they're in a tavern or street setting). As DM I have the option to incorporate the players additions into the story or if they've suggested something ridiculous/doesn't make sense/would be too overpowered I can just say "no, that's not there." ?
If I understand you correctly?
It's a bit confusing because the PHB, and other d&d handbooks are full of tables and stats, but in practise most of the stats are irrelevant in favour of story telling.
So would it be helpful to make a few lists of generic items that I can just pick from/roll a die when a player pickpockets or wants to search random barrels? Since half the players and myself have played a lot of Elder Scrolls in which searching every container is almost essential I'm kind of anticpating this kind of game play. But if I want them to stop I could say something like "The inn keeper notices you acting suspisciously and is watching you mroe closely." or something?
I guess my next questions are; in regards to monsters and combat, is there a good way to calculate how many monsters is enough? I don't want to overwhelm them, but I don't want it to be so easy that it's pointless. I will probably get a feel for this as we play more, but I need a bit of help deciding to begin with. When we get to the citadel should I populate the rooms with like 3 regular goblins? will there ever be a scenario where there could be 20 at a time? I'm not sure how to work out how balanced the enemies are.
Some of the players want to use magic, should I strictly structure the spells they can use so it's the same mechanics as in Neverwint Nights? Or would it be ok to alter the magic mechanics? I'm asking because obviously I want the game to be fun, but I also don't want the players to be able to use a spell infinately, otherwise it's over powered? Could I make a mana mechanic and say like all spells are 1 + spell level (so a cantrip is costs one mana, a level 2 spell will cost 3 mana) ??? Maybe they need to rest to regenerate mana instead of resting to reset their spells. It's a bit less restrictive, especially for wizards. Aslo a lot of the spells have item requirements for them to be cast, should I find a way to honour that? or for the sake of this being the first time we've all done this, shall I ignore it?
Also thank you InquisitiveCoder for the link to the Angry DM, their writing is informative and funny :D
Yes, you could even roll a perception check for the innkeeper to see if they do in fact notice them vs the players sleight of hand check. If the innkeeper rolls higher than the sleight of hand check the player rolled, they have been caught stealing.
Monsters have a CR or Challenge rating. Typically it goes like this: a monster with a challenge rating of 1 is suitable for 4 level 1 characters with basic gear. CR 2 same but 4 level 2 characters.Kobold fight club will be a useful tool for you. There is also an encounter builder on this website but you’ll need to pay for access to more monsters. Kobold fight club does not have monster stats so you’ll have to google that or find them some other way.
I remember being a new DM and trying to have every possible thing planned and ready to go. As I played more and more I realized that I could never do that. I have some in my group that really go off the rails sometimes. Use the time the part is discussing to jot some notes down or brainstorm some ideas of how to proceed and try to reel them back in if they get crazy. I don't think of it as railroading the players so much as to keep the story progressing. The players might not even know if the NPC that shows up with info was in the original text or not.
I guess my next questions are; in regards to monsters and combat, is there a good way to calculate how many monsters is enough? I don't want to overwhelm them, but I don't want it to be so easy that it's pointless. I will probably get a feel for this as we play more, but I need a bit of help deciding to begin with. When we get to the citadel should I populate the rooms with like 3 regular goblins? will there ever be a scenario where there could be 20 at a time? I'm not sure how to work out how balanced the enemies are.
dndbeyond has an encounter builder that you can unload character levels and number in the party. You can add monsters and it will give you a breakdown of difficulty. You can't track it on there yet, so you'll need to track on paper. --> Encounter Builder Also Kobold Fight Club is another option. I used that before I discovered dndbeyond.
The most important thing is to have fun. Good luck!
So the main thing I'm going to be doing is offering a description of the setting and providing basic inofrmation. If they want they can ask for more information, i.e. with perception checks and stuff, but I can also ask them what they can see (if they're in a tavern or street setting). As DM I have the option to incorporate the players additions into the story or if they've suggested something ridiculous/doesn't make sense/would be too overpowered I can just say "no, that's not there." ?
Exactly.
It's a bit confusing because the PHB, and other d&d handbooks are full of tables and stats, but in practise most of the stats are irrelevant in favour of story telling.
You can think of the D&D books as a set of references and tools that you can use to put together your play sessions. Even the prewritten adventures are nothing more than guidelines; trust me, your players will go off-script sooner or later, or you might have a better idea for a scene than what's written into the book. Just roll with it.
Some DMs are really comfortable with winging it and need the guidelines less than others. Use as much or as little as you need. There's no special reward for sticking to the books. At the end of the day it's all about how much fun you all had.
So would it be helpful to make a few lists of generic items that I can just pick from/roll a die when a player pickpockets or wants to search random barrels? Since half the players and myself have played a lot of Elder Scrolls in which searching every container is almost essential I'm kind of anticpating this kind of game play. But if I want them to stop I could say something like "The inn keeper notices you acting suspisciously and is watching you mroe closely." or something?
If you really think it's going to come up often, then a table like that would be really handy, yeah. The flip side of that is that if it never comes up, it's wasted effort. Your job is to have just enough notes and references to keep the game moving smoothly without burning yourself out from over-preparing.
I guess my next questions are; in regards to monsters and combat, is there a good way to calculate how many monsters is enough? I don't want to overwhelm them, but I don't want it to be so easy that it's pointless. I will probably get a feel for this as we play more, but I need a bit of help deciding to begin with. When we get to the citadel should I populate the rooms with like 3 regular goblins? will there ever be a scenario where there could be 20 at a time? I'm not sure how to work out how balanced the enemies are.
Like Cozmo said, there are tools that can help you make sure combat won't be too easy or too deadly if that's your goal. Besides Kobold Fight Club, DDB also has an encounter builder built in. That said, you don't have to decide that every potential encounter has to be resolved with violence or even be a winnable fight. If your players sneak into a hobgoblin camp and trip the alarms, they shouldn't be surprised if they're up against unwinnable odds. There's always diplomacy and running away. Conversely, it's OK if occasionally the party gets attacked by wolves that pose little real threat to them.
The main thing to remember about challenge rating is that while a single CR X monster won't be easy or too deadly for a group of that level, a single monster probably won't be a very interesting encounter either unless it's a Legendary creature (these are monsters specifically designed to be bosses.) Outside of that special case, you usually want to have 2 or more monsters in an encounter, preferably of different kinds. This makes it trickier for players to always use the same tried-and-true strategy in every encounter, and also stops them from trivially overwhelming a single monster with abilities like grappling and shoving or spells like Web or Levitate. This is where the encounter-building tools can help you figure out if a mix of two CR 3 and four CR 1 monsters is a decent threat for your level 5 party.
But even if the tools tell you it's a decent enough challenge, you still have to do some basic sanity checks. It doesn't matter what the predicted difficulty of the encounter is, if the monsters can instantly kill or incapacitate one of the players (maybe the wizard has 8 CON), or conversely the players can take out a powerful monster in one round, the difficulty will swing too far in one direction.
And if combat starts going really wrong? Again, just wing it, the players can't tell the difference. You can decide that a monster only has 10 HP left instead of 70 mid-combat if it's taking forever to kill or you severely underestimated it. Likewise, if the encounter feels really anticlimactic, you can increase the monster's HP behind the scenes. In fact any HP value the monster could roll with its hit dice is perfectly legal; the average is just a suggestion.
Thank you so much for your replies, they're really helpful :)
So the main thing I'm going to be doing is offering a description of the setting and providing basic inofrmation. If they want they can ask for more information, i.e. with perception checks and stuff, but I can also ask them what they can see (if they're in a tavern or street setting). As DM I have the option to incorporate the players additions into the story or if they've suggested something ridiculous/doesn't make sense/would be too overpowered I can just say "no, that's not there." ?
Yes, even encourage the players to do this would be my advice. They are in a tavern, if someone says "I'm going to pick up a tankard and throw it at him", just go with the story and allow the tankard to be there. If someone wants to take the classic swing in a chandelier, why not let them do that even if you haven't said anything about that. These are basically just minor details that adds flavor, so I would very seldom say no to them unless there is a good in-game reason.
If I understand you correctly?
I guess I already have answered that? It is your game, you can essentially do whatever you want. And with you, it is both the players and the DM. It sounds like you have understood the concept of the DM being a fan of the PC's. Always keep that in mind! Yes, you create the obstacles, but be a fan of the PC's creative ways to "solve" them!
It's a bit confusing because the PHB, and other d&d handbooks are full of tables and stats, but in practise most of the stats are irrelevant in favour of story telling.
Just use them if you think it will add to your story/game. If you don't want to roll random treasure, don't do it. Rather regard the tables as tools. Try out a few, see if you like it. If you don't, don't use it again. I would also strongly recommend you to start out with only the very "basic" rules, and rather add some more in future sessions. You and your players are new, don't spend tons on effort on knowing the system in and out before you start to play. You'll learn twice as fast as soon you start to play and use it in action. If you are uncertain during a session, just "create" a rule you think is fair and balanced, tell the players you will check out how this "really" works before next session. Favor the players when you make your "ruling".
So would it be helpful to make a few lists of generic items that I can just pick from/roll a die when a player pickpockets or wants to search random barrels? Since half the players and myself have played a lot of Elder Scrolls in which searching every container is almost essential I'm kind of anticpating this kind of game play. But if I want them to stop I could say something like "The inn keeper notices you acting suspisciously and is watching you mroe closely." or something?
Here you really put your finger on what I've never really liked with RP computer games, and why I also prepare tabletop roleplaying. If you tried in one of my campaigns to just walk into the house of strangers and start to search through barrels and chests, the world would react. I would say that if your players start to steal stuff on random (because that's OK in computer games), talk to them about it immediately and tell them that the difference with tabletop RPG is that the world would actually REACT to stuff like this. If they want to be thiefs - fine, that can be fun, but then they should know that, and play it out as stealing.
Random stuff in barrels etc is also not a very funny thing to use in table top games (frankly, it's not that funny in computer games as well, more like a necessary evil). Use "treasure" as "rewards" for actually doing things. If the players clear out the cave with goblins, then let them search the chests in there and reward them with treasure.
I would talk to the players about pick pocketing. I would not allow that to be a way of "main income" for one or more of the players (it doesn't make for a lot of good role playing). Rather see it as a tool you can use to steal the key to the door, or perhaps plan a heist where you are going to pick pocket a courier for a famous jewel. Having a PC that is pick pocketing "everyone" soon gets kind of straining on the game.
I guess my next questions are; in regards to monsters and combat, is there a good way to calculate how many monsters is enough? I don't want to overwhelm them, but I don't want it to be so easy that it's pointless. I will probably get a feel for this as we play more, but I need a bit of help deciding to begin with. When we get to the citadel should I populate the rooms with like 3 regular goblins? will there ever be a scenario where there could be 20 at a time? I'm not sure how to work out how balanced the enemies are.
You've already gotten good advice on this. I would just add that you should consider with being a little "easy" with your players in the beginning. They are new, and will perhaps use strange tactics and stuff like that. This can be fun, and it's nothing wrong with it, but it might turn a "moderate" encounter into a hard one. If you think three goblins will be easy, consider to just keep it that, but you can have two more goblins "up your sleeve". If you see the battle becomes to easy, have some enforcements arrive.
Oh wow you've all given such good advice! < 3 < 3 < 3
So for the first session I'm thinking we wont get through much actual content because everyone is going to be learning how everything works. I'm planning on having the bulk of that session be set in the town of Oakhurst mainly for them to pick up information, clues and learn more about the adventure they'll be facing.
Is there a good way to introduce the characters to each other? I'm thinking that a good way might be to put them all in a tavern, and then have a small event like a bar fight break out and the three or four characters end up meeting this way? I think I have to find multiple ways to get the information and intrigue about the Sunless Citadel in front of the players? I've also read through the material for the Sunless Citadel a few times and as there is no back story on why the Druid has come to the sunless citadel to monopolise the weird fruit tree I get to invent that back story? And I need to create some sort of conflict here that needs resolving? Then it's up to the players on whether they want to fight him or do something else?
I'm also wondering how to manage XP. As the majority of us are gamers, the feeling of gaining XP levelling up and learning new skills is pretty motivating. But I'm not sure how to manage this, should it be a continuous numbers thing that I have to keep trakc of? Or shall I just pick some bench mark points and award XP chunks to all the members equally? I guess I'd quite like to create a small encounter for them on the journey from Oakhurst to the Citadel that would then get them to 2nd level, this will probably give them a moral boost before the plunging into danger.
I've also realised I can make the contents of the citadel as expansive or consise as I like, I'm planning on drawing up a few simple maps for my use only and I guess I can design some interesting encounters to put in some rooms, and some enticing reward items, but everything has to guide the players to a confrontation with the Druid? I have lots of ideas for the Kobold tribes that live there, going to read up about the goblins next. But most of the time I have to judge the players morale and react to that I think?
I realise I've ben mostly tpying out my thoughts rather than asking questions, but I guess I just need some reassurance that I'm understanding it all correctly and that my thinking is on the right track?
Sorry for the long post. There's a lot of great info here so I won't go over what others covered, but I will try to answer your most recent questions in the context of speaking to running the Sunless Citadel as a first time DM with a new group, because that was my experience exactly:
Is there a good way to introduce the characters to each other? I'm thinking that a good way might be to put them all in a tavern, and then have a small event like a bar fight break out and the three or four characters end up meeting this way?
I think I have to find multiple ways to get the information and intrigue about the Sunless Citadel in front of the players? I've also read through the material for the Sunless Citadel a few times and as there is no back story on why the Druid has come to the sunless citadel to monopolise the weird fruit tree I get to invent that back story? And I need to create some sort of conflict here that needs resolving? Then it's up to the players on whether they want to fight him or do something else?
You should write the backstories with the help of the players that help with this. Let them pick backstory as far as "who they are" and then you connect the dots to Oakhurst. I gave one of my characters, a ranger, a pre-established connection to the Hucrule family and said he had already been offered a job to retrieve the children, and so he was waiting in town until adventurers who he thought could help came to town. Then in the first scene (i did use a tavern) he already had incentive to walk over and offer the other characters a job. I'd recommend having at least one player with an established reason to follow the apple/rescue the children, because D&D players are classic for doing the exact opposite thing that you as the DM want or expect them to do and that will help draw them into the quest.
As for the Druid, you can write as much or as little of Belak's story as you want, depending on where you want to go with your campaign and if you want him or his connections to be a part of it. The module's story "I was expelled from my order because of my interests, I found this tree through research, and I'm cultivating it and they'll all see that I'm right" is complete enough that you don't have to do anything else if you don't want to. OR you can decide that he's part of an order of evil druids and there are more trees and places like this all around your world that your characters will eventually find, and they're all working together to corrupt the earth and summon the demon lord Zuggtmoy through an ancient ritual involving the fruit (or something like that, idk). Take it as far as you want it to go.
I'm also wondering how to manage XP. As the majority of us are gamers, the feeling of gaining XP levelling up and learning new skills is pretty motivating. But I'm not sure how to manage this, should it be a continuous numbers thing that I have to keep trakc of? Or shall I just pick some bench mark points and award XP chunks to all the members equally?
That's your choice. I found that using milestone leveling was easier as a first time DM because it gave me much less to track, but you're right that a defined reward system that players can understand (circumvent challenge, get credit) can be motivational. If you're interested in XP, it can be as simple or complicated as you'd like. I made a more complicated sheet than a lot of DMs use that incorporates XP bumps for when the characters do cool stuff as well as some major and minor milestone bumps that can be awarded individually or to the whole party. Some people don't like my system because it leaves a lot of room to award individual players XP which can lead to a party with differently leveled players. I get around this by hand-waving it away and making sure that the whole party levels up 1, or maximum 2 sessions after the first character reaches a new level.
As a plug for my system, I found it to be REALLY effective with new players because the incentives for cool character choices and creative solutions to combat really encouraged them to explore their character abilities in creative ways, especially when they realized I was awarding XP for things as simple as "the druid uses her wildshape to turn into a rat and check out a tunnel that a human couldn't fit through." Now that they're experienced players I don't award marks for anything that simple, but it definitely helped them explore their characters in the early days.
feel free to use it or check it out as a jumping off point to organize your own thoughts/system:
I guess I'd quite like to create a small encounter for them on the journey from Oakhurst to the Citadel that would then get them to 2nd level, this will probably give them a moral boost before the plunging into danger.
I've also realised I can make the contents of the citadel as expansive or consise as I like, I'm planning on drawing up a few simple maps for my use only and I guess I can design some interesting encounters to put in some rooms, and some enticing reward items, but everything has to guide the players to a confrontation with the Druid? I have lots of ideas for the Kobold tribes that live there, going to read up about the goblins next. But most of the time I have to judge the players morale and react to that I think?
An encounter on the road isn't a bad idea, but I'd keep them at level 1. Trust the module, it's scaled to bring a party from 1st to 3rd level and written in a way that the party will find the druid anyway if you follow the character suggestions for Yusadryl, Durnn, Grenl etc. I'd maybe go level 2 around the time they meet Meepo. In my campaign, the party was trying to negotiate with Durnn who was already hurt but wouldn't back down, and I decided that this flavor text: " Grenl hates them. She also wants to protect her tribe, so she is willing to negotiate a truce if Durnn falls. Grenl also hates and envies Belak, and she wants him gone from the citadel so she can control the Gulthias Tree" was enough for Grenl, who was at Durnn's side, to turn and cast inflict wounds on him, which killed him, and then she threw herself on the floor at the mercy of the party, begged them to not kill anymore Goblins (you'll find that a lot of goblins are already dead by the time the party gets here) and tell them that she'll order the tribe to let the party pass unbothered so long as they agree to go kill the Outcast. Feel free to take creative license with NPCs as you see fit.
You'll also find that the combats will be plenty challenging if you use appropriate tactics. Here are three great posts on tactics for the monsters in the Citadel that will make combats much more engaging:
Finally, don't be afraid to go beyond the module if it serves your story. In my game, Meepo went with the party to recover the dragon and ended up landing a number of killshots on goblins with his sling. The party started to love him, so I decided that after the module was over, Meepo would leave the tribe and take a number of Kobolds with him (who now viewed him as a hero because he brought the dragon back). Meepo and his roving band of kobolds are now advancing through my world, and the party keeps running into them in fun ways, most recently as the head of a small-scale crime operation in a minor city, where he's going by the moniker Redscale.
So to summarize, trust yourself and trust the module and you shouldn't have to overprepare too much
I have a new problem, I have 6 adventurers. 6 people who all really really want to join in. Does anyon have any tips for how to manage larger groups? Once we get to the citadel I might be able to split them into 2 groups of 3 to go exploring separately, but until then.... I need help with a few ideas :p
And in response to Bernstien, (thank you for your additions btw) I just want to say I'm using the dummed down version that d&d have provided for free as part of the qurarntine materials. I don't have the book, or the PDF, so some of the details you are mentioning are not included in the free version. Which is probably why I have more questions.
Hmmm I play in a group of 6 + DM and I don’t really know. We stick together as a party, if you do this you might just have to add a couple monsters to the fights n stuff.
I don’t like doing this but for a bunch of beginners it might be useful, have a turn order even outside of combat. Might help you manage and track and make sure everyone gets a turn. Personally I think this ruins the natural flow of the game and any character interactions the could have happened but did not because they were waiting for their turn.
Hopefully someone else will have some better advice for playing with a bigger group, I’d just go out and play and let the chaos ensue!
Oh wow you've all given such good advice! < 3 < 3 < 3
Thanks. What I liked with your initial post was that it was actual questions, not only a general "cry for advice". It was quite clear that you had already done quite a little thinking, so your questions were much more "to the point" than a lot of other new DM's asking for advice.
So for the first session I'm thinking we wont get through much actual content because everyone is going to be learning how everything works. I'm planning on having the bulk of that session be set in the town of Oakhurst mainly for them to pick up information, clues and learn more about the adventure they'll be facing.
I don't know your module, but that sounds like a good call for what to expect of a first session. Throw in the bar fight (or some other small fight) just to "test" the combat system. Doesn't need to be threatening at all, but it's a good idea to give the players a little taste of how combat works (combat can take a long time on table top RPG's - just warning you! Try to keep the pace up!).
Is there a good way to introduce the characters to each other? I'm thinking that a good way might be to put them all in a tavern, and then have a small event like a bar fight break out and the three or four characters end up meeting this way?
Meeting in a tavern = Classic! Go with it!
However, I think I will advice you to create a reason for all the players to form a "group". Just tell them that they all have answered the call of Lord X who is in need of adventurers, or that they all have agreed to go and investigate "this". It will potentially save both you and your players a lot of frustration if you just give them this premise. If some of your players are saying "my character would never do that", he has to do something with that BEFORE play, if this happens IN play, you have a big problem. Then your entire first (and possibly second and third) session will be all about "why would we hang together..:"
But start in a tavern!
I think I have to find multiple ways to get the information and intrigue about the Sunless Citadel in front of the players? I've also read through the material for the Sunless Citadel a few times and as there is no back story on why the Druid has come to the sunless citadel to monopolise the weird fruit tree I get to invent that back story? And I need to create some sort of conflict here that needs resolving? Then it's up to the players on whether they want to fight him or do something else?
Yes! Create conflict, present it to the players and "cheer" for whatever solution they come up with. Be generous if they try to solve it without combat is my advice. This is where I think you in the long run can "blow the minds" of you and your "gamer"-friends minds. In classic RPG you can ACTUALLY try everything since you have a DM to run the world, you are not only up against something preprogrammed!
I'm also wondering how to manage XP. As the majority of us are gamers, the feeling of gaining XP levelling up and learning new skills is pretty motivating. But I'm not sure how to manage this, should it be a continuous numbers thing that I have to keep trakc of? Or shall I just pick some bench mark points and award XP chunks to all the members equally? I guess I'd quite like to create a small encounter for them on the journey from Oakhurst to the Citadel that would then get them to 2nd level, this will probably give them a moral boost before the plunging into danger.
Whatever you do, don't give them XP for just killing things (unless you just want them to kill everything). Ibernsteins sheet could be a nice way to go if you like it. I simply give XP at the end of a session based mostly on how far I want them to progress towards the next level.
I've also realised I can make the contents of the citadel as expansive or consise as I like, I'm planning on drawing up a few simple maps for my use only and I guess I can design some interesting encounters to put in some rooms, and some enticing reward items, but everything has to guide the players to a confrontation with the Druid? I have lots of ideas for the Kobold tribes that live there, going to read up about the goblins next. But most of the time I have to judge the players morale and react to that I think?
Yes, always try to think what the enemies would actually do. Don't spend to much time creating specific eencounters, try to think of them as a "whole" and give them some sense. That's how I like to play at least :-)
I realise I've ben mostly tpying out my thoughts rather than asking questions, but I guess I just need some reassurance that I'm understanding it all correctly and that my thinking is on the right track?
I think it sounds you are on a nice track. I think it sounds like you also have managed to "pin-point" the main difference between computer RPG and "table tops". In Table top RPG you need to give the PC's the freedom to actually choose, and you as a DM should run the world, not just prefabricate a "track" for the players to follow. Trust yourself, and jump into the fire. It will be a lot of fun. You will do a lot of mistakes (all of us do all the time), but the good moments will make it worth it. You will know that the first time your players come up with a brilliant idea and you say: "You can certainly try that..." and you know the computer game NEVER could have given you that option.
Hello everyone! Thank you do much for your help. We did our first session tonight and it went pretty well. Everyone said they had a good time even if we threw some of the rules aside for the sake of story telling :D Your advice really helped, the only thing I under estimated was how much talking I'd have to do. But I know now what to prepare for next time.
Great. Glad you ignored the rules for story's sake. Note, I try to make it clear that is what I am doing so the players do not expect to be able to repeat the "I blast the rock with a magic missile, making it fall on the enemies head! What do you mean it doesn't work that way? It did last time!"
So in all the confusion and the fact that this is new to me I had no time , or ability to keep track of XP. However I've decided that for the sake of progression and character satisfaction I'm going to have everyone level up at the same time about midway through the next session.
Does anyone have any tips on how to handle levelling up during a session?
I want everyone to have the chance to think about what new skills they'd like to learn maybe collectively decide which party memebers should have which skills so that they have a diverse skillset as a group. But I don't know whether to use the d&d beyond website which might be jarring to do during the session, or whether to find all the information I need to present the relevany information to each player. Not everyone is familair with all the intricate details of levelling up, but I know that the sorcerers, warlocks, and druids might want time to decide on which new spells they want. I'd also like to introduce the idea of provisioning, and that at least one of them might want to learn how to assemble ingredients into food for everyone.
This is how I would do it. Do it after any significant moment. Whether it be a battle or social interaction or a progress in the narrative/story. Then just simply call for a break in the session for everything to be taken care of. And that’s it, you might want to study the characters level progression beforehand so you can help if they need it.
Hello fellow d&d’ers.
A small group of friends and I want to start a weekly d&d thing over discord whilst we’re all quarantined. I’m going to be the DM, but I have never DM’ed before. I’ve also never taken part in a d&d campaign before. But I did used to run written RPGing on the Elder Scrolls forums, and I am familiar with the way that d&d works. (I’ve played loads of Neverwinter, and you know tonnes of other fantasy rpg games.)
The other players have also never done a d&d campaign before so they wont be that familiar with all the mechanics and details. I’m confident in my ability to prepare myself and improvise as the story unfolds but I have a few questions about what I will need.
I’ve chosen to do the Sunless Citadel campaign as it’s not too complicated and not too long.
How specific do I need to be with their starting equipment? I have the PHB where it has lists of what a character can start with, but I’ve also been listening to the Join the Party podcast which is meant to introduce new players to concepts of d&d, but as far as I can tell they have clearly state exactly what’s in each characters inventory. During the start of the story they pull out mundane items like napkins and pens in order to move the story along. So if I’m starting with a group of people who’ve never played d&d before shall I just go with a general rule of you can have plausible items in your inventory for the sake of storytelling, or should I have a specific inventory details for each character?
How much information should I prepare for the various NPC’s? Should I pick a few traits for each NPC and then use those traits as starting points from which to improvise? Do I need an inventory list for them? If one of the characters decides to try and pickpocket someone in the bar, how shall I decide what kind of items they might find?
If there are shops in the starting area do I need to prepare a list of items each vendor has?
How do I know when to do ability checks?
Is there a good way to decide on a difficulty challenge, when a player wants to attempt something?
So I am planning to buy the Dungeon Master’s Manual but it wont arrive until mid June, so I’m trying to find as many resources as possible until I can get a copy.
I’ll probably be back with some more questions :D
I will first say that a lot of your questions have no clear "right" answer. Different DM's choose to do things different, and even the same DM might do things differently in different campaigns. I've answered how I would have done it. I run my adventures quite loose and use a lot of improvisation, so my answers reflects that. I also focus a lot more on role playing, and we don't care too much about the more tactical aspects of the game.
Personally I would have gone for allowing characters to have anything plausible on them, but that's how I run games. You could choose to not allow the players to choose "gold", and rather choose "equipment". That way they at least get some of the more standard "adventuring gear". I usually don't care to spend too much time on equipment management unless that it has a purpose in the campaign. If you decide to play in a world where every resource is really rare, then it is a point to keep track. If it's not, I don't care to spend a lot of time on this.
For the vast majority of NPC's pick a few traits and improvise from there. You really only need stats for NPC's that you are fairly sure will be a part of combat, and even then you will get a long way just using some of the templates in the Monsters Manual. When picking traits for NPC's, I usually try to add some that tells a little about the story of the character and what she wants. Like this NPC dreams about studying at the university or is broken hearted because her husband was killed by goblins etc. I never care about inventory lists for NPC, but if an NPC has a special item, note that down. For pick pocketing, roll some random gold or use the trinket table in DM-guide if you don't want to just improvise.
For "standard" items, just use the equipment lists in the PG and rule out anything that doesn't "fit". Could be a good idea to decide on a few "special" items the players might be really interested in.
I would at least warn you to do not ask for ability checks when:
Besides that, ask for rolls when there is uncertainty if the PC would succeed and you don't just want to decide that yourself.
I use the 10=easy, 15=moderate, 20=hard etc. Most rolls are at DC 15, if I think it's easier DC 10, if I think it's harder DC 20. Other DC's like 5 or 25 should be used rarely in my opinion.
Ludo ergo sum!
How much preparation you want to do as a DM is up to you. If a player pick pockets someone and you’re confident in your improvisation, just make something up. Giving NPCs character traits brings the game to life and can only enhance the experience. Add as much detail as you’re willing to spend time on.
you can do ability checks whenever you want, the point of the game is to roll dice. Not everything requires a dice roll but if a character asks to try to jump a pit, make an acrobatics check. If they want to know about some symbology on a wall, make a history check.
if you’re starting at level 1. 10 is a good DC (difficulty class) to set for checks and anything u dear 10 is a failure to a certain degree or another, that is how I’m doing it. For a difficult task at level 1 I may go up to DC15 or higher. I like to err more on the side of success than failure as to not discourage the players, as long as they roll dice and there is at least a chance to fail they should feel rewarded in their actions
in the sunless citadel they may even provide you with DCs and I’d use those. I actually just played a rogue in the sunless citadel and unlocked a door with a DC25 by sheer luck which eventually led us to a troll encounter that was way too tough and we barely made it out alive because our DM was very kind to us in that encounter lol. But I should “not” have been able to unlock that and it was very difficult for a reason.
Inventory management is one of those things that varies from group to group. Some people get invested in thinking about what their character would carry, what would be most useful in their travels, and where they're putting all of those things. Other players don't want to think about inventory too much and will happily put a greatsword, 5 javelins, a heavy crossbow and a shield on their character sheet even though none of those things would fit in a backpack or sheath and they only have two hands.
The bottom line is it's your game and it's supposed to be fun. It doesn't matter which approach your group takes but you should have a short discussion before the first session to figure out what everyone prefers and establish expectations.
For NPCs you'll want to write down a couple of physical and personality traits that'll make them stand out to the players, and that'll serve as a useful reminder to you for how to roleplay them. If the NPC is important you might want to pick an NPC stat block for them (don't be afraid to tweak it) or write down ability scores and a few skill or tool proficiencies for them. Either way, sooner or later players will interact with some NPC or try to do something you hadn't planned for. That's fine, keep a poker face and make it up on the spot. The players can't tell the difference between what you planned and what you made up. As you pick up on player habits you'll be able to plan more efficiently.
You didn't ask about this specifically but you should treat environments similarly; keep a few notes on every room or location detailing what stands out immediately, the light conditions (it's harder to see things in dim light!) and what details require certain actions to discover. e.g. If a room has a secret door, players might need to be within 5 feet and make a DC 15 Perception check (or a suitably high passive Perception.)
You (not the players) should call for an ability check if the players ask to do something that might fail. Stick to DC 10 for easy things (good chance of success even without training or suitable abilities), 15 for medium and 20 for hard (very unlikely without proficiency and a good ability score.) For example, with a +0 on the roll the odds of hitting those DCs are 55%, 30% and 5% respectively. With a +5 bonus (common for starting characters with proficiency and a score of 16) those odds change to 80%, 55% and 30%. Anything lower than 10 or higher than 20 is usually too easy or hard to bother rolling unless there's some additional bonuses or penalties in play. It's also ok to decide that a task is impossible no matter how high the player rolls.
There's no right or wrong way to handle ability checks, they're an open-ended tool for you to resolve moments of uncertainty in the game. You can let a player use a skill with an unusual ability (e.g. a Strength (Intimidation) check instead of Charisma (Intimidation)) if you think it makes sense. You can give advantage or disadvantage at any time for any reason. You can allow retries or decide something can only be attempted once. You can add degrees of failure or success if they fall short or exceed the DC by a large amount. You're the storyteller; the rules are at your disposal to put smiles on other people's faces.
The Angry DM has a good article on handling ability checks that'll help give you a better sense on when it's interesting to call for a check or not.
Tl;dr stay calm and when in doubt go with your gut and roll some dice.
The Forum Infestation (TM)
Thank you so much for your replies, they're really helpful :)
So the main thing I'm going to be doing is offering a description of the setting and providing basic inofrmation. If they want they can ask for more information, i.e. with perception checks and stuff, but I can also ask them what they can see (if they're in a tavern or street setting). As DM I have the option to incorporate the players additions into the story or if they've suggested something ridiculous/doesn't make sense/would be too overpowered I can just say "no, that's not there." ?
If I understand you correctly?
It's a bit confusing because the PHB, and other d&d handbooks are full of tables and stats, but in practise most of the stats are irrelevant in favour of story telling.
So would it be helpful to make a few lists of generic items that I can just pick from/roll a die when a player pickpockets or wants to search random barrels? Since half the players and myself have played a lot of Elder Scrolls in which searching every container is almost essential I'm kind of anticpating this kind of game play. But if I want them to stop I could say something like "The inn keeper notices you acting suspisciously and is watching you mroe closely." or something?
I guess my next questions are; in regards to monsters and combat, is there a good way to calculate how many monsters is enough? I don't want to overwhelm them, but I don't want it to be so easy that it's pointless. I will probably get a feel for this as we play more, but I need a bit of help deciding to begin with. When we get to the citadel should I populate the rooms with like 3 regular goblins? will there ever be a scenario where there could be 20 at a time? I'm not sure how to work out how balanced the enemies are.
Some of the players want to use magic, should I strictly structure the spells they can use so it's the same mechanics as in Neverwint Nights? Or would it be ok to alter the magic mechanics? I'm asking because obviously I want the game to be fun, but I also don't want the players to be able to use a spell infinately, otherwise it's over powered? Could I make a mana mechanic and say like all spells are 1 + spell level (so a cantrip is costs one mana, a level 2 spell will cost 3 mana) ??? Maybe they need to rest to regenerate mana instead of resting to reset their spells. It's a bit less restrictive, especially for wizards. Aslo a lot of the spells have item requirements for them to be cast, should I find a way to honour that? or for the sake of this being the first time we've all done this, shall I ignore it?
Also thank you InquisitiveCoder for the link to the Angry DM, their writing is informative and funny :D
Yes, you could even roll a perception check for the innkeeper to see if they do in fact notice them vs the players sleight of hand check. If the innkeeper rolls higher than the sleight of hand check the player rolled, they have been caught stealing.
Monsters have a CR or Challenge rating. Typically it goes like this: a monster with a challenge rating of 1 is suitable for 4 level 1 characters with basic gear. CR 2 same but 4 level 2 characters.Kobold fight club will be a useful tool for you. There is also an encounter builder on this website but you’ll need to pay for access to more monsters. Kobold fight club does not have monster stats so you’ll have to google that or find them some other way.
There is a lot of great info here!
I remember being a new DM and trying to have every possible thing planned and ready to go. As I played more and more I realized that I could never do that. I have some in my group that really go off the rails sometimes. Use the time the part is discussing to jot some notes down or brainstorm some ideas of how to proceed and try to reel them back in if they get crazy. I don't think of it as railroading the players so much as to keep the story progressing. The players might not even know if the NPC that shows up with info was in the original text or not.
dndbeyond has an encounter builder that you can unload character levels and number in the party. You can add monsters and it will give you a breakdown of difficulty. You can't track it on there yet, so you'll need to track on paper. --> Encounter Builder Also Kobold Fight Club is another option. I used that before I discovered dndbeyond.
The most important thing is to have fun. Good luck!
I like to have very few magic items available. Basically, if it has non-adventurous uses, it is for sale. But attacks? Not so much.
Healing, fly potions, animal related stuff, that is common. Fireball? Try the black market. And pay a lot extra
Exactly.
You can think of the D&D books as a set of references and tools that you can use to put together your play sessions. Even the prewritten adventures are nothing more than guidelines; trust me, your players will go off-script sooner or later, or you might have a better idea for a scene than what's written into the book. Just roll with it.
Some DMs are really comfortable with winging it and need the guidelines less than others. Use as much or as little as you need. There's no special reward for sticking to the books. At the end of the day it's all about how much fun you all had.
If you really think it's going to come up often, then a table like that would be really handy, yeah. The flip side of that is that if it never comes up, it's wasted effort. Your job is to have just enough notes and references to keep the game moving smoothly without burning yourself out from over-preparing.
Like Cozmo said, there are tools that can help you make sure combat won't be too easy or too deadly if that's your goal. Besides Kobold Fight Club, DDB also has an encounter builder built in. That said, you don't have to decide that every potential encounter has to be resolved with violence or even be a winnable fight. If your players sneak into a hobgoblin camp and trip the alarms, they shouldn't be surprised if they're up against unwinnable odds. There's always diplomacy and running away. Conversely, it's OK if occasionally the party gets attacked by wolves that pose little real threat to them.
The main thing to remember about challenge rating is that while a single CR X monster won't be easy or too deadly for a group of that level, a single monster probably won't be a very interesting encounter either unless it's a Legendary creature (these are monsters specifically designed to be bosses.) Outside of that special case, you usually want to have 2 or more monsters in an encounter, preferably of different kinds. This makes it trickier for players to always use the same tried-and-true strategy in every encounter, and also stops them from trivially overwhelming a single monster with abilities like grappling and shoving or spells like Web or Levitate. This is where the encounter-building tools can help you figure out if a mix of two CR 3 and four CR 1 monsters is a decent threat for your level 5 party.
But even if the tools tell you it's a decent enough challenge, you still have to do some basic sanity checks. It doesn't matter what the predicted difficulty of the encounter is, if the monsters can instantly kill or incapacitate one of the players (maybe the wizard has 8 CON), or conversely the players can take out a powerful monster in one round, the difficulty will swing too far in one direction.
And if combat starts going really wrong? Again, just wing it, the players can't tell the difference. You can decide that a monster only has 10 HP left instead of 70 mid-combat if it's taking forever to kill or you severely underestimated it. Likewise, if the encounter feels really anticlimactic, you can increase the monster's HP behind the scenes. In fact any HP value the monster could roll with its hit dice is perfectly legal; the average is just a suggestion.
The Forum Infestation (TM)
Yes, even encourage the players to do this would be my advice. They are in a tavern, if someone says "I'm going to pick up a tankard and throw it at him", just go with the story and allow the tankard to be there. If someone wants to take the classic swing in a chandelier, why not let them do that even if you haven't said anything about that. These are basically just minor details that adds flavor, so I would very seldom say no to them unless there is a good in-game reason.
I guess I already have answered that? It is your game, you can essentially do whatever you want. And with you, it is both the players and the DM. It sounds like you have understood the concept of the DM being a fan of the PC's. Always keep that in mind! Yes, you create the obstacles, but be a fan of the PC's creative ways to "solve" them!
Just use them if you think it will add to your story/game. If you don't want to roll random treasure, don't do it. Rather regard the tables as tools. Try out a few, see if you like it. If you don't, don't use it again. I would also strongly recommend you to start out with only the very "basic" rules, and rather add some more in future sessions. You and your players are new, don't spend tons on effort on knowing the system in and out before you start to play. You'll learn twice as fast as soon you start to play and use it in action. If you are uncertain during a session, just "create" a rule you think is fair and balanced, tell the players you will check out how this "really" works before next session. Favor the players when you make your "ruling".
Here you really put your finger on what I've never really liked with RP computer games, and why I also prepare tabletop roleplaying. If you tried in one of my campaigns to just walk into the house of strangers and start to search through barrels and chests, the world would react. I would say that if your players start to steal stuff on random (because that's OK in computer games), talk to them about it immediately and tell them that the difference with tabletop RPG is that the world would actually REACT to stuff like this. If they want to be thiefs - fine, that can be fun, but then they should know that, and play it out as stealing.
Random stuff in barrels etc is also not a very funny thing to use in table top games (frankly, it's not that funny in computer games as well, more like a necessary evil). Use "treasure" as "rewards" for actually doing things. If the players clear out the cave with goblins, then let them search the chests in there and reward them with treasure.
I would talk to the players about pick pocketing. I would not allow that to be a way of "main income" for one or more of the players (it doesn't make for a lot of good role playing). Rather see it as a tool you can use to steal the key to the door, or perhaps plan a heist where you are going to pick pocket a courier for a famous jewel. Having a PC that is pick pocketing "everyone" soon gets kind of straining on the game.
You've already gotten good advice on this. I would just add that you should consider with being a little "easy" with your players in the beginning. They are new, and will perhaps use strange tactics and stuff like that. This can be fun, and it's nothing wrong with it, but it might turn a "moderate" encounter into a hard one. If you think three goblins will be easy, consider to just keep it that, but you can have two more goblins "up your sleeve". If you see the battle becomes to easy, have some enforcements arrive.
Ludo ergo sum!
Oh wow you've all given such good advice!
< 3 < 3 < 3
So for the first session I'm thinking we wont get through much actual content because everyone is going to be learning how everything works. I'm planning on having the bulk of that session be set in the town of Oakhurst mainly for them to pick up information, clues and learn more about the adventure they'll be facing.
Is there a good way to introduce the characters to each other? I'm thinking that a good way might be to put them all in a tavern, and then have a small event like a bar fight break out and the three or four characters end up meeting this way?
I think I have to find multiple ways to get the information and intrigue about the Sunless Citadel in front of the players? I've also read through the material for the Sunless Citadel a few times and as there is no back story on why the Druid has come to the sunless citadel to monopolise the weird fruit tree I get to invent that back story? And I need to create some sort of conflict here that needs resolving? Then it's up to the players on whether they want to fight him or do something else?
I'm also wondering how to manage XP. As the majority of us are gamers, the feeling of gaining XP levelling up and learning new skills is pretty motivating. But I'm not sure how to manage this, should it be a continuous numbers thing that I have to keep trakc of? Or shall I just pick some bench mark points and award XP chunks to all the members equally?
I guess I'd quite like to create a small encounter for them on the journey from Oakhurst to the Citadel that would then get them to 2nd level, this will probably give them a moral boost before the plunging into danger.
I've also realised I can make the contents of the citadel as expansive or consise as I like, I'm planning on drawing up a few simple maps for my use only and I guess I can design some interesting encounters to put in some rooms, and some enticing reward items, but everything has to guide the players to a confrontation with the Druid? I have lots of ideas for the Kobold tribes that live there, going to read up about the goblins next. But most of the time I have to judge the players morale and react to that I think?
I realise I've ben mostly tpying out my thoughts rather than asking questions, but I guess I just need some reassurance that I'm understanding it all correctly and that my thinking is on the right track?
Sorry for the long post. There's a lot of great info here so I won't go over what others covered, but I will try to answer your most recent questions in the context of speaking to running the Sunless Citadel as a first time DM with a new group, because that was my experience exactly:
You should write the backstories with the help of the players that help with this. Let them pick backstory as far as "who they are" and then you connect the dots to Oakhurst. I gave one of my characters, a ranger, a pre-established connection to the Hucrule family and said he had already been offered a job to retrieve the children, and so he was waiting in town until adventurers who he thought could help came to town. Then in the first scene (i did use a tavern) he already had incentive to walk over and offer the other characters a job. I'd recommend having at least one player with an established reason to follow the apple/rescue the children, because D&D players are classic for doing the exact opposite thing that you as the DM want or expect them to do and that will help draw them into the quest.
As for the Druid, you can write as much or as little of Belak's story as you want, depending on where you want to go with your campaign and if you want him or his connections to be a part of it. The module's story "I was expelled from my order because of my interests, I found this tree through research, and I'm cultivating it and they'll all see that I'm right" is complete enough that you don't have to do anything else if you don't want to. OR you can decide that he's part of an order of evil druids and there are more trees and places like this all around your world that your characters will eventually find, and they're all working together to corrupt the earth and summon the demon lord Zuggtmoy through an ancient ritual involving the fruit (or something like that, idk). Take it as far as you want it to go.
That's your choice. I found that using milestone leveling was easier as a first time DM because it gave me much less to track, but you're right that a defined reward system that players can understand (circumvent challenge, get credit) can be motivational. If you're interested in XP, it can be as simple or complicated as you'd like. I made a more complicated sheet than a lot of DMs use that incorporates XP bumps for when the characters do cool stuff as well as some major and minor milestone bumps that can be awarded individually or to the whole party. Some people don't like my system because it leaves a lot of room to award individual players XP which can lead to a party with differently leveled players. I get around this by hand-waving it away and making sure that the whole party levels up 1, or maximum 2 sessions after the first character reaches a new level.
As a plug for my system, I found it to be REALLY effective with new players because the incentives for cool character choices and creative solutions to combat really encouraged them to explore their character abilities in creative ways, especially when they realized I was awarding XP for things as simple as "the druid uses her wildshape to turn into a rat and check out a tunnel that a human couldn't fit through." Now that they're experienced players I don't award marks for anything that simple, but it definitely helped them explore their characters in the early days.
feel free to use it or check it out as a jumping off point to organize your own thoughts/system:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S93xIPOpKTIWl9ueqji7gMxRMCHz34oX/view?usp=sharing
An encounter on the road isn't a bad idea, but I'd keep them at level 1. Trust the module, it's scaled to bring a party from 1st to 3rd level and written in a way that the party will find the druid anyway if you follow the character suggestions for Yusadryl, Durnn, Grenl etc. I'd maybe go level 2 around the time they meet Meepo. In my campaign, the party was trying to negotiate with Durnn who was already hurt but wouldn't back down, and I decided that this flavor text: " Grenl hates them. She also wants to protect her tribe, so she is willing to negotiate a truce if Durnn falls. Grenl also hates and envies Belak, and she wants him gone from the citadel so she can control the Gulthias Tree" was enough for Grenl, who was at Durnn's side, to turn and cast inflict wounds on him, which killed him, and then she threw herself on the floor at the mercy of the party, begged them to not kill anymore Goblins (you'll find that a lot of goblins are already dead by the time the party gets here) and tell them that she'll order the tribe to let the party pass unbothered so long as they agree to go kill the Outcast. Feel free to take creative license with NPCs as you see fit.
You'll also find that the combats will be plenty challenging if you use appropriate tactics. Here are three great posts on tactics for the monsters in the Citadel that will make combats much more engaging:
https://www.themonstersknow.com/kobolds-revisited/
https://www.themonstersknow.com/goblin-tactics/
https://www.themonstersknow.com/goblin-boss-hobgoblin-bugbear-tactics/
Finally, don't be afraid to go beyond the module if it serves your story. In my game, Meepo went with the party to recover the dragon and ended up landing a number of killshots on goblins with his sling. The party started to love him, so I decided that after the module was over, Meepo would leave the tribe and take a number of Kobolds with him (who now viewed him as a hero because he brought the dragon back). Meepo and his roving band of kobolds are now advancing through my world, and the party keeps running into them in fun ways, most recently as the head of a small-scale crime operation in a minor city, where he's going by the moniker Redscale.
So to summarize, trust yourself and trust the module and you shouldn't have to overprepare too much
"To die would be an awfully big adventure"
Hello everyone!
I have a new problem, I have 6 adventurers. 6 people who all really really want to join in. Does anyon have any tips for how to manage larger groups? Once we get to the citadel I might be able to split them into 2 groups of 3 to go exploring separately, but until then.... I need help with a few ideas :p
And in response to Bernstien, (thank you for your additions btw) I just want to say I'm using the dummed down version that d&d have provided for free as part of the qurarntine materials. I don't have the book, or the PDF, so some of the details you are mentioning are not included in the free version. Which is probably why I have more questions.
You can see what they've provided here:
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/tsc/the-sunless-citadel
Hmmm I play in a group of 6 + DM and I don’t really know. We stick together as a party, if you do this you might just have to add a couple monsters to the fights n stuff.
I don’t like doing this but for a bunch of beginners it might be useful, have a turn order even outside of combat. Might help you manage and track and make sure everyone gets a turn. Personally I think this ruins the natural flow of the game and any character interactions the could have happened but did not because they were waiting for their turn.
Hopefully someone else will have some better advice for playing with a bigger group, I’d just go out and play and let the chaos ensue!
Thanks. What I liked with your initial post was that it was actual questions, not only a general "cry for advice". It was quite clear that you had already done quite a little thinking, so your questions were much more "to the point" than a lot of other new DM's asking for advice.
I don't know your module, but that sounds like a good call for what to expect of a first session. Throw in the bar fight (or some other small fight) just to "test" the combat system. Doesn't need to be threatening at all, but it's a good idea to give the players a little taste of how combat works (combat can take a long time on table top RPG's - just warning you! Try to keep the pace up!).
Meeting in a tavern = Classic! Go with it!
However, I think I will advice you to create a reason for all the players to form a "group". Just tell them that they all have answered the call of Lord X who is in need of adventurers, or that they all have agreed to go and investigate "this". It will potentially save both you and your players a lot of frustration if you just give them this premise. If some of your players are saying "my character would never do that", he has to do something with that BEFORE play, if this happens IN play, you have a big problem. Then your entire first (and possibly second and third) session will be all about "why would we hang together..:"
But start in a tavern!
Yes! Create conflict, present it to the players and "cheer" for whatever solution they come up with. Be generous if they try to solve it without combat is my advice. This is where I think you in the long run can "blow the minds" of you and your "gamer"-friends minds. In classic RPG you can ACTUALLY try everything since you have a DM to run the world, you are not only up against something preprogrammed!
Whatever you do, don't give them XP for just killing things (unless you just want them to kill everything). Ibernsteins sheet could be a nice way to go if you like it. I simply give XP at the end of a session based mostly on how far I want them to progress towards the next level.
Yes, always try to think what the enemies would actually do. Don't spend to much time creating specific eencounters, try to think of them as a "whole" and give them some sense. That's how I like to play at least :-)
I think it sounds you are on a nice track. I think it sounds like you also have managed to "pin-point" the main difference between computer RPG and "table tops". In Table top RPG you need to give the PC's the freedom to actually choose, and you as a DM should run the world, not just prefabricate a "track" for the players to follow. Trust yourself, and jump into the fire. It will be a lot of fun. You will do a lot of mistakes (all of us do all the time), but the good moments will make it worth it. You will know that the first time your players come up with a brilliant idea and you say: "You can certainly try that..." and you know the computer game NEVER could have given you that option.
Ludo ergo sum!
Hello everyone!
Thank you do much for your help. We did our first session tonight and it went pretty well. Everyone said they had a good time even if we threw some of the rules aside for the sake of story telling :D Your advice really helped, the only thing I under estimated was how much talking I'd have to do. But I know now what to prepare for next time.
Great. Glad you ignored the rules for story's sake. Note, I try to make it clear that is what I am doing so the players do not expect to be able to repeat the "I blast the rock with a magic missile, making it fall on the enemies head! What do you mean it doesn't work that way? It did last time!"
So in all the confusion and the fact that this is new to me I had no time , or ability to keep track of XP. However I've decided that for the sake of progression and character satisfaction I'm going to have everyone level up at the same time about midway through the next session.
Does anyone have any tips on how to handle levelling up during a session?
I want everyone to have the chance to think about what new skills they'd like to learn maybe collectively decide which party memebers should have which skills so that they have a diverse skillset as a group. But I don't know whether to use the d&d beyond website which might be jarring to do during the session, or whether to find all the information I need to present the relevany information to each player.
Not everyone is familair with all the intricate details of levelling up, but I know that the sorcerers, warlocks, and druids might want time to decide on which new spells they want. I'd also like to introduce the idea of provisioning, and that at least one of them might want to learn how to assemble ingredients into food for everyone.
This is how I would do it. Do it after any significant moment. Whether it be a battle or social interaction or a progress in the narrative/story. Then just simply call for a break in the session for everything to be taken care of. And that’s it, you might want to study the characters level progression beforehand so you can help if they need it.
As a new DM I want to say that this thread has been so amazing!!