I'm about to DM my first game. A friend and I have come up with a Homebrew world that we think is amazing! I know what the BBEG is going to be and 2 of my players even know what characters they want to play. My husband will be playing for the first time which is exciting.
How do I start though O.O I've only ever joined games in progress before. What do I do to convince these characters they want to go on an adventure together. I understand that we're all coming together to play a game so they're probably find each other but I want it to feel organic without micro managing them as players.
Two of my players are DMs but I want the world to be as much as a surprise to them as to the other two players. I've got encounters, NPCS, societies and cults, and honestly after they get together they can go in any direction and basically ignore the plot and still I could have stuff for them to do. But how do I organically get them together >.<
I have a couple of months yet since my one friend wants to complete their current game before starting to play a new one. Any advice would be good.
I think some of that will depend on the players and how they created their backstory. Of course you need to have a couple of hooks to get characters of different backgrounds to pursue the campaign. I would have them create the characters and have them share it before the campaign gets started so you can match that with some of the hooks or adapt them as such.
I thought maybe I was getting ahead of myself out of anxiety. Thanks for the advice! I'll keep making some world stuff and work on that we when my friends have their characters set. I just really want to make a good game. Any advice for first time DMs?
Another option that I think highly of, is to have all the Players make up their Characters, together, around the table ( or online ) as a group session.
Don't have them just make up Characters, have them build the Party. They need to come up with reasons a) why this group of adventurers are together, and b) what this plucky band of adventurers are trying to do in the world.
That means that you only need to come up with a plot hook that appeals to their declared purpose in B.
As for advice for first time DMs - I would recommend you watch this series by Matt Colville. It's an excellent set of advice for beginning DMs. You don't need to watch the whole series before you start to play - but I'd recommend Episodes #1 - #3 ( or #4 ) first.
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
Wow thank you for the resource and advice, that's a great idea. We're playing online so it'll have to be a Zoom chat or something but I hadn't thought of that. I'm glad I made this post! And thank you for the Welcome!
For the first session, don’t worry about railroading.
This was my first session idea and it ended up working out really well:
The characters all acquired tickets (one way or another) to attend a spring festival, some of the characters met along the journey to the festival so the 6 players were part of 2 groups. They played games, won prizes and got “drunk” in their separate groups and even came together organically among it all. If they don’t come together organically, a thaumaturgic voice sounds throughout the festival announcing there is 1 hour left to sign up for the fighting pit. They need a certain amount of members to fight the mystery monsters in the pit so the person doing sign will “find more people to join them” if they sign up, or another thaumaturgic voice says “2 fighters needed for the fight pit. The fight pit isn’t JUST for funsies, royalty or a local leader is in attendance and the whole purpose of the fighting pit was to find a group of capable adventurers to complete a quest for them, kickstarting the adventure.
think about occasions where strangers are brought together with a common interest.
Maybe they all knew the same person at different times in their life who has passed away and there is a funeral/will and testimony they are all involved in
Maybe they are all travelling by coach/boat/skyship to the same destination and there is a crash/attack/robbery
maybe half the group know eachother and the other half know eachother and both groups are after the same thing but end up cooperating for mutual reward (think GoTG)
maybe they have been having prophetic dreams that have brought them all to the same place
maybe its a usual suspects thing and they are thrown together in a prison
maybe they have all seen the same post on a job board and answered it
maybe its related to your BBEG, maybe its complete coincidence.
Factions are certainly cool, and I think that is something for a different campaign but it would probably not work in this one. It might work in this world after the BBEG is defeated if they wanted to start another campaign afterwards. I'll definitely keep that in mind if I ever DM again! Reply to Terhonator
They are all descended from a group of heroes that defeated the BBEG in the past (but most don't know it). My one friend who helped me develop the BBEG idea is going to play a person from a family that passed down the knowledge for generations. So maybe I can enlist him to get everyone together? Reply to Sardonicmonkey
One thing I'd say is... don't get too attached to any one story hook or plan. You might have a cool, amazing fight planned, but your players might just not take the hook, or they might put a lot of time and effort into avoiding direct combat and you're left with a whole fun battle that you don't get to use. That's okay! Maybe save the stats for that battle and look for an opportunity to reuse it in the future.
Also, a lot of people have said some variation on this, but I think I'd like to double down on the idea that you want to make sure that all your party wants to play the same kind of game and all have characters that, conceivably, could get along. Everyone sees memes and jokes about the Lawful Good Paladin in a party with a Chaotic Evil Rogue, but it can actually be really frustrating in actual play if you have half the party wanting to be super heroes protecting the innocent, and the other half want to leave town, become pirates and murderhobo their way through every conflict. Based on what you've said so far, it looks like you've done a good job of making sure you're ready for these potential issues, but I mostly just want to reiterate it for anyone else who might come to this thread for advice
what if it was like a sacred order passed from family member to family member, like a belmont thing. however that player is the last of thier line and due to being unable to have child to carry on the family business has reached out to several warriors they believe to be true of heart and take on this mission for the good of the realm
TransmorpherDDS - Don't worry, I've sort of built a world where this thing is happening but the world is built up enough that they could just wander around and find stuff to do. The one player that knows the BBEG is kinda obsessed though so he might annoy the other players till they move towards the plot lol.
TransmorpherDDS - Don't worry, I've sort of built a world where this thing is happening but the world is built up enough that they could just wander around and find stuff to do. The one player that knows the BBEG is kinda obsessed though so he might annoy the other players till they move towards the plot lol.
As a DM, I love players like that.
As a player, I try to be that guy.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
TransmorpherDDS - Don't worry, I've sort of built a world where this thing is happening but the world is built up enough that they could just wander around and find stuff to do. The one player that knows the BBEG is kinda obsessed though so he might annoy the other players till they move towards the plot lol.
As a DM, I love players like that.
As a player, I try to be that guy.
I think my problem is I'm a kind of chaotic player so I want to ramble around, might be why I'm concerned about getting my characters to follow the plot lol
TransmorpherDDS - Don't worry, I've sort of built a world where this thing is happening but the world is built up enough that they could just wander around and find stuff to do. The one player that knows the BBEG is kinda obsessed though so he might annoy the other players till they move towards the plot lol.
As a DM, I love players like that.
As a player, I try to be that guy.
I think my problem is I'm a kind of chaotic player so I want to ramble around, might be why I'm concerned about getting my characters to follow the plot lol
I was worried about rambling too when i first started dming. I make very clear and consise notes though that help me know their past, present, intentions, and what important information they need to know. This especially helps me because i'm dyslexic and often pronounce important things wrong giving the players false ideas of what i mean- for exapmle once playing "dragon of icespire peak" i read "gnomenguard" as "gnomeraid" and they very nearly ransacked the place because of the word "raid". Hope this helps and your dming goes well!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Hello Friends,
I'm about to DM my first game. A friend and I have come up with a Homebrew world that we think is amazing! I know what the BBEG is going to be and 2 of my players even know what characters they want to play. My husband will be playing for the first time which is exciting.
How do I start though O.O I've only ever joined games in progress before. What do I do to convince these characters they want to go on an adventure together. I understand that we're all coming together to play a game so they're probably find each other but I want it to feel organic without micro managing them as players.
Two of my players are DMs but I want the world to be as much as a surprise to them as to the other two players. I've got encounters, NPCS, societies and cults, and honestly after they get together they can go in any direction and basically ignore the plot and still I could have stuff for them to do. But how do I organically get them together >.<
I have a couple of months yet since my one friend wants to complete their current game before starting to play a new one. Any advice would be good.
I think some of that will depend on the players and how they created their backstory. Of course you need to have a couple of hooks to get characters of different backgrounds to pursue the campaign. I would have them create the characters and have them share it before the campaign gets started so you can match that with some of the hooks or adapt them as such.
I thought maybe I was getting ahead of myself out of anxiety. Thanks for the advice! I'll keep making some world stuff and work on that we when my friends have their characters set. I just really want to make a good game. Any advice for first time DMs?
Another option that I think highly of, is to have all the Players make up their Characters, together, around the table ( or online ) as a group session.
Don't have them just make up Characters, have them build the Party. They need to come up with reasons a) why this group of adventurers are together, and b) what this plucky band of adventurers are trying to do in the world.
That means that you only need to come up with a plot hook that appeals to their declared purpose in B.
As for advice for first time DMs - I would recommend you watch this series by Matt Colville. It's an excellent set of advice for beginning DMs. You don't need to watch the whole series before you start to play - but I'd recommend Episodes #1 - #3 ( or #4 ) first.
Welcome to this side of the DM's screen ;)
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
Wow thank you for the resource and advice, that's a great idea. We're playing online so it'll have to be a Zoom chat or something but I hadn't thought of that. I'm glad I made this post! And thank you for the Welcome!
For the first session, don’t worry about railroading.
This was my first session idea and it ended up working out really well:
The characters all acquired tickets (one way or another) to attend a spring festival, some of the characters met along the journey to the festival so the 6 players were part of 2 groups. They played games, won prizes and got “drunk” in their separate groups and even came together organically among it all. If they don’t come together organically, a thaumaturgic voice sounds throughout the festival announcing there is 1 hour left to sign up for the fighting pit. They need a certain amount of members to fight the mystery monsters in the pit so the person doing sign will “find more people to join them” if they sign up, or another thaumaturgic voice says “2 fighters needed for the fight pit. The fight pit isn’t JUST for funsies, royalty or a local leader is in attendance and the whole purpose of the fighting pit was to find a group of capable adventurers to complete a quest for them, kickstarting the adventure.
hope this helps you come up with something!
Ooooh that's cool too. The place I was planning to have them meet would suit something similar. Thank you!
think about occasions where strangers are brought together with a common interest.
Maybe they all knew the same person at different times in their life who has passed away and there is a funeral/will and testimony they are all involved in
Maybe they are all travelling by coach/boat/skyship to the same destination and there is a crash/attack/robbery
maybe half the group know eachother and the other half know eachother and both groups are after the same thing but end up cooperating for mutual reward (think GoTG)
maybe they have been having prophetic dreams that have brought them all to the same place
maybe its a usual suspects thing and they are thrown together in a prison
maybe they have all seen the same post on a job board and answered it
maybe its related to your BBEG, maybe its complete coincidence.
Do a session 0, for sure, before you start.
The Dungeon Dudes have some great advice on how to do a Session 0. I used a lot of their ideas and my players liked them.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I like factions. Players can be part of one of the factions so they have common enemy. Common enemy unites all kind of people.
Factions are certainly cool, and I think that is something for a different campaign but it would probably not work in this one. It might work in this world after the BBEG is defeated if they wanted to start another campaign afterwards. I'll definitely keep that in mind if I ever DM again! Reply to Terhonator
Thank you for the resource! Reply to Biowizard
They are all descended from a group of heroes that defeated the BBEG in the past (but most don't know it). My one friend who helped me develop the BBEG idea is going to play a person from a family that passed down the knowledge for generations. So maybe I can enlist him to get everyone together? Reply to Sardonicmonkey
One thing I'd say is... don't get too attached to any one story hook or plan. You might have a cool, amazing fight planned, but your players might just not take the hook, or they might put a lot of time and effort into avoiding direct combat and you're left with a whole fun battle that you don't get to use. That's okay! Maybe save the stats for that battle and look for an opportunity to reuse it in the future.
Also, a lot of people have said some variation on this, but I think I'd like to double down on the idea that you want to make sure that all your party wants to play the same kind of game and all have characters that, conceivably, could get along. Everyone sees memes and jokes about the Lawful Good Paladin in a party with a Chaotic Evil Rogue, but it can actually be really frustrating in actual play if you have half the party wanting to be super heroes protecting the innocent, and the other half want to leave town, become pirates and murderhobo their way through every conflict. Based on what you've said so far, it looks like you've done a good job of making sure you're ready for these potential issues, but I mostly just want to reiterate it for anyone else who might come to this thread for advice
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
what if it was like a sacred order passed from family member to family member, like a belmont thing. however that player is the last of thier line and due to being unable to have child to carry on the family business has reached out to several warriors they believe to be true of heart and take on this mission for the good of the realm
Sardonicmonkey- Whoa! That's so cool!
TransmorpherDDS - Don't worry, I've sort of built a world where this thing is happening but the world is built up enough that they could just wander around and find stuff to do. The one player that knows the BBEG is kinda obsessed though so he might annoy the other players till they move towards the plot lol.
As a DM, I love players like that.
As a player, I try to be that guy.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I think my problem is I'm a kind of chaotic player so I want to ramble around, might be why I'm concerned about getting my characters to follow the plot lol
I was worried about rambling too when i first started dming. I make very clear and consise notes though that help me know their past, present, intentions, and what important information they need to know. This especially helps me because i'm dyslexic and often pronounce important things wrong giving the players false ideas of what i mean- for exapmle once playing "dragon of icespire peak" i read "gnomenguard" as "gnomeraid" and they very nearly ransacked the place because of the word "raid". Hope this helps and your dming goes well!