For a homebrew campaign, start small, but know it well. You don’t have to plan your entire campaign, but it’s a good idea to know your starting town and the surrounding area. Plan a few starting quests and see where the players take you.
Listen to your players and steal their ideas. Some of the funnest moments in my homebrew campaign came about when I ran with a player’s funny idea for starting their own shrine.
What do you find yourself drawing a blank on and what other challenges have you had as a DM thus far?
The above advice is all solid and I would second everything said by UndauntedDM. To expand and add to that list, here are a few other general tips I like to give new DMs:
1. Remember that fun is the most important goal of the campaign. Be prepared to fudge dice rolls to make monsters hit/miss or change the result of enemy skill checks if necessary. No one likes if they're never getting caught being bad, or if the monster is hitting too often/not often enough/too hard/not hard enough. Since you should never let players look at your DM dice, you can easily lie to them to make the gameplay more fun.
2. Try to make broad plans--have a general idea of what you want your party to do, but know they are either (a) going to get to that destination in a weird way you never expected or (b) just ignore your objective entirely. Just be prepared for that and try not to get frustrated.
3. Try to think of motivations and personalities for various characters, political or religious entities, etc. If you know how they think, you can more easily know how they might react when you have to ad lib their reaction to something strange your party does.
I've said this on other threads and I'll say it again:
If you want to teach someone how to play, teach as you go. Only teach a mechanic when it becomes necessary. Your first few sessions will be slow, but it'll be a lot easier for your players to comprehend the game when they don't have to keep track of 106 subclasses and hundreds of rules.
The first time your characters throw a fireball or dodge a red dragon's fire, explain how Saves work. Explain Opportunity Attacks the first time a monster makes or provokes one. When a character or important NPC drops to 0 hit points, explain what Death Saves are. Don't tell them about Spell Scrolls till they come across one. Ignore Feats until they hit 4th level (Or when they pick Variant Human/Custom Origin as their race).
Outside of that? PRESERVE PLAYER AGENCY. Avoid Quest Boards if you can (Destroy them if they already exist), and avoid railroading players as much as possible. While characters should be restricted by the world, players should not. They should be free to forge their own path. That being said, don't give players the impression that are free to murder every NPC, ignore the main quest, and suffer no consequences for their actions. Encourage them to make choices that advance a meaningful story, but always let them make those choices.
Don't make a story make a game let your players build the story, build around the backstory of the characters, set the session time by sessions Eg. 1 - 13 Sessions Short Campaign or 23 - 53 Long Campaign Hours 3 - 7 hours (Extra sessions for missed sessions extend based on how many sessions they missed) this is to discuss with your players how long you want to run it with them and what their schedule is, Make a Session 0 (meaning) discuss what characters the players will play as (Don't reveal backstory) discuss with each other what sort of character will be fun and expound upon it by helping them create characters that they will enjoy playing as, Identify problem players as early as session 0 by asking questions on certain situations and what the players will do Eg. Mercy Killing, Stealing amongst players, compromise. (Watch for Murder Hobos and prevent or aid in stopping a player from becoming one), Move as a party never split them.
Discuss what your parties alignment / goal is in playing this campaign: Shadow protecting the Light, the Heroes, Servant of Villains, the underdogs.
Game Rules/ Style: Strict but reasonable, Rule of Cool, Vanilla (Preferred if new), and roleplay based (Mostly Skill challenges)
Ask your players what they want kind of campaign they want to play with. Background creation (preferably google docs in this format)
Note: Do not show the google doc to other players make sure to ask them to DM you of their backgrounds. (Unless they want to have background that corelates with each other)
Game Name: Eg. Mount and Blade: Rise of Haraldhadrada, Moon of Selihidanar: Return of the Ancient Spirit Princess, Vampyr: Blood Hunt
Character Portrait: (Optional: add a quote "quote here" usually below the profile picture)
Player Name:
Character Name: (Optional: Former Name, Nickname, or Alias) Eg. Mika Ryugin, Earl Magibane, jacqueline Grundwaldenstien Von Kuselkoff De Veritacia La Puitu
Race: (Homebrew or base official race)
Class and Subclass: Eg. (Monk Way of the Murim/ Barbarian Gravity Hellion/ Warlock Pact of the Doomsayer)
Biological Counters such as: Age, Height, Weight (Make sure to use this to your advantage to challenge your players) Eg. Your not old enough to have that kind of thoughts and experiences, your to light weight that the Minotaur was able to throw you away, Your to big to fit in a 2 meter hole. (Optional Challenges)
Background: Eg. (Chosen Scion, Deva Hospitaller, Sailor (Undead Coast), Faceless)
Alignment: Chaotic Good (Look for definitions of these alignments and what they mean generally to catch a character out of alignment your players are role playing as a make belief person and not themselves, a chaotic good character will not think of evil things, they would usually make playful pranks)
Birthplace: Eg. Ljosalfheimr, Wu - Ki Tian, the Wasted Messa (Put a picture of the place below) If you have a set world already tell them about the places general population; trades; political status; and condition for being from there. (For world making make general descriptions of them and not the full story) if your player are going to play in a city, make half of the story of the city, and have a BBEG prepared.
Bonds: Eg. Relation ship with Family, Rivals, Lovers general relation ships (Format usually like this) Editable to include your ways of format
- Originally from Wu - Ki - Tian
- Migrated to Ljosalfheimr
- Daughter of a Exiled Martial Artists who was set to be Empress Dowager of the nation (DM discretion)
- Sold as a slave with their cohort to fight inside a gladiator arena by a tyrant king
- Trained the Way of the Murim, multi classed to Warlock Puppet Master out off grief from losing her mother from a gladiator arena during young
- Fought till off age 25 and was set free from the Arena by the aid of a Noble Aire/Vanadis (Battle Princess) as a body guard under the final fight battle in the arena
- Gets engaged with the Aire
Tsukogamihya, Aikari Mother (Deceased) etc.
Vanie Von Romelusaria De Gutwick La Esskenhaltershatten Pierre Gladiatoria, the 13th Princess of the Undying Empire of High Gladitoria (Alive) (Alignment: Neutral) (Stat Block: Champion) Misc: (Title: Aire) Age:, Height, etc.
Personality, Appearance, Backstory etc.
(Avoid sensitive topics in creating a background) Death and killing may be a bit distasteful for some but that's dnd, note make grey, evil, or good npcs/potential threats to the party)
In combat for newbies take your time, warn them of impossible fights that may cause death but high reward, the decisions are based on them, don't let them win when the dices aren't on their favors unless otherwise, prepare potential (Deus Ex Machina), divine interventions, and/or allies for the party on certain situations, if it calls for it make a running skill challenge, use the terrain against them everybody forgets to put this to use Eg. Carnivorous Jungle, Wasteland dunes, dark lords tower.
In Puzzle Games, make it mysterious and rewarding, play mind games, use their own weakness against them (specially min-munchkins) Eg. battle maps with small spacing for a beast master ranger
Travelling, don't make it boring, make it interesting by allowing them to do certain activities based on how fast or slow they are moving.
Study and research more on how to be a good Dm, and if you want to make it more imerssive, learn and practice voice acting.
I just started DM-ing and find it very enjoyable, but often draw a blank do to lack of knowledge/experience. Any tips to run a good custom campaign?
Only spilt the party if you see something shiny.
Ariendela Sneakerson, Half-elf Rogue (8); Harmony Wolfsbane, Tiefling Bard (10); Agnomally, Gnomish Sorcerer (3); Breeze, Tabaxi Monk (8); Grace, Dragonborn Barbarian (7); DM, Homebrew- The Sequestered Lands/Underwater Explorers; Candlekeep
What do you find yourself drawing a blank on and what other challenges have you had as a DM thus far?
The above advice is all solid and I would second everything said by UndauntedDM. To expand and add to that list, here are a few other general tips I like to give new DMs:
1. Remember that fun is the most important goal of the campaign. Be prepared to fudge dice rolls to make monsters hit/miss or change the result of enemy skill checks if necessary. No one likes if they're never getting caught being bad, or if the monster is hitting too often/not often enough/too hard/not hard enough. Since you should never let players look at your DM dice, you can easily lie to them to make the gameplay more fun.
2. Try to make broad plans--have a general idea of what you want your party to do, but know they are either (a) going to get to that destination in a weird way you never expected or (b) just ignore your objective entirely. Just be prepared for that and try not to get frustrated.
3. Try to think of motivations and personalities for various characters, political or religious entities, etc. If you know how they think, you can more easily know how they might react when you have to ad lib their reaction to something strange your party does.
I've said this on other threads and I'll say it again:
If you want to teach someone how to play, teach as you go. Only teach a mechanic when it becomes necessary. Your first few sessions will be slow, but it'll be a lot easier for your players to comprehend the game when they don't have to keep track of 106 subclasses and hundreds of rules.
The first time your characters throw a fireball or dodge a red dragon's fire, explain how Saves work. Explain Opportunity Attacks the first time a monster makes or provokes one. When a character or important NPC drops to 0 hit points, explain what Death Saves are. Don't tell them about Spell Scrolls till they come across one. Ignore Feats until they hit 4th level (Or when they pick Variant Human/Custom Origin as their race).
Outside of that? PRESERVE PLAYER AGENCY. Avoid Quest Boards if you can (Destroy them if they already exist), and avoid railroading players as much as possible. While characters should be restricted by the world, players should not. They should be free to forge their own path. That being said, don't give players the impression that are free to murder every NPC, ignore the main quest, and suffer no consequences for their actions. Encourage them to make choices that advance a meaningful story, but always let them make those choices.
Don't make a story make a game let your players build the story, build around the backstory of the characters, set the session time by sessions Eg. 1 - 13 Sessions Short Campaign or 23 - 53 Long Campaign Hours 3 - 7 hours (Extra sessions for missed sessions extend based on how many sessions they missed) this is to discuss with your players how long you want to run it with them and what their schedule is, Make a Session 0 (meaning) discuss what characters the players will play as (Don't reveal backstory) discuss with each other what sort of character will be fun and expound upon it by helping them create characters that they will enjoy playing as, Identify problem players as early as session 0 by asking questions on certain situations and what the players will do Eg. Mercy Killing, Stealing amongst players, compromise. (Watch for Murder Hobos and prevent or aid in stopping a player from becoming one), Move as a party never split them.
Discuss what your parties alignment / goal is in playing this campaign: Shadow protecting the Light, the Heroes, Servant of Villains, the underdogs.
Game Rules/ Style: Strict but reasonable, Rule of Cool, Vanilla (Preferred if new), and roleplay based (Mostly Skill challenges)
Ask your players what they want kind of campaign they want to play with. Background creation (preferably google docs in this format)
Note: Do not show the google doc to other players make sure to ask them to DM you of their backgrounds. (Unless they want to have background that corelates with each other)
Game Name: Eg. Mount and Blade: Rise of Haraldhadrada, Moon of Selihidanar: Return of the Ancient Spirit Princess, Vampyr: Blood Hunt
Character Portrait: (Optional: add a quote "quote here" usually below the profile picture)
Player Name:
Character Name: (Optional: Former Name, Nickname, or Alias) Eg. Mika Ryugin, Earl Magibane, jacqueline Grundwaldenstien Von Kuselkoff De Veritacia La Puitu
Race: (Homebrew or base official race)
Class and Subclass: Eg. (Monk Way of the Murim/ Barbarian Gravity Hellion/ Warlock Pact of the Doomsayer)
Gender/Character Identification/Biological Body/Preference, etc:
Biological Counters such as: Age, Height, Weight (Make sure to use this to your advantage to challenge your players) Eg. Your not old enough to have that kind of thoughts and experiences, your to light weight that the Minotaur was able to throw you away, Your to big to fit in a 2 meter hole. (Optional Challenges)
Background: Eg. (Chosen Scion, Deva Hospitaller, Sailor (Undead Coast), Faceless)
Alignment: Chaotic Good (Look for definitions of these alignments and what they mean generally to catch a character out of alignment your players are role playing as a make belief person and not themselves, a chaotic good character will not think of evil things, they would usually make playful pranks)
Birthplace: Eg. Ljosalfheimr, Wu - Ki Tian, the Wasted Messa (Put a picture of the place below) If you have a set world already tell them about the places general population; trades; political status; and condition for being from there. (For world making make general descriptions of them and not the full story) if your player are going to play in a city, make half of the story of the city, and have a BBEG prepared.
Bonds: Eg. Relation ship with Family, Rivals, Lovers general relation ships (Format usually like this) Editable to include your ways of format
- Originally from Wu - Ki - Tian
- Migrated to Ljosalfheimr
- Daughter of a Exiled Martial Artists who was set to be Empress Dowager of the nation (DM discretion)
- Sold as a slave with their cohort to fight inside a gladiator arena by a tyrant king
- Trained the Way of the Murim, multi classed to Warlock Puppet Master out off grief from losing her mother from a gladiator arena during young
- Fought till off age 25 and was set free from the Arena by the aid of a Noble Aire/Vanadis (Battle Princess) as a body guard under the final fight battle in the arena
- Gets engaged with the Aire
Tsukogamihya, Aikari Mother (Deceased) etc.
Vanie Von Romelusaria De Gutwick La Esskenhaltershatten Pierre Gladiatoria, the 13th Princess of the Undying Empire of High Gladitoria (Alive) (Alignment: Neutral) (Stat Block: Champion) Misc: (Title: Aire) Age:, Height, etc.
Personality, Appearance, Backstory etc.
(Avoid sensitive topics in creating a background) Death and killing may be a bit distasteful for some but that's dnd, note make grey, evil, or good npcs/potential threats to the party)
In combat for newbies take your time, warn them of impossible fights that may cause death but high reward, the decisions are based on them, don't let them win when the dices aren't on their favors unless otherwise, prepare potential (Deus Ex Machina), divine interventions, and/or allies for the party on certain situations, if it calls for it make a running skill challenge, use the terrain against them everybody forgets to put this to use Eg. Carnivorous Jungle, Wasteland dunes, dark lords tower.
In Puzzle Games, make it mysterious and rewarding, play mind games, use their own weakness against them (specially min-munchkins) Eg. battle maps with small spacing for a beast master ranger
Travelling, don't make it boring, make it interesting by allowing them to do certain activities based on how fast or slow they are moving.
Study and research more on how to be a good Dm, and if you want to make it more imerssive, learn and practice voice acting.
Have Fun.