So I'm going to run the lost mine of phandelver campaign as a new DM. I've played before, understand the rules, but most of my players don't, so I thought I'd do something pre-written instead of making my own world that could be too high level or too easy.
But I've never DMed before, and don't know what to expect.
I have 5 players, two of who are really investing time into their backgrounds. I want to get the other three to make good background and make a nice character, because everyone seems excited to play and I don't want an unsatisfying experience. I'm worried that I'm being too pushy though, and don't want to rush it.
I'm also worried that the character will be too similar either because of race/class choices or players not roleplaying enough. Any tips on how to improve diversity in characters? and get them to actively participate.
Also, should I adjust combat for 5 players in the campaign? (all level 1) I believe the book said 4-5 players but I could be remembering wrong. Since most of them are new, maybe they woudn't be very good at combat and I could just adjust it as we went along. (having ideas for higher level monsters in advance and stuff)
I've heard about the 'combat is 6 seconds' thing and am wondering if I could mention it. The characters are new and I feel that using that method of combat would seriously make everything stressed, but if they improve, and get bored during long combat rounds, I would want to implement that. I don't want it to be an awkward change though.
Any other advice anyone could give me is really appreciated.
So a few things here: Not all players want to RP (or feel comfortable with it) as much as other players. They also don't want to take a lot of time with backgrounds especially if they are new and think the characters might die right away. They can actually add more to their backstory as they go if they feel more inspired. That's ok too. They might just want to play a little first to see how it goes without a ton of investment. I wouldn't badger them over it. It could backfire and turn them away just as easily. I feel like backgrounds mean more in homebrew campaigns and matter less in modules such as LMoP.
If players want to be the same class it can still work, but I would want them to pick different sub-classes. The different sub-classes can lend to different types of play such as with a sword bard, and a lore bard.
Always be ready to adjust combat. The party composition and player knowledge can make a big difference on how the encounter goes. Be ready to adjust anything and everything. That's the job of a DM.
A combat round is 6 seconds. That does not mean they have 6 seconds to take their turn. If things drag on, you could implement a timer, but that should be way more than 6 seconds (more like 30s to 1min). I would not recommend this for new people. They tend to need time to figure out what they are doing and where everything is on their sheet. This goes double for characters with lots of abilities/spells like Druids.
Other advice: Preread the adventure - especially the parts the party is about to encouter. Most importantly - Have Fun!
Lathius has great advice. Many new players, and some older ones, don't feel comfortable coming up with backstories and roleplaying heavily until they see other people do it a few times. It won't hurt the experience at all to just let them figure it out as they go.
They did pick a Background as part of character creation, so if you want to help tie them into the story more, you can gently pull from those like 'You, as a former sailor, are familiar with the way the sky looks just before a heavy rain. You realize you might want to make camp before it gets too late.'
As for balancing the encounters, I would say leave the first dungeon exactly as it is and see how that goes first. Lost Mine of Phandelver is a great adventure, but it does have a strange power curve. It can be very deadly at the start, then get easy in the middle depending on the path they take, with spikes of extreme difficulty. It is built on the assumption that players will be very careful, move silently through dungeons, check for traps everywhere, plan ambushes, and try to trick enemies. Very old school dungeon crawling. I find that new players often don't know to try these things, and just boldly march into every hazard. Try to give them some narrative warning, like how they see the lights of many campfires ahead, or how precarious a cliff looks to climb.
With 5 characters, they should be okay. But they will stumble quite a few times. Don't be afraid to sneak in some extra potions of healing on monsters if their resources are wearing thin. It's okay if they totally roll the first cave. It's teaching them the rules and they will have fun. You can adjust the difficulty later if everything is too easy. There are some good guides online for doing that.
And to reiterate one of Lathius' points, it's really important to be prepared for each session by reading the section coming up multiple times. Not everything is laid out up front. And the dungeons give players a lot of freedom to take different paths. It's a good design, but takes some prep to really keep it all in your head.
Good luck, I hope you all have a great time!
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So I'm going to run the lost mine of phandelver campaign as a new DM. I've played before, understand the rules, but most of my players don't, so I thought I'd do something pre-written instead of making my own world that could be too high level or too easy.
But I've never DMed before, and don't know what to expect.
I have 5 players, two of who are really investing time into their backgrounds. I want to get the other three to make good background and make a nice character, because everyone seems excited to play and I don't want an unsatisfying experience. I'm worried that I'm being too pushy though, and don't want to rush it.
I'm also worried that the character will be too similar either because of race/class choices or players not roleplaying enough. Any tips on how to improve diversity in characters? and get them to actively participate.
Also, should I adjust combat for 5 players in the campaign? (all level 1) I believe the book said 4-5 players but I could be remembering wrong. Since most of them are new, maybe they woudn't be very good at combat and I could just adjust it as we went along. (having ideas for higher level monsters in advance and stuff)
I've heard about the 'combat is 6 seconds' thing and am wondering if I could mention it. The characters are new and I feel that using that method of combat would seriously make everything stressed, but if they improve, and get bored during long combat rounds, I would want to implement that. I don't want it to be an awkward change though.
Any other advice anyone could give me is really appreciated.
So a few things here: Not all players want to RP (or feel comfortable with it) as much as other players. They also don't want to take a lot of time with backgrounds especially if they are new and think the characters might die right away. They can actually add more to their backstory as they go if they feel more inspired. That's ok too. They might just want to play a little first to see how it goes without a ton of investment. I wouldn't badger them over it. It could backfire and turn them away just as easily. I feel like backgrounds mean more in homebrew campaigns and matter less in modules such as LMoP.
If players want to be the same class it can still work, but I would want them to pick different sub-classes. The different sub-classes can lend to different types of play such as with a sword bard, and a lore bard.
Always be ready to adjust combat. The party composition and player knowledge can make a big difference on how the encounter goes. Be ready to adjust anything and everything. That's the job of a DM.
A combat round is 6 seconds. That does not mean they have 6 seconds to take their turn. If things drag on, you could implement a timer, but that should be way more than 6 seconds (more like 30s to 1min). I would not recommend this for new people. They tend to need time to figure out what they are doing and where everything is on their sheet. This goes double for characters with lots of abilities/spells like Druids.
Other advice: Preread the adventure - especially the parts the party is about to encouter. Most importantly - Have Fun!
Lathius has great advice. Many new players, and some older ones, don't feel comfortable coming up with backstories and roleplaying heavily until they see other people do it a few times. It won't hurt the experience at all to just let them figure it out as they go.
They did pick a Background as part of character creation, so if you want to help tie them into the story more, you can gently pull from those like 'You, as a former sailor, are familiar with the way the sky looks just before a heavy rain. You realize you might want to make camp before it gets too late.'
As for balancing the encounters, I would say leave the first dungeon exactly as it is and see how that goes first. Lost Mine of Phandelver is a great adventure, but it does have a strange power curve. It can be very deadly at the start, then get easy in the middle depending on the path they take, with spikes of extreme difficulty. It is built on the assumption that players will be very careful, move silently through dungeons, check for traps everywhere, plan ambushes, and try to trick enemies. Very old school dungeon crawling. I find that new players often don't know to try these things, and just boldly march into every hazard. Try to give them some narrative warning, like how they see the lights of many campfires ahead, or how precarious a cliff looks to climb.
With 5 characters, they should be okay. But they will stumble quite a few times. Don't be afraid to sneak in some extra potions of healing on monsters if their resources are wearing thin. It's okay if they totally roll the first cave. It's teaching them the rules and they will have fun. You can adjust the difficulty later if everything is too easy. There are some good guides online for doing that.
And to reiterate one of Lathius' points, it's really important to be prepared for each session by reading the section coming up multiple times. Not everything is laid out up front. And the dungeons give players a lot of freedom to take different paths. It's a good design, but takes some prep to really keep it all in your head.
Good luck, I hope you all have a great time!