I'm a first time DM, trying to start a campaign with first time players. We're just a group of friend trying out DND. I have bought the Starter Kit (not the essentials kit) to get us going, but when I open the rules and the story booklet I feel quite overwhelmed. I don't quite know where to start, how to remember all essential story elements, how to make it come together...
It's really holding me back to actually start DM'ing. Do you guys have any tips in overcoming this feeling of being overwhelmed? Some kind of tips or a starting point to get going? I'd really love to start, but I just feel like I'll forget so much or just do it all wrong.
If you've never played or DMed before I'd suggest taking a weekend and playing out the first couple of encounters in whatever starter set you've got (yep, there's two...).
Use the pregen characters out of the the box. Take your time, and check out the rules as you go. Then after you've finished go back and do it again changing up what both sides do based on what you've learnt from the first play through. After that you'll have a good idea how to run a combat, what the characters can do and some of the gotchas (but not all of them) that'll come up when you have real players.
And when you finally get to play with real players don't sweat the small stuff. You're bound to mess something up so just roll with it.
I ran a couple candlekeep mysteries for my first games, being a mini story there’s less to prep. One big piece of advice I got and didn’t believe but it’s generally true, things take longer than expected. If you’re like me you’ll want to over prep but not use a lot of stuff.
Another thing is players will inevitably do or say something you don’t expect so no matter what you prep something will come up you don’t expect so be adaptable.
for myself, I now prefer bullet points. I can prep the events without going nuts. I also have a list of npcs to remind me if names since players will ask and you’ll forget. Lastly a few areas the players may go. After that I use the book for descriptions, if there’s any important points like hidden treasure have notes for those.
have a basic idea of difficulty, as above you’ll have players do something you don’t expect so be ready to set a difficulty. E.g. maybe the module expects players to talk to a npc and lists how it’ll play out, but the party rogue decided to break in so now you’re setting a acrobatics DC fir climbing a wall and another stealth DC fir sneaking through the house. Linked to this don’t be too attached to where important information is, if the players have a good idea move stuff to them. In my first game as a player there was a npc who had information, but the way we played it they ended up antagonistic. We may have killed the npc… but would you know it the important information was in the npcs pocket for keeping the plot going forward.
Start small and think small. You can prep for an entire campaign's worth of story elements and possibilities, but you don't need to. All you need is to focus on what you're going to do with your players in that one session - whether it's a single fight or a self-contained adventure that can finish in a few hours. One-shots are a great introduction to DMing and to D&D. And if you want to start with a full-blown campaign instead, take it one session at a time.
As for forgetting things and doing it wrong...embrace it and give yourself grace, because even the most seasoned DMs do it all the time. When you're new, you're going to fumble around. This is normal. As long as everyone's having fun, even "doing it wrong" is right.
Some tips for actual play:
- Have combat rules easily accessed. (Most DM screens have them printed on the inside for reference, but you can just have the combat chapter bookmarked when you need it.)
- Write down things you really want to remember. (I typed out my opening narration and adventure outline, for my first time DMing. Now, I just use post-its that I frequently forget to look at, lol.)
- Make it up. Rather than stopping gameplay to look up a ruling, feel free to just ask for a roll or decide something that makes sense to you and move on. The rules are there to help you, but if they're in the way of having a good time, you don't have to stick to them. It's Rule Zero of DMing.
- Have fun. Seriously. Enjoy the time playing a game with your friends. :-)
read closely — take notes, even — the first part. Know it very well beforehand, and don’t worry about the rest.
be fair. Some days, all your characters (the npcs) are just not going to have a good time.
be open: if you don’t know, say you don’t know.
do not take anything personally. You are referee, judge, and moderator, not god.
One session at a time.
I have an outline for 21 entire adventures. I wrote up 12 already. I have been working on it for going on five years. I have to rewrite the first three because of changes.
when I play, it is only about that specific session, though. And my players are unruly, half serious most of the time, and they don’t always go for my story hooks and bait. They like to wander off and do weird ass things like tourists.
I am there to follow along and toss bait and describe and laugh and have fun just like they are. That is what matters most.
not prep, not knowing the entire thing start to finish, not spending five years of blood, sweat and tears.
those things are important, but they are not the point, not what matters most.
my virtual set up is a sheet of paper with a camera on it, a camera on me, and a camera on them. No DDB or vtt, no digital dice. Not because those things are bad, but because the core of my group is folks who can live in 55 and up communities.
even if we did use them, the same rules would apply.
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Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities .-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-. An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more. Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
Thanks for all the great advice! I can feel my motivation coming back to me! Didn't expect there to be so much good answers or feedback in such a short amount of time. Thanks again!!
Everyone's given excellent advice. There was recently an article published on D&D Beyond that includes some pretty good tips that you might want to read, too:
I've played before and am trying my hand at DM'ing with a group of new players, I should also mention that I haven't played since covid. So, what I am doing is starting our first adventure from a pre-written book and we are playing what I would call openly. By this I mean that I am telling my players when and where to use skills, how to be effective in combat, and how to question NPC's. As we progress I will be offering less and less guidance. This makes it very easy for them to learn and gives me a lot of space to learn how to DM, I can take time to look things up and we are all learning the mechanics very well.
@ theologyofbagels hits on a great point. Start small; Think small.
You don't need to prepare anything more than what the party is going to see in the next session, maybe two. And maybe a couple of additional encounters should the party happen upon something during their travels or while they are taking a rest. Mike 'SlyFourish' Shea refers to this as Thinking Two Horizons Out. There are some other articles on his site that might be of use as well.
The second piece of advice for any new DM, and this isn't in any order of preference, is MCDM - Running the Game.
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“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
...By this I mean that I am telling my players when and where to use skills, how to be effective in combat, and how to question NPC's. As we progress I will be offering less and less guidance.
I may have the wrong impression here, and forgive me if I do, but from what it sounds like... I would recommend not doing this. You won't actually be doing your players or yourself any favors. In fact, you'll be training everyone at the table, yourself included, that D&D is a game whose actions are dictated or guided by the DM. It might sound easy, just weaning everyone off your guidance, but the precedent you set will be the only D&D your players know, and it may be harder to walk away from that than you think. The DM's job isn't to make sure everyone is playing optimally; it's to facilitate collaboration and adjudicate player choices.
Rather than "open" play, you can use NPCs to model the kind of roleplay that's possible. You can ask players what they want to do to solve the puzzle and then prompt them for appropriate skill checks to teach them how that works. You can gently remind them about their actions in combat (e.g., "You still have movement and a bonus action. I think you might have some bonus actions on your character sheet, if you want to use one.") All of this is normal DMing and allows for player trial and error and agency. Because you may find that your players don't want to ask NPCs questions, or do combat effectively, or solve puzzles using the skills you would. And yet, that may be their brand of fun, and you don't want to deny them the chance to figure it out for themselves.
Thanks for this. I am straight-forward that this guidance will be ending after our first mini-adventure. My DM'ing beyond that will be pretty sink or swim. My party is okay with consequences and all of that. Everyone expects to likely die (although I will be easier than this), I am trying to build tension and get people used to consequences for their actions.
...By this I mean that I am telling my players when and where to use skills, how to be effective in combat, and how to question NPC's. As we progress I will be offering less and less guidance.
I may have the wrong impression here, and forgive me if I do, but from what it sounds like... I would recommend not doing this. You won't actually be doing your players or yourself any favors. In fact, you'll be training everyone at the table, yourself included, that D&D is a game whose actions are dictated or guided by the DM. It might sound easy, just weaning everyone off your guidance, but the precedent you set will be the only D&D your players know, and it may be harder to walk away from that than you think. The DM's job isn't to make sure everyone is playing optimally; it's to facilitate collaboration and adjudicate player choices.
Rather than "open" play, you can use NPCs to model the kind of roleplay that's possible. You can ask players what they want to do to solve the puzzle and then prompt them for appropriate skill checks to teach them how that works. You can gently remind them about their actions in combat (e.g., "You still have movement and a bonus action. I think you might have some bonus actions on your character sheet, if you want to use one.") All of this is normal DMing and allows for player trial and error and agency. Because you may find that your players don't want to ask NPCs questions, or do combat effectively, or solve puzzles using the skills you would. And yet, that may be their brand of fun, and you don't want to deny them the chance to figure it out for themselves.
I would normally agree with this to some extent. The DM shouldn't make decisions for the characters and with a group of reasonably experienced players, the DM should only prod rarely if players are forgetting something important.
However, with a group of new players, the DM should encourage the players to read sections about their character class and abilities then in actual play the DM can remind the players about abilities and game mechanics (hit rolls, damage rolls, ability checks, saving throws) so that the player becomes more motivated to read up on their character. The DM doesn't want to be a crutch in the long run but with a game like D&D there is no other way to teach the game to new players. The DM needs to go over the character sheets with the players and the character sheets need to contain information on all the character abilities and available actions. The DM also needs to explain that the players can attempt anything they can think of, and the DM will figure out appropriate checks/die rolls to resolve it.
Finally, though, in a group with a brand new DM and a group of brand new players, I'd advocate for the more open play experience described. In this situation, everyone is learning the rules at the same time. Hopefully the DM has gone over the rules a few times and has a pretty good idea but the other players should also be encouraged to read over the rules too in addition to the character sheets.
Then choose a few small example encounters, not necessarily part of the module you plan to run but maybe events that happened prior to the adventure where the party first met. Perhaps a social interaction in a tavern, an exploration example traveling from one town to the one where the module starts and a couple of easy combat encounters along the road. This is to expose both the DM and the players to the game mechanics applied to each pillar of the game. The DM runs the group through these encounters but the players contribute their thoughts on how it should be run since everyone, players and DM, are all learning the game. It will take a bit longer than usual but hopefully by the end both the players and DM will have a reasonable idea of how the mechanics are supposed to work. The DM still has to do the most work but having an open, group learning experience will likely help both the DM and the players get used to the game and how it works.
However, with a group of new players, the DM should encourage the players to read sections about their character class and abilities then in actual play the DM can remind the players about abilities and game mechanics (hit rolls, damage rolls, ability checks, saving throws) so that the player becomes more motivated to read up on their character. The DM doesn't want to be a crutch in the long run but with a game like D&D there is no other way to teach the game to new players. The DM needs to go over the character sheets with the players and the character sheets need to contain information on all the character abilities and available actions. The DM also needs to explain that the players can attempt anything they can think of, and the DM will figure out appropriate checks/die rolls to resolve it.
There's a difference between highlighting mechanics/gameplay options and telling players what kind of questions to ask an NPC/how to optimize combat. One is descriptive and helpful, the other is prescriptive and railroady. Again, with the little information I had, my only caution was to err on the side of equal-footed learning rather than authoritarian play. And I don't think authoritarian play is OP's intention, given the response.
I've DMed for complete newbies plenty of times, even when I was a new DM, myself. Most of the time, newbies either have plenty of ideas of what they want to try and need help translating that into the appropriate mechanics, or they just need examples to help them get their creativity (or courage) flowing. I find there's not much need to tell a new player what they should do in any given situation when simply reminding them of what's possible works just fine and preserves their agency. But like I said, it sounds like OP is not looking to be dogmatic, so my caution doesn't necessarily apply here.
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Dear fellow DM's,
I'm a first time DM, trying to start a campaign with first time players. We're just a group of friend trying out DND.
I have bought the Starter Kit (not the essentials kit) to get us going, but when I open the rules and the story booklet I feel quite overwhelmed. I don't quite know where to start, how to remember all essential story elements, how to make it come together...
It's really holding me back to actually start DM'ing. Do you guys have any tips in overcoming this feeling of being overwhelmed? Some kind of tips or a starting point to get going? I'd really love to start, but I just feel like I'll forget so much or just do it all wrong.
Thanks in advance!
If you've never played or DMed before I'd suggest taking a weekend and playing out the first couple of encounters in whatever starter set you've got (yep, there's two...).
Use the pregen characters out of the the box. Take your time, and check out the rules as you go. Then after you've finished go back and do it again changing up what both sides do based on what you've learnt from the first play through. After that you'll have a good idea how to run a combat, what the characters can do and some of the gotchas (but not all of them) that'll come up when you have real players.
And when you finally get to play with real players don't sweat the small stuff. You're bound to mess something up so just roll with it.
I ran a couple candlekeep mysteries for my first games, being a mini story there’s less to prep. One big piece of advice I got and didn’t believe but it’s generally true, things take longer than expected. If you’re like me you’ll want to over prep but not use a lot of stuff.
Another thing is players will inevitably do or say something you don’t expect so no matter what you prep something will come up you don’t expect so be adaptable.
for myself, I now prefer bullet points. I can prep the events without going nuts. I also have a list of npcs to remind me if names since players will ask and you’ll forget. Lastly a few areas the players may go. After that I use the book for descriptions, if there’s any important points like hidden treasure have notes for those.
have a basic idea of difficulty, as above you’ll have players do something you don’t expect so be ready to set a difficulty. E.g. maybe the module expects players to talk to a npc and lists how it’ll play out, but the party rogue decided to break in so now you’re setting a acrobatics DC fir climbing a wall and another stealth DC fir sneaking through the house. Linked to this don’t be too attached to where important information is, if the players have a good idea move stuff to them. In my first game as a player there was a npc who had information, but the way we played it they ended up antagonistic. We may have killed the npc… but would you know it the important information was in the npcs pocket for keeping the plot going forward.
Start small and think small. You can prep for an entire campaign's worth of story elements and possibilities, but you don't need to. All you need is to focus on what you're going to do with your players in that one session - whether it's a single fight or a self-contained adventure that can finish in a few hours. One-shots are a great introduction to DMing and to D&D. And if you want to start with a full-blown campaign instead, take it one session at a time.
As for forgetting things and doing it wrong...embrace it and give yourself grace, because even the most seasoned DMs do it all the time. When you're new, you're going to fumble around. This is normal. As long as everyone's having fun, even "doing it wrong" is right.
Some tips for actual play:
- Have combat rules easily accessed. (Most DM screens have them printed on the inside for reference, but you can just have the combat chapter bookmarked when you need it.)
- Write down things you really want to remember. (I typed out my opening narration and adventure outline, for my first time DMing. Now, I just use post-its that I frequently forget to look at, lol.)
- Make it up. Rather than stopping gameplay to look up a ruling, feel free to just ask for a roll or decide something that makes sense to you and move on. The rules are there to help you, but if they're in the way of having a good time, you don't have to stick to them. It's Rule Zero of DMing.
- Have fun. Seriously. Enjoy the time playing a game with your friends. :-)
Don’t overthink it.
Dont try to “make it happen”.
read closely — take notes, even — the first part. Know it very well beforehand, and don’t worry about the rest.
be fair. Some days, all your characters (the npcs) are just not going to have a good time.
be open: if you don’t know, say you don’t know.
do not take anything personally. You are referee, judge, and moderator, not god.
One session at a time.
I have an outline for 21 entire adventures. I wrote up 12 already. I have been working on it for going on five years. I have to rewrite the first three because of changes.
when I play, it is only about that specific session, though. And my players are unruly, half serious most of the time, and they don’t always go for my story hooks and bait. They like to wander off and do weird ass things like tourists.
I am there to follow along and toss bait and describe and laugh and have fun just like they are. That is what matters most.
not prep, not knowing the entire thing start to finish, not spending five years of blood, sweat and tears.
those things are important, but they are not the point, not what matters most.
my virtual set up is a sheet of paper with a camera on it, a camera on me, and a camera on them. No DDB or vtt, no digital dice. Not because those things are bad, but because the core of my group is folks who can live in 55 and up communities.
even if we did use them, the same rules would apply.
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities
.-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-.
An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more.
Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
Thanks for all the great advice! I can feel my motivation coming back to me! Didn't expect there to be so much good answers or feedback in such a short amount of time. Thanks again!!
Everyone's given excellent advice. There was recently an article published on D&D Beyond that includes some pretty good tips that you might want to read, too:
https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1452-how-to-be-a-dungeon-master
[REDACTED]
I've played before and am trying my hand at DM'ing with a group of new players, I should also mention that I haven't played since covid. So, what I am doing is starting our first adventure from a pre-written book and we are playing what I would call openly. By this I mean that I am telling my players when and where to use skills, how to be effective in combat, and how to question NPC's. As we progress I will be offering less and less guidance. This makes it very easy for them to learn and gives me a lot of space to learn how to DM, I can take time to look things up and we are all learning the mechanics very well.
@ theologyofbagels hits on a great point. Start small; Think small.
You don't need to prepare anything more than what the party is going to see in the next session, maybe two. And maybe a couple of additional encounters should the party happen upon something during their travels or while they are taking a rest. Mike 'SlyFourish' Shea refers to this as Thinking Two Horizons Out. There are some other articles on his site that might be of use as well.
The second piece of advice for any new DM, and this isn't in any order of preference, is MCDM - Running the Game.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
I may have the wrong impression here, and forgive me if I do, but from what it sounds like... I would recommend not doing this. You won't actually be doing your players or yourself any favors. In fact, you'll be training everyone at the table, yourself included, that D&D is a game whose actions are dictated or guided by the DM. It might sound easy, just weaning everyone off your guidance, but the precedent you set will be the only D&D your players know, and it may be harder to walk away from that than you think. The DM's job isn't to make sure everyone is playing optimally; it's to facilitate collaboration and adjudicate player choices.
Rather than "open" play, you can use NPCs to model the kind of roleplay that's possible. You can ask players what they want to do to solve the puzzle and then prompt them for appropriate skill checks to teach them how that works. You can gently remind them about their actions in combat (e.g., "You still have movement and a bonus action. I think you might have some bonus actions on your character sheet, if you want to use one.") All of this is normal DMing and allows for player trial and error and agency. Because you may find that your players don't want to ask NPCs questions, or do combat effectively, or solve puzzles using the skills you would. And yet, that may be their brand of fun, and you don't want to deny them the chance to figure it out for themselves.
Thanks for this. I am straight-forward that this guidance will be ending after our first mini-adventure. My DM'ing beyond that will be pretty sink or swim. My party is okay with consequences and all of that. Everyone expects to likely die (although I will be easier than this), I am trying to build tension and get people used to consequences for their actions.
I would normally agree with this to some extent. The DM shouldn't make decisions for the characters and with a group of reasonably experienced players, the DM should only prod rarely if players are forgetting something important.
However, with a group of new players, the DM should encourage the players to read sections about their character class and abilities then in actual play the DM can remind the players about abilities and game mechanics (hit rolls, damage rolls, ability checks, saving throws) so that the player becomes more motivated to read up on their character. The DM doesn't want to be a crutch in the long run but with a game like D&D there is no other way to teach the game to new players. The DM needs to go over the character sheets with the players and the character sheets need to contain information on all the character abilities and available actions. The DM also needs to explain that the players can attempt anything they can think of, and the DM will figure out appropriate checks/die rolls to resolve it.
Finally, though, in a group with a brand new DM and a group of brand new players, I'd advocate for the more open play experience described. In this situation, everyone is learning the rules at the same time. Hopefully the DM has gone over the rules a few times and has a pretty good idea but the other players should also be encouraged to read over the rules too in addition to the character sheets.
Then choose a few small example encounters, not necessarily part of the module you plan to run but maybe events that happened prior to the adventure where the party first met. Perhaps a social interaction in a tavern, an exploration example traveling from one town to the one where the module starts and a couple of easy combat encounters along the road. This is to expose both the DM and the players to the game mechanics applied to each pillar of the game. The DM runs the group through these encounters but the players contribute their thoughts on how it should be run since everyone, players and DM, are all learning the game. It will take a bit longer than usual but hopefully by the end both the players and DM will have a reasonable idea of how the mechanics are supposed to work. The DM still has to do the most work but having an open, group learning experience will likely help both the DM and the players get used to the game and how it works.
Maybe watch some actual play videos on You Tube. Here's a group playing Lost Mine of Phandelver:
Lost Mine of Phandelver Episode 1
There's a difference between highlighting mechanics/gameplay options and telling players what kind of questions to ask an NPC/how to optimize combat. One is descriptive and helpful, the other is prescriptive and railroady. Again, with the little information I had, my only caution was to err on the side of equal-footed learning rather than authoritarian play. And I don't think authoritarian play is OP's intention, given the response.
I've DMed for complete newbies plenty of times, even when I was a new DM, myself. Most of the time, newbies either have plenty of ideas of what they want to try and need help translating that into the appropriate mechanics, or they just need examples to help them get their creativity (or courage) flowing. I find there's not much need to tell a new player what they should do in any given situation when simply reminding them of what's possible works just fine and preserves their agency. But like I said, it sounds like OP is not looking to be dogmatic, so my caution doesn't necessarily apply here.