I am literally brand new to DnD and DMing so literally any advice would be great. we are starting the campaign at level 1 just for a relative strength understanding of the party, also there are 4 players and me to DM and only 1 that I know of has actually played DnD. last thing is I don't have the money to spend on the DM guidebook for now but that will be the first thing I get, I am going off the free set of rules from DnD Beyond
The best thing you can do for yourself is to run either of the following adventures:
Dragons of Stormwreck Isle
Dragon of Icespire Peak (Essentials Kit)
Lost Mine of Phandelver
The reason for this is that they were desgined for exactly your situation. They will give you a great example of a starter adventure and they do a fair job of introducing both you and your players to the game system.
Off the back of this I'd strongly advise ignoring the 2024 rules for now. The 2014 (5e) Basic rules contained useful information for DMs. The 2024 Free rules left this stuff out...likely to force people to spend out on the 2024 DMG. If you're running your own setting or adventure as opposed to a starter/essentials kit adventure, the 2014 Basic Rules contain useful information to know about how to create encounters.
The average adventuring day consists of 6-8 Medium-Hard encounters. It is built this way to provide balance to the resources that characters have (spell slots, bardic inspiration dice, hit dice, etc.)
Pre-Gen Characters for your players are your friend. This sounds harsh to a lot of more experienced players, but for the new DM and new players, it really is important. The Pre-Generated characters in starter adventures help to ensure that no-one gets overwhelmed with the massive array of choices.
The 2024 Free Rules by comparison are just so laughably lacking in usable content it makes WotC's cash grab very clear. Don't misunderstand, if the 2024 rules seem good for you, go for them, but you'll really need to invest in the 2024 Player's Handbook and Dungeon Masters' Guide to make anything of them. You can't really run any kind of good adventure from the 2024 Free Rules I don't think.
Just to counter Martin's last point the 2024 Free Rules aren't finished yet which is why they're "laughably lacking", once the DMG and Monster Manual are released over the next few months they'll be added to and in fact we've already seen bits added to them since they first released.
For the other stuff I do agree that you're best not splashing out money you don't need to, especially if you're cash strapped. Use as much of the free stuff as possible, you can look here https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/general-discussion/187017-a-small-list-of-hidden-free-d-d-beyond-stuff for anything that's currently going (things come and go so not all of it is still there) and your best place to spend the first of your money is the Essentials Kit or the Starter Sets, as Martin said they're designed for first time parties and first time DMs and you should be able to take it straight out the box and run it after reading a nice short 30 odd pages for rules and about the same for the adventure. Helps massively.
As for pregen characters I find them useful for players who get decision paralysis but for a lot of people (including me) creating your own character is a big part of the appeal and doing so helps you figure out how the various mechanics connect to each other so don't be afraid to let me people do it if they want. If you're using the free rules the options are already limited so that should help
Just to counter Martin's last point the 2024 Free Rules aren't finished yet which is why they're "laughably lacking", once the DMG and Monster Manual are released over the next few months they'll be added to and in fact we've already seen bits added to them since they first released.
Which is why for newer players, staying away from the 2024 rules is the best advice right now. They aren't finished. It'll be interesting to see their final form. But currently, it's not the smoothest experience to run. As I said 'for now'.
I am literally brand new to DnD and DMing so literally any advice would be great. we are starting the campaign at level 1 just for a relative strength understanding of the party, also there are 4 players and me to DM and only 1 that I know of has actually played DnD. last thing is I don't have the money to spend on the DM guidebook for now but that will be the first thing I get, I am going off the free set of rules from DnD Beyond
The best thing you can do for yourself is to run either of the following adventures:
The reason for this is that they were desgined for exactly your situation. They will give you a great example of a starter adventure and they do a fair job of introducing both you and your players to the game system.
Off the back of this I'd strongly advise ignoring the 2024 rules for now. The 2014 (5e) Basic rules contained useful information for DMs. The 2024 Free rules left this stuff out...likely to force people to spend out on the 2024 DMG. If you're running your own setting or adventure as opposed to a starter/essentials kit adventure, the 2014 Basic Rules contain useful information to know about how to create encounters.
5e is built on a few key assumptions that you can find in the Basic Rules Basic Rules for Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) Fifth Edition (5e) - D&D Beyond
The 2024 Free Rules by comparison are just so laughably lacking in usable content it makes WotC's cash grab very clear. Don't misunderstand, if the 2024 rules seem good for you, go for them, but you'll really need to invest in the 2024 Player's Handbook and Dungeon Masters' Guide to make anything of them. You can't really run any kind of good adventure from the 2024 Free Rules I don't think.
DM session planning template - My version of maps for 'Lost Mine of Phandelver' - Send your party to The Circus - Other DM Resources - Maps, Tokens, Quests
Actor, Writer, Director & Teacher by day - GM/DM in my off hours.
Just to counter Martin's last point the 2024 Free Rules aren't finished yet which is why they're "laughably lacking", once the DMG and Monster Manual are released over the next few months they'll be added to and in fact we've already seen bits added to them since they first released.
For the other stuff I do agree that you're best not splashing out money you don't need to, especially if you're cash strapped. Use as much of the free stuff as possible, you can look here https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/general-discussion/187017-a-small-list-of-hidden-free-d-d-beyond-stuff for anything that's currently going (things come and go so not all of it is still there) and your best place to spend the first of your money is the Essentials Kit or the Starter Sets, as Martin said they're designed for first time parties and first time DMs and you should be able to take it straight out the box and run it after reading a nice short 30 odd pages for rules and about the same for the adventure. Helps massively.
As for pregen characters I find them useful for players who get decision paralysis but for a lot of people (including me) creating your own character is a big part of the appeal and doing so helps you figure out how the various mechanics connect to each other so don't be afraid to let me people do it if they want. If you're using the free rules the options are already limited so that should help
Which is why for newer players, staying away from the 2024 rules is the best advice right now. They aren't finished. It'll be interesting to see their final form. But currently, it's not the smoothest experience to run. As I said 'for now'.
DM session planning template - My version of maps for 'Lost Mine of Phandelver' - Send your party to The Circus - Other DM Resources - Maps, Tokens, Quests
Actor, Writer, Director & Teacher by day - GM/DM in my off hours.