Howdy, folks! Like it says on the tin, I'll be DMing for my first time here in a couple weeks and I've been tryin' to get ready. I'm hosting a D&D club after school soon, and since it's a bit of a strange situation I was wondering if any of y'all might have some advice beyond "that's a terrible idea."
Just so y'all know the gist of the situation, here's a little background information:
- This is a high school D&D club, and mostly everyone who has joined so far has never played before.
- I've only played a few times online, and never for long. The girl who's helpin' me out has played a bit more than me, but she's never been the DM before, either.
- We've got some time constraints, too, since it's an after school thing we'll only be having sessions once a week, for about an hour. We've been thinking about trying to organize a thing on the weekends that'll be longer, but for now all we've got to work with is the 1 hour sessions.
- We've also got a whole load of folks who are expected to play. We are expecting around 15 players, which is quite a lot for a first time DM and I'm a bit nervous about it.
It's a lot to take in, honestly, but I've got a few ideas that I'd like to try out. I'm trying not to stress out about it, and would really appreciate any advice y'all could give me. Thanks!
15 players in an hour is... not going to happen. That’s roughly two to three minutes per person? You will probably need a second DM.
I too am new, so wiser heads than mine should be available, but I have a group that is 7 people and two hours. This is okay for me. I find it hard to fit in lore and world building, but we generally are able to have some kind of small story each week. I cannoy imagine losing an hour or doubling the size (though I have run groups up to ten when guests join)
Step one should really be explain the vision. Not everyone is going to show up for the second session, and not everyone will want to play. It might be good to kind of get everyone on the same page, and start farming ideas. Something they will all need is characters, hopefully one with some kind of goal. The first session, might be going through and getting everyone to make a character. You should explain that due to the number of players and the time limit, there are restrictions. The nature of your group will limit what kind of stories you can tell. PVP should no be tolerated and please ask them to keep in mind that you need them to work with you. Players that try to break the story will probably break the game (as ab-libbing requires attantion and time, which are finite resources on a tight budget).
Step Two: Lose certain sections of the rulebook. You don’t have time to role for initiative. Action order starts with you so you can set up the situation, then you pick a random player, and go clockwise around the table. Each person has 10 seconds to take an action. There are no bonus actions. There are no free actions. Nobody cares about an action surge. Go! Go! Go! Combat will be tight, so all enemies should act at clear intervals (one action ever three to five players), and should really be limited to two or three big dudes (or battalions of small dudes that count as one big dude) that everyone can hit. There are two die that matter: a d20 and a d6. All attacks have a d20 to check, all attacks have a d6 roll. Some might require d6 plus #, or d6/2. Keep is simple and quick. I would make a random number table for yourself, so you don’t actually have to roll. You’ll need about 20 counts maximum (total guess I go through 30 in one of my sessions), and just mark off where you’re at. It might make sense if you got an ipad and called it “the official die generator” and just used that.
Step Three: You really have to keep descriptions servicable so questions are at a minimum. Not everyone will be paying attention, so keep things simple and consistant. Have very simple stories. Have very simple goals. Have very straight forward NPC’s. I really wouldn’t reward anything for these quests, at least until you know who your regulars are. You might be able to swing some puzzles. Puzzles are something that everyone can work on at the same time, but people don’t play D&D exclusively for puzzles and puzzles require collaboration. They can go sideways fast.
All of the above advice is great. Phandelver is probably the most beginner-friendly campaign setting out there and Cloudseeker42 wisely suggested it. I also echo the advice of using pregen characters and breaking the group up into parties of five players.
I'm going to suggest something a little different. I suggest spending 12 minutes and watching Matthew Colville talk about making a quick five-encounter dungeon and running a group of five players on this instead. Modify it to suit your needs or use it as-is if you don't want to put in the extra work on the front end. Run it three times for three groups of players if you need to and you'll be pleasantly surprised by how such a simple dungeon can deliver satisfying results. By the third time, you'll also be surprised at how well your DMing style has shifted to overcome small problems you encountered the first time through. I suspect you will also realize which players are more serious about wanting to play and which ones have scratched their casual D&D itch with the first adventure and you will be able to narrow down your Phandelver campaign group from there.
15 players in an hour is... not going to happen. That’s roughly two to three minutes per person? You will probably need a second DM.
Step one should really be explain the vision. Not everyone is going to show up for the second session, and not everyone will want to play. It might be good to kind of get everyone on the same page, and start farming ideas. Something they will all need is characters, hopefully one with some kind of goal. The first session, might be going through and getting everyone to make a character. You should explain that due to the number of players and the time limit, there are restrictions. The nature of your group will limit what kind of stories you can tell. PVP should no be tolerated and please ask them to keep in mind that you need them to work with you. Players that try to break the story will probably break the game (as ab-libbing requires attantion and time, which are finite resources on a tight budget).
Step Two: Lose certain sections of the rulebook. You don’t have time to role for initiative. Action order starts with you so you can set up the situation, then you pick a random player, and go clockwise around the table. Each person has 10 seconds to take an action. There are no bonus actions. There are no free actions. Nobody cares about an action surge. Go! Go! Go! Combat will be tight, so all enemies should act at clear intervals (one action ever three to five players), and should really be limited to two or three big dudes (or battalions of small dudes that count as one big dude) that everyone can hit. There are two die that matter: a d20 and a d6. All attacks have a d20 to check, all attacks have a d6 roll. Some might require d6 plus #, or d6/2. Keep is simple and quick. I would make a random number table for yourself, so you don’t actually have to roll. You’ll need about 20 counts maximum (total guess I go through 30 in one of my sessions), and just mark off where you’re at. It might make sense if you got an ipad and called it “the official die generator” and just used that.
Step Three: You really have to keep descriptions servicable so questions are at a minimum. Not everyone will be paying attention, so keep things simple and consistant. Have very simple stories. Have very simple goals. Have very straight forward NPC’s. I really wouldn’t reward anything for these quests, at least until you know who your regulars are. You might be able to swing some puzzles. Puzzles are something that everyone can work on at the same time, but people don’t play D&D exclusively for puzzles and puzzles require collaboration. They can go sideways fast.
Yeah, what I'm hoping is that after a few sessions the number of players will shrink down to something more manageable but if it doesn't I might have to ask the girl who's runnin' the club with me to DM too. And I was already plannin' on the first session or two being character creation and general Q&A type of thing to figure out who's interested and who isn't. I think you're right about needing to keep things simple for folks, especially for a session this large.
1. Start out with a quest like Lost Mine of Phandelver.
2. Pre-gen characters and make the players play them, and make the pre-gen characters simple. It not only help you learn the generation process but also makes you understand the class better. The players will be lost at the start anyway.
3. Do not overthink the game, keep it simple. Plan for what you don't want to improvise and improvise the rest.
4. Fun > Rule of Cool > actual rules. Make up your own rules if you do not know the rule of something. If you can't find the correct rule within at most 5min, make it up. Just stay consistent and if you want a new rule change do it between sessions.
5. You can forget 15 players. 7 players are a huge number. You NEED more DM's. I say you need like at least 3 groups with 4-5 players if DM's are not included in those players since you need 3 DM's.
I haven't heard of Lost Mine of Phandelver, so I'm going to have to look it up, but thanks for the suggestion! I think I'll use pre-gen characters if my players are having trouble figuring out the character creation process, but I honestly enjoy making characters and I'd like to give them that opportunity too. Also, oof. I wish we had 2 more DMs, but so far as I'm aware no one else is willing or interested. I'll pitch it to the group, and see if anyone wants to step up, but I highly doubt it.
All of the above advice is great. Phandelver is probably the most beginner-friendly campaign setting out there and Cloudseeker42 wisely suggested it. I also echo the advice of using pregen characters and breaking the group up into parties of five players.
I'm going to suggest something a little different. I suggest spending 12 minutes and watching Matthew Colville talk about making a quick five-encounter dungeon and running a group of five players on this instead. Modify it to suit your needs or use it as-is if you don't want to put in the extra work on the front end. Run it three times for three groups of players if you need to and you'll be pleasantly surprised by how such a simple dungeon can deliver satisfying results. By the third time, you'll also be surprised at how well your DMing style has shifted to overcome small problems you encountered the first time through. I suspect you will also realize which players are more serious about wanting to play and which ones have scratched their casual D&D itch with the first adventure and you will be able to narrow down your Phandelver campaign group from there.
I really need to look into Phandelver, it sounds pretty good so far, honestly! I've been watching Colville's Running the Game series and I've been considering using the campaign he creates in that video as one of our first few sessions. It seems like a pretty good fit for what I need, and with a few adjustments I think it would work out really well. Thanks for the advice!
Does your high school have a drama club, theatre department, or something else along those lines? If you have access to a bunch of aspiring performers (and maybe some props and costumes?), you may be able to recruit DMs. They would probably be able to handle the mechanics and are used to performing from a script (which would be your module, in this case). If you can get this kind of support through the school, it may also count as an extracurricular activity and may facilitate more playtime.
I was thinking about this, and I think a not terrible solution might be if they were gladiators or something? That way people are automatically on the same page and organized against a clear enemy. There's no set up before combat. People can drop in and out without real consequences. It's boring. We all know what's going to happen next. But once the number starts dropping, maybe you can break out. Maybe your party can split (when a new DM comes along).
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Howdy, folks! Like it says on the tin, I'll be DMing for my first time here in a couple weeks and I've been tryin' to get ready. I'm hosting a D&D club after school soon, and since it's a bit of a strange situation I was wondering if any of y'all might have some advice beyond "that's a terrible idea."
Just so y'all know the gist of the situation, here's a little background information:
- This is a high school D&D club, and mostly everyone who has joined so far has never played before.
- I've only played a few times online, and never for long. The girl who's helpin' me out has played a bit more than me, but she's never been the DM before, either.
- We've got some time constraints, too, since it's an after school thing we'll only be having sessions once a week, for about an hour. We've been thinking about trying to organize a thing on the weekends that'll be longer, but for now all we've got to work with is the 1 hour sessions.
- We've also got a whole load of folks who are expected to play. We are expecting around 15 players, which is quite a lot for a first time DM and I'm a bit nervous about it.
It's a lot to take in, honestly, but I've got a few ideas that I'd like to try out. I'm trying not to stress out about it, and would really appreciate any advice y'all could give me. Thanks!
15 players in an hour is... not going to happen. That’s roughly two to three minutes per person? You will probably need a second DM.
I too am new, so wiser heads than mine should be available, but I have a group that is 7 people and two hours. This is okay for me. I find it hard to fit in lore and world building, but we generally are able to have some kind of small story each week. I cannoy imagine losing an hour or doubling the size (though I have run groups up to ten when guests join)
Step one should really be explain the vision. Not everyone is going to show up for the second session, and not everyone will want to play. It might be good to kind of get everyone on the same page, and start farming ideas. Something they will all need is characters, hopefully one with some kind of goal. The first session, might be going through and getting everyone to make a character. You should explain that due to the number of players and the time limit, there are restrictions. The nature of your group will limit what kind of stories you can tell. PVP should no be tolerated and please ask them to keep in mind that you need them to work with you. Players that try to break the story will probably break the game (as ab-libbing requires attantion and time, which are finite resources on a tight budget).
Step Two: Lose certain sections of the rulebook. You don’t have time to role for initiative. Action order starts with you so you can set up the situation, then you pick a random player, and go clockwise around the table. Each person has 10 seconds to take an action. There are no bonus actions. There are no free actions. Nobody cares about an action surge. Go! Go! Go! Combat will be tight, so all enemies should act at clear intervals (one action ever three to five players), and should really be limited to two or three big dudes (or battalions of small dudes that count as one big dude) that everyone can hit. There are two die that matter: a d20 and a d6. All attacks have a d20 to check, all attacks have a d6 roll. Some might require d6 plus #, or d6/2. Keep is simple and quick. I would make a random number table for yourself, so you don’t actually have to roll. You’ll need about 20 counts maximum (total guess I go through 30 in one of my sessions), and just mark off where you’re at. It might make sense if you got an ipad and called it “the official die generator” and just used that.
Step Three: You really have to keep descriptions servicable so questions are at a minimum. Not everyone will be paying attention, so keep things simple and consistant. Have very simple stories. Have very simple goals. Have very straight forward NPC’s. I really wouldn’t reward anything for these quests, at least until you know who your regulars are. You might be able to swing some puzzles. Puzzles are something that everyone can work on at the same time, but people don’t play D&D exclusively for puzzles and puzzles require collaboration. They can go sideways fast.
All of the above advice is great. Phandelver is probably the most beginner-friendly campaign setting out there and Cloudseeker42 wisely suggested it. I also echo the advice of using pregen characters and breaking the group up into parties of five players.
I'm going to suggest something a little different. I suggest spending 12 minutes and watching Matthew Colville talk about making a quick five-encounter dungeon and running a group of five players on this instead. Modify it to suit your needs or use it as-is if you don't want to put in the extra work on the front end. Run it three times for three groups of players if you need to and you'll be pleasantly surprised by how such a simple dungeon can deliver satisfying results. By the third time, you'll also be surprised at how well your DMing style has shifted to overcome small problems you encountered the first time through. I suspect you will also realize which players are more serious about wanting to play and which ones have scratched their casual D&D itch with the first adventure and you will be able to narrow down your Phandelver campaign group from there.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
Yeah, what I'm hoping is that after a few sessions the number of players will shrink down to something more manageable but if it doesn't I might have to ask the girl who's runnin' the club with me to DM too. And I was already plannin' on the first session or two being character creation and general Q&A type of thing to figure out who's interested and who isn't. I think you're right about needing to keep things simple for folks, especially for a session this large.
I haven't heard of Lost Mine of Phandelver, so I'm going to have to look it up, but thanks for the suggestion! I think I'll use pre-gen characters if my players are having trouble figuring out the character creation process, but I honestly enjoy making characters and I'd like to give them that opportunity too. Also, oof. I wish we had 2 more DMs, but so far as I'm aware no one else is willing or interested. I'll pitch it to the group, and see if anyone wants to step up, but I highly doubt it.
I really need to look into Phandelver, it sounds pretty good so far, honestly! I've been watching Colville's Running the Game series and I've been considering using the campaign he creates in that video as one of our first few sessions. It seems like a pretty good fit for what I need, and with a few adjustments I think it would work out really well. Thanks for the advice!
Does your high school have a drama club, theatre department, or something else along those lines? If you have access to a bunch of aspiring performers (and maybe some props and costumes?), you may be able to recruit DMs. They would probably be able to handle the mechanics and are used to performing from a script (which would be your module, in this case). If you can get this kind of support through the school, it may also count as an extracurricular activity and may facilitate more playtime.
I was thinking about this, and I think a not terrible solution might be if they were gladiators or something? That way people are automatically on the same page and organized against a clear enemy. There's no set up before combat. People can drop in and out without real consequences. It's boring. We all know what's going to happen next. But once the number starts dropping, maybe you can break out. Maybe your party can split (when a new DM comes along).