Noob Question

Hello, hope this is the correct place.

I've never DM'd and havent played since I was a child. I've recently rounded up some interested mates and am in the process of buying the things I think i'll want/need. I have the 2014 5e player guide and monster manual. Plan on getting the DMG too.

I've also bought the Essentials Kit as a bit of a tutorial for us all. It's levels 1-6. I plan on running the Tomb of Annihilation campaign (come on, disonsaurs!) after that which is level 1-11. How do level 6 characters start the new campaign? Do I rework the combat difficulty? If so, how? Could I ask people to roll new characters? 

Thanks for any answers, i'm utterly clueless

Hi. First off good luck running your first campaign. The Essentials Kit is a great campaign and I'm sure your players will have a lot of fun.

As for transitioning to Tombs you've got a few options. For a start it's got a reputation as a meat grinder, the book itself suggests players create two or three characters, so you might decide that to go easy on your players you'll just let them start at level 6 so they have an easier time. You can then either give them fewer level ups than the book suggests so they eventually close the gap or just let them keep going. It's also a very complex campaign to run with lots to remember and a large hex crawl so good luck running it.

The second option as you say is to adjust the difficulty to match the players. Encounter balance is an art rather than a science, there are tables to work it out but they never work perfectly. As a general guide if you're using a group of enemies than add one or two extra and if you're using just one (come on dinosaurs) then increase it's hit points or increase it's damage. 

Third option is create new characters. By the time you've gone from 1-6 in the first campaign you'll all have a much better grasp of the rules, might have realised you made huge mistakes on the first characters, and want to try new ones anyway.  

Okay, cool. Thanks for the considered reply. Sounds like I have options. 

Quote from CunningSmile >>

Third option is create new characters. By the time you've gone from 1-6 in the first campaign you'll all have a much better grasp of the rules, might have realised you made huge mistakes on the first characters, and want to try new ones anyway.  

That would be my first instinct. Also, check which edition of the DMG you get. The 2014 materials are all 5.0 and the 2024 onward stuff is 5.5 edition. They're both great, so you can't go wrong! But they can be pretty significantly different, especially with the player's handbook and character creation/leveling. I mean, you'll be fine either way, just be aware that if you've got some 5.0 and some 5.5 materials you might run into some weird inconsistencies. 

Have fun!!!