Hi guys! im a brand new DM that is going to run a game from some of my friends that have never played D&D before. I am hoping you guys have some tips for me, what are some good things to start with? anything I should avoid? I am going to start them at level 3 for this "one-shot" and see what they think and if we should make it a regular thing.
Session 0 is where you take the time to explain what you would like from your players, what type of setting they'll be playing in, the special rules (house rules) that may be in place, your views on pvp, and address any other important information you want your players to have before even rolling up their characters. Then you'll have the players give you that type of information as well, what they want from you as a DM, what kind of settings, themes, or play styles they want to use or have, approach any supplemental material they may want to use, and so forth. Then you get to character generation, this way the players can bounce ideas off each other and you can help guide each other through the process.
If you're going to do a one-shot, make sure to let your players know if they'll be keeping their characters when they're done or if you'll be doing a whole new cast of characters for the next game(s).
If you are working with a table of all new, or mostly new, players then it's advisable to make sure the first few sessions cover the basics of how D&D plays. Cover things like combat, skill checks and uses, class specific mechanics, social interactions, and using their creative muscles to solve problems.
I'll give you my opening scenes I used for my latest game.
I had 6 players, 1 was a self-proclaimed veteran dating back to AD&D games, 2 had a novice level experience with D&D, two had no experience with D&D, and the last had just come off of a table top simulator version of D&D as their DM. None of them had any experience with 5e, so I knew I had to put together something to help acclimate them to the new rules. I have over 30 years of DMing under my belt and I helped beta the D&D Next initiative, so I knew what changes had been made to the system. The idea was to run them through the basics of what the game offered: Combat, Exploration, usage of class specific skills, and getting comfortable with my DM style. That last bit is just as important since DM styles vary almost as much as Player styles.
Session 0 was nothing more than character generation, an explanation of what to expect from me as a DM, what the players wanted from a game, and some of the house rules that I always put in to my games. This information, the collaborative character generation, and the time to help understand the sheets and initial questions are very useful for a quick transition into a game.
First session of the game I had them interacting between their characters. I had them meet up in a common grounds at a school where they were just graduating. They got time to introduce their characters and explain the bonds that they had between each other. They then met an NPC who spoke with them, gave them some information and then sent them on their first quest. I believe getting players into an action scene quickly is important in the first session. From there I had built a dungeon that had 3 very specific rooms into it, the rest of the rooms and corridors were there to make it feel fleshed out.
-Room 1: A simple puzzle, nothing that requires deep thought. I used a pressure plate trap and statues that spit fire. They had to figure out how to cross the room. -Room 2: A social encounter, something that requires them to use their social skills. This one required them to use persuasion, deception, insight, or their own creativity to make their way through. -Room 3: A combat, the way out being blocked by a monster. A simple fight that they had to work together to defeat, just strong enough to possibly knock 1 or 2 out, but allow them to win with simple tactics.
The rest of the dungeon had traps, minor monsters, some hidden objects, some locked or stuck doors, and some dangerous terrain to cross. I also had odd objects littered about, this way things like History, Religion, and Arcana could see some use. This way I could incorporate other skills and abilities by giving them challenges to accomplish using imagination and skills. In all I ran a 4 hour session and they got the chance to explore their character sheets and work their way through a quick dungeon crawl.
Then there was the second session, from there I introduced them to the city that would be their starting point. They got to work on social interactions, purchases, and exploration from there. I also started to get them familiar with gathering information rather than just running head long into the next quest. Sometimes you can't complete a quest because the quest giver only knows what they want, not the how. Using both of those sessions I gave them a crash course in what D&D was. I gave them some examples of what they can do, what they can't do, and what happens if they deviate from their character sheets and try to do something crazy. I generally, in those first sessions, don't adhere directly to the PHB/DMG giving a little grace and using the line "This time it works, but usually it won't because of (insert appropriate ruling)".
If you'd rather not go the homebrew route then I'd suggest grabbing something along the lines of Tale of the Yawning Portal or Lost Mines of Phandelver. A more structured format will help the DM and players get a grasp of the game while running a module that is fairly well put together.
DM traits to strive for:
Don't over plan anything. Get a working idea: inciting incident, a few check points in the story arc, climax, and a good and bad ending. This will be your guide for progressing the story but it is not a set in stone path that the players must take.
Put detail in the things that the players will see, have general descriptions for what they don't. If the players are in the city of Greenbarrow, then give it the detail it needs, all the shops, important people, quests, side-quests, point of interest, and some random NPCs that they can interact with. For the neighboring city of Valyn, you can write down around 5 descriptive notes that would be "common knowledge" since people travel and talk.
Keep notes so you can improvise on the fly. The more notes you take about the players' actions, choices, and missed opportunities, the easier it will be to make the world react to them naturally when they do something you don't expect. If the party's bard decides to make a special performance for the local church make a note of it. When they reach a new major city and the party asks for a place to stay, you could have a sister church there recognize the bard and offer them a room for another performance.
Be ready to make mistakes, own them, and move on. We are not perfect, even the most veteran DMs, and we will make mistakes. When a player, or you, catches one of your mistakes, just roll with it and resolve it in the moment. If it becomes an issue at the table just let them know "This is the ruling now, we'll revisit it after the game", rather than derail the game and break the immersion.
Lastly, and most importantly,
The players are the ones who drive the story, not the DM. It's too easy to get caught up in wanting the players to see this well drawn out, meticulously planned, and carefully crafted story you've put together for them. It's easy to want to show them the neat thing that you made for them. It's easy to want to tell them where to go when they flounder and end up not knowing what to do next. Do not play the game for them, do not force them down a path they don't take. Player agency is the single most entertaining part of the game, it's what makes the most memorable parts of an adventure.
When they get lost or flounder, have something in game prompt them. A random NPC shows up asking for help, a spirit guide shows up in a dream, smoke on the horizon are all better choices than looking up from the screen and saying "Well I did tell you, three sessions ago that the gnomes needed help....".
When the players decide to take off to explore the abandoned mines outside of town rather than stopping the assassination attempt they just learned about, let them. When they get back to town they'll have to receive the news that the assassination happened and they didn't stop it. However, while in the mines, they did learn about something else and found a neat trinket or treasure.
Thank you very much DMThac0 ! I very much appriciate the advices you've given me ! My only concern making a first time adventure for my friends is that I will not be creative enough to make the adventure "long" enough. I do have the adventure "curse of Strahd" so I'm thinking about running that after their initial introduction to D&D if they feel like keep going. I met with most of the group a month or two ago and they made characters, but with a lack of getting together we have yet to play with these characters, so i figured to introduce them to the game, I will just print up level 3 characters for them to play just to familiarize them with rules and how the game works. Then, or if we decide to play again we'll get together again and make new characters which will hopefully have given them more ideas on how the game is played and what they themselves want to do!
I wouldn't suggest starting with Curse of Strahd, that module requires a good amount of prep work. My wife chose that as her second module, right after Phandelver, and she has made mention many times about how some information is glossed over or doesn't come up until after it's pertinent to the place(s) that the players are in. It is a difficult module for new players as many choices can, and will, down right kill players with little to no warning. It's a fun module, in the dark, foreboding, and death around every corner sense, but not something I'd unleash on new players.
Worrying about how long a game will last isn't that big of a problem if you take cues from your players. I failed to mention this in my first post but listen to your players every time they come up with an idea or thought about what's going on in the game. That information is priceless for making decisions about what to do next as a DM. You don't have to follow it to the exact conclusion that the players talked about, but it can jump start a whole new side quest or put a spin on the current plot line.
A player says "I think that the ferryman is a bit weird, I think maybe he's helping out the bandits that keep sneaking into town." You never had that planned, you were just going with the idea that they snuck in under cover of dark, but now your players have given you a whole new twist on what's happening. Now you make the Ferryman an NPC who's being ransomed by the bandits, they have his family under watch and will kill them if he doesn't help out... Players weren't right but their idea was better than yours.
Creating your adventure idea isn't quite as tough as you think. It just feels like it because there's this idea that the world has so much stuff going on that you have to juggle. To create a good adventure/campaign you really only need to answer 3 questions, and then repeat the process for as deep as you want the rabbit hole to go.
1: What is the goal that the Party and the Opposition both have in common? 2: What is the Opposition doing to stop the Party from obtaining that goal? 3: What is the result of success and what is the result of failure?
If you can answer those questions, and leave room for the players to manipulate how everything plays out, you have a successful adventure. Let's look at an example:
1: The Party needs to acquire a rare herb to heal the sick children of the town, the Opposition is using that rare herb for illicit narcotics. 2: The Opposition is going to protect the herbs with force, burn the crop if necessary. 3: Success: Children are cured, possibly defeat a criminal organization. Failure: Children potentially die, criminal organization puts a bounty on the party.
As you can see there's room to play with the 3 question inside the example to make it even more robust:
2-1: Opposition is going to burn the crop, Party must seize as much of the crop as possible without being overtaken by the Opposition or the crop being fully destroyed. 2-2: The opposition tries to drive the party away from the fields, even considering killing the party rather than escaping. 2-3: Success: The party defeats the opposition, stops the fire, head out with the crops. Failure: Party is killed and/or fire destroys crops. Partial success: Party obtains some crops, opposition is not defeated, remaining crops destroyed.
And this can go on and on, leading into any direction you feel like taking it. If you simply outline the idea, and then let your players do all the work, you only really need to worry about how the world, NPCs, and events play out in response to their actions.
My tips: level them with milestones. (if they are all new, I'd might have started them in Lvl 2, (at lvl three they have to choose an archetype usually. Some of them will want to do lots of research before they make that choice. )
Session Zero is so important! You sit down and make characters together. Send them a little basic intro to character creation so they might come up with an idea before they arrive. Have them talk about how they know each other when they have an idea of their character, or have them draw 'bond senarios' like type: "I meet the person to my left at a bar, we got into a fist fight and have been buddies ever since."
Or
"I know the person to my right form my childhood, I never forgave them for stealing Mr. Snuggles."
If you think your players would like that and build more on to something like that it's a nice way to incurrage role play and party dynamic. You can also have adopted siblings, and other stuff, things you think they would find funny. Make them draw it and desginate from how they are seated.
Also I recommend that you read "the lazy dungeon master" (lots of great tips if you are new to your DM role). :D
Id give them a very clear objective, when you actuallysstart playing, do not start in a tavern/ city, they might just run of in different directions(this happened to me).
Maybe Explain to them that they are currently traveling together to achieve task X and the got a map, and for task X they have been promised some gold.
Good luck, remember to have fun :)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Fake it til you make it.
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Hi guys! im a brand new DM that is going to run a game from some of my friends that have never played D&D before. I am hoping you guys have some tips for me, what are some good things to start with? anything I should avoid? I am going to start them at level 3 for this "one-shot" and see what they think and if we should make it a regular thing.
Also, do you guys have any tips for me as a DM?
Thanks, Andresio
I'd offer starting with a session 0
Session 0 is where you take the time to explain what you would like from your players, what type of setting they'll be playing in, the special rules (house rules) that may be in place, your views on pvp, and address any other important information you want your players to have before even rolling up their characters. Then you'll have the players give you that type of information as well, what they want from you as a DM, what kind of settings, themes, or play styles they want to use or have, approach any supplemental material they may want to use, and so forth. Then you get to character generation, this way the players can bounce ideas off each other and you can help guide each other through the process.
If you're going to do a one-shot, make sure to let your players know if they'll be keeping their characters when they're done or if you'll be doing a whole new cast of characters for the next game(s).
If you are working with a table of all new, or mostly new, players then it's advisable to make sure the first few sessions cover the basics of how D&D plays. Cover things like combat, skill checks and uses, class specific mechanics, social interactions, and using their creative muscles to solve problems.
I'll give you my opening scenes I used for my latest game.
I had 6 players, 1 was a self-proclaimed veteran dating back to AD&D games, 2 had a novice level experience with D&D, two had no experience with D&D, and the last had just come off of a table top simulator version of D&D as their DM. None of them had any experience with 5e, so I knew I had to put together something to help acclimate them to the new rules. I have over 30 years of DMing under my belt and I helped beta the D&D Next initiative, so I knew what changes had been made to the system. The idea was to run them through the basics of what the game offered: Combat, Exploration, usage of class specific skills, and getting comfortable with my DM style. That last bit is just as important since DM styles vary almost as much as Player styles.
Session 0 was nothing more than character generation, an explanation of what to expect from me as a DM, what the players wanted from a game, and some of the house rules that I always put in to my games. This information, the collaborative character generation, and the time to help understand the sheets and initial questions are very useful for a quick transition into a game.
First session of the game I had them interacting between their characters. I had them meet up in a common grounds at a school where they were just graduating. They got time to introduce their characters and explain the bonds that they had between each other. They then met an NPC who spoke with them, gave them some information and then sent them on their first quest. I believe getting players into an action scene quickly is important in the first session. From there I had built a dungeon that had 3 very specific rooms into it, the rest of the rooms and corridors were there to make it feel fleshed out.
-Room 1: A simple puzzle, nothing that requires deep thought. I used a pressure plate trap and statues that spit fire. They had to figure out how to cross the room.
-Room 2: A social encounter, something that requires them to use their social skills. This one required them to use persuasion, deception, insight, or their own creativity to make their way through.
-Room 3: A combat, the way out being blocked by a monster. A simple fight that they had to work together to defeat, just strong enough to possibly knock 1 or 2 out, but allow them to win with simple tactics.
The rest of the dungeon had traps, minor monsters, some hidden objects, some locked or stuck doors, and some dangerous terrain to cross. I also had odd objects littered about, this way things like History, Religion, and Arcana could see some use. This way I could incorporate other skills and abilities by giving them challenges to accomplish using imagination and skills. In all I ran a 4 hour session and they got the chance to explore their character sheets and work their way through a quick dungeon crawl.
Then there was the second session, from there I introduced them to the city that would be their starting point. They got to work on social interactions, purchases, and exploration from there. I also started to get them familiar with gathering information rather than just running head long into the next quest. Sometimes you can't complete a quest because the quest giver only knows what they want, not the how. Using both of those sessions I gave them a crash course in what D&D was. I gave them some examples of what they can do, what they can't do, and what happens if they deviate from their character sheets and try to do something crazy. I generally, in those first sessions, don't adhere directly to the PHB/DMG giving a little grace and using the line "This time it works, but usually it won't because of (insert appropriate ruling)".
If you'd rather not go the homebrew route then I'd suggest grabbing something along the lines of Tale of the Yawning Portal or Lost Mines of Phandelver. A more structured format will help the DM and players get a grasp of the game while running a module that is fairly well put together.
DM traits to strive for:
Don't over plan anything. Get a working idea: inciting incident, a few check points in the story arc, climax, and a good and bad ending. This will be your guide for progressing the story but it is not a set in stone path that the players must take.
Put detail in the things that the players will see, have general descriptions for what they don't. If the players are in the city of Greenbarrow, then give it the detail it needs, all the shops, important people, quests, side-quests, point of interest, and some random NPCs that they can interact with. For the neighboring city of Valyn, you can write down around 5 descriptive notes that would be "common knowledge" since people travel and talk.
Keep notes so you can improvise on the fly. The more notes you take about the players' actions, choices, and missed opportunities, the easier it will be to make the world react to them naturally when they do something you don't expect. If the party's bard decides to make a special performance for the local church make a note of it. When they reach a new major city and the party asks for a place to stay, you could have a sister church there recognize the bard and offer them a room for another performance.
Be ready to make mistakes, own them, and move on. We are not perfect, even the most veteran DMs, and we will make mistakes. When a player, or you, catches one of your mistakes, just roll with it and resolve it in the moment. If it becomes an issue at the table just let them know "This is the ruling now, we'll revisit it after the game", rather than derail the game and break the immersion.
Lastly, and most importantly,
The players are the ones who drive the story, not the DM. It's too easy to get caught up in wanting the players to see this well drawn out, meticulously planned, and carefully crafted story you've put together for them. It's easy to want to show them the neat thing that you made for them. It's easy to want to tell them where to go when they flounder and end up not knowing what to do next. Do not play the game for them, do not force them down a path they don't take. Player agency is the single most entertaining part of the game, it's what makes the most memorable parts of an adventure.
When they get lost or flounder, have something in game prompt them. A random NPC shows up asking for help, a spirit guide shows up in a dream, smoke on the horizon are all better choices than looking up from the screen and saying "Well I did tell you, three sessions ago that the gnomes needed help....".
When the players decide to take off to explore the abandoned mines outside of town rather than stopping the assassination attempt they just learned about, let them. When they get back to town they'll have to receive the news that the assassination happened and they didn't stop it. However, while in the mines, they did learn about something else and found a neat trinket or treasure.
Good luck with your new game, and have fun!
Thank you very much DMThac0 ! I very much appriciate the advices you've given me ! My only concern making a first time adventure for my friends is that I will not be creative enough to make the adventure "long" enough. I do have the adventure "curse of Strahd" so I'm thinking about running that after their initial introduction to D&D if they feel like keep going. I met with most of the group a month or two ago and they made characters, but with a lack of getting together we have yet to play with these characters, so i figured to introduce them to the game, I will just print up level 3 characters for them to play just to familiarize them with rules and how the game works. Then, or if we decide to play again we'll get together again and make new characters which will hopefully have given them more ideas on how the game is played and what they themselves want to do!
Thanks!
I wouldn't suggest starting with Curse of Strahd, that module requires a good amount of prep work. My wife chose that as her second module, right after Phandelver, and she has made mention many times about how some information is glossed over or doesn't come up until after it's pertinent to the place(s) that the players are in. It is a difficult module for new players as many choices can, and will, down right kill players with little to no warning. It's a fun module, in the dark, foreboding, and death around every corner sense, but not something I'd unleash on new players.
Worrying about how long a game will last isn't that big of a problem if you take cues from your players. I failed to mention this in my first post but listen to your players every time they come up with an idea or thought about what's going on in the game. That information is priceless for making decisions about what to do next as a DM. You don't have to follow it to the exact conclusion that the players talked about, but it can jump start a whole new side quest or put a spin on the current plot line.
A player says "I think that the ferryman is a bit weird, I think maybe he's helping out the bandits that keep sneaking into town." You never had that planned, you were just going with the idea that they snuck in under cover of dark, but now your players have given you a whole new twist on what's happening. Now you make the Ferryman an NPC who's being ransomed by the bandits, they have his family under watch and will kill them if he doesn't help out... Players weren't right but their idea was better than yours.
Creating your adventure idea isn't quite as tough as you think. It just feels like it because there's this idea that the world has so much stuff going on that you have to juggle. To create a good adventure/campaign you really only need to answer 3 questions, and then repeat the process for as deep as you want the rabbit hole to go.
1: What is the goal that the Party and the Opposition both have in common?
2: What is the Opposition doing to stop the Party from obtaining that goal?
3: What is the result of success and what is the result of failure?
If you can answer those questions, and leave room for the players to manipulate how everything plays out, you have a successful adventure. Let's look at an example:
1: The Party needs to acquire a rare herb to heal the sick children of the town, the Opposition is using that rare herb for illicit narcotics.
2: The Opposition is going to protect the herbs with force, burn the crop if necessary.
3: Success: Children are cured, possibly defeat a criminal organization. Failure: Children potentially die, criminal organization puts a bounty on the party.
As you can see there's room to play with the 3 question inside the example to make it even more robust:
2-1: Opposition is going to burn the crop, Party must seize as much of the crop as possible without being overtaken by the Opposition or the crop being fully destroyed.
2-2: The opposition tries to drive the party away from the fields, even considering killing the party rather than escaping.
2-3: Success: The party defeats the opposition, stops the fire, head out with the crops. Failure: Party is killed and/or fire destroys crops. Partial success: Party obtains some crops, opposition is not defeated, remaining crops destroyed.
And this can go on and on, leading into any direction you feel like taking it. If you simply outline the idea, and then let your players do all the work, you only really need to worry about how the world, NPCs, and events play out in response to their actions.
My tips: level them with milestones. (if they are all new, I'd might have started them in Lvl 2, (at lvl three they have to choose an archetype usually. Some of them will want to do lots of research before they make that choice. )
Session Zero is so important! You sit down and make characters together. Send them a little basic intro to character creation so they might come up with an idea before they arrive. Have them talk about how they know each other when they have an idea of their character, or have them draw 'bond senarios' like type: "I meet the person to my left at a bar, we got into a fist fight and have been buddies ever since."
Or
"I know the person to my right form my childhood, I never forgave them for stealing Mr. Snuggles."
If you think your players would like that and build more on to something like that it's a nice way to incurrage role play and party dynamic. You can also have adopted siblings, and other stuff, things you think they would find funny. Make them draw it and desginate from how they are seated.
Also I recommend that you read "the lazy dungeon master" (lots of great tips if you are new to your DM role). :D
Id give them a very clear objective, when you actuallysstart playing, do not start in a tavern/ city, they might just run of in different directions(this happened to me).
Maybe Explain to them that they are currently traveling together to achieve task X and the got a map, and for task X they have been promised some gold.
Good luck, remember to have fun :)
Fake it til you make it.