I'm going to be running Legacy of the Crystal Shard for for some of my friends and coworkers. I've played D&D a few times, just started this year, but this is my first time running a game. We haven't started playing yet, I'm still preparing the whole adventure up through Act 1. What are some methods other DM's use to keep track of everything. I'm trying to map out the story and interactions b/w the players and NPC's with flowcharts, but I keep thinking of the ways the players might force me to improvise.
What are some things I need to remember while designing a dungeon?
What's an efficient way to keep track of NPC's and combat encounters?
Also, being this is my first adventure, how advisable is it for me to go off-script?
Welcome to the wonderful world of DMing. You're in for a time alrighty.
Firstly, are you following a module? Or homebrewing based on the novels? As far as keeping track of things, I keep an A5 piece of paper for each player on my DM Screen and make notes on it for main points. Plot bits, curses, important NPC's for that character. Apart from that, I tend to keep notes about NPC's or locations grouped by Town or City as that's where they're most likely to run into them again, or refer to them.
My best advice would be to keep a loose hold of the plot and overall world, but a close eye on the area surrounding the immediate questing. They're in the village of Goldenleaf? Know everything about Goldenleaf. Shops, taverns, guilds, rumours, NPC's, history. That way if your players go off topic (which they will) you have the material required to roll with it.
Some other tips. Don't let your players roll for something if you have no intention of letting them do it. And inversely, don't let your players roll for something that you feel they "must" find. Even with a DC2, your players will roll a 1 and now you're left with a dodgy hacked together fix that will feel a bit meh.
Don't railroad. Players don't like having their choice taken from them.
Have fun! Even though you're the DM, it's your game too.
The players are the heroes. Overpowered NPC's that save the day might be fun for you to play, but it's not fun for your players.
Let the session run slightly longer than you thought. Some DM's will disagree with me, but it's tempting to finish on a super high note. You killed the dragon!! Hurrah! End of tonight's session. NO!!! For me, you run it a little longer, to find out what the players want to do next, then you end it. It gives you a whole lot more direction as far as planning and makes your job much easier.
At the end of the session, have a recap with your players; what did they like, what do they think is going to happen next?
A lot of the time your players' predictions will add a lot of colour to your story, or you'll get some valuable feedback on your running of the game. For a new DM, you need your players to let you know what they enjoy so that you can run the right game for them.
For keeping track of the campaign, I write up a summary of the session once everyone has left the table. You don't want it to be too detailed but by writing down the "highlights" you can refresh your memory before the next session to make sure you don't forget any plot threads or key moments that could affect the story later.
Write a list of random names of NPCs. Don't give them anything other than "Gorzak the orc barbarian" to begin with but jot down any traits or features as you roleplay. In our current campaign, my PCs kidnapped a goblin called Oogion Looskar (they now call him "Yugi" ... sigh). Oogion is now a sidekick and it turns out he's an expert on valuing any loot they find. He wears a shabby top hat and an eyepatch, both of which have been looted from other goblins. He's now chronicling the party's adventure as he hopes to be a bard one day, so my notes are all written by him.
You will always have incidents where you go off script, so whilst it's useful to have an idea of how each act plays out, do bear in mind that the party will want to explore avenues you haven't pre-written. Really, just relax and go with it, some of the best TTRPG moments are unscripted interactions with an NPC, or bumbling into an encounter. As a friend of mine says, "If you plan for your players to go for option A or B, they'll pick 7."
Have fun!
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Sir, the possibility of successfully navigating an asteroid field is approximately 3,720 to 1!
Good advice above. I’ll add that you shouldn’t over prepare, nor try and plan for every eventuality.
It might feel a bit daunting the prospect of players going off the rails, or doing something you hadn’t planned for, but I can almost guarantee they’ll ask/say/do something that’s not in your flow charts. Or you’ll force them down a path you’ve prepared for - and that’s no fun for anyone.
Relax. Enjoy the unexpected interactions with NPCs. Reward creativity for clever dialogue, and don’t be afraid of not knowing all the rules and mechanics off by heart. If a player wants to do something that stumps you, don’t be afraid to make a quick ruling to keep the game flowing, make a quick note of it, and check the rule later.
Welcome to the Nine Hells! DMs are just the souls of people who never used their talents for good and as such are eternally punished by being the DM for a group of irritable, obstinate players. Isn't our Lord Asmodeus wonderful?
With that joke finished, keeping track of players is fairly easy. I usually keep in mind race and class. I will warn you that nothing will ever prepare you for the chaos your players will unleash. 90% of the time, the players will never actually do what you think they will. Though knowing the player's general interest in DND (what they like most) is handy to make a guess. A lore-heavy character won't want a lot of combat, but a hack-and-slash player won't want the shopkeeper to ramble about how he earned his shop. Of course, they might surprise you anyway (in fact, count on it).
If a player asks you to do something crazy, roll with it (literally, make them roll for it). It might turn out better than you think.
Best of luck to you and your party's exploits! And watch out for Mimics!
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At every session, I say, "Everyone's here, except Waluigi."
Some other tips. Don't let your players roll for something if you have no intention of letting them do it. And inversely, don't let your players roll for something that you feel they "must" find. Even with a DC2, your players will roll a 1 and now you're left with a dodgy hacked together fix that will feel a bit meh.
A variant of this is that if you have something the players MUST overcome, but it would seem strange to just let them through with no roll, you can do success-with-consequences on a low roll.
E.g. I had a case where my players HAD TO get past the door into the dungeon. The big gate was locked, but if the players failed a roll, I wasn't about to say "well, guess you can't get into the dungeon, time to go home". I figured I'd judge success or failure by how much noise their attempt made. Best case - someone picks the lock or unlocks the door magically, the PCs go in and all the monsters in the dungeon don't hear. Worst case - someone makes a plan to get through and rolls a *1*, I narrate how left half the gate comes crashing open, then the right half following, then stones from the archway fall down and deal a bit of damage to the party, everything reverberates throughout the dungeon for a minute. Great, now all the monsters nearby are on alert and ready, some have adopted defensive postures, if there's a BBEG they too are alerted and might set an additional trap or something.
But DON'T make a situation where the players have to succeed, but the players just have to keep trying and rolling until they make it. It's no fun to go "Fighter tries to break down the door... Fail. Rogue tries to pick the lock... fail. OK, barbarian tries to break down the door... I guess that one worked."
Some other tips. Don't let your players roll for something if you have no intention of letting them do it. And inversely, don't let your players roll for something that you feel they "must" find. Even with a DC2, your players will roll a 1 and now you're left with a dodgy hacked together fix that will feel a bit meh.
A variant of this is that if you have something the players MUST overcome, but it would seem strange to just let them through with no roll, you can do success-with-consequences on a low roll.
E.g. I had a case where my players HAD TO get past the door into the dungeon. The big gate was locked, but if the players failed a roll, I wasn't about to say "well, guess you can't get into the dungeon, time to go home". I figured I'd judge success or failure by how much noise their attempt made. Best case - someone picks the lock or unlocks the door magically, the PCs go in and all the monsters in the dungeon don't hear. Worst case - someone makes a plan to get through and rolls a *1*, I narrate how left half the gate comes crashing open, then the right half following, then stones from the archway fall down and deal a bit of damage to the party, everything reverberates throughout the dungeon for a minute. Great, now all the monsters nearby are on alert and ready, some have adopted defensive postures, if there's a BBEG they too are alerted and might set an additional trap or something.
But DON'T make a situation where the players have to succeed, but the players just have to keep trying and rolling until they make it. It's no fun to go "Fighter tries to break down the door... Fail. Rogue tries to pick the lock... fail. OK, barbarian tries to break down the door... I guess that one worked."
So in particular, the module I'm running has one door protected by a Glyph of Warding. This is a Level 1-3 adventure, and that could kill some of the players outright. How many chances should I give them to detect it before it goes kaboom?
I'd be more inclined to nerf the damage than give them too many chances to find it. Learning about traps early on in D&D is good player development. I also enjoy giving advantage on rolls if they're creative with their searching in a way that makes sense.
If you haven't, check out Matt Colville's YouTube series called Running the Game, you should. It's a great source for inspiration, and for learning how to DM.
One of the first things you should do, is skip to the end of your adventure and read about the bad guy. Who is the bad guy? What do they want? Knowing those 2 pieces of information will help inform any decision you have to make during the adventure. It's also where I start when writing my own adventures.
Don't over prepare. I don't know how big your adventure is, but preparing through Act 1 sounds like a great place to stop. Players will often fill up a lot of your table time role-playing or doing things you didn't plan for, and in general I plan for about 5 encounters for a game. That isn't just combat, that is dealing with a trap, participating in a skill challenge, a role play encounter, etc.
One thing that I have started to doing is using an MP3 recorder to record our sessions. It allows me to go back and listen to the season again, to help flush out my notes and even sometimes I catch things I missed from my players because I was focused on something else. Its never the best quality audio mind you but a great reference for later use. Only note I would add is if your players are using dice towers or not using padded trays, you will loss some talking when they roll.
So I'm about to tackle my module's mega-dungeon which is a huge dwarf mine, because of course it is. The module doesn't say much about running this section unfortunately and doesn't say how the players, not the characters but the players, are supposed to reach the objective in the deepest part of the mine. It is far too massive to draw a map, but I'm worried that the players will get lost without one, but I also don't want to just direct them to the objective saying "after x many hours you reach this part of the mine." I do plan on drawing a generic reusable battle map for the random encounters, just a tunnel with some side passages, but since I'm pretty new to D&D in general I'm not sure how to handle a maze without a map.
As long as you know where they are on the map, they don’t have to. Unless there’s a story reason for them to be lost in the maze, I assume one of them is remembering/writing down “we too the third left, second right, past the evil alter, etc.
As for guiding them to the goal, there’s two I can think of. 1. Give them hints of things they hear or smell or whatever in the distance to entice them to go on the right path. 2. Don’t worry about it, decide they are going to roam around until they have three encounters (or however many) and then the next one will be the final one. The only thing is to make sure, with a published adventure, that there aren’t any important things (objects, bits of lore, people) that they miss. If there’s something like that, make sure you include it.
I prepare by reading through the story and looking up the stuff I haven't heared about before, which in the beginning is almost anything. Then I take an A4 notepad and write some things down I'm affraid I'll forget to introduce in-game, what that is kind of depends on your home-style. Mine is role-playing - so I don't need to write that down - so I write down, some mechanics which are important and the pages of the monster stats so I don't need to look them up on the spot.
I do the same as mentioned above, after the game, I write a recap telling what changed in the main-story, any important npc's encountered and magical loot items. Not to much, I started out writing a page long story about the session, which nobody read...Thank god I like it :)
What I do think about, and sometimes I worry about slightly, is where will they go. The campaign I ran (out of the abyss, storm kings thunder...) are quite big and so there's a lot of cities, monsters, traveling mechanics, npc's etcetera they would be able to reach in a session. And I don't want to make things linear so I think about encounters up-front but am flexible as in where and when to use them. They're heading somewhere I prepared - hey big surprise, nothing happens! They're heading to a big city I didn't prepare, hey guess what, you encounter a tribe of scavaging werewolf Barbarians. I prepare what is closest to them, so it makes sense they have these encounters as they travel and it buys me time to prepare their destination for next session.
There are many online tools that super help with being a DM, specifically ******** is awesome imo. It can help with easy access to information in one spot, encounter building on the fly if necessary, random loot generation, etc. I have found it invaluable to me DM'ing 5E.
When running a campaign the best thing is to plan situations and plot elements more as bullet points, and not over plan every situation, because for sure players are going to do things you didn't expect. You need to be ready to improvise and respond to what they do. But also remember at most you will need to improvise for one session, then you will have the time between sessions to prepare again based on what transpires.
I track combat encounters using notepad, I write down all the participants, note their initiative, and track damage on it. It works pretty well for me, but I run the game with a laptop, so my suggestions assume you have access to software and internet. However, pen and paper as well as a good DM screen and MM works just fine too.
As for going off-script, to some degree it will be inevitable, but if you are asking about modifying the module, I'd recommend being well versed on what is happening in the module before making changes that may undermine plot points within it. But if you know the module really well, then it should be no problem to change it up how you see fit and avoid plot conflicts. Good luck!
Well that was nerve wracking, but overall it went pretty well despite how unprepared I was having forgotten most of the material because it took our group so long to actually schedule the game. There were several times where I was reading directly from my notes and the module, and I was very annoyed with how inorganically I dropped the three main quest hooks, but my improv and voices were mostly spot on, combat is a work in progress but we didn't handle as badly as I've seen it before.
I cheated twice during the very opening fight. This was the first time almost anyone at the table had actually played the game, at least in person, so I was treating at a tutorial level. The only problem was my dice were on fire and the monsters rolled three critical hits. One of them was against a squishy who would have died outright if I hadn't said it missed. If it hadn't been the tutorial level, I would have gone with it, but why can't my dice be that hot while I'm actually playing? The other time was when I had to lower one of the monster's max HP, otherwise the first encounter was going to take all night. The only they beat it was because the barbarian rolled a crit which just about split the monster in two.
My concerns going froward are mostly with my players. Of the five of them, there's only who I don't think is evil, and I'm worried how the for of them might disrupt the game. One them is a rogue with sticky fingers, we'll get to him in a minute, a drow wizard who attempted to rob a bank before the aforementioned rogue helped me reign him in, the girl who was going to be our DM said that she wants to try and shank one person every session, and the the last girl mentioned only in passing that apparently her character is chaotic evil. The most any of them tried to derail the game was the attempted bank robbery which didn't get very far thank goodness. But this being my first game GMing, I'm not sure how to handle it if it gets worse, but I wouldn't be doing this at all if I they weren't my friends. I did mention that if anyone is interested, I would do a one-off GTA session where anything goes just to get it out of their system. Everyone but the rogue expressed interest in that.
So, about the rogue. He's got sticky fingers and he tried to pickpocket every NPC they met. No, literally every NPC. And his character is really good at it too. He got arrested once for attempted theft, but I did let him go on a speech check (it helped that the other players had arranged for the release of several prisoners anyway and he didn't actually steal anything). He has made it clear that he has no intention of dialing it back even though this is my first campaign, and whined that "I'm just roleplaying. You can't punish me for roleplaying a D&D rogue." How do I deal with that? I had an idea that sounds like a lot of fun involving turning him into a lawful good werebear who aggressively donates to charity and returns what he stole, but that's a bit too zany to be a practical solution.
Some further questions about running the game.
How suspicious should an NPC be of illusion magic and at what point should they roll an investigation check?
Can a character with zero HP who isn't dead be force fed a healing potion to regenerate HP, or do they need to be conscious to get the benefit of a potion?
One player is a wild mage. Obviously you take that subclass for the potential for chaotic fun, but the rules as written seem a little too restrictive for when the player can roll on the wild magic table since it's entirely up to the DM. I know I'm going to forget which will make the game less fun for the player if she can't use the entire point of her subclass. So what is an optimal balance between being easier for me to remember, and often enough that the player doesn't feel like her character is being left out?
The rogue is easy. Have him pick the pocket of someone important (especially if they don’t look important) and don’t let him talk his way out of it. He’s going to jail ... unless he does this service for the person, which will put him against something he likes/something dangerous. Role playing also means actions have consequences. that actually goes for all of the anti-social behavior. These are low-level characters. There are much bigger fish around who can make things difficult for them if they shank the wrong person
NPC suspicion levels depends on the NPC. Think like that character, and place that thought process into the context of the illusion and decide what they would do. And remember passive perception might notice even if they are not looking for it. yes, you can force feed a health potion.
For the wild mage, what if you just have them roll every time? I do t know the rule well enough to remember if that’s viable, but I’m sure someone will correct me if it won’t work. Or make a meta game rule that they have to roll the first time they cast in each fight. Then put it on the player to remember. And of course, you can always throw it in a couple more times, just to keep things interesting. And good thinking on the GTA idea. I think people like the idea of playing an evil campaign more than they would actually like playing it. Something like that can help them realize it.
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I'm going to be running Legacy of the Crystal Shard for for some of my friends and coworkers. I've played D&D a few times, just started this year, but this is my first time running a game. We haven't started playing yet, I'm still preparing the whole adventure up through Act 1. What are some methods other DM's use to keep track of everything. I'm trying to map out the story and interactions b/w the players and NPC's with flowcharts, but I keep thinking of the ways the players might force me to improvise.
What are some things I need to remember while designing a dungeon?
What's an efficient way to keep track of NPC's and combat encounters?
Also, being this is my first adventure, how advisable is it for me to go off-script?
Welcome to the wonderful world of DMing. You're in for a time alrighty.
Firstly, are you following a module? Or homebrewing based on the novels?
As far as keeping track of things, I keep an A5 piece of paper for each player on my DM Screen and make notes on it for main points. Plot bits, curses, important NPC's for that character. Apart from that, I tend to keep notes about NPC's or locations grouped by Town or City as that's where they're most likely to run into them again, or refer to them.
My best advice would be to keep a loose hold of the plot and overall world, but a close eye on the area surrounding the immediate questing. They're in the village of Goldenleaf? Know everything about Goldenleaf. Shops, taverns, guilds, rumours, NPC's, history. That way if your players go off topic (which they will) you have the material required to roll with it.
Some other tips. Don't let your players roll for something if you have no intention of letting them do it. And inversely, don't let your players roll for something that you feel they "must" find. Even with a DC2, your players will roll a 1 and now you're left with a dodgy hacked together fix that will feel a bit meh.
Don't railroad. Players don't like having their choice taken from them.
Have fun! Even though you're the DM, it's your game too.
The players are the heroes. Overpowered NPC's that save the day might be fun for you to play, but it's not fun for your players.
Let the session run slightly longer than you thought. Some DM's will disagree with me, but it's tempting to finish on a super high note. You killed the dragon!! Hurrah! End of tonight's session. NO!!! For me, you run it a little longer, to find out what the players want to do next, then you end it. It gives you a whole lot more direction as far as planning and makes your job much easier.
Good luck!!!
It's a little module. One of the players picked it out when she was originally going to be our DM.
At the end of the session, have a recap with your players; what did they like, what do they think is going to happen next?
A lot of the time your players' predictions will add a lot of colour to your story, or you'll get some valuable feedback on your running of the game. For a new DM, you need your players to let you know what they enjoy so that you can run the right game for them.
For keeping track of the campaign, I write up a summary of the session once everyone has left the table. You don't want it to be too detailed but by writing down the "highlights" you can refresh your memory before the next session to make sure you don't forget any plot threads or key moments that could affect the story later.
Write a list of random names of NPCs. Don't give them anything other than "Gorzak the orc barbarian" to begin with but jot down any traits or features as you roleplay. In our current campaign, my PCs kidnapped a goblin called Oogion Looskar (they now call him "Yugi" ... sigh). Oogion is now a sidekick and it turns out he's an expert on valuing any loot they find. He wears a shabby top hat and an eyepatch, both of which have been looted from other goblins. He's now chronicling the party's adventure as he hopes to be a bard one day, so my notes are all written by him.
You will always have incidents where you go off script, so whilst it's useful to have an idea of how each act plays out, do bear in mind that the party will want to explore avenues you haven't pre-written. Really, just relax and go with it, some of the best TTRPG moments are unscripted interactions with an NPC, or bumbling into an encounter. As a friend of mine says, "If you plan for your players to go for option A or B, they'll pick 7."
Have fun!
Sir, the possibility of successfully navigating an asteroid field is approximately 3,720 to 1!
Never tell me the DC.
Good advice above. I’ll add that you shouldn’t over prepare, nor try and plan for every eventuality.
It might feel a bit daunting the prospect of players going off the rails, or doing something you hadn’t planned for, but I can almost guarantee they’ll ask/say/do something that’s not in your flow charts. Or you’ll force them down a path you’ve prepared for - and that’s no fun for anyone.
Relax. Enjoy the unexpected interactions with NPCs. Reward creativity for clever dialogue, and don’t be afraid of not knowing all the rules and mechanics off by heart. If a player wants to do something that stumps you, don’t be afraid to make a quick ruling to keep the game flowing, make a quick note of it, and check the rule later.
Welcome to the Nine Hells! DMs are just the souls of people who never used their talents for good and as such are eternally punished by being the DM for a group of irritable, obstinate players. Isn't our Lord Asmodeus wonderful?
With that joke finished, keeping track of players is fairly easy. I usually keep in mind race and class. I will warn you that nothing will ever prepare you for the chaos your players will unleash. 90% of the time, the players will never actually do what you think they will. Though knowing the player's general interest in DND (what they like most) is handy to make a guess. A lore-heavy character won't want a lot of combat, but a hack-and-slash player won't want the shopkeeper to ramble about how he earned his shop. Of course, they might surprise you anyway (in fact, count on it).
If a player asks you to do something crazy, roll with it (literally, make them roll for it). It might turn out better than you think.
Best of luck to you and your party's exploits! And watch out for Mimics!
At every session, I say, "Everyone's here, except Waluigi."
A variant of this is that if you have something the players MUST overcome, but it would seem strange to just let them through with no roll, you can do success-with-consequences on a low roll.
E.g. I had a case where my players HAD TO get past the door into the dungeon. The big gate was locked, but if the players failed a roll, I wasn't about to say "well, guess you can't get into the dungeon, time to go home". I figured I'd judge success or failure by how much noise their attempt made. Best case - someone picks the lock or unlocks the door magically, the PCs go in and all the monsters in the dungeon don't hear. Worst case - someone makes a plan to get through and rolls a *1*, I narrate how left half the gate comes crashing open, then the right half following, then stones from the archway fall down and deal a bit of damage to the party, everything reverberates throughout the dungeon for a minute. Great, now all the monsters nearby are on alert and ready, some have adopted defensive postures, if there's a BBEG they too are alerted and might set an additional trap or something.
But DON'T make a situation where the players have to succeed, but the players just have to keep trying and rolling until they make it. It's no fun to go "Fighter tries to break down the door... Fail. Rogue tries to pick the lock... fail. OK, barbarian tries to break down the door... I guess that one worked."
So in particular, the module I'm running has one door protected by a Glyph of Warding. This is a Level 1-3 adventure, and that could kill some of the players outright. How many chances should I give them to detect it before it goes kaboom?
I'd be more inclined to nerf the damage than give them too many chances to find it. Learning about traps early on in D&D is good player development. I also enjoy giving advantage on rolls if they're creative with their searching in a way that makes sense.
If you haven't, check out Matt Colville's YouTube series called Running the Game, you should. It's a great source for inspiration, and for learning how to DM.
One of the first things you should do, is skip to the end of your adventure and read about the bad guy. Who is the bad guy? What do they want? Knowing those 2 pieces of information will help inform any decision you have to make during the adventure. It's also where I start when writing my own adventures.
Don't over prepare. I don't know how big your adventure is, but preparing through Act 1 sounds like a great place to stop. Players will often fill up a lot of your table time role-playing or doing things you didn't plan for, and in general I plan for about 5 encounters for a game. That isn't just combat, that is dealing with a trap, participating in a skill challenge, a role play encounter, etc.
All great advice so far.
One thing that I have started to doing is using an MP3 recorder to record our sessions. It allows me to go back and listen to the season again, to help flush out my notes and even sometimes I catch things I missed from my players because I was focused on something else. Its never the best quality audio mind you but a great reference for later use. Only note I would add is if your players are using dice towers or not using padded trays, you will loss some talking when they roll.
Have fun!
So I'm about to tackle my module's mega-dungeon which is a huge dwarf mine, because of course it is. The module doesn't say much about running this section unfortunately and doesn't say how the players, not the characters but the players, are supposed to reach the objective in the deepest part of the mine. It is far too massive to draw a map, but I'm worried that the players will get lost without one, but I also don't want to just direct them to the objective saying "after x many hours you reach this part of the mine." I do plan on drawing a generic reusable battle map for the random encounters, just a tunnel with some side passages, but since I'm pretty new to D&D in general I'm not sure how to handle a maze without a map.
As long as you know where they are on the map, they don’t have to. Unless there’s a story reason for them to be lost in the maze, I assume one of them is remembering/writing down “we too the third left, second right, past the evil alter, etc.
As for guiding them to the goal, there’s two I can think of. 1. Give them hints of things they hear or smell or whatever in the distance to entice them to go on the right path. 2. Don’t worry about it, decide they are going to roam around until they have three encounters (or however many) and then the next one will be the final one. The only thing is to make sure, with a published adventure, that there aren’t any important things (objects, bits of lore, people) that they miss. If there’s something like that, make sure you include it.
Hi there!
I prepare by reading through the story and looking up the stuff I haven't heared about before, which in the beginning is almost anything. Then I take an A4 notepad and write some things down I'm affraid I'll forget to introduce in-game, what that is kind of depends on your home-style. Mine is role-playing - so I don't need to write that down - so I write down, some mechanics which are important and the pages of the monster stats so I don't need to look them up on the spot.
I do the same as mentioned above, after the game, I write a recap telling what changed in the main-story, any important npc's encountered and magical loot items. Not to much, I started out writing a page long story about the session, which nobody read...Thank god I like it :)
What I do think about, and sometimes I worry about slightly, is where will they go. The campaign I ran (out of the abyss, storm kings thunder...) are quite big and so there's a lot of cities, monsters, traveling mechanics, npc's etcetera they would be able to reach in a session. And I don't want to make things linear so I think about encounters up-front but am flexible as in where and when to use them. They're heading somewhere I prepared - hey big surprise, nothing happens! They're heading to a big city I didn't prepare, hey guess what, you encounter a tribe of scavaging werewolf Barbarians. I prepare what is closest to them, so it makes sense they have these encounters as they travel and it buys me time to prepare their destination for next session.
Good luck!
There are many online tools that super help with being a DM, specifically ******** is awesome imo. It can help with easy access to information in one spot, encounter building on the fly if necessary, random loot generation, etc. I have found it invaluable to me DM'ing 5E.
When running a campaign the best thing is to plan situations and plot elements more as bullet points, and not over plan every situation, because for sure players are going to do things you didn't expect. You need to be ready to improvise and respond to what they do. But also remember at most you will need to improvise for one session, then you will have the time between sessions to prepare again based on what transpires.
I track combat encounters using notepad, I write down all the participants, note their initiative, and track damage on it. It works pretty well for me, but I run the game with a laptop, so my suggestions assume you have access to software and internet. However, pen and paper as well as a good DM screen and MM works just fine too.
As for going off-script, to some degree it will be inevitable, but if you are asking about modifying the module, I'd recommend being well versed on what is happening in the module before making changes that may undermine plot points within it. But if you know the module really well, then it should be no problem to change it up how you see fit and avoid plot conflicts. Good luck!
Well that was nerve wracking, but overall it went pretty well despite how unprepared I was having forgotten most of the material because it took our group so long to actually schedule the game. There were several times where I was reading directly from my notes and the module, and I was very annoyed with how inorganically I dropped the three main quest hooks, but my improv and voices were mostly spot on, combat is a work in progress but we didn't handle as badly as I've seen it before.
I cheated twice during the very opening fight. This was the first time almost anyone at the table had actually played the game, at least in person, so I was treating at a tutorial level. The only problem was my dice were on fire and the monsters rolled three critical hits. One of them was against a squishy who would have died outright if I hadn't said it missed. If it hadn't been the tutorial level, I would have gone with it, but why can't my dice be that hot while I'm actually playing? The other time was when I had to lower one of the monster's max HP, otherwise the first encounter was going to take all night. The only they beat it was because the barbarian rolled a crit which just about split the monster in two.
My concerns going froward are mostly with my players. Of the five of them, there's only who I don't think is evil, and I'm worried how the for of them might disrupt the game. One them is a rogue with sticky fingers, we'll get to him in a minute, a drow wizard who attempted to rob a bank before the aforementioned rogue helped me reign him in, the girl who was going to be our DM said that she wants to try and shank one person every session, and the the last girl mentioned only in passing that apparently her character is chaotic evil. The most any of them tried to derail the game was the attempted bank robbery which didn't get very far thank goodness. But this being my first game GMing, I'm not sure how to handle it if it gets worse, but I wouldn't be doing this at all if I they weren't my friends. I did mention that if anyone is interested, I would do a one-off GTA session where anything goes just to get it out of their system. Everyone but the rogue expressed interest in that.
So, about the rogue. He's got sticky fingers and he tried to pickpocket every NPC they met. No, literally every NPC. And his character is really good at it too. He got arrested once for attempted theft, but I did let him go on a speech check (it helped that the other players had arranged for the release of several prisoners anyway and he didn't actually steal anything). He has made it clear that he has no intention of dialing it back even though this is my first campaign, and whined that "I'm just roleplaying. You can't punish me for roleplaying a D&D rogue." How do I deal with that? I had an idea that sounds like a lot of fun involving turning him into a lawful good werebear who aggressively donates to charity and returns what he stole, but that's a bit too zany to be a practical solution.
Some further questions about running the game.
How suspicious should an NPC be of illusion magic and at what point should they roll an investigation check?
Can a character with zero HP who isn't dead be force fed a healing potion to regenerate HP, or do they need to be conscious to get the benefit of a potion?
One player is a wild mage. Obviously you take that subclass for the potential for chaotic fun, but the rules as written seem a little too restrictive for when the player can roll on the wild magic table since it's entirely up to the DM. I know I'm going to forget which will make the game less fun for the player if she can't use the entire point of her subclass. So what is an optimal balance between being easier for me to remember, and often enough that the player doesn't feel like her character is being left out?
The rogue is easy. Have him pick the pocket of someone important (especially if they don’t look important) and don’t let him talk his way out of it. He’s going to jail ... unless he does this service for the person, which will put him against something he likes/something dangerous. Role playing also means actions have consequences.
that actually goes for all of the anti-social behavior. These are low-level characters. There are much bigger fish around who can make things difficult for them if they shank the wrong person
NPC suspicion levels depends on the NPC. Think like that character, and place that thought process into the context of the illusion and decide what they would do. And remember passive perception might notice even if they are not looking for it.
yes, you can force feed a health potion.
For the wild mage, what if you just have them roll every time? I do t know the rule well enough to remember if that’s viable, but I’m sure someone will correct me if it won’t work. Or make a meta game rule that they have to roll the first time they cast in each fight. Then put it on the player to remember. And of course, you can always throw it in a couple more times, just to keep things interesting.
And good thinking on the GTA idea. I think people like the idea of playing an evil campaign more than they would actually like playing it. Something like that can help them realize it.