I've only been the DM once before where my friends only got to level 3, and I'm currently the DM for my sisters. One of them told me she liked our friend as DM better because he was funnier and I don't sound interested enough in the game I'm running.
I don't really know why. Maybe cause my friends I just mentioned just wanted to kill stuff for XP. I tried one of our last sessions by starting saying we'd do mystery/RP kinda stuff but they asked to just fight things instead. I don't wanna blame them though, cause I'm the DM, and I was there for them to have fun and if it was fun for them to fight that's what I wanted to give them. It could just be because I'm new, too, and I'm not like some DMs/friends who have the natural abilities for it the role.
Anyway, I'm running a one-shot for my sister and my two best friends soon, and after that an entire campaign. I'm self conscious about campaign ideas. I don't want them to think they're dumb or boring. So I've been putting a lot of work into preparing. The problem is we all liked joking around a lot in our first campaign, and the campaign I made is more about a political plot and murder. Should I change the campaign to fit them more (to be a better DM, even if it's what I wanna run. I'm okay with both I think)? How can I get over stage fright with them?
Last of all, is it more important for the DM or players to have fun?
I think both DM and players should be having fun, it can't be either-or. If the DM isn't having fun, they probably should stop DMing. If the players aren't having fun, they should probably stop playing.
I probably think you should need to worry less about the "campaign idea". The overall "campaign idea" really isn't that important for how much fun the players have, IMO. They'll only make progress on it pretty slowly, so it's ok for the overall plot to be pretty simple. So you can do whichever one you like.
Personally, I find that when DMing, the story has to be pretty reactive to the players. As the DM you get to describe what happens in the world, but you don't really get to decide what the characters do. Maybe they'll take your political plot and murder and try to solve it. Maybe they'll decide "Eh, the murdered guy had it coming, not our problem" and go hunt for treasure or something. Make sure the world keeps running and things keep happening and the players keep finding things to do, and you'll be fine! My players have certainly thrown me quite a few curveballs in the campaign I'm running (the last one being that I gave them a perfectly good way to escape home from where they were, and they instead got themselves trapped in a different plane... and I guess now are doing a quest to try and get back? Maybe? TBD.)
The only thing that matters is that everyone has fun. Being more flexible as a DM can be a part of it. If your players are murder hobos, maybe a less structured sandbox world with many combat encounters would be fun. This requires the players to drive by doing what would interest their characters, and you would have to improv the situations. If you do have a campaign idea and want to play it out, you may need to let these players sidetrack your story line at times, and find interesting ways to keep them involved in it even when they pursue other things.
Simply put, a restrictive campaign can make players feel limited. A more subtle approach can play out the same story and keep everyone engaged in the campaign.
I think a session 0 with your players would be really helpful here.
1) It will allow you and your players to discuss each others expectations 2) It will put your mind at ease knowing that everyone is on the same page
Being a good DM takes time and experience. Once you find your style, you will start to flourish! From your post though it sounds like you want something a little more RP heavy than one of your groups "dungeon crawling". The fact that you are trying to find ways to incorporate and run games for multiple groups with different styles means you are flexible, which is an important skill for any DM
And as the other 2 replies have already said, your enjoyment is just as important as everyone else at the table. It's a common theme I see here with newer DMs, there seems to be this idea that they are solely responsible for giving the players a good game, when it really does work both ways.
Make sure when you start new campaigns you have a session 0 (I usually do a character creation session with a new group), and if you want to switch things up within an existing group, you don't just spring it on everyone at the start of the session. You need to make sure you have a conversation with your group before the session, so everyone comes to the table with their expectations managed!
I think both DM and players should be having fun, it can't be either-or. If the DM isn't having fun, they probably should stop DMing. If the players aren't having fun, they should probably stop playing.
I probably think you should need to worry less about the "campaign idea". The overall "campaign idea" really isn't that important for how much fun the players have, IMO. They'll only make progress on it pretty slowly, so it's ok for the overall plot to be pretty simple. So you can do whichever one you like.
Personally, I find that when DMing, the story has to be pretty reactive to the players. As the DM you get to describe what happens in the world, but you don't really get to decide what the characters do. Maybe they'll take your political plot and murder and try to solve it. Maybe they'll decide "Eh, the murdered guy had it coming, not our problem" and go hunt for treasure or something. Make sure the world keeps running and things keep happening and the players keep finding things to do, and you'll be fine! My players have certainly thrown me quite a few curveballs in the campaign I'm running (the last one being that I gave them a perfectly good way to escape home from where they were, and they instead got themselves trapped in a different plane... and I guess now are doing a quest to try and get back? Maybe? TBD.)
Thanks for replying.
I have been considering different routes they could take already, luckily, and I have fleshed out a lot of the world in case they decide to go somewhere else.
I like DMing it's just fun if my friends like it, too.
The only thing that matters is that everyone has fun. Being more flexible as a DM can be a part of it. If your players are murder hobos, maybe a less structured sandbox world with many combat encounters would be fun. This requires the players to drive by doing what would interest their characters, and you would have to improv the situations. If you do have a campaign idea and want to play it out, you may need to let these players sidetrack your story line at times, and find interesting ways to keep them involved in it even when they pursue other things.
Simply put, a restrictive campaign can make players feel limited. A more subtle approach can play out the same story and keep everyone engaged in the campaign.
I think a session 0 with your players would be really helpful here.
1) It will allow you and your players to discuss each others expectations 2) It will put your mind at ease knowing that everyone is on the same page
Being a good DM takes time and experience. Once you find your style, you will start to flourish! From your post though it sounds like you want something a little more RP heavy than one of your groups "dungeon crawling". The fact that you are trying to find ways to incorporate and run games for multiple groups with different styles means you are flexible, which is an important skill for any DM
And as the other 2 replies have already said, your enjoyment is just as important as everyone else at the table. It's a common theme I see here with newer DMs, there seems to be this idea that they are solely responsible for giving the players a good game, when it really does work both ways.
Make sure when you start new campaigns you have a session 0 (I usually do a character creation session with a new group), and if you want to switch things up within an existing group, you don't just spring it on everyone at the start of the session. You need to make sure you have a conversation with your group before the session, so everyone comes to the table with their expectations managed!
That's cool, I was already planning on doing a session 0 to make characters and see what everyone wanted to do in case I had to change course. I actually really like dungeon crawls, but probably more as a player. Thanks a lot for the advice man and I'll try to remember it!
There’s o shame in picking up a published adventure. Particularly while you’re learning how to DM and the others are learning to play. You can focus on learning to play and on having fun, and let WoTC focus on building the world and balancing encounters.
There’s o shame in picking up a published adventure. Particularly while you’re learning how to DM and the others are learning to play. You can focus on learning to play and on having fun, and let WoTC focus on building the world and balancing encounters.
I think that's probably a good idea because I've homebrewed everything so far. Are there any you'd suggest? I know a lot of new DMs/groups do Lost Mine of Phandelver and it's only about $12 with the starter set so would that be good?
I think that's probably a good idea because I've homebrewed everything so far. Are there any you'd suggest? I know a lot of new DMs/groups do Lost Mine of Phandelver and it's only about $12 with the starter set so would that be good?
100% this is the best published adventure for new DMs and players alike. I've run it with 3 groups so far, running it with a 4th later this month, and every time its a real pleasure to do. Different every time as well!
I think that's probably a good idea because I've homebrewed everything so far. Are there any you'd suggest? I know a lot of new DMs/groups do Lost Mine of Phandelver and it's only about $12 with the starter set so would that be good?
100% this is the best published adventure for new DMs and players alike. I've run it with 3 groups so far, running it with a 4th later this month, and every time its a real pleasure to do. Different every time as well!
Cool, good luck! But I do want to keep my own world, so I'll change the towns and things to my world. I already have a good way to make it the first adventure, thankfully, but I don't know too much about the adventure because I haven't read it yet.
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I've only been the DM once before where my friends only got to level 3, and I'm currently the DM for my sisters. One of them told me she liked our friend as DM better because he was funnier and I don't sound interested enough in the game I'm running.
I don't really know why. Maybe cause my friends I just mentioned just wanted to kill stuff for XP. I tried one of our last sessions by starting saying we'd do mystery/RP kinda stuff but they asked to just fight things instead. I don't wanna blame them though, cause I'm the DM, and I was there for them to have fun and if it was fun for them to fight that's what I wanted to give them. It could just be because I'm new, too, and I'm not like some DMs/friends who have the natural abilities for it the role.
Anyway, I'm running a one-shot for my sister and my two best friends soon, and after that an entire campaign. I'm self conscious about campaign ideas. I don't want them to think they're dumb or boring. So I've been putting a lot of work into preparing. The problem is we all liked joking around a lot in our first campaign, and the campaign I made is more about a political plot and murder. Should I change the campaign to fit them more (to be a better DM, even if it's what I wanna run. I'm okay with both I think)? How can I get over stage fright with them?
Last of all, is it more important for the DM or players to have fun?
I think both DM and players should be having fun, it can't be either-or. If the DM isn't having fun, they probably should stop DMing. If the players aren't having fun, they should probably stop playing.
I probably think you should need to worry less about the "campaign idea". The overall "campaign idea" really isn't that important for how much fun the players have, IMO. They'll only make progress on it pretty slowly, so it's ok for the overall plot to be pretty simple. So you can do whichever one you like.
Personally, I find that when DMing, the story has to be pretty reactive to the players. As the DM you get to describe what happens in the world, but you don't really get to decide what the characters do. Maybe they'll take your political plot and murder and try to solve it. Maybe they'll decide "Eh, the murdered guy had it coming, not our problem" and go hunt for treasure or something. Make sure the world keeps running and things keep happening and the players keep finding things to do, and you'll be fine! My players have certainly thrown me quite a few curveballs in the campaign I'm running (the last one being that I gave them a perfectly good way to escape home from where they were, and they instead got themselves trapped in a different plane... and I guess now are doing a quest to try and get back? Maybe? TBD.)
The only thing that matters is that everyone has fun. Being more flexible as a DM can be a part of it. If your players are murder hobos, maybe a less structured sandbox world with many combat encounters would be fun. This requires the players to drive by doing what would interest their characters, and you would have to improv the situations. If you do have a campaign idea and want to play it out, you may need to let these players sidetrack your story line at times, and find interesting ways to keep them involved in it even when they pursue other things.
Simply put, a restrictive campaign can make players feel limited. A more subtle approach can play out the same story and keep everyone engaged in the campaign.
I think a session 0 with your players would be really helpful here.
1) It will allow you and your players to discuss each others expectations
2) It will put your mind at ease knowing that everyone is on the same page
Being a good DM takes time and experience. Once you find your style, you will start to flourish! From your post though it sounds like you want something a little more RP heavy than one of your groups "dungeon crawling". The fact that you are trying to find ways to incorporate and run games for multiple groups with different styles means you are flexible, which is an important skill for any DM
And as the other 2 replies have already said, your enjoyment is just as important as everyone else at the table. It's a common theme I see here with newer DMs, there seems to be this idea that they are solely responsible for giving the players a good game, when it really does work both ways.
Make sure when you start new campaigns you have a session 0 (I usually do a character creation session with a new group), and if you want to switch things up within an existing group, you don't just spring it on everyone at the start of the session. You need to make sure you have a conversation with your group before the session, so everyone comes to the table with their expectations managed!
Thanks for replying.
I have been considering different routes they could take already, luckily, and I have fleshed out a lot of the world in case they decide to go somewhere else.
I like DMing it's just fun if my friends like it, too.
Thanks for the advice, and I'll keep it in mind.
That's cool, I was already planning on doing a session 0 to make characters and see what everyone wanted to do in case I had to change course. I actually really like dungeon crawls, but probably more as a player. Thanks a lot for the advice man and I'll try to remember it!
There’s o shame in picking up a published adventure. Particularly while you’re learning how to DM and the others are learning to play. You can focus on learning to play and on having fun, and let WoTC focus on building the world and balancing encounters.
I think that's probably a good idea because I've homebrewed everything so far. Are there any you'd suggest? I know a lot of new DMs/groups do Lost Mine of Phandelver and it's only about $12 with the starter set so would that be good?
100% this is the best published adventure for new DMs and players alike. I've run it with 3 groups so far, running it with a 4th later this month, and every time its a real pleasure to do. Different every time as well!
Cool, good luck! But I do want to keep my own world, so I'll change the towns and things to my world. I already have a good way to make it the first adventure, thankfully, but I don't know too much about the adventure because I haven't read it yet.