Heya! So, I’m not necessarily new-new to D&D (grew up playing with my dad) but I am by no means an expert. I want to try to get a bunch of friends together and try my hand at being a DM. I have a basic campaign idea in mind, but I wanted to see if there’s anything I should keep in mind? Maybe ask some advice from some pro DMs?
That's an incredibly broad question. But a couple of things...
1: Session Zero: Don't skip it. Have an intro session to talk about party composition, meet each other, and talk about table rules. Things like DM's ruling is final (this isn't cause you're a control freak, it's to keep the game moving), player vs player violence, evil characters, boundaries/triggers, at table mobile phone etiquette, and anything else you can think of. 2: Your players are the heroes. For me, my players and their backstories are the plot, the game. Most of my campaign is set in Faerun, but homebrew from there to make my players and their conflicts the stars. There's a big difference between your players being the heroes, and your players just doing heroic things. 3: Keep the game moving. Don't get too bogged down in rules. You're not going to know everything, so just go with what makes sense. 4: It's meant to be fun for you too. 5: Lead by example when it comes to RP. Get in character. Have fun. Ham it up. Do voices. 6: Prep, and don't throw anything away. I over prep. I do. I try not to, but I can't help it. So half the stuff I prep never get's used because the players just don't open that door. Don't ditch everything you've planned. Sometimes the players come back around to it, sometimes you can just make minor tweaks and slip it into another setting.
MajorPuddles has it right. Also, look through other threads here. Lots of people ask similar questions, and someone else’s answer may be more helpful than any response this one gets. I just posted a pretty long-winded response in a similar thread in this forum about keeping things simple for yourself as you are starting. Realize you’re gaining experience by which you’ll look back and be able to see how much you missed. Because you will miss some things in combat especially. If you’re writing a whole campaign, keep your plot separate from character interaction. Let them interact with the plot at the encounter level. This keeps you from railroading them.
That’s pretty much today’s rant from me: Think in terms of encounters, not epic sagas. Players destroy epic sagas by jumping the tracks and blazing their own adventure, or get bored being hand-held through the scenes the DM pictured months ago. Encounters are dynamic. They never talked to the NPC in the tavern that was supposed to deliver the vital info to help them find a treasure? Epic Saga-ists will be like “Are you sure you want to leave before talking to EVERYONE here???” Then it gets awkward while they either try to role play finding the right person, or the DM just tells them to go talk to this person if they ever want to find some treasure. Encounter based thinkers will just re-use that NPC elsewhere. So the party was too distracted by the idea of going shopping for potions to do any more in the tavern than ask for directions. Now, maybe they witness someone getting robbed in an alley the next day. They step in and have a quick fight now that they wouldn’t have before. But at the end, the grateful NPC is like “Are you heroes for hire? Tymora smiles on me. I think I can pay you back quite well if you’ll help me navigate the dangers between me and my ancestral family treasure.”
Seconds that this is a very broad session. Here's some tips from the top of my mind.
If everyone is new to DnD
Make characters up front with the players. Either individually or together on a "session 0". This gives the players some idea of what they can do and not, and give YOU time to prepare. Remember you might have to remind new players - "you know you can try to..." Remember to create a REASON that the players hang together. Doesn't need to be much, can be just: "the premise is that you are a group of adventurers who want to get rich".
Start PC's at level 1!!! Much easier to have control of a lot of new stuff.
Go light on the rules in the beginning. Be open about it - your table, your rules. Don't use a lot of time trying to find a rule you "know" is somewhere. Make a decision at the table and say: "I'll look this up before next session, but for now, we do it like this..."
For the first session
Don't overdo it. Make it "simple" use the tropes to your advantage. Start small.
Start at an inn or something in a small hamlet. Have some interesting NPC's to RP with.
Introduce a problem. Use the old "I'll pay you xxx gold if you can get rid of this problem" if you want.
Remind the players they might do some preparations. Visit the smithy, find out some information etc before they just wander off.
Go adventuring :-)
For the final encounter - make it slightly easy, and rather keep some back up minions to throw in if it becomes too easy. And remember - fighting takes A LOT of time compared to the RP part of the session!
First after the first session I would have started to think about the next. Keep your first campaign like a loose string of linked adventures rather than spending a lot of time on a main plot. That's also a lot of fun, and it can give more focus for the characters to grove and the party to be the real hero, and not you shoving you had this cool idea for a giant plot. Allow your players to go wherever they want, and follow along.
... Keep your first campaign like a loose string of linked adventures rather than spending a lot of time on a main plot. That's also a lot of fun, and it can give more focus for the characters to grove and the party to be the real hero, and not you shoving you had this cool idea for a giant plot. Allow your players to go wherever they want, and follow along.
Yes, this is what I was trying to say. Plot chain, not plot rope.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Heya! So, I’m not necessarily new-new to D&D (grew up playing with my dad) but I am by no means an expert. I want to try to get a bunch of friends together and try my hand at being a DM. I have a basic campaign idea in mind, but I wanted to see if there’s anything I should keep in mind? Maybe ask some advice from some pro DMs?
Thanks!
That's an incredibly broad question. But a couple of things...
1: Session Zero: Don't skip it. Have an intro session to talk about party composition, meet each other, and talk about table rules. Things like DM's ruling is final (this isn't cause you're a control freak, it's to keep the game moving), player vs player violence, evil characters, boundaries/triggers, at table mobile phone etiquette, and anything else you can think of.
2: Your players are the heroes. For me, my players and their backstories are the plot, the game. Most of my campaign is set in Faerun, but homebrew from there to make my players and their conflicts the stars. There's a big difference between your players being the heroes, and your players just doing heroic things.
3: Keep the game moving. Don't get too bogged down in rules. You're not going to know everything, so just go with what makes sense.
4: It's meant to be fun for you too.
5: Lead by example when it comes to RP. Get in character. Have fun. Ham it up. Do voices.
6: Prep, and don't throw anything away. I over prep. I do. I try not to, but I can't help it. So half the stuff I prep never get's used because the players just don't open that door. Don't ditch everything you've planned. Sometimes the players come back around to it, sometimes you can just make minor tweaks and slip it into another setting.
Best of luck, may Tymora smile upon your game.
MajorPuddles has it right. Also, look through other threads here. Lots of people ask similar questions, and someone else’s answer may be more helpful than any response this one gets. I just posted a pretty long-winded response in a similar thread in this forum about keeping things simple for yourself as you are starting. Realize you’re gaining experience by which you’ll look back and be able to see how much you missed. Because you will miss some things in combat especially. If you’re writing a whole campaign, keep your plot separate from character interaction. Let them interact with the plot at the encounter level. This keeps you from railroading them.
That’s pretty much today’s rant from me: Think in terms of encounters, not epic sagas. Players destroy epic sagas by jumping the tracks and blazing their own adventure, or get bored being hand-held through the scenes the DM pictured months ago. Encounters are dynamic. They never talked to the NPC in the tavern that was supposed to deliver the vital info to help them find a treasure? Epic Saga-ists will be like “Are you sure you want to leave before talking to EVERYONE here???” Then it gets awkward while they either try to role play finding the right person, or the DM just tells them to go talk to this person if they ever want to find some treasure. Encounter based thinkers will just re-use that NPC elsewhere. So the party was too distracted by the idea of going shopping for potions to do any more in the tavern than ask for directions. Now, maybe they witness someone getting robbed in an alley the next day. They step in and have a quick fight now that they wouldn’t have before. But at the end, the grateful NPC is like “Are you heroes for hire? Tymora smiles on me. I think I can pay you back quite well if you’ll help me navigate the dangers between me and my ancestral family treasure.”
Seconds that this is a very broad session. Here's some tips from the top of my mind.
If everyone is new to DnD
For the first session
Don't overdo it. Make it "simple" use the tropes to your advantage. Start small.
First after the first session I would have started to think about the next. Keep your first campaign like a loose string of linked adventures rather than spending a lot of time on a main plot. That's also a lot of fun, and it can give more focus for the characters to grove and the party to be the real hero, and not you shoving you had this cool idea for a giant plot. Allow your players to go wherever they want, and follow along.
Ludo ergo sum!
Yes, this is what I was trying to say. Plot chain, not plot rope.