So I've got a group, but I don't know where to start them off. I know I've gotta give them a reason to be together, but how fleshed out does it need to be? How hard do I make it for 2nd level characters? Any help is appreciated.
Sorry if this doesn't belong here! If you can find a better place, I'd be happy to hear it!
I just wanna thank you all for such amazing responses!! They're a really big help!
In terms of difficulty, I would advise you to err on the side of easy rather than hard. You can use CR to eyeball it and then maybe go a little lower than that. Yes CR tends to make things too easy for experienced players but not for new players/DMs.
In terms of fleshing it out... you can always try one of the published modules for low level characters. Lots of people swear by Lost Minds of Phandelwhatever.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I was here during the middle of a work meeting on Zoom and was a bit distracted.
But yes, if you are going to start DMing, check out Matt Colville's nearly 100-part series called 'Running the Game.' It is AWESOME and has everything you need all in one place.
Here's episode 1:
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
So I've got a group, but I don't know where to start them off. I know I've gotta give them a reason to be together, but how fleshed out does it need to be? How hard do I make it for 2nd level characters? Any help is appreciated.
Sorry if this doesn't belong here! If you can find a better place, I'd be happy to hear it!
The party I am currently DMing for:
I told them that their characters were all out looking for work as adventurers, and so they headed to the best place for finding rich employers in need of sell-swords, the capital. While they were all out doing their own thing, they each heard a town crier advertising that one of the churches was hiring adventurers. They each independently (or in a pair for two of them) showed up at the job interview. They are all sitting around the waiting room and see [each player described their character] before all being shown in to a group interview.
That was it, that was the whole thing. They later formed themselves as a group over the next several months by working together to overcome challenges of all sorts: skills, social, combat, etc.
Also, no joke, that video series is one of the best resources you can ever access on how to be a better DM, no matter your experience level.
At the start of my current campaign I gave the players the following at session 0, feel free to use it if you like it.
***
Whatever character you want to play is fine but you need to have a reason to eb working with the Hooded Claw (Thieves Guild). Possible options are:
Blackmail: The Hooded Claw have some dirt on you and are willing to make it public unless you work for them.
Information: You were looking for something or someone and exhausted all your resources and lines of inquiry so turned to the Hooded Claw, they agreed to look into it but you have to work for them in the mean time.
Guild Member: You have only just joined the guild or are seeking to join them and this is your opportunity to show what your made of.
Debt: You owe a lot of money to the Hooded Claw and they want you to repay it, as cannot pay, they make you work it off.
Spell Casters: The Hooded Claw appraoched you to find suitable locations to establish a teleportation circle that the Hooded Claw can use in the future.
Favour: The Hooded Claw approached you as a free agent to help establish a new foot hold.
Spy: You are working to destroy the guild for some reason and are attempting to infiltrate them / masquarading as a prospective member.
Other options are possible.
***
The initial plot:
The party have been sent by the thieves guild known as the Hooded Claw to travel from the City of Pikestaff to the town of Conrads Fall. They are informed they are to set up a new guild house and create a presence in the city. They are told to remain hidden, to seek out those in the city that can be manipulated, bought, coerced etc into working for the Hooded Claw.
Encounter 1: In the grip of Talon Master Josan.
This is the initial encounter with Talon Master Josan who is one of the leaders of the Hooded Claw.
Each Character is brought seperately to a rather non descript building near the docks in the city of Pikestaff.
The building is small and very run down with faded wallpaper and rotten floor boards however, a thick plush rug has been placed over the floor so that most of the wooden floor boards are covered and the windows are covered with wooden shutters. The room is 15ft x 20ft and 10ft high. The characters enter through a door in one of the 15ft long walls, there is another door on the 20ft wall to the left as they enter. As each person arrives the door is locked behind them and the second door is also locked (DC20 locks but there is also a bolt on the other side of the door so picking the lock will not open the door with out a DC 15 Strength check to force the door open).
The characters enter one by one having been fetched individually by the Hooded Claw. Once all characters have arrived they are left for about 10 minutes before the 2nd door opens and Talon Master Josan enters. Josan is a man of advanced years (age 60+) bent over and walks with a stick but he is well travelled and infamous in his early years for being a thief (he is lvl 10 Rogue, Thief archetype, appearance wise, think William Hartnell playing the original 1960's Doctor Who). He addresses the group and informs them that the Hooded Claw have decided to set up a new base of operations in a town called Conrads Fall which has grown in population and is on the verge of becoming a city.
(DC10 History check reveals Conrads Fall has been classified as a city on two previous occasions, once about 1000yrs ago when the volcano it was built around erupted during the Dragon War when a red dragon was killed inside it, this reduced it to town status and it grew in size again and became a city once more until about 100 years ago when two of the crater walls collapsed and once again it became a town).
Anyone affiliated to the Hooded Claw is expected to go, anyone not part of the guild is given a reason to go based on the players decision about why they are working for the Hooded Claw.
***
Encounter 2 onwards: From there on there was a choice of how they got to conrads fall, they could go by sea or land, a few random encounters and when they got to the town of Conrads Fall they had to meet up with a guild contact and comence all manner of nefarious doings. There was a cave in at a mine that they investigated to ingratiate themselves to the town mayor, a few bounties they hunted down to get in with the sheriff and on the first night there the guild contact stealthed into their new hide out and killed them all, well, he stealthed in with a brush and red paint and painted the word dead on eash of their foreheads to teach them to always set a watch even when they think they are safe....good times!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
* Need a character idea? Search for "Rob76's Unused" in the Story and Lore section.
Here's the thing: the players are all there to play a game and go on an adventure, so telling them "you've heard of nightmarish monsters and magical treasures to be found in these ruins, and have teamed up to investigate" or some such, then putting them right at the start of the game, should work just fine! There's no need to be too elaborate, just make it clear before you start that the characters are expected to be a team and seek adventure, and the players should do the rest. D&D is a cooperative game, and your players can help you keep it on track—you're not alone. After all, everyone really just wants to roll dice, fight monsters, and banter in medieval accents.
As for difficulty, the only thing I'd definitely suggest is to make sure you don't let characters long rest between every fight. Try to get at least three or four battles in every in-game day. If you don't do this, some classes (wizards, sorcerers) will steamroll the enemy, while others (fighters, warlocks) will be massively nerfed.
My first campaign i ran for 1st level players was The Lost Mines Of Phandelver. Its a great resource which will take you and the players through their paces one step at a time while keeping in the flow of things. By the end of the campaign, you should have a better idea of encounter difficulty for your players level. Just remember that while it may be fun to watch your players struggle to fight a boss, it helps to have smaller easier encounters to sate their appetite.
A good way to judge how difficult an encounter should be is to use the challenge ratings on the monster stats. A 1st level player should be able to deal with creatures with a challenge rating less than 1, no problem. Creatures higher than 1 and they will have a bit of a tougher time. Just try things out and see what works for you and your players.
CR is an abbreviation for "Challenge Rating." In theory (although it rarely works quite the way it should), a monster with a given CR is a reasonable fight for a party of about 5-6 characters the same level as its CR. So a party of level 2 characters would have a reasonable fight against a CR 2 monster.
My advice was, back off a little from that. If you have a level 2 party, give them a level CR 1 monster to fight instead. Yes it will be easy, but you want easy (IMO) for the first couple of sessions. Later, when you (and they) are more experienced, you can up the challenge or start ignoring CR because you will develop a "feel" for what your particular party can handle.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
Another thing I find useful for players, especially if they are new, is to tell them they do not have to fight everything or fight thigns to the death, running away is alwasy an option, players should be encouraged to think tactically for combat, if they are outnumbered, can they remove some with stealth or spells or manipulating the battlefield to their advantage?
For "rests" I do Long rest = 8 hours an represent a good night sleep and Short Rests are effectively your meal times and are between 30-60 mins each: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and short rests need to be seperated by 2-3 hours. So for each 24 hours you can have 1 long rest and a maximum of 3 short rests. You can rest more often but will not gain any benefit for doing so. The reason for this are some builds and players will want to take advantage of rest periods to do things or get abilities back (warlock spell slots for instance) or taking a long rest after every fight to get back abilities such as sorcery points, spell slots or to full heal up.
You can always start of witht he traditional..."You are all in a tavern..." let them roleplay buying drinks, gmablling or sitting moodily in the corner then have a bar fight break out, give it a few rounds until the town watch arrive and break things up, the party get arrested and the next day the local judge/magistrate/.sheriff asks them to go look into something as witnesses in the bar said the party had some ability (making refernece to any spell casting or fighting prowess) and hey presto, the party is formed and they have a job. Then when you feel comfy and the players understadn the mechanics of the game you can branch out into campaigns or having other plots.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
* Need a character idea? Search for "Rob76's Unused" in the Story and Lore section.
So I've got a group, but I don't know where to start them off. I know I've gotta give them a reason to be together, but how fleshed out does it need to be? How hard do I make it for 2nd level characters? Any help is appreciated.
Sorry if this doesn't belong here! If you can find a better place, I'd be happy to hear it!
I just wanna thank you all for such amazing responses!! They're a really big help!
In terms of difficulty, I would advise you to err on the side of easy rather than hard. You can use CR to eyeball it and then maybe go a little lower than that. Yes CR tends to make things too easy for experienced players but not for new players/DMs.
In terms of fleshing it out... you can always try one of the published modules for low level characters. Lots of people swear by Lost Minds of Phandelwhatever.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
Aren’t you going to take this opportunity to point this new DM towards our favorite resource? You beat me here this time....
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
LOL, you got me.
I was here during the middle of a work meeting on Zoom and was a bit distracted.
But yes, if you are going to start DMing, check out Matt Colville's nearly 100-part series called 'Running the Game.' It is AWESOME and has everything you need all in one place.
Here's episode 1:
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
“Aww! Ya beat me too it.” Lol
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
The party I am currently DMing for:
I told them that their characters were all out looking for work as adventurers, and so they headed to the best place for finding rich employers in need of sell-swords, the capital. While they were all out doing their own thing, they each heard a town crier advertising that one of the churches was hiring adventurers. They each independently (or in a pair for two of them) showed up at the job interview. They are all sitting around the waiting room and see [each player described their character] before all being shown in to a group interview.
That was it, that was the whole thing. They later formed themselves as a group over the next several months by working together to overcome challenges of all sorts: skills, social, combat, etc.
Also, no joke, that video series is one of the best resources you can ever access on how to be a better DM, no matter your experience level.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
At the start of my current campaign I gave the players the following at session 0, feel free to use it if you like it.
***
Whatever character you want to play is fine but you need to have a reason to eb working with the Hooded Claw (Thieves Guild). Possible options are:
Blackmail: The Hooded Claw have some dirt on you and are willing to make it public unless you work for them.
Information: You were looking for something or someone and exhausted all your resources and lines of inquiry so turned to the Hooded Claw, they agreed to look into it but you have to work for them in the mean time.
Guild Member: You have only just joined the guild or are seeking to join them and this is your opportunity to show what your made of.
Debt: You owe a lot of money to the Hooded Claw and they want you to repay it, as cannot pay, they make you work it off.
Spell Casters: The Hooded Claw appraoched you to find suitable locations to establish a teleportation circle that the Hooded Claw can use in the future.
Favour: The Hooded Claw approached you as a free agent to help establish a new foot hold.
Spy: You are working to destroy the guild for some reason and are attempting to infiltrate them / masquarading as a prospective member.
Other options are possible.
***
The initial plot:
The party have been sent by the thieves guild known as the Hooded Claw to travel from the City of Pikestaff to the town of Conrads Fall. They are informed they are to set up a new guild house and create a presence in the city. They are told to remain hidden, to seek out those in the city that can be manipulated, bought, coerced etc into working for the Hooded Claw.
Encounter 1: In the grip of Talon Master Josan.
This is the initial encounter with Talon Master Josan who is one of the leaders of the Hooded Claw.
Each Character is brought seperately to a rather non descript building near the docks in the city of Pikestaff.
The building is small and very run down with faded wallpaper and rotten floor boards however, a thick plush rug has been placed over the floor so that most of the wooden floor boards are covered and the windows are covered with wooden shutters. The room is 15ft x 20ft and 10ft high. The characters enter through a door in one of the 15ft long walls, there is another door on the 20ft wall to the left as they enter. As each person arrives the door is locked behind them and the second door is also locked (DC20 locks but there is also a bolt on the other side of the door so picking the lock will not open the door with out a DC 15 Strength check to force the door open).
The characters enter one by one having been fetched individually by the Hooded Claw. Once all characters have arrived they are left for about 10 minutes before the 2nd door opens and Talon Master Josan enters. Josan is a man of advanced years (age 60+) bent over and walks with a stick but he is well travelled and infamous in his early years for being a thief (he is lvl 10 Rogue, Thief archetype, appearance wise, think William Hartnell playing the original 1960's Doctor Who). He addresses the group and informs them that the Hooded Claw have decided to set up a new base of operations in a town called Conrads Fall which has grown in population and is on the verge of becoming a city.
(DC10 History check reveals Conrads Fall has been classified as a city on two previous occasions, once about 1000yrs ago when the volcano it was built around erupted during the Dragon War when a red dragon was killed inside it, this reduced it to town status and it grew in size again and became a city once more until about 100 years ago when two of the crater walls collapsed and once again it became a town).
Anyone affiliated to the Hooded Claw is expected to go, anyone not part of the guild is given a reason to go based on the players decision about why they are working for the Hooded Claw.
***
Encounter 2 onwards: From there on there was a choice of how they got to conrads fall, they could go by sea or land, a few random encounters and when they got to the town of Conrads Fall they had to meet up with a guild contact and comence all manner of nefarious doings. There was a cave in at a mine that they investigated to ingratiate themselves to the town mayor, a few bounties they hunted down to get in with the sheriff and on the first night there the guild contact stealthed into their new hide out and killed them all, well, he stealthed in with a brush and red paint and painted the word dead on eash of their foreheads to teach them to always set a watch even when they think they are safe....good times!
Here's the thing: the players are all there to play a game and go on an adventure, so telling them "you've heard of nightmarish monsters and magical treasures to be found in these ruins, and have teamed up to investigate" or some such, then putting them right at the start of the game, should work just fine! There's no need to be too elaborate, just make it clear before you start that the characters are expected to be a team and seek adventure, and the players should do the rest. D&D is a cooperative game, and your players can help you keep it on track—you're not alone. After all, everyone really just wants to roll dice, fight monsters, and banter in medieval accents.
As for difficulty, the only thing I'd definitely suggest is to make sure you don't let characters long rest between every fight. Try to get at least three or four battles in every in-game day. If you don't do this, some classes (wizards, sorcerers) will steamroll the enemy, while others (fighters, warlocks) will be massively nerfed.
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
CR?
My first campaign i ran for 1st level players was The Lost Mines Of Phandelver. Its a great resource which will take you and the players through their paces one step at a time while keeping in the flow of things. By the end of the campaign, you should have a better idea of encounter difficulty for your players level. Just remember that while it may be fun to watch your players struggle to fight a boss, it helps to have smaller easier encounters to sate their appetite.
A good way to judge how difficult an encounter should be is to use the challenge ratings on the monster stats. A 1st level player should be able to deal with creatures with a challenge rating less than 1, no problem. Creatures higher than 1 and they will have a bit of a tougher time. Just try things out and see what works for you and your players.
CR is an abbreviation for "Challenge Rating." In theory (although it rarely works quite the way it should), a monster with a given CR is a reasonable fight for a party of about 5-6 characters the same level as its CR. So a party of level 2 characters would have a reasonable fight against a CR 2 monster.
My advice was, back off a little from that. If you have a level 2 party, give them a level CR 1 monster to fight instead. Yes it will be easy, but you want easy (IMO) for the first couple of sessions. Later, when you (and they) are more experienced, you can up the challenge or start ignoring CR because you will develop a "feel" for what your particular party can handle.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
Another thing I find useful for players, especially if they are new, is to tell them they do not have to fight everything or fight thigns to the death, running away is alwasy an option, players should be encouraged to think tactically for combat, if they are outnumbered, can they remove some with stealth or spells or manipulating the battlefield to their advantage?
For "rests" I do Long rest = 8 hours an represent a good night sleep and Short Rests are effectively your meal times and are between 30-60 mins each: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and short rests need to be seperated by 2-3 hours. So for each 24 hours you can have 1 long rest and a maximum of 3 short rests. You can rest more often but will not gain any benefit for doing so. The reason for this are some builds and players will want to take advantage of rest periods to do things or get abilities back (warlock spell slots for instance) or taking a long rest after every fight to get back abilities such as sorcery points, spell slots or to full heal up.
You can always start of witht he traditional..."You are all in a tavern..." let them roleplay buying drinks, gmablling or sitting moodily in the corner then have a bar fight break out, give it a few rounds until the town watch arrive and break things up, the party get arrested and the next day the local judge/magistrate/.sheriff asks them to go look into something as witnesses in the bar said the party had some ability (making refernece to any spell casting or fighting prowess) and hey presto, the party is formed and they have a job. Then when you feel comfy and the players understadn the mechanics of the game you can branch out into campaigns or having other plots.