Hey guys i just recently got into D&D, played a short campaign with a small group of friends and about to start another but i'm really interested in attempting to create my own campaign and DM for my friends, who have all played A LOT of D&D before so i don't want to make something sub par. if anyone could give me any tips, help or any ideas towards this it would be appreciated :D
Here's a trick from a DM that's always got his players coming back for more: Stop worrying yourself over your campaign being "sub par" - just do whatever seems fun to you, and adjusting to whatever is fun to your players. While that is a pair of moving targets, they are also pretty easy to hit if you communicate with your players about what they like and where they see the campaign going and make an honest effort at helping the whole affair be a good time.
If you worry about whether or not you are "sub par", you're too likely to talk yourself out of giving yourself the time it takes to actually get as good at DMing as you can be, and that would be a tragedy.
It's great you are working with a bunch of experienced players! Enlist their aid in describing scenes and creating plot hooks. Give a general description of the scene (dark alleyway in the slums of a major city) and ask each player to provide an element (open air sewage system, abandoned merchant stalls in disrepair, buildings with exterior plaster and mortar crumbling away). If you get stuck, ask the players for input. Most players love having an impact on the story.
for pacing, I always try to prep the next 4-6 encounters. You may not get to that many in the standard 4 hour session, so you should have a buffer of content.
Thanks for the advice, started writing up some mock ideas for a general story to follow the other night, going to ask them to help with ideas too. Hopefully it all goes smoothly :)
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Hey guys i just recently got into D&D, played a short campaign with a small group of friends and about to start another but i'm really interested in attempting to create my own campaign and DM for my friends, who have all played A LOT of D&D before so i don't want to make something sub par. if anyone could give me any tips, help or any ideas towards this it would be appreciated :D
Here's a trick from a DM that's always got his players coming back for more: Stop worrying yourself over your campaign being "sub par" - just do whatever seems fun to you, and adjusting to whatever is fun to your players. While that is a pair of moving targets, they are also pretty easy to hit if you communicate with your players about what they like and where they see the campaign going and make an honest effort at helping the whole affair be a good time.
If you worry about whether or not you are "sub par", you're too likely to talk yourself out of giving yourself the time it takes to actually get as good at DMing as you can be, and that would be a tragedy.
It's great you are working with a bunch of experienced players! Enlist their aid in describing scenes and creating plot hooks. Give a general description of the scene (dark alleyway in the slums of a major city) and ask each player to provide an element (open air sewage system, abandoned merchant stalls in disrepair, buildings with exterior plaster and mortar crumbling away). If you get stuck, ask the players for input. Most players love having an impact on the story.
for pacing, I always try to prep the next 4-6 encounters. You may not get to that many in the standard 4 hour session, so you should have a buffer of content.
Thanks for the advice, started writing up some mock ideas for a general story to follow the other night, going to ask them to help with ideas too. Hopefully it all goes smoothly :)