After playing for a few years, I want to try DMing. I'm organising a few sessions with friends. My friends range from never played to 10 years experience. But since I've never DM'd before, I want to do a few sessions with very simple missions/encounters to get into the swing of things.
Does anyone have any encounter suggestions for a first time DM?
the best thing you can do to help yourself is be comfortable and confident with what you are going to be describing and reacting with.
I would say if you are planning on just doing one off encounters with no through narrative create something yourself but steal it from a movie you love. something you know well and are comfortable with that you can expand into. that way rather than having to imagine everything from the ground up you have like a cliff note visual in your head of what it could be, the pacing, staging etc.
secondly i would say to pick maybe fewer bigger creatures than hordes of smaller ones, for the first time you want to be spinning as fewer plates as possible and having a single Cyclops with a pet giant crocodile is less work to think about then planning the actions of 15 goblins.
I'd suggest starting with a oneshot to get into the swing of things.
Decide what level your characters will be at and use this generator to determine the max CR they should face based on that level and how many players you have. (Say you have 5 players at level 1. The max CR they should face is a CR 1.) Don't be afraid to put experienced players at level 1 - they'll understand you're new. They might suggest level 3 to start - this is also a totally valid option, but with subclasses the amount of abilities could potentially overwhelm a new player.
Then pick a creature type, such as Undead or Fey. (For CR 1, a Ghoul, Specter, or Dryad would be great options.) Pick a creature of that CR to be your Boss creature. Then pick 1-2 weaker creatures (such as CR 1/4, which 5@lv1 can face 3 of), preferably of the same type, to be the introductory fight. (For Undead, a good example would be a Zombie.)
Then build a basic story around these creatures. Going with the undead theme, perhaps the group has gathered for the funeral of an NPC they all knew, when that NPC suddenly bursts out of the ground as a zombie which they have to fight off. Starting with some action is never a bad idea - it should help bring the PCs together as a group. Then maybe the priest heading the funeral says that they heard a rumor that someone saw a similar creature roaming around at night, but chalked it up to paranoid or bored townsfolks, but now thinks there might be some truth to it and asks the party to investigate.
Keep the structure to a solid beginning, middle, and end. Beginning brings the PCs together with a common goal (a reward always helps) and is a good chance to get some RP in. Middle sees the PCs actively going after this goal. The end sees the party overcoming (or possibly failing) this goal, and involves them receiving any potential rewards.
Other tips in no particular order...
When doing descriptions, focuses on the senses. Most people focus on sight - what the players see - but also describing what they smell, hear, feel, or even taste is always good. Smell is a strong descriptor.
Make the PCs start together in a confined space (literally or figuratively) so they can't avoid each other / avoid the plot.
Have a list of random names jotted down in case the PCs ask for the names of NPCs.
Don't let anyone make "lone wolf" type of characters. If the character feels super edgy, they might just be a lone wolf. This is more common in newer players.
Err on the side of "Yes, and..." but don't be afraid to pull out the "No, but..."
If you want to use music to set the ambiance, have a playlist ready of generic music that can play in the background for the duration of the game. Don't worry too much about different soundtracks for different settings or moods. You'll already have enough to focus on. At most, two playlists: one for generic background noise, one for battles. Make sure the playlists are long enough that you won't have to restart them or find more music during the middle of the game. (There are lots of great ambiance tracks on youtube that are hours long.)
If you're using Roll20 as an online tabletop and using a map and tokens, have the enemy tokens on the "GM Layer" ahead of time so you don't have to spend time finding and dragging and moving around tokens in the moment.
If the players try to go off from what you've prepared, don't be afraid to say, "This is my first time GMing and I haven't prepared that. What I have prepared is xyz."
If you want your first game to be a campaign, I strongly suggest the module Lost Mines of Phandelver - unless some of your players have already played through it before.
If you are starting level one characters, the go to is usually Goblins, Bandits or wild animals attack the group. Pretty simple stuff. I would advise using the encounter builder and only make medium difficulty encounters until you have a few sessions together. Level 1 is kind of a 1 hit player kill on a random crit so, I would probably check monster stat blocks for average damages and go from there.
Do a Session Zero if possible with each of the players to establish their character. Ask them questions so that you know what they are playing and why. If it takes time to get them to answer, that's fine. Let them have the time. Developing the character before the first meeting with other characters helps all of them able to talk about their characters more naturally in the group setting because they've already done it with you.
For the first session, you can easily bring them to a quest-hub, but I also like starting them off straight away into a fight scene. No time to prep... just... bam, right into the action. Then let them make their way into the town that has been having trouble with your typical goblins, wolves, bandits, etc. and they have immediate buy-in on what is happening. Also, when they get a chance to rest and recover after that first incident, let them talk if they will. If they have trouble doing it themselves, then have the proprietor of the establishment ask questions. But the more they talk to each other at this point, the better things will go later on (in most cases).
Realize that the things you prepare ahead of time will cover at-best... maybe half the things that your players will come up with. Try to have some contingency plans, but, if you can, just roll off the cuff and go with it. Look some stuff up later to make it work out... but sometimes the improv turns out to be some of the best gaming experiences you will have. Over time you will learn when to reign things in cause everything is fixing to devolve into shenanigans or to let it roll and see where it takes you. Along the same lines, give players more clues than you think they may need to figure out where you are expecting them to go. One is not enough. Two might do sometimes. Three is usually a good starting point for someone to catch on...
And best of all... Relax... take a deep breath... and have a lot of fun!
I can't emphasize how much I agree with everything Grayfax has said above ^^
Personally, whenever I start a new campaign, or have new players, I do a 1 to 1 session with each player (this is probably not practical for everyone) that is used to go over their character and the setting, what they want to see in game (combat, social, exploration, etc), give them an experience of how you run combat/exploration/etc and how their player works and, most importantly, gives you a bit of insight into how they play their character and a bit more experience in DMing without worrying that you aren't doing it well.
I tend to do these as pre-adventure backstory sessions, they say their character used to have a family but the family died in a gnoll raid, have them fight some gnolls/run from gnolls. Doing this for a couple of players really helps get them invested in their characters and their own motivations, yeah, the first couple (or dozen) you do of these may not run well but so far I haven't had anyone not like the idea when offered (separate this from the regular session if possible, add to, don't replace the normal session).
Feel free to steal borrow from published adventures, for oneshots/starting quests, if you can't think of things or want your own original quests, give monster focused quests, find something cool from the MM or other source and stick it in. Maybe a Tree Blight is attacking Woodsmen in a nearby forest, or a Roc is stealing sheep, you don't have to point towards an overarching campaign/objective all the time, maybe a goblin problem in the sewers is literally just goblins deciding that it's a nice place to live, maybe later you add other motivation in that the players didn't know at the time (it doesn't have to be planned ahead that much).
What Grayfax said. I have recently done my session 0 as a beginning of what is hopefully a very long campaign.
Because there were newer players that were not yet fully decided on their class, race and background, I let them run their "best idea so far". After initial getting to know each other and their ideas, I ran them through a self-steered encounter as a run-up to the actual campaign.
The encounter was a championship where the four of them had to battle several rounds of enemies, so they could experience what their character and the game was like. Afterwards, they received price money and could purchase some specific gear. I told them that before next session they could still change everything about their character.
All of them stuck to their "best idea" and are already diving into more background and ideas.
Matt Colville has a great YouTube series called Running the Game. It starts with building a simple adventure that is actually a really good starting adventure. It is very easy to adapt to any setting, including your own if you are doing a homebrew one.
The most important thing is that everyone has fun! Welcome to the wonderful world of DMing!
Make mistakes and own them. You will make mistakes. You will make rules calls that you regret. You will allow or disallow things that you realize later on are a mistake. First, forgive yourself for being a mere mortal - few of us make it to the lofty peaks of DM perfection, especially on our first try. Second, change your rulings. Sit down at the beginning or end of a session and tell your players, "Hey, I know I told Sam she could have this vorpal sword, but now I'm realizing that was a bad idea. So Sam and I are going to take some time to think about what a fair replacement is."
Your players are going to hold you to a less strenuous standard than you hold yourself. They will accept your mistakes, and respect your vulnerability. Whatever your first session is, make bold decisions, and own the mistakes you make.
All of the Ideas here are great, I just have one thing to add. I like starting my campaigns out with a longer one shot that is not entirely cut off from the rest of the campaign. I find that this kind of helps set the tone for the rest of the adventure. An example would be if the campaign is about demons have your one shot be about a town being raided by gnolls (they were created by a demon lord). You don't have to do this I just find that it can be useful to you and the players.
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The 6 most hated words in all of d&d history: make me a dex saving throw .
After playing for a few years, I want to try DMing. I'm organising a few sessions with friends. My friends range from never played to 10 years experience. But since I've never DM'd before, I want to do a few sessions with very simple missions/encounters to get into the swing of things.
Does anyone have any encounter suggestions for a first time DM?
the best thing you can do to help yourself is be comfortable and confident with what you are going to be describing and reacting with.
I would say if you are planning on just doing one off encounters with no through narrative create something yourself but steal it from a movie you love. something you know well and are comfortable with that you can expand into. that way rather than having to imagine everything from the ground up you have like a cliff note visual in your head of what it could be, the pacing, staging etc.
secondly i would say to pick maybe fewer bigger creatures than hordes of smaller ones, for the first time you want to be spinning as fewer plates as possible and having a single Cyclops with a pet giant crocodile is less work to think about then planning the actions of 15 goblins.
I'd suggest starting with a oneshot to get into the swing of things.
Decide what level your characters will be at and use this generator to determine the max CR they should face based on that level and how many players you have. (Say you have 5 players at level 1. The max CR they should face is a CR 1.) Don't be afraid to put experienced players at level 1 - they'll understand you're new. They might suggest level 3 to start - this is also a totally valid option, but with subclasses the amount of abilities could potentially overwhelm a new player.
Then pick a creature type, such as Undead or Fey. (For CR 1, a Ghoul, Specter, or Dryad would be great options.) Pick a creature of that CR to be your Boss creature. Then pick 1-2 weaker creatures (such as CR 1/4, which 5@lv1 can face 3 of), preferably of the same type, to be the introductory fight. (For Undead, a good example would be a Zombie.)
Then build a basic story around these creatures. Going with the undead theme, perhaps the group has gathered for the funeral of an NPC they all knew, when that NPC suddenly bursts out of the ground as a zombie which they have to fight off. Starting with some action is never a bad idea - it should help bring the PCs together as a group. Then maybe the priest heading the funeral says that they heard a rumor that someone saw a similar creature roaming around at night, but chalked it up to paranoid or bored townsfolks, but now thinks there might be some truth to it and asks the party to investigate.
Keep the structure to a solid beginning, middle, and end. Beginning brings the PCs together with a common goal (a reward always helps) and is a good chance to get some RP in. Middle sees the PCs actively going after this goal. The end sees the party overcoming (or possibly failing) this goal, and involves them receiving any potential rewards.
Other tips in no particular order...
If you want your first game to be a campaign, I strongly suggest the module Lost Mines of Phandelver - unless some of your players have already played through it before.
Most importantly - have fun!
If you are starting level one characters, the go to is usually Goblins, Bandits or wild animals attack the group. Pretty simple stuff. I would advise using the encounter builder and only make medium difficulty encounters until you have a few sessions together. Level 1 is kind of a 1 hit player kill on a random crit so, I would probably check monster stat blocks for average damages and go from there.
Do a Session Zero if possible with each of the players to establish their character. Ask them questions so that you know what they are playing and why. If it takes time to get them to answer, that's fine. Let them have the time. Developing the character before the first meeting with other characters helps all of them able to talk about their characters more naturally in the group setting because they've already done it with you.
For the first session, you can easily bring them to a quest-hub, but I also like starting them off straight away into a fight scene. No time to prep... just... bam, right into the action. Then let them make their way into the town that has been having trouble with your typical goblins, wolves, bandits, etc. and they have immediate buy-in on what is happening. Also, when they get a chance to rest and recover after that first incident, let them talk if they will. If they have trouble doing it themselves, then have the proprietor of the establishment ask questions. But the more they talk to each other at this point, the better things will go later on (in most cases).
Realize that the things you prepare ahead of time will cover at-best... maybe half the things that your players will come up with. Try to have some contingency plans, but, if you can, just roll off the cuff and go with it. Look some stuff up later to make it work out... but sometimes the improv turns out to be some of the best gaming experiences you will have. Over time you will learn when to reign things in cause everything is fixing to devolve into shenanigans or to let it roll and see where it takes you. Along the same lines, give players more clues than you think they may need to figure out where you are expecting them to go. One is not enough. Two might do sometimes. Three is usually a good starting point for someone to catch on...
And best of all... Relax... take a deep breath... and have a lot of fun!
I can't emphasize how much I agree with everything Grayfax has said above ^^
Personally, whenever I start a new campaign, or have new players, I do a 1 to 1 session with each player (this is probably not practical for everyone) that is used to go over their character and the setting, what they want to see in game (combat, social, exploration, etc), give them an experience of how you run combat/exploration/etc and how their player works and, most importantly, gives you a bit of insight into how they play their character and a bit more experience in DMing without worrying that you aren't doing it well.
I tend to do these as pre-adventure backstory sessions, they say their character used to have a family but the family died in a gnoll raid, have them fight some gnolls/run from gnolls. Doing this for a couple of players really helps get them invested in their characters and their own motivations, yeah, the first couple (or dozen) you do of these may not run well but so far I haven't had anyone not like the idea when offered (separate this from the regular session if possible, add to, don't replace the normal session).
Feel free to
stealborrow from published adventures, for oneshots/starting quests, if you can't think of things or want your own original quests, give monster focused quests, find something cool from the MM or other source and stick it in. Maybe a Tree Blight is attacking Woodsmen in a nearby forest, or a Roc is stealing sheep, you don't have to point towards an overarching campaign/objective all the time, maybe a goblin problem in the sewers is literally just goblins deciding that it's a nice place to live, maybe later you add other motivation in that the players didn't know at the time (it doesn't have to be planned ahead that much).What Grayfax said. I have recently done my session 0 as a beginning of what is hopefully a very long campaign.
Because there were newer players that were not yet fully decided on their class, race and background, I let them run their "best idea so far". After initial getting to know each other and their ideas, I ran them through a self-steered encounter as a run-up to the actual campaign.
The encounter was a championship where the four of them had to battle several rounds of enemies, so they could experience what their character and the game was like. Afterwards, they received price money and could purchase some specific gear. I told them that before next session they could still change everything about their character.
All of them stuck to their "best idea" and are already diving into more background and ideas.
Matt Colville has a great YouTube series called Running the Game. It starts with building a simple adventure that is actually a really good starting adventure. It is very easy to adapt to any setting, including your own if you are doing a homebrew one.
The most important thing is that everyone has fun! Welcome to the wonderful world of DMing!
You have gotten a lot of great advice so, I will add some that may not be so great.
Just remember.......always.....always.....Start at a Tavern!
Here's good advice I got as a new DM:
Make mistakes and own them. You will make mistakes. You will make rules calls that you regret. You will allow or disallow things that you realize later on are a mistake. First, forgive yourself for being a mere mortal - few of us make it to the lofty peaks of DM perfection, especially on our first try. Second, change your rulings. Sit down at the beginning or end of a session and tell your players, "Hey, I know I told Sam she could have this vorpal sword, but now I'm realizing that was a bad idea. So Sam and I are going to take some time to think about what a fair replacement is."
Your players are going to hold you to a less strenuous standard than you hold yourself. They will accept your mistakes, and respect your vulnerability. Whatever your first session is, make bold decisions, and own the mistakes you make.
All of the Ideas here are great, I just have one thing to add. I like starting my campaigns out with a longer one shot that is not entirely cut off from the rest of the campaign. I find that this kind of helps set the tone for the rest of the adventure. An example would be if the campaign is about demons have your one shot be about a town being raided by gnolls (they were created by a demon lord). You don't have to do this I just find that it can be useful to you and the players.
The 6 most hated words in all of d&d history: make me a dex saving throw .
Here is the best advice I can give any new DM:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-YZvLUXcR8&list=PLlUk42GiU2guNzWBzxn7hs8MaV7ELLCP_
Eppisodes 2 & 3 might be right up your alley.
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