Start small, don't try to make a level 1 to 20 adventure to start with. If your not using a premade adventure, have your first adventure be in a small town with three dungeons that create a level 1 to 3 adventure. Practice Improvising, your players will surprise you and you can't plan for everything. Find small pieces in your player's backgrounds that you can sprinkle into the game seemlessly (never plan an entire adventure around player backgrounds). Remember the basic structure of D&D: DM describes something, Players attempt something, DM and Player Roll if necessary, DM describes results.
You're going to need much more specific questions than that to get any kind of answer. This entire website, and others, is filled with DMing tips. Read the DMG & The Players Handbook, peruse the articles on this and other sites that give advice on DMing, watch videos and tutorials on Youtube. There's a tonne of information at your fingertips.
If you have any specific queries, we'd all be happy to help.
My quick and easy suggestion is pick up the Essentials Kit. It's got everything you and your player need to get started, it's a great adventure to run for new DMs, and there's bonus content on this website to continue your adventure once you're done with Dragon of Icespire Peak!
My other suggestion is don't worry about knowing everything. Don't TRY to remember all the rules. Just look up or make up stuff as you go, and as long as you try to make decisions on what is the most fun for your players then you'll be fine!
I always feel awkward making up names on the spot. I would make three lists of names ahead of time; a list of male names, a list of female names and a list of place names.
Second, I would get a large piece of paper and some sore of ruler. You will find yourself saying "they come from such-and-such up north". As soon as you say that, put a mark on this large piece of paper (working DM map) at the appropriate distance and in the appropriate direction, and make that spot with the character's name that said they come from up there, over there, whatever. Make any other notations you need like ORCS, or WELL or CAVE or whatever as you say these things. After the session you can flesh out any details you need to keep the story coherent.
I try not to let the characters stumble into a treasure of unlimited good gear by mistake. I try to be careful of what treasure I am going to give out. Toward that end, I make a list of specific treasure I want them to have. I check off the items as they are found. In this way, they don't have to go to a specific spot to get the magic broadsword I want them to have. I just include it in the next treasure they collect.
I also have a list of government officials, with names and titles, that I can use to fill in the blanks. You may also want to have something like that for soldiers names and ranks. I also generally refer to distances in terms of the time it takes to walk from here to there, not the number of miles, or kilometers or whatever. I like to use leagues instead of meters when I have to give a distance, it sound more IC.
That's a few thoughts from me anyway. Good luck and have a good time.
Thanks you guys(and girls if there were any). in two weeks we start I have a group of ten or more new players and experienced ones so I made an encounter that will challenging for everyone it will be mostly goblins they will be fighting but there will be a couple of bandits so it will even out i think
I'm starting as a Dm at my school and I was wondering if I could have some tips
Start small, don't try to make a level 1 to 20 adventure to start with. If your not using a premade adventure, have your first adventure be in a small town with three dungeons that create a level 1 to 3 adventure. Practice Improvising, your players will surprise you and you can't plan for everything. Find small pieces in your player's backgrounds that you can sprinkle into the game seemlessly (never plan an entire adventure around player backgrounds). Remember the basic structure of D&D: DM describes something, Players attempt something, DM and Player Roll if necessary, DM describes results.
You can find some more from a link in my sign.
You're going to need much more specific questions than that to get any kind of answer. This entire website, and others, is filled with DMing tips. Read the DMG & The Players Handbook, peruse the articles on this and other sites that give advice on DMing, watch videos and tutorials on Youtube. There's a tonne of information at your fingertips.
If you have any specific queries, we'd all be happy to help.
My quick and easy suggestion is pick up the Essentials Kit. It's got everything you and your player need to get started, it's a great adventure to run for new DMs, and there's bonus content on this website to continue your adventure once you're done with Dragon of Icespire Peak!
My other suggestion is don't worry about knowing everything. Don't TRY to remember all the rules. Just look up or make up stuff as you go, and as long as you try to make decisions on what is the most fun for your players then you'll be fine!
Find me on Twitter: @OboeLauren
Check out Matt Colville's "Running the Game" series on YouTube. Lots of pointers in there.
I always feel awkward making up names on the spot. I would make three lists of names ahead of time; a list of male names, a list of female names and a list of place names.
Second, I would get a large piece of paper and some sore of ruler. You will find yourself saying "they come from such-and-such up north". As soon as you say that, put a mark on this large piece of paper (working DM map) at the appropriate distance and in the appropriate direction, and make that spot with the character's name that said they come from up there, over there, whatever. Make any other notations you need like ORCS, or WELL or CAVE or whatever as you say these things. After the session you can flesh out any details you need to keep the story coherent.
I try not to let the characters stumble into a treasure of unlimited good gear by mistake. I try to be careful of what treasure I am going to give out. Toward that end, I make a list of specific treasure I want them to have. I check off the items as they are found. In this way, they don't have to go to a specific spot to get the magic broadsword I want them to have. I just include it in the next treasure they collect.
I also have a list of government officials, with names and titles, that I can use to fill in the blanks. You may also want to have something like that for soldiers names and ranks. I also generally refer to distances in terms of the time it takes to walk from here to there, not the number of miles, or kilometers or whatever. I like to use leagues instead of meters when I have to give a distance, it sound more IC.
That's a few thoughts from me anyway. Good luck and have a good time.
Thanks you guys(and girls if there were any). in two weeks we start I have a group of ten or more new players and experienced ones so I made an encounter that will challenging for everyone it will be mostly goblins they will be fighting but there will be a couple of bandits so it will even out i think
That is a LOT of players. I wouldn't recommend 10 or more players for your first game.
Or ever.
Yes I'm aware of that but I'm the dm with 5e experience
You said you're new.