if you couldn't tell by the title, i am completely new to the world of D&D. "How new" you might ask, i haven't played a single game. Although i have watched countless episodes of shows like CriticalRole and Heroes and Halfwits among other shows, i haven't had the opportunity to play it myself until now. Recently a few friends and I found out that we all wanted to play D&D, we all subsequently found out that we all haven't the slightest idea on what to do. My friends all voted me to be the DM which led me to searching the internet which then led me here.
so i'm asking the community for help because who better to ask. as of me righting this I have absolutely nothing. no campaign, no books, no idea what to do, no nothing. so what i'm asking from the community is help. the most important stuff is that i need to know what to buy (keeping in mind that I'm a beginner so nothing overly specialized or expensive) in order to run a campaign as a DM and provide a decent experience to my players. The second most important thing is that i need a campaign. if someone could point me in the direction of a decent one shot home brew campaign for about 4-6 player, it would be very much appreciated. also any and all tips and tricks for being a good DM from people with experience being a DM are Greatly appreciated.
any and all help will be greatly appreciated and hopefully used in my campaign, when i make/find one that is. thank you for helping in anyway shape or capacity.
Let me offer you some less... complete advice. Hi! Welcome to our little part of the internet, we're happy you could join us. This website has basically everything a first time player and dungeon master needs. The basic rules has you covered rules wise if you want to make your own one shot and the dungeon master subforum is eager to help. In terms of one shots, one of my favorite scenarios to build from is "What's this magic item? And what's it doing in our quaint village?" If your looking for premade one shots, the Dungeon Masters' Guild, a website filled with the community's created content has a lot of one shots on it.
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
The D&D Starter set is an excellent place to start. Gives you a good short intro adventure to get you into DM'ing and a number of pregenerated characters for your players. Has all of the basic rules you'll need to get started as well.
If things go well from there then you can look into investing in some more of the books like the Player's Handbook, Dungeon Masters Guide, and Monster Manual or pick those up here on D&D Beyond.
Mostly importantly have fun. If you don't know what a rule is when something happens make it up and roll with it for the time and then look up what it is suppose to be later for your next game. Keep the game moving without stopping to lookup pages in a book every few minutes. Sure it won't be prefect but it will keep the flow of the game going and make for a better time for you and all of the players.
I second SoulFury's recommendation of the Starter set. You can buy the physical boxed set from Amazon for less that $20. It comes with a basic rule book, a pretty cool (and well rated) adventure, and a set of dice. If you are going to play online, you can buy the digital version here from D&D Beyond and play on a free Virtual Tabletop (VTT) like Roll20, however if you can do it you should start out playing in person and making your characters together.
If you get Starter set, be sure to read through the entire adventure first, and ask any questions you have here to make sure you understand it all.
Rule number 1: DON'T worry about it! Seriously. The most important thing is that you and your friends have fun telling an adventure story together. The rules are just there to help you with conflict resolution. You can bend them to your will. DON'T worry about memorizing all the rules. You are there to have fun. Knowledge of the rules will come with time and practice. and no one will judge you. Anyone who does is a doodie head.
For your players, they can all use D&D BEyond for the free basic rules, or you can also all download the basic rule, and a basic DMG with some monsters, from the WotC web site.
Watch the WotC D&D team play the first part of the Lost Mines of Phandelver (the adventure from the starter set): https://youtu.be/hgNRe76o4_8
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Orcs are savage raiders and pillagers with stooped postures, low foreheads, and piggish faces with prominent lower canines that resemble tusks." MM p245 (original printing) You don't OWN your books on DDB: WotC can change them any time. What do you think will happen when OneD&D comes out?
I would third the suggestion of the Starter Set. I dabbled in DnD 30+ years ago, got back into it about 3 years ago. The starter set was a great place to start. The set includes some pregenerated characters; character generation can be intimidating and time consuming for new players. Trying out DnD with pre-gen characters is often very helpful. Just be sure that you read all their backstories.
One other piece of advice: if the all the rules seem overwhelming, it's o.k. to decide to omit some of them. For example, I decided to ignore encumbrance (limits how much characters can carry) and certain combat options (opportunity attacks and reactions) when I first started as a DM. I continue to ignore encumbrance, but I've added back in opportunity attacks and reactions once I became more confident.
Amen to that. Unless I have a good reason to make the players keep track of the encumbrance I completely ignore it also. I just tend to not find it fun to keep track of and it slows the story down.
My friends and I started with D&D 30+ years ago but hadn't played any RPG's in a few years. To get use to the new rules we went with the Starter Set, Players Handbook (They wanted to roll custom characters), and a few sets of dice. Our first get together involved rolling characters and then just running some small skirmishes to test out the rules for combat. As the GM, I had them fight through a few scenarios vs 1, 2, 3 goblins etc. Ran through some fights and got comfortable with how combat would flow. We waited til our second game session before Starting the Lost Mine of Phandelver. Just make sure you have read through the module and understand how it's supposed to run before you start. And as ArwensDaughter said don't worry about watering down the rules a bit in the beginning and then building them back in as you guys get a better grasp of how the game flows and you see the need as a GM.
It's also ok to do a combo of pre-generated characters and play created characters. We used the starter set for a family game; my son really wanted to roll his own character, so he did. Everyone else used the pregens.
On dice, it's really helpful if each player has a set of their own. As others have said, there are times it is helpful to have multiple sets of dice, especially as a DM, but it's not strictly necessary. Getting a "pound of dice" can be an inexpensive way to get a lot of sets to share with new players and to use for yourself if necessary. My daughter did that when she hosted a New Year's Eve DnD party for her friends, all of whom were new to DnD, and I did the same when I started a "drop in" game at the local library this summer.
Yup Starter set! It totally eases you into it and is a fun adventure with lots of room to expand it into another adventure after. I took a party through it after having been out of the game for over 20 years. I blended the end of it into beginning of Hoard of the Dragon Queen and its worked out pretty well so far. Also look up Matthew Colville's videos on Youtube called "Running the game." Fantastic stuff.
When something goes awry with the rules, give favor to the player. I say this more for while you are all learning the rules together. Plenty of times a player or DM will misread or misunderstand something. If there is an option I tend to err on the side of the players.
Everyone else pretty thoroughly covered most other things.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
if you couldn't tell by the title, i am completely new to the world of D&D. "How new" you might ask, i haven't played a single game. Although i have watched countless episodes of shows like Critical Role and Heroes and Halfwits among other shows, i haven't had the opportunity to play it myself until now. Recently a few friends and I found out that we all wanted to play D&D, we all subsequently found out that we all haven't the slightest idea on what to do. My friends all voted me to be the DM which led me to searching the internet which then led me here.
so i'm asking the community for help because who better to ask. as of me righting this I have absolutely nothing. no campaign, no books, no idea what to do, no nothing. so what i'm asking from the community is help. the most important stuff is that i need to know what to buy (keeping in mind that I'm a beginner so nothing overly specialized or expensive) in order to run a campaign as a DM and provide a decent experience to my players. The second most important thing is that i need a campaign. if someone could point me in the direction of a decent one shot home brew campaign for about 4-6 player, it would be very much appreciated. also any and all tips and tricks for being a good DM from people with experience being a DM are Greatly appreciated.
any and all help will be greatly appreciated and hopefully used in my campaign, when i make/find one that is. thank you for helping in anyway shape or capacity.
--thank you
http://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/general-discussion/8592-dm-advice-needed?comment=2
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
Well, that's a very intimidating list.
Let me offer you some less... complete advice. Hi! Welcome to our little part of the internet, we're happy you could join us. This website has basically everything a first time player and dungeon master needs. The basic rules has you covered rules wise if you want to make your own one shot and the dungeon master subforum is eager to help. In terms of one shots, one of my favorite scenarios to build from is "What's this magic item? And what's it doing in our quaint village?" If your looking for premade one shots, the Dungeon Masters' Guild, a website filled with the community's created content has a lot of one shots on it.
Tooltips | Snippet Code | How to Homebrew on D&D Beyond | Subclass Guide | Feature Roadmap
Astromancer's Homebrew Assembly
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
The D&D Starter set is an excellent place to start. Gives you a good short intro adventure to get you into DM'ing and a number of pregenerated characters for your players. Has all of the basic rules you'll need to get started as well.
If things go well from there then you can look into investing in some more of the books like the Player's Handbook, Dungeon Masters Guide, and Monster Manual or pick those up here on D&D Beyond.
Mostly importantly have fun. If you don't know what a rule is when something happens make it up and roll with it for the time and then look up what it is suppose to be later for your next game. Keep the game moving without stopping to lookup pages in a book every few minutes. Sure it won't be prefect but it will keep the flow of the game going and make for a better time for you and all of the players.
I second SoulFury's recommendation of the Starter set. You can buy the physical boxed set from Amazon for less that $20. It comes with a basic rule book, a pretty cool (and well rated) adventure, and a set of dice. If you are going to play online, you can buy the digital version here from D&D Beyond and play on a free Virtual Tabletop (VTT) like Roll20, however if you can do it you should start out playing in person and making your characters together.
If you get Starter set, be sure to read through the entire adventure first, and ask any questions you have here to make sure you understand it all.
Rule number 1: DON'T worry about it! Seriously. The most important thing is that you and your friends have fun telling an adventure story together. The rules are just there to help you with conflict resolution. You can bend them to your will. DON'T worry about memorizing all the rules. You are there to have fun. Knowledge of the rules will come with time and practice. and no one will judge you. Anyone who does is a doodie head.
For your players, they can all use D&D BEyond for the free basic rules, or you can also all download the basic rule, and a basic DMG with some monsters, from the WotC web site.
Here are some helpful links:
Buy the starter set from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Wizards-Team/dp/0786965592/ref=la_B009KAKQIC_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1512751897&sr=1-7
Download the Basic rules from WotC (or just use D&D Beyond): http://dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop-games/trpg-resources
Watch the WotC D&D team play the first part of the Lost Mines of Phandelver (the adventure from the starter set): https://youtu.be/hgNRe76o4_8
"Orcs are savage raiders and pillagers with stooped postures, low foreheads, and piggish faces with prominent lower canines that resemble tusks." MM p245 (original printing)
You don't OWN your books on DDB: WotC can change them any time. What do you think will happen when OneD&D comes out?
I would third the suggestion of the Starter Set. I dabbled in DnD 30+ years ago, got back into it about 3 years ago. The starter set was a great place to start. The set includes some pregenerated characters; character generation can be intimidating and time consuming for new players. Trying out DnD with pre-gen characters is often very helpful. Just be sure that you read all their backstories.
One other piece of advice: if the all the rules seem overwhelming, it's o.k. to decide to omit some of them. For example, I decided to ignore encumbrance (limits how much characters can carry) and certain combat options (opportunity attacks and reactions) when I first started as a DM. I continue to ignore encumbrance, but I've added back in opportunity attacks and reactions once I became more confident.
Trying to Decide if DDB is for you? A few helpful threads: A Buyer's Guide to DDB; What I/We Bought and Why; How some DMs use DDB; A Newer Thread on Using DDB to Play
Helpful threads on other topics: Homebrew FAQ by IamSposta; Accessing Content by ConalTheGreat;
Check your entitlements here. | Support Ticket LInk
My friends and I started with D&D 30+ years ago but hadn't played any RPG's in a few years. To get use to the new rules we went with the Starter Set, Players Handbook (They wanted to roll custom characters), and a few sets of dice. Our first get together involved rolling characters and then just running some small skirmishes to test out the rules for combat. As the GM, I had them fight through a few scenarios vs 1, 2, 3 goblins etc. Ran through some fights and got comfortable with how combat would flow. We waited til our second game session before Starting the Lost Mine of Phandelver. Just make sure you have read through the module and understand how it's supposed to run before you start. And as ArwensDaughter said don't worry about watering down the rules a bit in the beginning and then building them back in as you guys get a better grasp of how the game flows and you see the need as a GM.
Have fun and good luck!
It's also ok to do a combo of pre-generated characters and play created characters. We used the starter set for a family game; my son really wanted to roll his own character, so he did. Everyone else used the pregens.
On dice, it's really helpful if each player has a set of their own. As others have said, there are times it is helpful to have multiple sets of dice, especially as a DM, but it's not strictly necessary. Getting a "pound of dice" can be an inexpensive way to get a lot of sets to share with new players and to use for yourself if necessary. My daughter did that when she hosted a New Year's Eve DnD party for her friends, all of whom were new to DnD, and I did the same when I started a "drop in" game at the local library this summer.
Trying to Decide if DDB is for you? A few helpful threads: A Buyer's Guide to DDB; What I/We Bought and Why; How some DMs use DDB; A Newer Thread on Using DDB to Play
Helpful threads on other topics: Homebrew FAQ by IamSposta; Accessing Content by ConalTheGreat;
Check your entitlements here. | Support Ticket LInk
You can also get dice rolling apps on smartphones, but I much prefer rolling physical dice.
Yup Starter set! It totally eases you into it and is a fun adventure with lots of room to expand it into another adventure after. I took a party through it after having been out of the game for over 20 years. I blended the end of it into beginning of Hoard of the Dragon Queen and its worked out pretty well so far. Also look up Matthew Colville's videos on Youtube called "Running the game." Fantastic stuff.
When something goes awry with the rules, give favor to the player. I say this more for while you are all learning the rules together. Plenty of times a player or DM will misread or misunderstand something. If there is an option I tend to err on the side of the players.
Everyone else pretty thoroughly covered most other things.
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."