Ok so I bet this asked alot but I have many questions I mean many so me and my group are basically news players were all new to D&D I have played a few sessions with my Navy buddy's which he mainly helped me make my character but he recently went somewhere else and now I created my own D&D group which they elected me to be the dungeon master which was pretty cool but I don't know a -MOD NOTE, REMOVED- on how to set like when I tried my own stories it didn't to as well so I just want to restart from the beginning and learn everything anew so my question what are some advice, resources, videos and learn some if the rules
( PS I looked up videos fir how to Dm but they where pretty bland )
Before you start building your own campaigns, try running one of the published adventures.
I would recommend to start with "Lost Mines of Phandelver", since it is quite short and easy to understand. Make sure you read the entire book once before running it.
Personally, I like to create a a small group of characters here on dndbeyond and actually "solo play" the adventure beforehand. It's both more fun than just reading and it immediately highlights any weak spots the adventure might have (e.g. balancing problems, missing story hooks etc.)
If you have any questions regarding rules, the forums here are great to get answers... or at least heated discussions about the right answer (if that happens: pick whichever answer you like most).
Make sure you are familiar with the basic rules of Ability Checks and combat. If one of your players tries to do something and you are not sure about the correct rule, go with whatever you feel makes the most sense. Be upfront about those rulings to your players and just tell them 'I am not sure how grappling works. Let's say you make an athletics check against his strength for now and I will look up the correct rule later.' (It's actually Athletics vs (Athletics or Acrobatics)).
Keep an eye on your players. Sometimes there are players that "hog the spotlight". Most of the time this isn't intentional, there are just different personalities and some people are more "talky" than others. But if you notice the Bard has talked his way through half the adventure while the rest of the players is looking at cat pictures on their phone, maybe ask the other players what their characters are doing. :-)
Get feedback from your players at the end of the session. If your players are like mine you will have to be a bit specific to get useful answers. (e.g. "Did you enjoy the session" will get me a "Yes, sure" almost every time. "Did you like fighting the Kraken or was the combat too drawn out with all his minions?" might get me a "It was a bit boring since I had to wait almost 5 minutes between actions" which is far more valuable)
And a few tips on preparing a session:
Have a list of NPC names and personalities handy. They don't need to be fleshed out, something like "Sarah Miller, nervous in the big city & naive" and "John O'Heyne, grumpy old farmer" is fine. But you will learn to love that list when your players suddenly decide that the beggar next to the city gate you mentioned in you flavour text is supposed to be their next important NPC friend.
If you do a dungeon run, have the most important things about the dungeon locations written on sorted papers. I don't know if there is a DM who can keep every monster, treasure, trap and secret door in a 40+ room dungeon in his head... but I know if I have 40+ notes handy and sorted I can locate the right one in a couple of seconds and know everything about the room the players explore right now.
Ok so I bet this asked alot but I have many questions I mean many so me and my group are basically news players were all new to D&D I have played a few sessions with my Navy buddy's which he mainly helped me make my character but he recently went somewhere else and now I created my own D&D group which they elected me to be the dungeon master which was pretty cool but I don't know a -MOD NOTE, REMOVED- on how to set like when I tried my own stories it didn't to as well so I just want to restart from the beginning and learn everything anew so my question what are some advice, resources, videos and learn some if the rules
( PS I looked up videos fir how to Dm but they where pretty bland )
First of all, welcome to the DM’s chair!!
This is the best advice I can ever give any new DM.
Add to that these basic tips:
Have fun! If you and you group are not having fun, you’re doing it wrong.
Don’t worry about making mistakes. You will make them, but it’s not a big deal.
You will suck in the beginning, we all did. You will get better.
RUN A SESSION 0!!! This will make sure that you and your players are all on the same page as to what kind of campaign you all want to play.
Reread chapters 9 and 10 of the PHB. Then reread them again.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Before you start building your own campaigns, try running one of the published adventures.
I would recommend to start with "Lost Mines of Phandelver", since it is quite short and easy to understand. Make sure you read the entire book once before running it.
Personally, I like to create a a small group of characters here on dndbeyond and actually "solo play" the adventure beforehand. It's both more fun than just reading and it immediately highlights any weak spots the adventure might have (e.g. balancing problems, missing story hooks etc.)
If you have any questions regarding rules, the forums here are great to get answers... or at least heated discussions about the right answer (if that happens: pick whichever answer you like most).
Make sure you are familiar with the basic rules of Ability Checks and combat. If one of your players tries to do something and you are not sure about the correct rule, go with whatever you feel makes the most sense. Be upfront about those rulings to your players and just tell them 'I am not sure how grappling works. Let's say you make an athletics check against his strength for now and I will look up the correct rule later.' (It's actually Athletics vs (Athletics or Acrobatics)).
Keep an eye on your players. Sometimes there are players that "hog the spotlight". Most of the time this isn't intentional, there are just different personalities and some people are more "talky" than others. But if you notice the Bard has talked his way through half the adventure while the rest of the players is looking at cat pictures on their phone, maybe ask the other players what their characters are doing. :-)
Get feedback from your players at the end of the session. If your players are like mine you will have to be a bit specific to get useful answers. (e.g. "Did you enjoy the session" will get me a "Yes, sure" almost every time. "Did you like fighting the Kraken or was the combat too drawn out with all his minions?" might get me a "It was a bit boring since I had to wait almost 5 minutes between actions" which is far more valuable)
And a few tips on preparing a session:
Have a list of NPC names and personalities handy. They don't need to be fleshed out, something like "Sarah Miller, nervous in the big city & naive" and "John O'Heyne, grumpy old farmer" is fine. But you will learn to love that list when your players suddenly decide that the beggar next to the city gate you mentioned in you flavour text is supposed to be their next important NPC friend.
If you do a dungeon run, have the most important things about the dungeon locations written on sorted papers. I don't know if there is a DM who can keep every monster, treasure, trap and secret door in a 40+ room dungeon in his head... but I know if I have 40+ notes handy and sorted I can locate the right one in a couple of seconds and know everything about the room the players explore right now.
And last but most important: enjoy the game. :-)
Darn it you beat me to the Colville reference AGAIN!
But yeah, click that link, and watch all 90 or so episodes or however many Matt Colville has now. Best advice you can get about being a DM.
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.
Lost Mines of Phandelver.
Regardless of whether you run that adventure or not, read it. It will at least help you learn how to start creating adventures yourself.
Meh, not sure about that.
Published adventures have a LOT of text that you simply do not need to write when it is just for yourself. I just make bulleted lists of things.
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.
Someone beat me to posting a link to his “wangrod defense” video last week in another thread.
PS- What time zone are you? I’m EST.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
worked great for teaching me, better than any instructional videos or help tutorials did.