Hey guys, me and my friends just picked up the 4th edition D&D; gift set: monster guide, rule book, yada yada. Saturday is our first game and I've been selected as DM. So I was wondering if anyone had some good tips for newbs? Like, any good places for maps, should I pick a pre created world or go from scratch, so I go easy on them, how do I set the mood, when do I take my pants off. You know, what every good dungeon master already knows
D&D DM tips
If you have no prior experience DMing, I would recommend a pre-made adventure with some pre-built characters just to get everyone used to the mechanics and such.
As far as actually running games in general, I prefer to write my own campaigns, set up some plot points i plan for the characters to go for and whatnot, do some world building. I find that the fun part about DnD is twofold: The world your DM creates, and actually having fun with mechanics in that world. In that regard, I suggest figuring out how your players like to enjoy the game, e.g. if they have fun but aren't too stuck up on realism, you can make a natural 20 roll do something hilarious and beneficial.
I also would suggest taking liberal use of rule 0 (what DM says, goes), especially when mechanics are getting in the way of fun. No one wants to roll dice for 20 minutes to try to bash a door in, especially when that could lead to an epic encounter scene ("you throw the door down on an unsuspecting goblin...")
I tend to lean heavily toward story over mechanics (I'm more in to World of Darkness, so blame that), so I'm a bit of a kind DM as far as harming/killing players, though I'm not afraid to use damage and threats to make a point about what they should be doing if they get too off the rails. It really depends on your players attitudes, after a bit of play you'll begin to get used to what every one likes, and can take it from there.
I think DnD(and tabletop in general) is some of the most fun you can have with gaming, so good luck to you and your friends, and I hope you find something you enjoy.
I was the DM when I played with my friends, but we've only played a few times so my advice is limited. I recommend that you guys start out with the starter scenario since it's pretty easy to get into. I think we played something involving a goblin attack or something along those lines, which was 4th edition I believe. I'd also recommend skimming through the guide book so that when you guys start to play you can all get right into the game without having to flip through the book a ton.
My best advice is to just jump right in. It might seem a little complicated at first and you might make a few mistakes, but that's part of the fun.
I think you should consider at least drawing inspiration from other adventures. It might be a little rough before you settle on a pace and tone that suits you, so drawing from pre-created adventures allows you to focus on that.
Also, I find combat in D&D to be super-boring until the players gain more options. Minimize encounters for the firts few levels, and be open to the playes ideas and imagination in how they approach encounters.
When I started DM:ing, I was very inspired by Penny Arcades D&D adventures, so I recommend that for some inspiration.
I'd go premade for awhile. It's nice because they'll get your players to a descent level and then you can drop them into your custom stuff... and then embrace your own insanity.
Seriously, the crazier the better.
From past personal experience:
1) No matter how often you say to be sure to have your character ready at the beginning, someone will not have theirs done and so everything will be delayed by 30 minutes while they pick equipment skills, etc. In this time everyone else will start playing video games, watching TV, or reading comic books and you'll spend another 30 minutes getting everyone back in the same room.
2) One guy will constantly question the rules.
3)One guy will try to monopolize you and make everyone else hate him.
4) A character will die and you'll spend another 45 minutes trying to DM the remaining characters while the dead person keeps bugging you with questions about their new character and how soon can they can join again
Also if you have a player that knows the rules pretty well then that really helps. If you're playing with all green adventurers you won't have someone to collaborate with.
@Strife381:
Edit: Nevermind. This is just a huge coincidence that a few of my friends and I are planning exactly the same thing, on the same day and you come across like my brother.
Straaaaange.
@endaround said:
From past personal experience:
1) No matter how often you say to be sure to have your character ready at the beginning, someone will not have theirs done and so everything will be delayed by 30 minutes while they pick equipment skills, etc. In this time everyone else will start playing video games, watching TV, or reading comic books and you'll spend another 30 minutes getting everyone back in the same room.
2) One guy will constantly question the rules.
3)One guy will try to monopolize you and make everyone else hate him.
4) A character will die and you'll spend another 45 minutes trying to DM the remaining characters while the dead person keeps bugging you with questions about their new character and how soon can they can join again
1) Bring a few premade characters to every first session. I usually bring an entire party that I feel would be ideal for the campaign, so if someone Isn't liking their character they can always swap out. (and you can always easily replace race/gender to fit the players preference)
2,3) Get better friends, I guess. You could apply this criticism to every activity known to man, and then some.
4) You can easily DM around player death, or be lenient with health/death rolls. Or be lenient with monster's to-hit and damage rolls. If you want the players to feel attached to their characters you can always find a way around it, and it really comes down to how "hard" a DM you want to be. Every DM I've had told a great story and mechanics came second, so this was never an issue.
As a first timer, you want to start out with a LOT of simplicity. Your first adventure should have a simple objective and a few rooms at most. Stick with simpler enemies like goblins, orcs and the like as opposed to any enemy that has a lot of special trait, especially if Saturday is your first game. Don't let any of the combat spaces be too large, but make sure the group has plenty of room to fight, too. Also, include a trap or two so that the rogue has something to do other than backstab people.
One classic starting gag is called "The Orc and the Pie." It's nice if you put said orc in a shack somewhere and have a farmer who wants them to get the pie back; that way, you can very quickly set up a sense of reward, and putting the orc in a shack means they have multiple ways to approach the orc. Basically, The Orc and the Pie can be a great way to analyze how players want to solve their problems.
As for teaching the rules for you and your party, there were a great couple of beginner adventures that came with the 3.0 Starter Pack; combining them, they'd look something like this.
Room 1: 4 Goblins guarding an entryway to Room 2. The party enters from the south, and the entryway to Room 2 is to the west. (In the original adventure, they were guarding a unicorn they'd kidnapped. This was the main combat encounter; if you want to replicate the original adventure, put the unicorn in and combine this with Room 2 only.)
Room 2: A treasure chest lies at the end of a long room pointing westward; inside is an arrow trap and 100 gold pieces. (If you want to add in the second adventure, include a hidden passage somewhere in the room that leads to Room 3.)
Room 3: A small room in which puddles have begun to form. 3 dire rats crawl out of the walls. A door to Room 4 lies on the other side.
Room 4: A long room in which 3 hobgoblins are playing cards on the far end of the room. Multiple barrels lie in the space in-between, along with a couple crates. (The original goal of this adventure, I believe, was to retrieve a necklace one of the hobgoblins stole. That, or they had stuffed gnomes/halflings/children into the barrels and those kidnapped needed to be rescued. Either way, the barrels should be full of some kind of loot, or the hobgoblins should have some nice flow on them.)
I think my biggest advice is to make sure the entire party is having a good time. DMing a D&D game is a lot like hosting a party, and the biggest thing about hosting a party is making sure all your guests are having a good time. Don't design an adventure where any party member will prove useless if you can avoid it; in the classic party, the wizard and cleric, at least at first, will be content using their magic to fight/heal people (respectively) and the fighter will be happy to hit things as often as you like. Usually, DMs forget why the rogue is essential to the classic party.
As for stuff like your overworld and maps, don't even TRY to make that stuff relevant yet. These guys just wanna learn how to hit stuff at the moment, so just name your starting town and get on with it. There's going to be a lot of bumbling around in these early goings, so don't lock too much down or else your party will expect you to know faaaaar more than they do.
@Strife381: In my experience, I'd go with these handy tips in addition to what's already been said.
- Try to make sure that you understand the scope of your campaign or setting, and ensure that everybody is on the same page about this. Certain characters simply don't fit into given scenarios, or the genre expectations of a player can clash badly with the DM's (for example, a player expecting low fantasy and the DM using a WWI fantasy setting). There IS a point where the game stops being fun, and that's usually when you've been playing the same campaign for well over a year to the point that your players have characters so powerful they can wreck face against anything you can come up with.
- Remember the rule of narrative casuality - so long as nobody stated a fact explicitly, you can take that and use it to your own ends, or to enhance the experience. For example, some players may decide to bugger off and not follow the incredibly obvious quest thread you've laid out. If nobody ingame specifies WHERE that dungeon or location they're supposed to go to is, the moment they decide to journey out of town you can have the party run into events that will get them where you need them to be. Use this sparingly; too often and players will begin to notice.
- It's not cheating to use or weave prewritten material into your own stuff. Learning to do this effectively allows you the chance to give your brain a break from being an amateur architect, while giving the party ample chance to sample other styles of playing the game.
- Read the DM Manual over twice. The little bit with the player psychology will let you figure out how to best include all of the party in a given scenario.
- Don't EVER let your party touch a Wand of Wonder. Ever. Not even once. Not even if they beg. No matter what you do, they WILL get a wish out of it, and they WILL wish for a Wand of Wishes with unlimited charges.
I think that covers what I'd like to contribute. Enjoy, and above all, have fun!
I would take a listen to the Penny Arcade guys run through their first game of D&D. They go through all the problems newcomers go through and it could give you tips on how to handle them. Its also pretty funny, you can find it here! (The episode in question is at the bottom of the page)
The most important thing is to know your group and what they like to play. If they want to just kill stuff rather then do story things, you need to facilitate that or find a new group. The other advice is that if they are new I usually introduce the combat fairly quick in order to introduce them to how the game works. Make sure you have some skill checks, traps, and puzzles in the first dungeon so they get some experience with those systems as well. There are tons of premade adventures and running one of those is great for both you and your players if they are new. Also decided beforehand if you want to use minis or not. I like not using them and I think its a bit easier if you don't, but there is something to be said for having a physical representation on the table. Also remember to show don't tell in order to get the players interested in the world and their surondings. It's okay not to know all the rules, most DMs still need to look things up even after playing for a long time. DM screens can also have nice little rules summaries for quick reference when you need it. Good luck and have batman.
Start with a pre-made adventure to get your party warmed up and start learning the rules. Ask them to make characters if you like but have a few ready to go for session 1 that you have made yourself, for session 1 it might be ok to pre-create a handfull of characters for them to choose from. Make sure the adventure is diverse, and has light roleplaying, try to include a skill challenge or skill checks etc.
Make "power cards" on simple index cards or print them from a printer like so: http://bensrpgpile.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/card_magic.jpg On the bottom would be the total modified attack bonus and the damage to roll. These can be an INCREDIBLE time saver as you wont have players thumbing through pages to find their attacks, you simply have the card, they can play it and turn over daily/encounter powers once they have used it, etc. Other items to have handy might be Action point tokens, Markers to set near figurines to symbolize status effects (marked, combat advantage, whatever), Second wind/healing surge counters, extra dice, an initiative board very clearly visible from the whole table, stand-ins for minis you might not have etc.
If it is taking a long time to lookup a rule, make it up on the spot and inform the players that to speed the game along you're making the ruling and will check for the exact rules before your next session.
The DM has final say in everything, but don't go power mad and *do not* grow attached to your encounters. They are there to challenge the players, but they will always be defeated in a proper adventure. Creating a truly balanced and very challenging encounter and series of encounters can be a difficult balancing act. For later sessions, figure out your players strengths. Some really like to make as powerful a combat character as possible and making encounters with 1 power gamer in the group can be more difficult. Design encounters that let each of your players shine at different times.
The most important thing is to have *fun*. Within reason a DM should generally say yes to player requests for certain actions and improvise where necessary. A player making an exciting move requiring an acrobatics check etc should be rewarded with an attack at least as powerful as his at-will powers, probably with some sort of bonus to encourage creativity.
As an example, perhaps a character decides to try and vault off a balcony onto a table 10 feet below instead of walking down the stairs. He's chosen to do something out of the ordinary instead of simply running up and at-will attacking, so granting him combat advantage against a surprised foe would be acceptable, assuming he can make the (pretty difficult)acrobatics check to land on the table without crashing to the ground. Missing the roll would send him prone! In my opinion rewarding these actions with a small bonus like CA is a great way to encourage your players to think outside the box, especially if they had the option to just walk up and attack. In addition it lets them choose a few more risk vs reward decisions.
Make up a list of short descriptions of items in your adventure. Try not to spend too much time explaining any one thing, but feelings, smells, colors etc can all be great descriptors to immerse your players a bit more. Checking each room in your dungeon and making descriptions for 1 or 2 highlights in the area can be a great way to tell a better story. eg: "There is a chest in the corner" vs "In the darkest corner of the room here*points* you see the outline of an old chest. It covered in the same thick dust that coats every horizontal surface in the room and makes breathing the heavy air even more unpleasant. A tapestry hangs in the corner behind the chest, once lustrous and brightly colored it is now simply tatters of cloth hanging amidst the cobwebs." The latter sets the scene for a tension filled encounter: perhaps a trap hidden behind the tapestry, or an ambush by shadow dwelling monsters? Just keep in mind the stuff you describe or have on your map are the only way the players have to visualize your world, bring them into it and know that the things you describe may become the focus for the group in a given encounter.
Lots of good advice here, so I keep mine short, if not only already mentioned:
Don't be afraid to bend the rules, don't get too mechanic, but do follow the rules.
Also try to improvise, not everything can be planned ahead, the funniest moments when I was a DM, was not planned ahead.
Also, try changing your voice, sometimes that adds to the experience!
Go to Wizards of the Coasts podcast page in iTunes and listen to some of the Penny Arcade sessions to get a feel for how Chris runs a game. He does a good job at keeping the rules fairly streamlined and the story going. Also listen to the Dark Sun one where Jerry (Tycho) is the DM and compare and contrast what both of those guys do and pick out the parts that they do that you like and use them.
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