New to D&D and DMing... need major help!!!
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CelloFellow7184
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Mon Dec 12, 2011 7:41 pm
- Location: United States
- Contact:
New to D&D and DMing... need major help!!!
My friends and I are starting a D&D group- none of us have played before and we can't find anyone that can to teach us, so we're left to our own devices and the internet. I was chosen to DM because, in the words of my best friend, I'm "good with complicated stuff". I want to work hard to learn to be a great DM, but I have no idea where to begin and I'm starting to get a little overwhelmed. I have the three core rulebooks of v3.5, the dice, the battlemat, and the minifigures- I believe that's everything we need. I just don't know where to start learning! Any tips?
Welcome
Looks like you have everything you need to to started. You might want to look at this link
Original Adventures
It contains pre-built adventures for a variety of levels, start with one of the first level ones. Generate some characters for your players or spend a session with them and let them generate their own characters. These are quick adventures so I don't know how much time you want to spend of character generation.
As a DM there are only 2 things you really need to know.
The rules are guide lines. Feel free to change things if you think it is necessary.
The players make the sessions. You are the DM and have final say over everything in the game, but do not fall into the trap of thinking yourself god.
Hope that helps.
Looks like you have everything you need to to started. You might want to look at this link
Original Adventures
It contains pre-built adventures for a variety of levels, start with one of the first level ones. Generate some characters for your players or spend a session with them and let them generate their own characters. These are quick adventures so I don't know how much time you want to spend of character generation.
As a DM there are only 2 things you really need to know.
The rules are guide lines. Feel free to change things if you think it is necessary.
The players make the sessions. You are the DM and have final say over everything in the game, but do not fall into the trap of thinking yourself god.
Hope that helps.
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Nymie_the_Pooh
- Posts: 91
- Joined: Tue May 24, 2011 7:09 pm
- Location: Fresno, CA USA
- Contact:
I tend to think of roleplaying less as a game and more as improvisational acting. As the DM, it's your job to set the stage, provide props, and bring extras in from off stage. It's up to the players to figure out what story to carry out with the tools provided. The stage in this instance is your imaginations.
This is why people talk about their adventures being derailed. Unless you know how your players think very well they will surprise you and utilize the toys you gave them in ways that will surprise you. They still might, but it's a definite if you don't already have a solid idea of how they might react to any given situation. Just keep in mind that the story is a living thing that will grow and change in unexpected ways. You can influence that growth as you would with your own children, but ultimately you aren't raising the story on your own as the other players have an influence on it and it will likely never grow to be exactly where you thought it would be when you started.
My advice is once you set the stage is to relax and have fun. See what your players do with what is provided. If they go to the other side of town then go with them. The story changes. If you have planned a map out of events from a to b to c to d to... zzzzzz you will find things frustrating to say the least if you attempt to stick to it as you can't stick to it without trying to force the players to stick to it and then it stops being fun. It's not bad to have a plan, but a good rule of thumb is no plan survives contact with the players. You either need a ton of preparation for events you never think beforehand will occur, or you need to be able to adjust as needed to go where they take you.
I got into roleplaying before miniatures were popular so haven't seen them used much even though we would play miniature games, but they were separate entities at the time. The only times I have played with miniatures was to make it clearer to everyone exactly where people were standing. Miniatures matter a bit more with fourth edition than older versions of D&D as position is built into the combat system, but you can still ignore miniatures for now if you want to drop something extra until you have more experience and feel you can describe positions well enough. Then again, having them on hand as back up can't hurt, but don't feel like you have to use them every scene.
This is why people talk about their adventures being derailed. Unless you know how your players think very well they will surprise you and utilize the toys you gave them in ways that will surprise you. They still might, but it's a definite if you don't already have a solid idea of how they might react to any given situation. Just keep in mind that the story is a living thing that will grow and change in unexpected ways. You can influence that growth as you would with your own children, but ultimately you aren't raising the story on your own as the other players have an influence on it and it will likely never grow to be exactly where you thought it would be when you started.
My advice is once you set the stage is to relax and have fun. See what your players do with what is provided. If they go to the other side of town then go with them. The story changes. If you have planned a map out of events from a to b to c to d to... zzzzzz you will find things frustrating to say the least if you attempt to stick to it as you can't stick to it without trying to force the players to stick to it and then it stops being fun. It's not bad to have a plan, but a good rule of thumb is no plan survives contact with the players. You either need a ton of preparation for events you never think beforehand will occur, or you need to be able to adjust as needed to go where they take you.
I got into roleplaying before miniatures were popular so haven't seen them used much even though we would play miniature games, but they were separate entities at the time. The only times I have played with miniatures was to make it clearer to everyone exactly where people were standing. Miniatures matter a bit more with fourth edition than older versions of D&D as position is built into the combat system, but you can still ignore miniatures for now if you want to drop something extra until you have more experience and feel you can describe positions well enough. Then again, having them on hand as back up can't hurt, but don't feel like you have to use them every scene.
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Winterfell
- Posts: 5
- Joined: Tue Feb 28, 2012 4:21 pm
- Location: Washington
- Contact:
Since you are just starting out and no one has any actual experience with the game, I recommend that you keep it simple. If you have the money, go out and buy a published adventure, preferably one geared to low level (1-3) characters.
DMing is hard. It requires a lot of preparation and a decent working knowledge of the mechanics of the game. The published adventure will take a lot of the pressure off and give you ideas for developing your own adventures later.
Read the DM Guide and the Player's Handbook. Those two books contain all the rules you need to know (and many others you don't - at first). Focus on character stats, combat rules, and skills & feats. If you have a spellcaster in the party, look up their specific spells so you know what they can do. In fact, read up on all of your players' abilities. Skim through the Monster Manual if only to get a feel for what's in there. Don't spend time on anything other than those monsters you expect to use. Use sticky notes for bookmarks.
A battle grid (included in the DM Guide) will help get everyone oriented in combat. If you have figurines, great. If not, no big deal. I use those flattened glass marbles people use in fishtanks. Works just fine.
The main rule of thumb is to keep it simple. Encounters can get overwhelming fast if you try to do too much (such as ariel encounters and heavily mixed enemy types). When you get more practice, you can complicate the game.
DMing is hard. It requires a lot of preparation and a decent working knowledge of the mechanics of the game. The published adventure will take a lot of the pressure off and give you ideas for developing your own adventures later.
Read the DM Guide and the Player's Handbook. Those two books contain all the rules you need to know (and many others you don't - at first). Focus on character stats, combat rules, and skills & feats. If you have a spellcaster in the party, look up their specific spells so you know what they can do. In fact, read up on all of your players' abilities. Skim through the Monster Manual if only to get a feel for what's in there. Don't spend time on anything other than those monsters you expect to use. Use sticky notes for bookmarks.
A battle grid (included in the DM Guide) will help get everyone oriented in combat. If you have figurines, great. If not, no big deal. I use those flattened glass marbles people use in fishtanks. Works just fine.
The main rule of thumb is to keep it simple. Encounters can get overwhelming fast if you try to do too much (such as ariel encounters and heavily mixed enemy types). When you get more practice, you can complicate the game.