GameBanshee Forums

so, i've been playing with this group for a couple months now, most of us were total noobs, one guy (pretty much only one with experience) was the DM

so, i've started trying some DMing, and i had a couple questions, i've been reading through the dungeon masters guid and, do you award XP or just have them lvl up at certain points? is the expected treasure gain per encounter in the DM guide accurate? for a level 2 party, should i adjust the random treasure tables? (pgs 52-56)
any helpful tips for a new DM?

also, we all moved pretty much to different towns, any programs that help playing online? (dicerollers battlemaps e.t.c)

It's best to award XP based on the Encounter Level. That way, your players will have the feeling it's a reward, instead of something they get anyway.
Encounters are more than combat: evading traps, or passing opponents via diplomacy generally count as encounters too. [url="http://www.penpaperpixel.org/tools/d20encountercalculator.htm"]This tool[/url] is very handy for calculating XP. It also has a link to calculating average treasure.
I've found that the treasure tables in the Magic Item Compendium (and those in the DMG too) are very accurate over the course of a level. On average, you have the required wealth each level. I can't stress how important it is that you give your PC enough wealth: it's as vital as XP to determine how powerful they are, especially the non-caster classes. A basic example: Challenge Ratings / Encounter Levels are taking in to account that by a certain level, warriors have a +3 weapon. If they don't have it by then, the encounters is a lot more difficult, since they'll miss more.
I think one of the stickies here has tools to help you play D&D online.