So Ive taken on DMing for my friends because no one would step up.
I was hoping I could post my basic first adventure idea on here and see what people think.
I have them all meeting in a Inn and going after a bounty of a famous half orc assassin. the bounty its self isnt to far away from the Inn and they should be able to find him pretty easily they are told to bring him back alive or they wont be paid he comes along easily enough because he was wounded when they found him. walking back through town if they forgot or didn't bound his hands well enough he'll kill a old lady who spits in his face. they bring him to the king who personal wishes to him. when the king gets close enough to him some thing goes wrong and instead of being killed He kills the king. they are instantly assumed to be helping the Orc and get knocked out in a fight with the guards and they wake in prison cells where I wait to see if they can make it out.
there is some flushing out that's been done and they fight some goblins before meeting the orc but other then that its the basic story set up that I'm using any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
My First time DMing
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Dr.Wildfang
- Posts: 6
- Joined: Fri Mar 01, 2013 9:01 pm
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Have been on this site who knows how long, now it's finally time to register, since not so long ago I've been in a very similar situation to yours and as such have some advice on how to avoid some of the possible downfalls to your campaign and make it a better experience for everybody.
First thing to know as a DM, is the fact that people new to pen and paper DnD would try and play it the way they play computer RPGs(if you are starting DnD now, I guess the chance of it being the case is quite high). As a DM it is your duty to mercilessly prevent this from happening. So no stuff like - "to get this domain, I should have this God and as such I will be insert alignment", or rolling stats for their bonuses and then forgetting about what they are. If the character is stupid and/or ugly - players should roleplay accordingly. Also - make them create a backstory for their characters that is longer than a single sentence. Have them understand that playing as their character is the main part of the game, not rolling dice to kill skeletons.
This all seems as a lot of hassle and pretty insignificant for the beginning, but believe me, without all this, there's a pretty high chance of your campaign imploding on itself.
Now, to make it a better campaign, it is actually important to have some fleshed-out NPCs with predetermined great dialogue lines. Most of my NPCs are for the most part in my head. For example: I know that there must be this guy who knows these things and has a certain attitude. And I go from there, because as I will explain a bit further down - players are unpredictable, so it's not a good idea to write everything beforehand, knowing that players can interact with that NPC in a multitude of ways. But, still, some NPCs should have interesting personalities and some predetermined lines that make you proud. Meeting these NPCs would bring joy to your players and make you proud of yourself, as such making the game more interesting.
And yes, players are unpredictable. It is very hard to anticipate what they will do in any given situation. So always have lots of contingencies. Players will always surprise you with the lack of basic logical skills and simple common sense, because they think in a way that is different from yours. For example: early on I had an encounter where a small kid was running towards the party scared, which was supposed to lead them to a side quest. Instead of doing anything that I anticipated, cleric began throwing rocks at him and I had to come up with a way to continue from there. Also, never underestimate your players' ability to miss hints and plot points. I, personally, don't think that a straightforward system of - you are here, you need to do this, so go there is a very good one, so I try to add some mystery, intrigue and "simple" puzzles. But players rarely pick up on this stuff. So, once again, have contingencies. Right now in my campaign - instead of realizing that they're trapped in a pocket dimension of a wizard, my party is convinced that their mission is to free a village from a succubus. Why they arrived to such a conclusion is beyond me, but now I have to figure out a way to return them back on track without outright telling them everything.
Now - from what you've wrote I see, that for you first session, you have a pretty simple, linear experience, which is very good in my opinion - it will help players familiarize themselves with the game and you with DMing; and it is easy to add all sorts of encounters - from fighting to talking to exploring to puzzling in such an adventure. Later on, tough, it is better to give players some more freedom. What I'd change - is that you don't let players play until they are in the prison. You have many moments beforehand with your orc, that your players might(and will) find unfair - they have to roll everything and that orc has a plot armour and does what he must, like kill the king. So it is better IMO to make the orc part a part of the backstory, and incorporate goblin-fighting later on down the line, perhaps the dungeon they're in would be connected to some natural caves with their dwellers. Alternatively you can roll as an orc, but make it so that even if he fails - players are still sent to prison(you must come up with why). But, this is up to you.
Finally, some minor points -
1) These things take lots of time. A rewarding playsession takes about 6+ hours. So manage your spare time accordingly. Getting everyone together is a royal pain.
2) When we began I ruled in my infinite wisdom, that HP rolls are maximum and you don't have to roll a die on level up. So d10 is +10 hp. I thought it stupid that you can have a barbarian that by level 3 gains 2 hit points. This was a terrible idea. Now - my players have lots of hp, but still lvl 4 or 5, enemies of a decent CR are harmless to them, but enemies of higher ones - players can't do jack to them, so I have to make custom changes in everything. This is a pain. Avoid maximum HP rolls.
3) Random loot is a good idea. Especially if you are new to DMing. It seems scary at first, but is actually more simple than it seems. Me? I knew items present in IE games, and NWN series and that's about it, so I thought - what the hell, I will write my own loot based on that knowledge. Which came out pretty bland or obviously helpful to the adventurers in that if they got a certain item they knew it might be useful to them. What I'd advise to do knowing this now - use Magic Item Compendium. It has easy to implement rules for random loot that is balanced by people who know more about the game than you and me. And also if you want to put some certain item at some point - no one is stopping you, but it will be one among many and won't raise suspicion.
I hope this will help you at least in some way. In any case - good luck with your game.
First thing to know as a DM, is the fact that people new to pen and paper DnD would try and play it the way they play computer RPGs(if you are starting DnD now, I guess the chance of it being the case is quite high). As a DM it is your duty to mercilessly prevent this from happening. So no stuff like - "to get this domain, I should have this God and as such I will be insert alignment", or rolling stats for their bonuses and then forgetting about what they are. If the character is stupid and/or ugly - players should roleplay accordingly. Also - make them create a backstory for their characters that is longer than a single sentence. Have them understand that playing as their character is the main part of the game, not rolling dice to kill skeletons.
This all seems as a lot of hassle and pretty insignificant for the beginning, but believe me, without all this, there's a pretty high chance of your campaign imploding on itself.
Now, to make it a better campaign, it is actually important to have some fleshed-out NPCs with predetermined great dialogue lines. Most of my NPCs are for the most part in my head. For example: I know that there must be this guy who knows these things and has a certain attitude. And I go from there, because as I will explain a bit further down - players are unpredictable, so it's not a good idea to write everything beforehand, knowing that players can interact with that NPC in a multitude of ways. But, still, some NPCs should have interesting personalities and some predetermined lines that make you proud. Meeting these NPCs would bring joy to your players and make you proud of yourself, as such making the game more interesting.
And yes, players are unpredictable. It is very hard to anticipate what they will do in any given situation. So always have lots of contingencies. Players will always surprise you with the lack of basic logical skills and simple common sense, because they think in a way that is different from yours. For example: early on I had an encounter where a small kid was running towards the party scared, which was supposed to lead them to a side quest. Instead of doing anything that I anticipated, cleric began throwing rocks at him and I had to come up with a way to continue from there. Also, never underestimate your players' ability to miss hints and plot points. I, personally, don't think that a straightforward system of - you are here, you need to do this, so go there is a very good one, so I try to add some mystery, intrigue and "simple" puzzles. But players rarely pick up on this stuff. So, once again, have contingencies. Right now in my campaign - instead of realizing that they're trapped in a pocket dimension of a wizard, my party is convinced that their mission is to free a village from a succubus. Why they arrived to such a conclusion is beyond me, but now I have to figure out a way to return them back on track without outright telling them everything.
Now - from what you've wrote I see, that for you first session, you have a pretty simple, linear experience, which is very good in my opinion - it will help players familiarize themselves with the game and you with DMing; and it is easy to add all sorts of encounters - from fighting to talking to exploring to puzzling in such an adventure. Later on, tough, it is better to give players some more freedom. What I'd change - is that you don't let players play until they are in the prison. You have many moments beforehand with your orc, that your players might(and will) find unfair - they have to roll everything and that orc has a plot armour and does what he must, like kill the king. So it is better IMO to make the orc part a part of the backstory, and incorporate goblin-fighting later on down the line, perhaps the dungeon they're in would be connected to some natural caves with their dwellers. Alternatively you can roll as an orc, but make it so that even if he fails - players are still sent to prison(you must come up with why). But, this is up to you.
Finally, some minor points -
1) These things take lots of time. A rewarding playsession takes about 6+ hours. So manage your spare time accordingly. Getting everyone together is a royal pain.
2) When we began I ruled in my infinite wisdom, that HP rolls are maximum and you don't have to roll a die on level up. So d10 is +10 hp. I thought it stupid that you can have a barbarian that by level 3 gains 2 hit points. This was a terrible idea. Now - my players have lots of hp, but still lvl 4 or 5, enemies of a decent CR are harmless to them, but enemies of higher ones - players can't do jack to them, so I have to make custom changes in everything. This is a pain. Avoid maximum HP rolls.
3) Random loot is a good idea. Especially if you are new to DMing. It seems scary at first, but is actually more simple than it seems. Me? I knew items present in IE games, and NWN series and that's about it, so I thought - what the hell, I will write my own loot based on that knowledge. Which came out pretty bland or obviously helpful to the adventurers in that if they got a certain item they knew it might be useful to them. What I'd advise to do knowing this now - use Magic Item Compendium. It has easy to implement rules for random loot that is balanced by people who know more about the game than you and me. And also if you want to put some certain item at some point - no one is stopping you, but it will be one among many and won't raise suspicion.
I hope this will help you at least in some way. In any case - good luck with your game.
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Dr.Wildfang
- Posts: 6
- Joined: Fri Mar 01, 2013 9:01 pm
- Contact: