dmpride
Cardboard Collector
Posts: 1
|
Post by dmpride on Aug 19, 2013 1:35:12 GMT -5
I have only recently started to get into D&D, and can grasp the basic consepts of the game, but it is always useful to study something you want to get good at. So I came here to ask if anybody had some advice for a new DM. Feel free to link other stuff from the fourms, Youtube (Not the DM's Craft, I already watch that xD), or other places. So just leave anything you might think I could use.
Signed DMPride
|
|
AJ
Room Planner
Posts: 315
|
Post by AJ on Aug 19, 2013 3:19:55 GMT -5
newbiedm.com/2009/05/14/advice-for-new-dms-only/My personal advice is fairly simple.. Your role in the game, and your source of fun, is to be a source of entertainment.. my talent is for voices, I can make a bunch of goblins sound just like the Ferengi from Star Trek, I can dredge up every quirky TV or Movie character I can remember and turn them into a non player character in my game.. I act, I joke, I make ridiculous things up, I get really excited and enthusiastic about the imaginary world, I fully geek out.. because if there is any place in the world were that sort of thing is just fine, it is at the helm of a D&D game. Use anything in your arsenal to portray the scene, bring the characters to life, and engage the player's imaginations, let them tell the story with you, allow their input into your game world, because doing so also makes it their game world.. try not to tell them how their character does things, let them tell you and make it a reality in your collective story telling. Give everyone at the table a chance to shine.. set up situations with specific characters in mind, think of movies where each of the members of a team get to do something with their unique skills. Also, there is no such rule as "No DM Bribes".. bribery is a long and well practiced tradition at my game table, I also reward players for remembering obscure or important details from previous games, turning up on time, and for fast, well organised game play. A fast and well organised game is a good game, but a chaotic, hair brained, hilarious, disastrous and ridiculous game is legendary.. keep your players on track for gaming, let them blow off steam and chat during quiet moments, but keep them focused back onto the game by just waiting for a lull saying "Anyway.." and talking about stuff going on in the game world, its simple, but effective.
|
|
|
Post by indigo777 on Aug 19, 2013 6:06:29 GMT -5
AJ's advice is dead on. In addition: First thing Get a DM screen of your edition if its your first time. It will have the most used rules on the back of the screen and it will allow you to fudge the dice if needed, which may happen a lot your first time. Unless your running a premade module, don't copy a book or movie scene for scene. Its fine to pull parts of these to plug into your adventure but no one wants to play Game Of Thrones or Lord of the Rings scene for scene with the characters renamed. Be consistent with any house rules you make. Rules made that effect the players must also effect the NPCs/Monsters for example. Don't spend a ton of time making a Big Bad or NPC chances are the ones you spend the most time on will be the ones the players get a lucky kill on or in the case of NPCs purposely avoid. Just hold on to the stats you made and reuse them later. If the players figure out a way to kill the big bad before you intended and they can do it within the rules let them. Nothing frustrates players more than the DM constantly having the big bad yet again teleport away at the last second after the players spend half an hour fighting it. Just take those Big Bad's stats and reuse them to make a bigger bad the big bad was serving. I highly recommend picking up the Game Mastery guide (Its not a Dungeon Masters guide) from Paizo if your a first time DM. It has been a valuable resource for me as I run my first campaign. The PDF version is only 10 bucks on Paizo's site. paizo.com/products/btpy8ffnIts an excellent book full of tips and advice for first time DMs. Its 321 pages and 9 chapters. The book is pretty much edition neutral and will work for any version of D&D/Pathfinder with the exception of Chapter 9 which is a Bestiary/Monster Manual type NPC codex full of premade NPCs with artwork for each. Chapter 1 focuses on Getting started and gives tips on the Duties of a GM and preparing to run a game, it also discusses using House rules. Chapter 2 focuses on Running a Game and gives tips on How to run a game, the art and science of GMing and Tools for Game Masters. It has a great writeup on Cheating AKA Fudging the dice, when to do it and when not to, basically only do it when it results in more fun for everyone. Chapter 3 focuses on Player Characters and gives you advice on how to interact with players and their characters. Also gives advice on how to deal with Problematic players. Chapter 4 focuses on making NPCs. Chapter 5 focuses on Rewards and Treasure for players. Gives advice on how to reward players. Chapter 6 focuses on creating your world which is a must read chapter if you have any interest in creating your own campaign from scratch. Chapter 7 gives tips on making Adventures. Chapter 8 is dedicated to Advanced Topics. Basically adds a bunch of additional options and rules that can be added to any D&D game. -Customizing a game, - Adding Chases (These can be fun.) - Disasters striking (these are a great way to start a campaign) - Drugs and Addiction (good for the players who love to have their Dwarf be a drunkard) - Fortune Telling (great way to foreshadow events) - Adding Gambling and Games of Chance (great to add into taverns and inns) - Haunts - Hazards (Lists of hazards and their stats to add to your dungeons) - Mysteries and Investigations (how to add these to your campaign) -Puzzles and Riddles - Sanity and Madness Rules Chapter 9 NPC Gallery 50+ pages of premade NPCs for Pathfinder. Appendix This has recommendations for further reading, A Campaign Tracking sheet, a settlement tracking sheet, and NPC tracking sheet, and a very nice Rules Cheat sheet for first time GMs. The best advice I can think of though comes from Gary Gygax. The rules are
|
|
|
Post by indigo777 on Aug 19, 2013 6:42:58 GMT -5
Additional advice: Get some high contrast opaque dice that are extremely easy to read. You will be rolling a lot more than a player and you will want dice that can be read quickly and easily. I use solid black dice with white lettering. Also keep a coin in your dice bag for a d2 and keep extra d6s and d10s in your bag. You may want to buy other uncommon dice as well. I keep a Hit location dice, a d3 ( a D6 numbered 1-3 twice with different colored lettering so its not confused with a d6), a d24, and a d30 in addition to the standard dice set. -A coin is good for heads and tails rolls, Hi or low rolls, or 1d2 damage rolls. -Extra d6s make rolling spell damage faster. -Extra d10s make rolling treasure much faster. I keep a green and red d10 for Thousands and Hundreds place, in addition to the standard d100 d10 set. - D3s are good for speeding up play instead of rolling a d6 and halfing it. Also good for if you have 3 players and want to randomly choose who the monster attacks first lol. - A hit location dice is a great addition. I use mine mainly for flavor. When a monster attacks a player I roll the dice behind the screen and then describe where the attack hit the monster or player. Its also useful for determining where a crit hit, for example if it hits a leg the monster or player has half movement now or might even loose the limb entirely. Its a great way to add flavor and fun to the game. - The d24 and d30 are fun to have to roll additional treasure. For example I use the d24 to roll stuff like how many cure light potions or gems the players found in the treasure pile. I like to use the d30 to roll how many charges are left on wands players find which has led to some fun results. Recently the players found 2 cure light wounds wands from a dungeon the d30 rolled 23 for both wands so now the players are convinced there's a cleric with OCD somewhere in the dungeon. - The d24 and d30 are also a fun way to reward players. For example if the player did something really interesting I might let them roll the d24 to confirm their crit or make their attack instead of a d20. If the player does something unexpected or gives a good reason for why they should have a better chance to make a save I might let them roll the d30 instead of a d20. Things like that to add variety to the game and encourage players to role play and think out the box. Its also a good idea to keep a couple cheap sets of dice on hand. This is good when you need an extra set of dice for a player that forgot theirs or its a persons first time playing. I usually keep a bag of my old dice in my DM's kit for this purpose.
|
|
thedmg
Room Planner
Posts: 327
|
Post by thedmg on Aug 19, 2013 6:43:08 GMT -5
I posted this on my facebook page to a similar question. I disagree with indigo777 about rehashing existing stories. I just feel you need to do more than rename the characters. The key is to keep the essence of it. Also bare in mind that everyone has their own way of doing it, so you need to pick what you like and works for your group and discard the rest.
Here is my post:
I have been asked about how to run a basic game and what tools can be used, etc, etc for new players... This is a long and involved package of knowledge, so I will try to distill it down as best I can.
1.) Pick a game, it does not need to be D&D or pathfinder, just a setting that stirs your imagination and those of your friends.
2.) Get to understand the mechanics of how the game will work for these events: a) Combat b) Using skills c) Wounds and Health d) How to generate a character? You don't need to go more into it than that in the beginning, once you start playing you will get into the finer nuances as the games progress and characters get into situations where other rules will apply. - let the players generate their own characters.
3.) Start at the beginning...Level 1 (or Level 0 if that is the case) and fully expect to make mistakes and for characters to DIE!!!! So be lenient and make it fun (have a few characters as backup).
4.) Pick a great adventure movie (I will use Star Wars as an example). Write down all the different events that happen in the movie. Now change the names, the locations and the lightsabers to swords and axes. Keep the essence of what the story is about. So... (bare in mind I made this up as I was typing it) Two servants (two of the player characters) are on a ship of soldiers fleeing a battle with a rival Kingdom. One of the characters is given a magical scroll by a very beautiful woman (or man) to deliver to man named Durgon who lives in the wilds north of the town of Hilnar. The servants must then get off the ship in a row boat to flee the battle that breaks out on board... (a bit of combat) The two characters now land ashore and are abducted by slavers (maybe a bit of combat) who take them to the local market. The slavers sell them to Melfor a kind man who lives with his family on a cabbage farm on the outskirts of Hilnar. Along the way he introduces the two characters to his adopted son Kargil (they may get waylaid by brigands and more combat ensues). The characters must then negotiate their way / buy their way out of servitude and go and find Durgon with the aid of Kargil... As you can see I have not actually changed the essence of the story, only the names and setting. The story remains the same, but still looks quite different. Instead of two servants there could be 3 to 6. It does not really matter. Once you run a few of these you can begin to mix and match stories and movies until you get the hang of story structure.
5.) Always end on a cliff hanger... keeps the players champing at the bit for more.
6.) Don't worry to much about maps and stuff in the first game or two. Get used to the feel of the rules and describe what is happening. Keep the encounters small and with basic opponents (don't play any complicated monsters with additional rules - essentially just use human, elf, dwarf bad guys that would just be normal characters otherwise). Keep it very simple and straight forward. The game will progress quickly. Keep the players involved by letting them ask questions and explore the world a little bit, but don't let them get to out of control and risk their characters too much.
7.) For future games start to think about rewards, especially treasure rewards.
8.) Think about some interesting puzzles that can be thrown in the way of the characters. Puzzles are a difficult issue, but I like what I call "Organic Puzzles" these are puzzles like: How to get out of a locked room? How to cross a deep chasm? How to open a well protected chest? How to sneak through an area without waking the Giant spider... Then there are what I call "Mechanical Puzzles" where the players need to solve a riddle, or pick the correct colour combination or what ever in or to get a reward or to progress. Don't have too many of these. Stick with organic puzzles and players do not recognise them as actual puzzles when playing.
9.) Allow 4 to 5 hours to play. This can't be done in an hour. Eat, drink (non alcoholic beverages as drunk players are TERRIBLE players) and be merry.
10.) Then you can start crafting and creating set pieces and terrain to further enhance the game...
I hope that helps DMG
|
|
|
Post by indigo777 on Aug 19, 2013 6:54:02 GMT -5
I posted this on my facebook page to a similar question. I disagree with indigo777 about rehashing existing stories. I just feel you need to do more than rename the characters. The key is to keep the essence of it. Also bare in mind that everyone has their own way of doing it, so you need to pick what you like and works for your group and discard the rest. Aye. It depends on how much work the GM puts into it, I've been in a few campaigns that ripped outlines and parts from Star Wars and LOTRs that were great and used those parts in original ways. What your describing is a great way to do it. I've just had some bad experiences in the past where new GMs used a badly disguised Drizzt book or Final Fantasy story as their campaign and constantly railroaded the characters into paths and scenes straight from those stories with no change, LOL.
|
|
thedmg
Room Planner
Posts: 327
|
Post by thedmg on Aug 19, 2013 7:35:15 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by monkeywithtacos on Aug 19, 2013 10:56:19 GMT -5
Here are my additional thoughts:
1) Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Your players will forgive you if you fudge something and then come back later, before the next game, and say "Oh by the way, I did some checking and we did X wrong last week, it's supposed to be done like this...."
2) Have your players shoulder some of the burden. Have them keep track of initiative, an adventure journal and anything else you may need help with.
3) And last but not least: The Golden Rule, The Prime Directive, The Ultimate Truth, The Universal Wisdom: HAVE FUN!!!
Above all else #3 is the most important.
|
|
arrakis
Cardboard Collector
Posts: 32
|
Post by arrakis on Aug 19, 2013 19:30:02 GMT -5
I second the opinion of indigo. The paizo gamemastery guide is a huge help. It contains a ton of useful charts and tables. Need to know what the pcs find on the side of the road? There is a chart for that. What does the abandoned tomb have inside? There's a chart for that too.I love this book.
|
|
Neil
Paint Manipulator
Posts: 160
|
Post by Neil on Aug 19, 2013 21:17:05 GMT -5
Have fun tell cool stories or Try THIS (Actually NO - just have fun)
|
|
Neil
Paint Manipulator
Posts: 160
|
Post by Neil on Aug 19, 2013 21:59:20 GMT -5
AND NOT This
|
|
AJ
Room Planner
Posts: 315
|
Post by AJ on Aug 20, 2013 0:36:11 GMT -5
I also agree that the Game Mastery Guide is probably the best DMing resource book on the market, I have been thoroughly impressed by it.
I should also do a Youtube video of assorted NPC voices..
|
|
|
Post by monkeywithtacos on Aug 20, 2013 2:04:14 GMT -5
Thanks Neil...another Youtube moron I have to subscribe to.... thanks!
(erm...present company excluded in the moron statement....of course....uhm yeah....uhm....)
|
|
|
Post by dm1scotty on Aug 20, 2013 21:36:32 GMT -5
Great DM advice all...Being a DM is a tough job because of the multitude of things you must juggle, (rules, plot, NPCs, keeping the game moving and reacting on the fly to unexpected PC decisions or events). Don’t let all this stress you out. Remember the game is all about having fun with your friends so let this attitude trump any mistakes you feel you may make.
|
|