forum Any advice for a new DM?

Started May 26, 2018 by Harper

tune

Anyone have any tips? My friends wanted to play, and I was elected the DM. I have no experiance, and I'm kind of freaking out.

Don't over plan, make sure to set out frame work for what can happen as well as a few back up things to do just in case the players don't go along with what you had planned. DO NOT FORCE YOUR PLAYERS TO DO SOMETHING I can not stress this enough, you want it to be fun for everyone, when you try and take over the story, it doesn't make it fun. Also, for your first game, if you don't want to make your own story, you can use one of the many pre-made ones. Make sure you make an NPC bank which is a sheet of paper of characters that have name, race, and a couple mannerisms so if you need a random NPC you can just pick one. It's also smart to pay attention to the character that always seems to be pushed more aside so then they become more involved in the story. A fun thing that you can do that you don't have to do is character voices! They add life to the NPCs. When it comes to the big bad, don't make them puppy kicking bad, give them likeable qualities. Just because they're the villain, doesn't mean that they hate everything

If you want to help understand your players and their abilities make them tell you what they want to add. It really helps if you have a notebook or two or three or 88 to keep information.

(Bonus: before the meeting make people roll a d20 in like an initiative roll but the person that rolls higher tells the rest of the party what happened the previous meet, it's a good refresher.)

I'm not sure if I'm to late to give advice, But also know your player and their character's there is nothing more frustrating than make a puzzle and then having them unable or unwilling to solve it. Also coming from a player perspective (Especially when you don't want to meta-game) It's frustrating knowing the answer, but knowing your character would never come up with that solution. Take it from a barbarian and rogue who got separated from the party who's solution is to punch/kill everything.

as previously said, notebooks are very very useful, just like having your players tell you what happened the week before. it gives you insight into how they experience the game. Also, talk to them after the session, ask what they liked about it or what they didn't.

But the most important thing, in my opinion anyway, is to roll with it. If you make a mistake, don't worry. Players usually assume they oversaw an important link, otherwise, there is no shame in admitting you forgot. Listen to the plans and theories of your players. sometimes their strange ideas are brilliant. for anything else, read books, watch a few sessions on youtube or twitch from other dm's, try new things and make them your own.

SO

i am also a new DM and i have these few tips

Vaguely plan: and by this, i mean have a direction, a frame work, but account for your players to go in different direction. They wont tackle every problem or situation how you intended or thought they would.

Be a DM: The power of a DM is all about the narrative. Learn to fudge your dice rolls so the game is fun. Abuse your DM screen and rolling for effect! Alter monster health as you go, encounter looking to hard? half that monsters health!

Dont skill check shit: and by this, i mean you better narrate the shit out of a simple skill check, or always give your party a way to do something without jsut skill checking it.
Make your puzzles something that isnt just "roll intel" oh you figured out the riddle.

or a good example, traps: dont jsut have traps that dump on your party. if they walk into them like idiots sure, but i read somewhere that "you hear a click! wehat do you do" is a great way to make traps interesting. Perhaps they dive to the ground and avoid the arrow trap, but the party member behind then eats it, or maybe they dive onto a spinning blade trap, who knows, the point is, you let them do SOMETHING other then "oh you got shot by an arrow cause you didnt see the trap"

Talk to the party before hand if you can and find out what kind of game they want (combat heavy? puzzle heavy? politcal heavy? and go from there. Make sure you have something for everyone.

Dont be afraid to come up with custom shit. Custome mechanics, customs monsters, whatever it is, make it interesting.

FOCUS ON FUN. the number 1 most important rule is: if your having fun, who cares.
as long as it isnt making you tear your hair out in frsutration, go with it. The games meant to be fun, that is most important above all.

Let the PCs do their thing, but don't let them run your game. Remember that you're in control and make sure they know that. Also, house rules are always fun (one of mine is if they have an idea that sounds both cool and possible, I let them try it). Don't write adventures to kill them and give them extra encounters to let them relax and have a little fun beyond just killing monsters. Another thing that I do, is not have the adventure set around killing stuff. I usually have a final boss who can die, but the current campaign I'm running will lead them more to perform a ritual to imprison the monster. Don't be afraid of just giving them a puzzle to watch them overthink and almost go mad trying to figure out and the answer is like "knock three times upon the stone door" or something.
Don't try to kill the PCs. Look at the adventure like you're telling a story in an inn or around a fire to anyone who will hear you and they're looking for the story of great heroes, good or bad