First Time DM. Suggestions?

[Licortin]

Sunday I start my first campaign as DM. I'm a semi, experienced player, and I've read most of the DM guide 3.5. Any suggestions you could give me on being a good, fair, and fun would be greatly appreciated.

[Licortin]

Oops, I accidently posted this in the wrong forum, could I get a move?

[Percivellian]

I was a new DM (well, I still am) but a brandnew, right out of the packaging DM in 2002. I made all (or at least a decent amount) of the classic mistakes (I didn't find this board until last year).

So, my advice would include:

Don't overplan, just enough to keep things rolling, and not scrambling. If you get too far ahead of yourself, you start losing the moment there with the players in front of you.

Plan on being flexible. Assume things are likely to not go how you expect. This will make the decision to go with the flow the players are tuned to that much easier, and your game will be better for it.

Don't be afraid to wing it, you're probably better at it than you think.

Have fun. Don't overstress about your performance. If you're enjoying yourself (not at the expense of your players, that is) it is likely to spread around the table, ideas will flow more easily, and good times are more likely to be had by all. Don't dwell on the mistakes you make (cause you will make them), just take a mental note and improve steadily for next time, and next time.

I think those are the common sense basics, but they are very practical and true when you come to them, I've found.

EDIT: I must have accessed your thread from the general forums board, so I didn't notice it was posted in the wrong spot. I haven't slept a great deal today.

[Gregarious Monk]

Haven't DMed much in a while, I got lazy and just wanted to play (hey! DMing is a lot of work! )

I've DMed a few campaigns and Percivellian's advice is on the money. Especially the parts about expecting the players to do what you least expect (don't anticipate this, just be prepared, know your material and let them run with it) and winging it, winging it is the key.

For laughs I once ran a one-night 4 hour session with a page of notes, some vague ideas and a bit of imagination. It was DnD horror and the players were actually freaked out by the story and environment more than the two encounters they actually faced. I've also run a game where the PCs did everthing wrong, missed all the clues and got slaughtered, it was a one off game, otherwise it would have been totally fudged to avoid the TPK. It can happen, but it shouldn't happen *ever* in a campaign style game. Learn and move on if/when it does.

Just remember that you've got the advantage, you know (or pretend to know what's going to happen, the players don't know what's supposed to happen and if anything 'goes south' on you just take it in stride and adjust your storyline accordingly. Keep your cool, make the story up as you go along if you have to, if the PCs stray too much think of some sort of 'carrot on a stick' to bring them back to the story. Clues work well for players interested in story, worthy foes for those that like violence, honours for PCs who seek fame, etc. etc.

Don't be afraid to make up all the stuff that isn't written down. Winging it and fudging are at least 50% (sometimes 90%) of running a game. Just make sure everyone's having fun, that's why you're playing, right?!

Cheers,
GMonk

[rbrt_spade]

I would recmommend to start out with a simple dungeon crawl for you to get used to the game.
Another thing you might want to look into is running a adventure called the Sunless Citadel. Most important-have fun and dms take bribes of food and drink.