Mitchbones said:
Should I alow the PHBII? I know someone is going to buy it?
Don't allow books you don't have access to. You will need to understand what is going on and wy the PC is the way it is.
How do i go about pressuring someone into a class they dont want to play? and I have a feeling its going to end up 1 fighter,1 cleric, and 3 sorceror/wizard types...and I WILL put traps in regardless of rogue or not.
Don't force a player to play a character he doesn't want to.
Warn them up front about the kind of game you are planning on running. If they don't adequately plan (as a group) then they will end up paying the price. That is part of the learning curve.
As an example I just started running the Age of Worms (it is the most recent adventure path from Dungeon magazine) and I "warned" by players that the series had a strong undead flavor to it. I told them I had read on line of the problems that parties who weren't ready to handle undead had and the amount of charcter casualties becasue of it.
I then let them choose the character they wanted to run, being fore warned of what was going to happen.
Somethings this group has been doing for years (I've only been in this group for about 9 months now, I've been with my other group for 10+ years) that might be good for a group of "new" players:
After the first session the player has a chance to "rebuild" his/her character if it didn't "play" the way he/she wanted to. {Only let this happen once otherwise players will never get into their character enough to allow the PC to "grow"}
When making a character roll up 3 "keepers" and choose which one you want to play. {This allows for a better than average ability score build, and most players have touble with character with a wide range in scores - especially newer players.} { I allowed 2 "keepers" or the elite array from the DMG (15, 14, 13, 12, 10 and 8)}. {This will help with newer players and not feeling that they have been shafted by dice rolls - the other way to hande it is via point buy, but IMO most new players like the idea of "rolling dice".}
Other points.
Something I did (which I learned from "elder" group) is to have each player give you a character history of their PC. Explaining the main parts of the character - but more importantly covering their motivations and what makes the PC. This will serve a lot of purposes. It will give you something to go by when building the game, some reason to tie the PCs together (other than you all meet in a tavern) and most important it give the player something to focus his role-playing around. {I also give xp awards for the quality of their background - usually between 50 and 250 xp.}
As far a setting goes. I think using a setting is important to the overall feel of the game, but seing as how you are just starting it might overwhelm you (and the group) at first. If you are going to use a setting then Eberron is good choice. It has "everything D&D" in it, is relatively new (hence fewer books to choose from), and does have some adventure out ther for purchase (as well as routinely in Dungeon magazine.
Definitely get some issues of Dungeon magazine.
Various house-rules (notice they really aren't rules based but awards) I use that may help:
I award a "fun" xp bonus at each session. This is an ad hoc award and depends on how everyone felt about the session. It is pretty important, especially for new players, to feel that they've accomplished something each session. Many adventures don't award xp until the adventure is over, which can be several gaming sessions. This is way to work around that.
I award role-playing bonuses at sessions (this is in the DMG) - usually between 50 and 300 xp, depending on character level and "quality" of role-playing.
Something not to do. Many of my GMs (DM but term used for non-D&D games also) have awarded miscellaneous xp awards for non-in game things like researching subjects for the DM, making up spreadsheets and character sheets for use, etc. While I have received an awful lot of these in the past (more than most of my fellow gamers) - I don't think it is really a good practice since it makes other players feel like they are being "shafted" or that I am being the "DM's pet player".