Taking the plunge

[Avatar]

Well I've decided to take the plunge and run a game. I've never done it before and I was wondering if all the great DMs who frequent the boards could give me some advice.

The campaign is set in the Forgotten Realms (If get a new setting is your advice, you need not respond. ). I've decided to center it in the Moonshae Isles to take advantage of the small area, which is advice I've seen before, then, as both the players and I get established, I'll expand outward.

I think I have a nice little idea for an ongoing villian, but I'm not going to post it, because some of my players frequent the boards and I don't want them peeking.

Any advice is appreciated as always.

Thanks in advance,

Alan

 

[Mark]

I'm not an FR DM so I'll just add my "Welcome to the club and good luck!"

 

[Furn_Darkside]

Salutations,

My advice, to get your feet wet, is to run a published adventure- even if it is just a one shot.

Sunless Citadel or Death in Freeport are good choices.

Read the adventure a couple of times- and look up the rules of any areas you are unsure of.

For example- If I know I am going to have grappling monster in the adventure, then I will make quick notes on the grappling rules so I won't have to look them up in the ph during the session.

Published adventures are also good for you to try your hand at pacing.

I am sure someone much more awake then I will offer better advice

FD

 

[Crothian]

Start small ands simple. It's good that you're in the FR because sometime the world is very tough. Don't worry about the big picture. Consentrate on the characters and a few key NPCs. Don't have them travel much, don't flood them with info. Don't be afraid to change anything in the realms. The best advice, is don't get flustered in the PCs do something unexpected. Best of luck to you.

 

[jgbrowning]

yep

i'd completely agree with furn_darkside.

before you get your players into building a personallity (im assuming here that your players are new too) run a one shot to help work out the systemic kinks and get your players and you used to the types of situations that are going to occure.

Also it allows you to **** up royally and not hurt anyones feelings. very useful when dealing with new players. You WANT their first experience to be a good one.

geeze.. sounds like im talking about sex...

oh well..

joe b.

 

[Avatar]

Actually, all of my players are experienced. We're all in another campaign together, but we wanted something different, a second game to play, so I volunteered. Even my current DM is playing, which makes me nervous. I mean, what happens to my c in his campaign if I accidently kill HIS c in mine????




Oh well, hazard of the trade I suppose.

Alan

 

[EricNoah]

I'd make a short list of things the new characters should see or experience, things that make the setting unique. Can't remember off the top of my head but for instance there's a city in the Moonshaes where magic use is looked upon very suspiciously. The PCs should have a run-in with that. I actually ran a mini-campaign there a long time ago, really just one adventure, involved the PCs travelling from Corwell Town (?) to another town and back to pick up several fine horses. Along the way they were attacked by bandits led by an evil low-level bard, and they found ruins where a big nasty centipede lived. Not too exciting, I know but even the most ordinary thing can be spruced up with good detail and little twists (maybe the centipede can mimic speech or something, like a parrot).

 

[Pielorinho]

Actually, all of my players are experienced. We're all in another campaign together, but we wanted something different, a second game to play, so I volunteered. Even my current DM is playing, which makes me nervous. I mean, what happens to my c in his campaign if I accidently kill HIS c in mine????
Alan

What kind of campaign does your current DM run? YOu may want to try running something slightly different, for contrast - e.g., if your DM runs a dungeoncrawl kind of game, try starting off with a murder mystery set in a city. If your DM runs a highly political game, OTOH, you could do a lot worse than starting with The Burning Plague, a great little dungeoncrawl available for free on WOTC's web site.

Check out www.burningvoid.com for all sorts of cool advice on running a game.

And good luck!

Daniel

 

[jgbrowning]

heh

Actually, all of my players are experienced. We're all in another campaign together, but we wanted something different, a second game to play, so I volunteered. Even my current DM is playing, which makes me nervous. I mean, what happens to my c in his campaign if I accidently kill HIS c in mine????




Oh well, hazard of the trade I suppose.

Alan

Don't look at it that way. Just understand that you now can get revenge for all the times he's been a rat-fink

joe b.

 

[7997]

Definitely keep it small at first! Start your campaign in a village. This makes much less prep work (detaling NPC's, Locations, plots) for you. Also run a published adventure such as the Sunless Citadel or perhaps you can build off of one of the Cliffhangers for a more complete adventure. If you make your own adventure make it small and simple. As you get more experience start expanding out. Plus have fun!