Guides for a New Young DM?

MNblockhead · Feb 19, 2019

Charlaquin said:
I disagree about the Dungeon Master’s Guide. The 5e DMG is really not a guide for dungeon masters. It’s a pile of optional rules.

That describes very little of the DMG. One can argue on how useful the DMG is for a helping a new DM understand how to run the game, but a large portion of the book is advice on how to structure adventures and campaigns.

A more easily digestible summary of how to run a game is the DM advice in the 1e module Keep on the Borderlands. Goodman Games updated it for 5e but it is unfortunately very expensive. Still, I think getting the original PDF and printing out the section on how to run games is still useful.

That said, I think you could read over the basic rules and watch a couple Chris Perkins live-play videos on You Tube and you'd be off to the races.

S'mon · Feb 19, 2019

MNblockhead said:
A more easily digestible summary of how to run a game is the DM advice in the 1e module Keep on the Borderlands.

Yeah, that is my #1 recommendation.

I think the 5e DMG is a bit much for someone just starting out, though worth a look. A better/more concise recommendation would be the GM's book in the Pathfinder Beginner Box.

Ath-kethin · Feb 19, 2019

Charlaquin said:
I disagree about the Dungeon Master’s Guide. The 5e DMG is really not a guide for dungeon masters. It’s a pile of optional rules.

The book literally starts with a description of what a Dungeon Master is, then proceeds to offer advice on creating and running a campaign. A strong understanding of the Player's Handbook is necessary, but I feel it would be somewhat foolish to try and run a agame without that anyway.

There's no better way to learn how to DM than jumping in headfirst and just doing it. The Starter Set is actually ideal for this purpose as well.

Running on the assumption that the kid a) has played time or two before (which we know to be true), b) can read, and c) isn't afraid of polysyllabic words, there's no reason the DMG can't do the trick.

CydKnight · Feb 19, 2019

These are the video series I have consulted the most. Of the two I would have to say Web DM helped me the most.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7XFmdssWgaPzGyGbKk8GaQ

https://geekandsundry.com/tag/matt-mercer-gm-tips/

André Soares · Feb 19, 2019

Satine Phoenix and Kingsmill are two good options too. Both have videos with DMtips and would show her cool women who also DM.

collin · Feb 19, 2019

Given your daughter's idea for her adventure, along with others that have been mentioned, I would recommend "mining" The Lost Mine of Phandelver for ideas. It comes with the basic boxed set of the rules, which is better to use in general when starting out (DMing or playing) than getting into the more detailed full rules set of books.

cmad1977 · Feb 19, 2019

AndrÃ[emoji2398 said:
Soares;7565670]Satine Phoenix and Kingsmill are two good options too. Both have videos with DMtips and would show her cool women who also DM.

Satine ran the only session of 4e I enjoyed as a player. She was a really amazing DM.

jayoungr · Feb 19, 2019

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone, and please keep them coming! I'll just park a few more things I found here, in case someone else is using the thread for ideas:

1. I lent her my copy of Odyssey: The Complete Gamemaster's Guide to Campaign Management.

2. Sly Flourish's series of articles for the new DM, especially the guide to building combat encounters (http://www.slyflourish.com/new_dms_guide_to_encounters.html).

3. And I'm also going to introduce her to the Five-Room Dungeon technique: https://www.roleplayingtips.com/5-room-dungeons/

thorgrit · Feb 19, 2019

Lots of great sources so far, so I can only add:

Don't get overwhelmed by sources, or too worried that you have to learn and memorize all this stuff before you can jump in! Do however much studying you feel comfortable with ahead of time, and when you're satisfied or feel you can't learn any more, just run the game. When you mess up, just take notes on how to do better next time. Once you see how some things work at the table through experience, you'll have a much better understanding of how advice is given, and can revisit anything that didn't seem to make much sense at the time.

robus · Feb 19, 2019

Charlaquin said:
I disagree about the Dungeon Master’s Guide. The 5e DMG is really not a guide for dungeon masters. It’s a pile of optional rules.

I’ll also disagree with this description, but I do think the guide is quite user hostile. It front loads a bunch of heavy stuff and puts the immediately useful stuff at the back. The sections need to be completely reversed. But it does include a lot of useful stuff for adventure building (when you find it).

I think a book that is very helpful to new DMs is Xanathars, its encounter tables are very quick and easy, and its monster + environment tables are also super useful.