First-time DM questions (new to D&D)

[Ryujin]

For your first adventure I would recommend that you try one of the pre-made ones available through Dungeon Magazine, that strikes your fancy. That should help you get into the rhythm of things and help you to write your own adventure. Starting cold might be a bit much, for your first outing as DM.

Every character can make skill rolls, but not every roll is valuable. Players will likely start tossing numbers at you for skills rolls you haven't asked for. Keep in mind that they only count for something if you want them to. To second surfarcher's comment, I find that my patented, "There doesn't SEEM to be anything going on." suitably annoys players

I also agree that a DDI subscription is a very useful tool. It keeps you up to date on any errata to the original books. You also get 5 monthly updates for Character Builder, which by some odd coincidence equals the number of characters in the generic party, and access to some useful online DM tools.

For the number of encounters in the average dungeon all that I can say is, "It depends." You can have an adventure that's over in an evening, like the Chaos Scar series, or you can have an epic series of connected battles that runs for a year. Just keep in mind that the players will typically need a 'programmed' long rest after an average of 3 to 4 encounters, simply because they'll have expended their resources. You should provide an area that they can safely rest in for this, that they can determine through the use of a skill like Dungeoneering, Nature, etc.. Or just tell them that it's safe

Some players get more out of it if they think that they are putting one over on you with respect to treasure so if your group is that type, include any value of monster equipment in your totals. Otherwise just tell them it's rusty crap, that's barely usable.

Lots of great campaign ideas in DMG2 including godly boons, companion characters, and much more.

 

[Riastlin]

Welcome to the addiction! Fortunately there is no known cure or course of treatment so you're stuck with this new-found addiction for life.

As to your questions:

1: Seems to have been pretty well covered, no need to add any more.

2: Well my recommendations would be:
a. DMG 2 -- $30
b. Wet or Dry Erase Battlemat -- $15 - $30
c. DDI subscription -- $7 or so per month, but you might have to buy a few months
d. Something to track status effects like Marked, Dazed, Bloodied, etc. Pipe cleaners work, as do thin sheets of foam, etc. Basically you just want different colors for the different effects. You could just mark it down on paper if need be, but that gets complicated quickly.

3: As others have said, it depends. They are certainly allowed to take an extended rest in the middle of a dungeon, but not all places in a dungeon would be ideal for an extended rest. Just use your best judgment. Keep in mind though that particularly at low levels, the party will be hard pressed to make it through more than about 4 or 5 encounters in a day.

4: Mundane items typically have no resale value, but feel free to adjust this as you want. Basically, the theory is that its just not worth the bookkeeping required to strip the dungeon bare to then turn around and sell those 5gp for 1gp, etc. Just remember that the PCs generally get 20% of the retail value when they sell an item.

5: I would echo the sentiments that its better to start with a published adventure -- even if its short -- just to get your feet wet and to get a feel for adventure design, etc. Additionally, make sure you ask any questions you may have -- the only dumb question is the one that isn't asked. Finally, there are plenty of blogs around the web that are geared toward DMs that might be worth checking out. Some of the ones that come to mind are Slyflourish, Newbie DM, and a couple on the WotC boards by Jester and Gargs that are generally worth reading. Obviously not every entry will be geared toward DMing or toward new DMs, but generally you can find good stuff there.

 

[huskythegeek]

Once again, thanks again for all of the advice.

Just out of curiosity, are there any other additional books besides DMG2 I should pick up?

What about miniatures? Are they expensive 0_o?

 

[Ryujin]

Miniatures are relatively cheap, because Wizards chose to make them out of plastic. Having a few, if only for the PCs, rally adds to the experience IMHO. Then again I've been using minis since the '70s

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Once again, thanks again for all of the advice.

Just out of curiosity, are there any other additional books besides DMG2 I should pick up?

What about miniatures? Are they expensive 0_o?

Book, nothing that is a priority, after a while you will develop your own feel for what you want.

As for mini's they really add to the game. The WoTC minis come in mostly random packs and getting what you want can be frustrating. Other minis can be obtained in non random formats but are generaly unpainted. Some people like painting minis.

 

[Ryujin]

Book, nothing that is a priority, after a while you will develop your own feel for what you want.

As for mini's they really add to the game. The WoTC minis come in mostly random packs and getting what you want can be frustrating. Other minis can be obtained in non random formats but are generaly unpainted. Some people like painting minis.

Also, if there are specific minis that you want, there are people who buy packages and break them up, then sell them individually for somewhat more than they would have cost if bought in a package. The higher cost in the disadvantage. The ability to get exactly what you want is the advantage.

 

[huskythegeek]

Where is a good place to buy all of this stuff anyways? I know D&D books are sold at most major book stores, but what about minis?

 

[Riastlin]

Places like Barnes & Noble usually have the books and occasionally the minis as well. For things like battlemats, you'll likely have to hit up either a FLGS (Friendly Local Gaming Store) or go online. Frankly, for books I would tend to recommend either the FLGS (to support the local store) or go online to someplace like Amazon. You'll likely get a better rate at an online store.

Minis can also be found online at a number of places. Amazon sells the packs and a number of stores such as Auggies.com, Trollandtoad.com and coolstuffinc.com sell singles of the minis. Buying individual minis means you'll pay more per mini but likely spend less in the long run (as you don't buy the minis you don't need.

 

[Truename]

What about miniatures? Are they expensive 0_o?

I prefer tokens (flat squares or circles of cardboard) to minatures. They're much cheaper. The Fiery Dragon packs are good, and the forthcoming Monster Vault is supposed to have some nice ones.

 

[huskythegeek]

Well my friends and I made our first major foray into the realm of gaming stores today. We all managed to come home with something. Here's the list:

-5 miniatures (one for each PC)
-6 standard sets of dice
-The "official" D&D dungeon master's screen (print date 2009)
-A 24 X30 Gamemastery Flip-mat

We still have to pick up a few obvious items (markers and such). However, my new question is what would you guys suggest we use to represent monsters? I wish we had the money to buy tons of minis, but that's just not the case. When we Play MTG, we tend to use pennies as counters. Correct if me I'm wrong in this belief, but I don't think our D&D combat encounters will be very exciting if we're using pennies, nickels and dimes to represent monsters. What do you guys primarily use, and what is the most cost-effective solution for young/poor college students?

Besides that I just have a couple of questions about the DM screen I picked up. I must admit I was a little disappointed at it once I opened it up, but I think I can use it effectively. However, some of the statistics differ from the ones printed in the DM guide. For example, the difficulty class info on page 42 DMG differs from the info on the screen.

Page 42 DMG (DC by level):
1st-3rd 10 15 20



DM Screen (Target DCs)
1st-3rd 5 10 15


I don't know if there is an error on the screen or if the screen statistics are updated, but I'm pretty confused to say the least. I'm mainly concerned with how these stats affect skill challenges. It seems like numbers on the DM Screen would make skill checks FAR too easy. If anyone could enlighten me, I'd highly appreciate it.