D&D 5E New DM with campaign anxiety

[Jaeger]

I guess one of my questions is how do you pull up stat blocks on the fly if your players decide to be murderhobos? What if they go a complete different way (They will) and you don't have stats for what they want to do? Do I just make it up? I've been making npcs into stat blocks and it takes forever.

First - you don't need full stat blocks for NPC's. They're NPC's.

Redhammer is correct, appendix B is the #1 pace to go. Just remember you don't have to copy the full stat block to use them in the game.

All you really need is the HP, AC, and what attacks they have.

If you had a cool, named pirate captain and the party decided they were going to kill him, how would you create a stat block for this character on the fly? The DM never thought the players would kill this character so you didn't stat them up. How do you deal with that?

Baldurs_Underdark has it right. 100%

I was going to type a reply, but I'd just repeat him.

Just a quick 3-4 line write up is the way to go. Maybe add - Saves at: +3

Yes, it's a single save for everything. Your players will never know the difference.

For 99% of what a GM does, You just don't need a full stat block. (IMHO WotC adding in the full 6 stat block for monsters was a mistake.)

A common mistake is thinking you have to emulate the MM stat block when you prep for a session. Too much work. Don't do it.

Just use the NPC shorthand Baldurs showed. Even when copying from the MM.

The only time it is worth more effort is for a major villain that the PC's have been after. Even then you shouldn't have to do more than a few of them for an entire campaign.

 

[fendermallot]

First - you don't need full stat blocks for NPC's. They're NPC's.

Redhammer is correct, appendix B is the #1 pace to go. Just remember you don't have to copy the full stat block to use them in the game.

All you really need is the HP, AC, and what attacks they have.




Baldurs_Underdark has it right. 100%

I was going to type a reply, but I'd just repeat him.

Just a quick 3-4 line write up is the way to go. Maybe add - Saves at: +3

Yes, it's a single save for everything. Your players will never know the difference.

For 99% of what a GM does, You just don't need a full stat block. (IMHO WotC adding in the full 6 stat block for monsters was a mistake.)

A common mistake is thinking you have to emulate the MM stat block when you prep for a session. Too much work. Don't do it.

Just use the NPC shorthand Baldurs showed. Even when copying from the MM.

The only time it is worth more effort is for a major villain that the PC's have been after. Even then you shouldn't have to do more than a few of them for an entire campaign.

Thanks everyone! I was using Reddit for information, but that place is so damn toxic. Thanks for being so very helpful!

 

[Rune]

I'm feeling really at a loss and overwhelmed.

any advice?

thanks everyone!

Briefly:

First, do not stress about it! You do not have to be a perfect DM. You don’t even need to be a good one. No one starts out as a good DM. Making mistakes is part of the process of learning to be a good DM. Trying things out is part of the process. Not everything will work. Figure out what doesn’t and why it doesn’t. Keep in mind that every group dynamic is different and learning what works for each group is a trial-and-error process no matter your experience.

Second, do not worry about plot! That is not your job! Your job is to give the players the pieces to make their own plot. What you need is factions, villains, and even allies with agendas, motives, and the means to act on them. And lots of plot hooks. If you’ve got those things, everything else will fall into place. The players will bite on something, and the things they ignore will advance their agendas unhindered.

Less briefly:

If you’d like some more advice of this nature, you might find this thread helpful. It is aimed at a low-prep style, but contains much I would consider sound advice for any DM (of any experience level). Including expanded reasoning on both of the above points.

 

[robus]

You’re making the right to choice to roll your own adventure IMHO. It might seem overwhelming but the advice above about just planning the next session is gold. Sure have an idea of some greater threat lurking but build off what your players respond positively too each session.

Running from a book puts a straight jacket on your planning and makes DMing much harder. Use books for inspiration. I also find Dyson Logos simple maps very helpful when needing a location for an encounter.

 

[Oofta]

Thanks!

I guess one of my questions is how do you pull up stat blocks on the fly if your players decide to be murderhobos? What if they go a complete different way (They will) and you don't have stats for what they want to do? Do I just make it up? I've been making npcs into stat blocks and it takes forever.

If you had a cool, named pirate captain and the party decided they were going to kill him, how would you create a stat block for this character on the fly? The DM never thought the players would kill this character so you didn't stat them up. How do you deal with that?

I think my original plot hook is going to stay the same. But it will come in more gradually.

Little slow on the response, but something I do is have an extra encounter or two sketched out. Usually nothing more than a set of monsters they could in theory encounter and usually some humanoid types of appropriate level. So for example I had two "extra" encounters - either 2 dire trolls or a warlord, war priest and 2 champions for my level 15 group. On the latter optional encounter I noted that I had calculated that having 1 champion was a medium encounter, 2 was a hard encounter.

But all I really had was the notes on what I could do. No preplanned encounter area, no motivation associated, nothing. But ... if the group had decided to investigate the shady guy in the ally that I just threw in for flavor I could have had an ambush set up. I also find that simply changing the description of monsters from encounters I had anticipated can also make a big difference.