D&D 5E Tips/links for DM ramping up on 5E?

The Souljourner · Sep 1, 2014

I've been playing D&D for 25 years, and have played every edition, but I'm out of touch with 5E - haven't kept up with news and forums since the very beginning of the playtest. Now I need to DM Hoard of the Dragon Queen this coming Saturday. Obviously I have the PHB and have been trying to cram it. Luckily the actual combat & adventuring rules seem like a simplified 3.x, which is familiar enough. Still trying to ingest all the class rules, and just hoping I can ramp up on the spells one level at a time. As for DM rules.... the PDF online seems like it's almost entirely monsters and a little bit about choosing encounter difficulties.

Anyone have links to FAQs, common misunderstandings, problem areas in the rules, etc?

Thanks for any suggestions.

-Nate, aka The Souljourner

Mandragola · Sep 1, 2014

I had a go DMing the starter set. Depending on your players, I think you might want to spend some time talking to them about the backgrounds of their characters with ideals, bonds and flaws, and how this can earn them inspiration. The mechanical stuff is fairly straightforward but the RP stuff is not always so clear.

Gargoyle · Sep 1, 2014

Hiding and stealth is probably the one thing that comes to mind as a commonly misunderstood area; the rules aren't bad, but they're spread throughout the book making the learning curve harder than it should be.

[MENTION=3586]MerricB[/MENTION] has some good posts on his blog clarifying it, and plenty of other good posts regarding running 5e. http://merricb.com/2014/08/13/being-stealthy-in-dungeons-dragons-5e/

Other than that, and reading ENWorld forums for topics that interest you, I'd say the best thing to do is just don't assume anything. Approach it as a completely new game, as there are many things I've seen that are just slightly different from earlier editions. You might want to create a couple of characters and run a couple of test combats, just to familiarize yourself with what you will be running.

Have fun, and let us know how it goes.

Syntallah · Sep 1, 2014

This thread had a lot of good things in it:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...-who-have-actually-PLAYED-5e&prefixid=dndnext

Mistwell · Sep 1, 2014

Gargoyle said:
Hiding and stealth is probably the one thing that comes to mind as a commonly misunderstood area; the rules aren't bad, but they're spread throughout the book making the learning curve harder than it should be.

[MENTION=3586]MerricB[/MENTION] has some good posts on his blog clarifying it, and plenty of other good posts regarding running 5e. http://merricb.com/2014/08/13/being-stealthy-in-dungeons-dragons-5e/

Other than that, and reading ENWorld forums for topics that interest you, I'd say the best thing to do is just don't assume anything. Approach it as a completely new game, as there are many things I've seen that are just slightly different from earlier editions. You might want to create a couple of characters and run a couple of test combats, just to familiarize yourself with what you will be running.

Have fun, and let us know how it goes.

Yeah I second Merric's blog. He's been DM'ing a ton of 5e for different groups at a game store, for a long time now, and his blogs are pretty good at examining the process and problem areas and how he's resolved them.

The Souljourner · Sep 1, 2014

Awesome, thanks a lot. Already started reading through Merric's blog.

Paraxis · Sep 1, 2014

Best advice I can think of is this.

Some of the issues I have seen so far because of not doing this.

There is no class level or caster level, just level
There are no assumed squares, there is only leaving reach
CR and encounter building is different

D&D 5E Tips/links for DM ramping up on 5E?

The Souljourner

First Post

Mandragola

First Post

Gargoyle

Adventurer

Syntallah

First Post

Mistwell

Crusty Old Meatwad (he/him)

The Souljourner

First Post

Paraxis

Explorer

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