Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
A (very green) Newbie DM Question
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Spatula" data-source="post: 5681532" data-attributes="member: 2198"><p>Firstly, DMing is a skill, and you're going to make mistakes. That's okay!</p><p></p><p>There's a lot of different ways to handle this. A good approach IMO is to have a loose outline or structure, and fill in or change the details as the players make decisions. For example, if the player expect to find the evil Baron in his castle, then you can have him be there - or you can put clues there that very clearly tell the players where he is.</p><p></p><p>Reading published adventures might give you some good ideas as well. Or not, there are some poor adventures out there. People seem to be fond of the adventures that come with with DM Kit and the Monster Vault.</p><p></p><p>Set up the terrain (the DMG talks alot about this I think), place the enemies, roll initiative. The enemies are under your control and have some basic goals - usually "kill the players" and "stay alive". Play them with their goals in mind, as well as their intellect and cleverness.</p><p></p><p>If the fight looks like it's a done deal, have the remaining foes surrender or run away.</p><p></p><p>This is tricky, and it depends on what kind of players they are going to be. Talking about your concerns regarding your lack of experience with them before may be a good idea. Ask them to overlook rules mistakes at the table (and you similarly should not be obsessed with finding the right rule during the middle of playing), or appoint one of them as the rule master that you can query for information. Also ask them to put aside the edition-bashing.</p><p></p><p>If they get disruptive (arguing with you in the "you can't do that! / that would never happen!" vein), then that's a problem. The game works best when the players trust the GM to be fair, even when their characters face adversity. That's why I recommend talking to them first and asking for their trust.</p><p></p><p>Hope this helps. Be kind to yourself, and good gaming!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Spatula, post: 5681532, member: 2198"] Firstly, DMing is a skill, and you're going to make mistakes. That's okay! There's a lot of different ways to handle this. A good approach IMO is to have a loose outline or structure, and fill in or change the details as the players make decisions. For example, if the player expect to find the evil Baron in his castle, then you can have him be there - or you can put clues there that very clearly tell the players where he is. Reading published adventures might give you some good ideas as well. Or not, there are some poor adventures out there. People seem to be fond of the adventures that come with with DM Kit and the Monster Vault. Set up the terrain (the DMG talks alot about this I think), place the enemies, roll initiative. The enemies are under your control and have some basic goals - usually "kill the players" and "stay alive". Play them with their goals in mind, as well as their intellect and cleverness. If the fight looks like it's a done deal, have the remaining foes surrender or run away. This is tricky, and it depends on what kind of players they are going to be. Talking about your concerns regarding your lack of experience with them before may be a good idea. Ask them to overlook rules mistakes at the table (and you similarly should not be obsessed with finding the right rule during the middle of playing), or appoint one of them as the rule master that you can query for information. Also ask them to put aside the edition-bashing. If they get disruptive (arguing with you in the "you can't do that! / that would never happen!" vein), then that's a problem. The game works best when the players trust the GM to be fair, even when their characters face adversity. That's why I recommend talking to them first and asking for their trust. Hope this helps. Be kind to yourself, and good gaming! [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
A (very green) Newbie DM Question
Top