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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RavenSinger" data-source="post: 38329" data-attributes="member: 213">I just started running a campaign for the first time as well.  And I can say for sure that Nelli's advice is quite good.  The main thing is to spend time making things that you will use.  Don't try to create the whole world at once.  Start with where the PC's meet.  I started my PC's in a rural farming community, and I would reccomend something small.  If you really want to start in a large city, you only have to have a general idea of the various neighborhoods in the beginning--and more specific ideas about the neighborhood in which the adventure starts.Another piece of advice is to definately start with some sort of dungeon (or location-based) adventure.  This allows you to control your PC's a lot more easily.  And if you are short on time, buy a module that appeals to you and run it.  When I started, I went out and bought "The Sunless Citadel" from WOTC.  I never used the adventure, but reading it showed me how a well crafted dungeon should work.  A variety of encounters centered around a theme.  Mix it up so all players have a chance to shine.The final piece of advice is more for world building and campaign building than just starting out.  That is *use your players' good ideas*.  Listen too your players, and hear what they think is going on.  It may be way better than what you had originally planned.  Another way to do this is require all players to submit some sort of background.  Not only does it help the player solidify the character-idea in their mind (and yours), you can also use any plot hooks that are supplied there.  Your fighter has a wealthy uncle?  What if his wife gets kidnapped by hobgoblins.  Your cleric is an orphan?  What if his parents come back as undead.  Anyway, the main thing is to have fun--always.  If it's not fun then stop.  It's not worth all the work. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />--RavenSinger</blockquote>

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