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Advice on how not to feel like a lousy DM
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<blockquote data-quote="ccs" data-source="post: 7864271" data-attributes="member: 6803664"><p>Unprepared? <strong>Absolutely. </strong> </p><p>It was Christmas break 1980. For Christmas my 11 year old self had ripped the paper off of the Basic set. <em>(best Christmas present ever btw!)</em> </p><p>Myself, my brother & our cousin went to play it. Three 9-11 year olds with 100% zero xp concerning D&D/RPGs And we discovered that this wasn't <em>anything</em> like any other game we'd played. We couldn't even begin.<img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite3" alt=":(" title="Frown :(" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":(" /></p><p>So we decided that in a few days when our cousin was over again (she was at our house roughly 2-3 times/week) that we'd definitely play it then. It was decided that since the books (Basic book & adventure module B2: Keep on the Borderlands) were mine that I was to be the DM. I had 3, maybe 4, days to decipher this thing. And then teach the others how to play. So I spent the next 3 days reading those two books over & over & practicing making characters, running combats, making Saving Throws etc.</p><p>So we spent the rest of the afternoon/evening making characters & fumbling through fights with goblins, kobolds, orcs, etc</p><p>And somewhere in there we experienced what you have. The players attempted stuff not actually detailed in either book. Um..... So we just made stuff up.</p><p>We were definitely not sure we were doing it right. But we had fun. So in the coming weeks & months we made more characters, fought a minotaur, gnolls, evil clerics & their skeletons/zombies, met a mad hermit in the woods.... and kept making up new stuff.</p><p>Wich led us to actually figuring out how this fantastic game works.</p><p></p><p>Was I the <em>right</em> person for the job of DM? (shrugs) I was the ONLY person for the job at the moment ('cause the books were mine). And I was 11 - so there was no kind of self doubt, worry etc. It was a game, we were going to play it, & someone (me) had to play the role of the DM. And I've been a DM ever since.</p><p><em><span style="font-size: 10px">(BTW; I was the right person. It turns out that I'm infinitely more creative & imaginative than either my brother or cousin)</span></em></p><p></p><p> </p><p></p><p></p><p>Bleh. Completely terrible advise.</p><p>Because you're playing a <u>game</u>. A fairly complex one. One that you admit to not knowing all the rules to.</p><p>So keep those books & tablets etc handy and reference things any time you need to. In fact, it's written down so that you don't have to memorize it all. Just know where/how to find it if needed. Do <u>NOT</u> worry about pacing & flow of play. It's not a performance. So spend that minute with the group finding the answer. Eventually you'll find that you only need to look up misc bits.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="ccs, post: 7864271, member: 6803664"] Unprepared? [B]Absolutely. [/B] It was Christmas break 1980. For Christmas my 11 year old self had ripped the paper off of the Basic set. [I](best Christmas present ever btw!)[/I] Myself, my brother & our cousin went to play it. Three 9-11 year olds with 100% zero xp concerning D&D/RPGs And we discovered that this wasn't [I]anything[/I] like any other game we'd played. We couldn't even begin.:( So we decided that in a few days when our cousin was over again (she was at our house roughly 2-3 times/week) that we'd definitely play it then. It was decided that since the books (Basic book & adventure module B2: Keep on the Borderlands) were mine that I was to be the DM. I had 3, maybe 4, days to decipher this thing. And then teach the others how to play. So I spent the next 3 days reading those two books over & over & practicing making characters, running combats, making Saving Throws etc. So we spent the rest of the afternoon/evening making characters & fumbling through fights with goblins, kobolds, orcs, etc And somewhere in there we experienced what you have. The players attempted stuff not actually detailed in either book. Um..... So we just made stuff up. We were definitely not sure we were doing it right. But we had fun. So in the coming weeks & months we made more characters, fought a minotaur, gnolls, evil clerics & their skeletons/zombies, met a mad hermit in the woods.... and kept making up new stuff. Wich led us to actually figuring out how this fantastic game works. Was I the [I]right[/I] person for the job of DM? (shrugs) I was the ONLY person for the job at the moment ('cause the books were mine). And I was 11 - so there was no kind of self doubt, worry etc. It was a game, we were going to play it, & someone (me) had to play the role of the DM. And I've been a DM ever since. [I][SIZE=2](BTW; I was the right person. It turns out that I'm infinitely more creative & imaginative than either my brother or cousin)[/SIZE][/I] Bleh. Completely terrible advise. Because you're playing a [U]game[/U]. A fairly complex one. One that you admit to not knowing all the rules to. So keep those books & tablets etc handy and reference things any time you need to. In fact, it's written down so that you don't have to memorize it all. Just know where/how to find it if needed. Do [U]NOT[/U] worry about pacing & flow of play. It's not a performance. So spend that minute with the group finding the answer. Eventually you'll find that you only need to look up misc bits. [/QUOTE]
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