Excellent Advice Thus Far...
Great comments so far...
I will add the following:
(1) Read through the Dungeoncraft articles here:
Dungeoncraft
Start from the bottom and work your way up. Ray give indispensible advice for the starting DM!
(2) Hold a Training Day: Since it sounds like you have taken the lead on getting the game together, use the CharGen to create 2 1st level PC for each player - make sure you cover all the major character types. Randomly handout the sheets to the players, then run a couple of arena "Death matches" that pit the players against a variety of different adversaries (ie, regular monsters, magic-using monsters etc).
Once they have had a couple of combats, have the players switch to a type they haven't played yet (ie, if they got a wizard the first time, have them play a rogue this time). This will give the players a chance to try a couple of different characters out and see how all of the PCs work plus get used to how the rules work.
While you are running the "Death Matches", talk to the players to see what type of adventure(s) interest them the most (combat, intrigue, dungeon-crawls, epic stories). Also, read through a number of the free adventures available on the web and see what type you, as the DM, would most like to run.
At the end of the training day, roll up the characters that you will use in the first gaming session. Make 2 copies - 1 for the player and 1 for the DM. That way you can review each character and design challenges that work well for the party.
(3) Be Flexible: I give players 3 game sessions to "finalize" their characters. Sometimes, new players will pick a feat because it sounds cool, but find they don't like it in practice. Likewise, they may find that they really don't need 4 ranks of
Knowledge: Bugs and want to direct those skill points elsewhere.
(4) Don't Worry Too Much About the Setting: Don't get too wrapped up in
Greyhawk vs.
FR vs.
Scarred Lands initially. Start the PCs in a small, easily managed location (see Dungeoncraft above).
(5) Have Fun!: It is supposed to be fun...you will make mistakes! Don't sweat it, but learn from it and improve!
Old One