DM help needed

[Zorkion]

Hey, im a new DM and i need a bit of help. i have benn in a group for a while so i know the rules and how to play, but i am new to DMing and i was wondering if anyone could help me out a bit...ya...so...any help/pointers/etc. would be greatly appreciated

also, if anyone knows where i can find any good avatars, that would be nice too

 

[Crothian]

welcome to the boards.

There is plety of advice for new DMS, but the one I think is most important is to keep the game moving. Games can get bogged down with looking things up or uncertainty and these can really hurt a session.

 

[haiiro]

Welcome to the boards, and welcome to DMing. Both rock.

For DMing tips, check out Johnn Four's superlative website: http://www.roleplayingtips.com. It covers all things DM-related. He also has a column in Dragon magazine.

As far as avatars go, if you find something you like that isn't a good size, you can generally post it here and ask someone to shrink it down for you. I'd be happy to do so, if you like.

 

[Zorkion]

btw., right now im DMing a new group with the sunless citadel campaign and were about 1/4 of the way through (in case that helps any)

 

[Angelsboi]

Make NPCs memorable. I had a elven necromancer who was an alchemist. The one thing my PCs found out about him when they slept was he always had a skeleton stuffed doll and wore black footed PJs with a rear-end opening.

And set up plotlines for PCs and make sure the world still goes on regardless of what they do.

And welcome to the board!

 

[Zorkion]

hey, haiiro, heres a pic i made a while ago (for de shrinkin for avatar) its the ball type thing...ya...thanx!

 

[Aust Diamondew]

Remember the players aren't there for the game, but the game is there for your PCs.

In other words the game should focus on the players and not on other stuff.

 

[JDragon]

Along the lines of keeping things moving....

When rule discussions come up, and they will, depending on the importance of the call do one of the following...

not very important - make an educated, reasonable call and move on.

important, but not PC life threatening - hace player ?'ing call try to find relevent rule, while you contiune to take care of your stuff. IF they find it, read it and make a call, if not... see above.

Really important (PC life threatening) - have player look up, (give preset amount of time to look), if found all good. if not found in time limit make call and keep moving.

On all of the above situations, make a note of the ?, and make sure to look it up at a break or after game so you know next time, because.... their will be a next time.

Just try to be fair and make sure people are having fun.

JDragon - who can be to much of a rules lawer himself.

 

[Mark]

Spend a good amount of time in the D&D Rules forum on these boards. I'm constantly surprised by the number of things that I have learned and continue to learn. There are often new combinations of rules discussed that show odd twists or important ramifications on game situations from a different perspective that I had yet to fathom. Here are a few other reading ideas that may prove useful to you...

DMing Chat Transcripts - http://www.creativemountaingames.com/dmingchat.asp

Non-RPG URLs - http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=21656

Other threads on DMing advice - http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=36508

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=35834

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=33725

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=33634

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=33167

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=36239

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=37176

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=36596

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=35895

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=36962

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=34618

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=36422

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=22497

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=35803

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=35249

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=34646

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=34325

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=34281

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=30920

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=32922

 

[haiiro]

hey, haiiro, heres a pic i made a while ago (for de shrinkin for avatar) its the ball type thing...ya...thanx!

I get a blank black page with two broken/non-viewable images on it when I visit that URL. It's probably something to do with my browser settings.

Can you try posting the image in this thread? To do so, you'd just use the "Attach file" option, which appears at the bottom of the page when you post a reply.