D&D 4E DM New to 4e Seeking Advice

[HelloChristian]

Hello all,

I hope to start a D&D 4e campaign for the first time. I was hoping that you experienced 4e DMs could give me a heads up on anything that might ease my transition from 3.5 to 4e.

For example, a man at my FLGS suggested using the plastic colored rings from 20 ounce soda bottles to drape on minis to indicate conditions, such as marked.

Also, are my unused, yet brand new 4e books still useful? I keep hearing about D&D Essentials and am wondering if I already missed a new edition's release.

Thanks in advance!

 

[AngryMojo]

Welcome to the club!

The soda ring thing is a good idea, tracking conditions is very important in this edition. As to the essentials, don't worry, it's not a new edition. In fact, I don't think it really affects the DM much at all. All your old books are perfectly valid.

One of the biggest things to remember about 4e as opposed to 3.5 is that there isn't a rule for everything anymore. Much of the game will just be handwaving and DM fiat, so get accustomed to making rulings on the fly. For example, if a character has in his backstory that he was a pirate for years, you can assume he knows how to sail, even though there's nothing on his sheet that says he can.

A second piece of advice I'd give you is about skill challenges. Be loose with what skills you allow in them, and at the very least have a successful roll with a skill that's not listed give a bonus to a skill that is listed. Assuming the player relates it to the challenge with a believable excuse. Run them fast and loose, and they go very well.

 

[HelloChristian]

Thanks for the advice on the skill challenges. A DM at the FLGS also suggested keeping them fast and loose so as to not lose the freeform role-playing that so many players are accustomed to.

 

[Lateralus]

Hello,

AngryMojo, I have a question. I'm a brand new DM (to any edition, lol) and I am still trying to learn the ins-and-outs of combat and skill challenges. Could you possibly elaborate a little more on what you said on skill challenges, maybe bring it back to 1st grade for a newbie like myself Please.

 

[AngryMojo]

Hello,

AngryMojo, I have a question. I'm a brand new DM (to any edition, lol) and I am still trying to learn the ins-and-outs of combat and skill challenges. Could you possibly elaborate a little more on what you said on skill challenges, maybe bring it back to 1st grade for a newbie like myself Please.

No problem!

Normally, skill challenges have about eight skills that are relevant to the challenge, four that grant success towards the challenge while four provide other bonuses. Because there are 17 skills total, this leaves a lot of skills out of the game. One of the most important things I learned about DMing is that you can never fully predict what the PC's are going to do, you can only try to anticipate. I've been at this long enough that I don't really get surprised much anymore, but I still have difficulty prognosticating the actions of five people with different thought patterns than myself. So, if one of your players in a skill challenge comes up with a clever way to use one of the 9 skills not directly written into the skill challenge, or a way to use one of the eight skills that are in the challenge but not listed as being used in that way, err on the side of PC awesomeness.

If the idea relates to the skill challenge in a roundabout way, tell them they don't get a success for beating the DC, but they do get a bonus to the next Skill X check they make during the challenge. If it's directly applicable to the challenge, put on your DM hat and give them a success. Sometimes they'll even come up with a great way to use a power that doesn't involve a skill check at all. Use your discretion, but if it makes sense that it would help them in the challenge, go for it.

As an example, imagine a skill challenge where the PC's are running away from the town guards in a bustling city marketplace. The baseline skills are Athletics (Running away and climbing buildings to get away), Endurance (Sprinting to put some distance between you and the guards), Bluff (Blending in with the crowd to elude the guards), and Stealth (Jumping into a back alleyway and hiding behind crates).
Fighter bolts away, using Endurance.
Bard uses Bluff and poses as a street performer.
Rogue hides in an alley with Stealth.
Wizard consults his vast knowledge to see if there are catacombs beneath the city with History.

Three of these skills are directly related to the challenge as written, but your wizard player came up with a cool cooperative storytelling idea that breaks the mold. I don't believe in punishing creativity or clever ideas, so I give it to the wizard player. There are catacombs under the city that bandits and thieves hide in. Now, because the players have a hiding place that wasn't anticipated, anyone who knows about the catacombs will receive a +2 to their rolls if they enter them.

Next round in the challenge, the wizard uses an Arcana roll to spread the word amongst the PC's about the catacombs. Depending on your interpretation of class abilities and skills, the wizard can or can't do this. If you rule he can, I'd give them a success for the idea.

Here you have two checks that weren't listed in the challenge, but there's no reason why they wouldn't help. That's what's meant by fast and loose.

 

[Lord Phoenix]

i would just like to say that i am also new to DMing 4e, and alot of these posts help out. and to confess something else... 4e is my first time DMing period, and let me just say it was one of the scariest things ive ever done. it was only scary in the fact that i was really nervous because i was DMing for my friends who all have... lets just say they are VASTLY more expericenced with D&D and GMing then i hope to ever be. needless to say my first games were run out of one of the books and i was worried they would get bored quickly with it due to they have done almost anything you can think of adventurewise AND at epic levels no less! but to my surprise they didnt get bored and told me they had a good time and i did an excellent job.(if only i wouldve realized that earlier!lol) so hopefully this tiny piece of advice will help out... when it comes down to it, just do it and dive right in cuz dispite what you believe everyone is just looking to hang out and have a good time regardless and if youre DMing a group of friends itll be even greater because in my gaming career ive discovered that theres a formula to it and it goes a little something like this.... gaming consists of 90% bs and 10% actual game play.(granted this may not be the case for all groups) so just relax and have fun, and may the force be with you!lol

 

[JoeGKushner]

The easiest way to ease the transition for yourself and the games is to read the books, apply the errata and then ask questions based on your understanding of the rules at that point. Some people 'gork' rules right away, others have to do it several times.

I would download the free adventure from the WoTC site as well as the free counters for that adventure from the Fiery Dragon site and tell the players that it's a 'run' through to get the hang of some of the skill challenges, combat options, etc...

 

[pjrake]

My situation is actually a little bit different. I'm currently running a fantasy-based Savage Worlds (for about a year) and last week we all agreed to convert our characters, and campaign to D&D Essentials!

My nervousness is twofold: 1. Converting the characters so they are as close in powers and abilities as the original, and 2. Running an encounter that won't slow the game down. One of the strength of Savage Worlds is fast action and minimal record keeping (for the DM), but it's also very limited in combat strategies. Besides, all the players are dying to try out all the cool powers they're gonna get!

Any tips on how to run a successful encounter? Thanks.

-PJ

 

[jbear]

With essentials newly released, you may have to wait some time until there are enough options that allow you to recreate you characters accurately.

One of the keys to exciting combats is having interesting terrain.

Being able to Slide an Orc 4 squares isn't much fun in a 20x20 stone walled room. But if your battling your way across a bidge with swarms of snakes in the pits below, well, then Sliding someone becomes absolutely fantastic. Being able to Pull you enemy 3 might seem bland on paper, but imagine if there are archers shooting down on the PCs from rooves or terraces. Pull your enemy takes on a new dimension.

Also, take risks with your monsters, provoking opportunity attacks to move into flanking position,or ignoring the defender's marks to go after the wizard. This has two or three positive effects on combat. Defenders get to do their job and enforce their mark. This usually damages monsters more, meaning they die faster and combat moves faster.

It also gives players things to do out of turn, keeping their attention when its not their turn.

And of course it will scare the hell out of the wizard sitting pretty at the back!

To balance this you need to take a look at the new monster damage values, that have increased monster damage by a lot. This will make sure your players respect your monsters. When they hit, it hurts. This should be amongst the fairly recent updates given free on the WotC website.

Let your players know they can think outside the box. I stole an idea for PirateCat, a 4e DM Guru and moderator here on the boards, and have given my players an 'Encounter Power' called 'Do something Cool'. They can use it to alter their powers in ways that are cool but make sense or do something cool related to the situation at hand. I then figure out ways that they can resolve what they want to do mechanically. Even if they fail on their rolls something useful still happens when they attempt to do something cool. Example, Dwarven Cleric wanted to hurl her axe at the bindings of a tree house where several archers were raining arrows down on the PCs to bring the entire structure tumbling out of the tree. So I set an AC on the 'Key Knot' that if struck, would do just that and let the Dwarf make a strength based ranged attack with her magical axe. The roll failed, unfortunately, but as it was something cool, instead of just sucking, I ruled the axe smashed into the wall of the tree house shattering the wall and removing their cover completely. And as it was cool and the axe magical, well, it boomeranged back.

This had got my players trying to think out of the box with their powers and what their characters can achieve all the time.

I can probably write a long list of good ideas but I know that eyes begin to glaze over when posts get too long.

Hunt down Stalker0's Guide to Anti Grind. That is a good place to start to keep combat from dragging into a boring dirge.

One of the most important things for me and my DM Philosophy when I began 4e was 'saying yes' to the players ideas. This is usually a 'yes, but' (taking their idea, and expanding upon it or placing a condition or a challenging but not impossible complication)unless the idea is exceptionally good, and sometimes the answer is still know (not every idea is a great or even good idea), but it is a great core philosophy. Two of my players, used to my rulings when we played 3.5 together, were totally surprised when the other players, totally new to RPGs in general instictively attempted to think outside the box and were met with 'Yes, you can do this, this is what you have to do to pull that off' as opposed to me, snorting through my nose, and maliciously smiling as i mumbled 'you can try anything you want, whether you will pull it off or not is another matter ... all you need is a 30 ...' Either that or I had to stop the game and search for a rule in a rule book in order to feel I could adjudicate the action fairly. Now, I just make it up on the fly.

That has been a hugely positive change on how I look at the game, and almost a release from the prison of 'what the rules say or what the DM thinks i should be able to do or not given my characters level' for my players, which they had unfortunately suffered from before.