Dm

[Jmacc]

I am planning on DMing a 1 day long session. This will be my first time and was wondering if there were any DM tools out there besides the Rules Compendium and DM guide that you would recommend. I already use Hero Forge and Spell Forge and was just wondering if there was something that really helps simplify things for the Dm.
It's going to be a 9 a.m. session till like 10 p.m. power game session with breaks for leveling and stuff.

 

[Hrothgar Rannúlfr]

If you're running core 3.5, I'd recommend a 3.5 DM screen. There's a lot of good info on the one produced by WOTC. If you cannot get one of those, you might try googling for some of the free ones that folks have put together. Or, if there's time, Paizo has them on sale, now, I think.

Also, get the values of the PC's spot and listen checks so that you can check to see if they notice things without them knowing what you're checking.

Make sure to be familiar with the monsters you plan to use and the rules for Attacks of Opportunity and movement.

 

[NewJeffCT]

Are you running a dungeon crawl one-shot? A wilderness adventure? A city adventure? If you're running a city adventure, get a list of names for random NPCs. Always useful for pulling down a name of said random NPC that you never expected the players to chat with...

And, not just Listen & Spot - get the saves for the PCs as well.

 

[Dross]

If you have access to Excel or some other spreadsheet program, get it to generate numbers for dice rolls that you will often need (d20 for D&D 3+)

These can be used for things like PC rolls for uncalled for spot/listen checks (although I prefer to have PCs roll a set of these before hand).
Really handy for bunches of attacks or saves, skill checks etc for NPCs.