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<blockquote data-quote="vagabundo" data-source="post: 5417452" data-attributes="member: 55864">Okay, here's my 2cm:Keep It Simple Stupid: As a first time DM you're going to have a lot of balls in the air, so keep that in mind when designing your encounters and adventure as a whole.Keep It Focused: It is tempting to have these big rambling byzantine plots and setting and details. But keeping the first few adventures focused on your theme or plot and seeing what kind of complications your players will bring to the table tends to work better.Keep it Varied: Adventure writing is a lot like cooking, get a load of nice mechanical ingredients and mix them up good and proper and then sprinkle with a lot of spicy RP opportunities.Be Not Subtle: Players do not get subtle or they get it wrong a lot (see the rule of three below). And this applies equally to clues and NPC quirks - ham it up mang.Rule of Three : When designing any plot point, clue, hidden door that is vital to the adventure, etc... use the rule of three, so have three clues pointing to where you want them to go, because as sure as muck is brown they will miss two of them (and they may then misinterpret the third!!).I got a lot of that from the 4e DMGI/II and some blogs on the web.Some other things you can note are pacing and adventure structure and winging it, but they are best tackled with a bit more experience.Make the adventure something you are passionate about and don't get too attached to any of the pieces, because it is never going to run like you imagine it, the player will muck it all up.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="vagabundo, post: 5417452, member: 55864"] Okay, here's my 2cm: [B]Keep It Simple Stupid[/B]: As a first time DM you're going to have a lot of balls in the air, so keep that in mind when designing your encounters and adventure as a whole. [b]Keep It Focused[/b]: It is tempting to have these big rambling byzantine plots and setting and details. But keeping the first few adventures focused on your theme or plot and seeing what kind of complications your players will bring to the table tends to work better. [b]Keep it Varied[/b]: Adventure writing is a lot like cooking, get a load of nice mechanical ingredients and mix them up good and proper and then sprinkle with a lot of spicy RP opportunities. [b]Be Not Subtle[/b]: Players do not get subtle or they get it wrong a lot (see the rule of three below). And this applies equally to clues and NPC quirks - ham it up mang. [b]Rule of Three [/b]: When designing any plot point, clue, hidden door that is vital to the adventure, etc... use the rule of three, so have three clues pointing to where you want them to go, because as sure as muck is brown they will miss two of them (and they may then misinterpret the third!!). I got a lot of that from the 4e DMGI/II and some blogs on the web. Some other things you can note are pacing and adventure structure and winging it, but they are best tackled with a bit more experience. Make the adventure something you are passionate about and don't get too attached to any of the pieces, because it is never going to run like you imagine it, the player will muck it all up. [/QUOTE]

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