D&D 5E First time playing D&D and I'm the DM. Anyone feeling helpful?

[Satyrn]

No. Don't be surprised if it never comes up, though - if the players just assume the obvious motivations and don't try to figure it out.

And expect it - your players not looking deeper into something - to come up regularly.

Most of the time, you'll want to make the important info to be easy to find.

 

[QuantumWizard]

Unfortunately I live in such a rural community that my options are extremely limited... non-existent really. BUT, I have spent many hours watching Critical Role by GeekandSundry. I feel like watching Matt Mercer has been very helpful. Of course I'm not actually able to participate, but i'm afraid it's the best I can do.

I see your point though.

I dunno - I've learned a ton just be watching stuff online and reading everything I can. One DM is not necessarily a great example (the one I played with quickly frustrated me - because I'd gotten so much good advice from the web - perhaps it ruined me as a player )

Matt Mercer is an amazing DM, and there are many great games you can watch online. However, I think there's a very big difference between watching a game played by other people, and being an actual player in the game. The experience is just not the same.

Denalz - since there are no games in your area, have you considered playing online, for example at Roll20? There are lots of good DMs out there, and I think the experience of actually being a player in a game with a good DM is important. At least, I feel that for me it was important; I have watched online games, but I've learned the most from playing games myself with good DMs.

 

[Denalz]

Denalz - since there are no games in your area, have you considered playing online, for example at Roll20? There are lots of good DMs out there, and I think the experience of actually being a player in a game with a good DM is important. At least, I feel that for me it was important; I have watched online games, but I've learned the most from playing games myself with good DMs.

I thought about it, but I wasn't sure I'd be able to commit to something as regular as a frequent online game as my time is extremely limited. I didn't want to waste anyone else's time.

 

[cmad1977]

So,
1:try not to be too attached to your plans. Players will ruin them. Usually in a good way.
2:don't spend time at the table looking for rules. Make a call and move on. After the session go over the rule(S) in question and adjust for the future. I'd only really get nitpicky about a rules question if it's life or death.
3: you're going to be fine. Have fun.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[transtemporal]

The first session will consist of the players being shipwrecked on a tropical island near sunset. The first encounter consists of two giant crabs and one king crab (a monster of my own design). They will begin as perfect strangers.

As a DM, try to think logically what has happened before. Why would they be strangers? Ships of this era weren't that big and if they were on the same ship, they will have at least seen each other across the deck. For this set up, I personally would tell the players they are on a passenger/merchant/navy/pirate ship headed to <insert destination here> and let them decide on their purpose for being on the ship and if and how they know each other.

When you open on the beach scene, what do they remember of the storm or battle that sunk the ship? How did they survive the sinking of the ship? There's the potential for some foreshadowing here if you want to imply they weren't bought here by mistake. You could even give each player a note of something they remember and let them share with the group, or not. Like "You saw the captain strangling a member of the crew as the ship was going down" or "Amongst the roaring of the waves over the bow you could hear someone laughing". Or whatever atmosphere you want to set for your campaign.

The only other survivor will be the ship's captain who tells them that this island has a trading post where a major merchant line stops every month. He refuses to say when or where however, he holds this information as incentive for the PC's to protect him. I am prepared for the possibility that the PC's may choose to interrogate him. Though I don't expect it.

Unless the captain has some information the PCs can uncover through discussion or interrogation, like his reason for being near the island is nefarious and there's a mystery to uncover, I would take this encounter out. Otherwise it serves no purpose. Consider leaving the captain alive if you want to introduce a "wild" element for later tension. You know, the old "greedy captain discovers the warriors teeth are made of of diamond or whatever and goes graverobbing, placing the PCs in jeopardy".

Once to the village, the chief will use a translator to inform the PC's that they have been chosen by their god, Lono, to put an end to the growing threat of the snake people (Yuan-ti) who are the only other major civilization upon this island. They Yuan-ti have been abducting people at random for about a year now and their attacks have grown more frequent. The night the PC's arrived the chief's future daughter-in-law was taken. They are obliged to respond, but they lack the strength/courage to do so.

Why does the chief think they've been chosen specifically? Or does he say this to every group of survivors that wash up?

If you want to give this some verisimilitude, link to the maori pantheon.

1. I need a minor buff provided by the tribal tattoo. It needs to be small due to the permanence of such a mark.

I'd make it tough, but temporary. Like advantage on any d20 roll once per long rest.

2. I am unsure if I should create another encounter as a condition for receiving the tattoo. I was thinking like a trial by fire or one on one combat with the tribesmen (I like this idea less as it would be time consuming individually). Any ideas?

I'd just get to the action but if you want to have a few more easy encounters to get them into the swing of how combat works, go for it.

3. I'm not sure if the events described in the first session will be enough to fill out a 3 hour block. Maybe they will be too much, what do you all think? Are there enough encounters to keep things interesting?

I would replace the single poisonous snake with a yuan-ti raiding party (the yuan-ti humanoids I forget the name) and a mini-boss abomination. Make it pretty epic. First big fight! Make sure the PCs are the driving force in scaring them off and make sure the PCs know that the yuan-ti know it was them. Also their victory is only partially successful - the yuan-ti are driven off but make off with a few more people. You need to establish whats at stake. You also need to establish why the yuan-ti are making off with people. Maybe they have a sinister purpose.

4. Since there are no shops on this island, what starting items (like healing potions) should I allow my PC's? They have no dedicated cleric.

Standard gear, they'll be fine. If you really want to, maybe the Tongu crone brews potions of healing.

5. Is it too boring to end the session without combat? Is entering the jungle exciting enough to make the players wan to return?

No, thats fine. If you make their first big fight memorable, they should still be coming down off the victory high. Maybe put some loots in to sweeten the victory.

 

[Denalz]

Hello again everyone! I'm sorry it's been so long, but I wanted to give you guys an update on how our first session went in light of our second one coming up this Saturday.

The Player's Attitudes

Overall the initial session was a good one. I could tell my players started out shy, two of four in particular. Thankfully one of the men (Paladin) was a thespian in high school and his dramatic/creative flair hasn't seemed to dissipate over the years. As such he turned into the group spokesmen for the most part until the 3rd and final hour when my other players finally began loosening up. I hope things will be a bit easier for them this weekend. It should help that now they all know each other a bit better as this wasn't the case for all of them at first. Maybe I need to break out some booze this time around. After the game was over they all conveyed their enthusiasm and eagerness to play again. In the past week they have taken to the group chat hyping each other up for Saturday so I think it's safe to assume that their enjoyment was genuinely expressed. It probably helps that half of them are poor blue-collar bachelors and I had a delicious meal ready for them when they arrived.

What Went Well

So it turns out I'm better at acting out a coward than a jerk. As such the captain was a Nervous-Nellie and was zero help during the beach encounters. Because of this the PC's were so irritated with him that they ended up going with my Tongu tribesmen, not respecting the captain's warnings that they were murderous savages. They also really seemed to enjoy the revelation that he had been a slave trader as they were all suspecting for some time that the captain had been dirty and one of them even specifically guessed that he was a trafficker earlier on. They did not try to save him when he was executed and were glad to be rid of his uselessness.

I decided to go with a ritual of walking across hot coals as the condition to receive the tattoo. I think that was actually their favorite part of the game as they were laughing hysterically at my descriptions of what their constitution checks earned them in they way of gracefulness or lack there of. They also enjoyed the tattoo process though none of them really wanted an ugly permanent mark on their body but they all chose to do it as to avoid offending their hosts. The wizard nearly got his arm chopped off when he tried to be clever and project an image of the tattoo on his arm to convince them that he already had the mark and didn't need it. He barely managed to play it off as a prank when he saw how well that charade didn't go over.

Though my paladin and wizard were the most socially comfortable players and us such did most of the talking, I was glad that my druid and ranger actually managed to do the majority of killing and damage during the encounters which I'm sure helped them enjoy the game more by feeling useful.

What Went Wrong

Okay so I know I said I was very prepared for my PC's to make decisions that weren't in line with my plot... well they managed to catch me with my pants down when it came to the giant snake on the beach. Their initial decision was to run away instead of fight, and this was largely my fault because I over-hyped how big it was and they decided they didn't have a chance. I mean, I applaud them for not meta-game thinking I guess, but gosh darn it I was not ready for that. Mercifully, my PC's are not yet a coordinated team and though they all agreed to run, they each took off in different directions. In the end, the decided to fight since their escape attempt was such a disaster. *Whew* Next time I'll be a bit more conservative in my monster descriptions, especially since I now see that I have a cautious group. Obviously it will also help to always be thinking up alternative scenarios.

The thing that really made me sweat, however, was the group's wizard. I was thoughtless and I failed to go over his utility spells while planning the adventure. He had a mother f***** translation spell!!!!! So, that was fun as I attempted to come up with a host of dialogue on the fly that I didn't plan on ever having to actually articulate. I wanted to pull my hair out. So now I feel like using Akira as a translator is less necessary. That being said the spell is very limited in that it takes an hour to prepare before it works and then only lasts for one hour. So there is that saving grace. Anyway, I have to do a better job preparing for that sort of crap.

Also, side note, while making my captain run away from the newly arrived Tongu tribesmen, I wanted to make him shout a warning at the group. For some reason I could not for the life of me think of the word "run". Instead, after nearly turning red from sputtering I shouted, "Be on your guard!" My players had a good laugh at that. Oh well, not all of us were thespians in highschool.

A major problem we had was my own difficulty knowing when my players were speaking in and out of character (especially the two quieter men). Since not everyone was comfortable at first they seemed reluctant to speak in character and tried addressing the GM more than the NPC's. Any advice on how to make this easier? I also realized that I need to work on my accents because that makes it much easier for them as well.

Thank you to everyone who gave me advice before. I'll probably end up asking for more as I brush up on our upcoming session.

 

[mburkom]

I'm getting ready to DM for the first time in a few weeks. Just read all of this to use your experience (and everyone's great advice) to help me prepare! Also if you haven't watched any of it yet, Matt Colville's Running The Game series on YouTube is loaded with good advice. Glad your 1st session went well!

 

[robus]

[MENTION=6878412]Denalz[/MENTION], this blog post was made to answer your IC/OOC question: http://theangrygm.com/through-a-glass-darkly-ic-ooc-and-the-myth-of-playercharacter-seperation/

 

[S'mon]

A major problem we had was my own difficulty knowing when my players were speaking in and out of character (especially the two quieter men). Since not everyone was comfortable at first they seemed reluctant to speak in character and tried addressing the GM more than the NPC's.

I definitely find this is a problem, especially with players who like to ask the GM "What would happen if we...?" or even "How do we...?" - ie they want me to tell them what to do! I have one players is really bad this way, and my son has been picking it up as a bad habit.

I will ask my players: "Is that in-character?" or say "That would have to be in-character" when
players attempt to confer during a tense PC-NPC negotiation without alerting the NPCs, as if their
characters were all telepathic. And when they ask inappropriate OOC questions I say "How would you know that?"

Have NPCs address PCs in-character, and hopefully the players will answer back IC. Only the very worst roleplayers are completely incapable of this. Obviously be supportive and encouraging, and within reason interpret any good faith effort as an appropriate response. Try not to penalise low-CHA PCs for talking, take an 'anything is better than nothing' approach, assuming they're not deliberately insulting the NPCs.

So, these are problems even experienced GMs have, IME. It sounds like your game went really well - well done!

 

[Eis]

welcome to the greatest hobby in the world! IMO of course There are a lot of really smart, talented and helpful people here who are always ready to lend a hand to a new DM....or even an old DM like me....or any DM actually

my standard advice is to have fun....remember it is supposed to be fun for the players...and for you!