Help! - About to DM 3.5 for the first time - Useful DM aids/tools/tips/tricks wanted

[Olaf the Stout]

Hi guys,

I am about to DM my first D&D3.5 campaign in the near future. Whilst I have been roleplaying for a reasonable period of time I have not DM'ed a lot before and I also have not played a huge amount of D&D3.x. (I have not been playing anything at all for a year or two, previous to that I played in an Ars Magica campaign, a Harn campaign and a very short and ill fated D&D3.0 campaign. Besides that, most of my playing experience is 2E AD&D.) Even though I haven't played a lot of 3.x I have still bought and read a lot of material, from both WotC and third party publishers so I do have a bit more familiarity with the system than it may appear.

To try to make this experience as smooth and easy for myself and my players I want to know what you think are useful DM aids/tools/tips/tricks to give me a little bit of a helping hand, especially while I start out.

So far I have a battlemat (hexes and squares), a Battlebox and Counter Collection Digital from Fiery Dragon, initiative cards from The Game Mechanics as well as a whole lot of pregenerated NPC, tavern and store names. I am planning on running the Freeport Trilogy (I have the revised 3.5 PDF's) to start off with and see where things go from there. To add a bit more depth to the city during the adventures I have bought and read Freeport: City of Adventure.

Depending on how things go I may run the Shackled City adventure path after that (as a completely separate campaign with a different set of PC's).

Note: I don't want to start a flamewar as to whether using a battlemat/modules/whatever is good or bad. I just what to know what sort of things you personally as a DM have found useful. I can make up my own mind as to whether or not I think they would be helpful to me.

Thanks in advance,

Olaf the Stout

 

[jgbrowning]

Don't sweat the rules. Make sure everyone is enjoying themselves first and worry about getting everything "right" as you go along.

joe b.

 

[TresGeek]

I find using a "summary sheet" to be very helpful. Just pre-record a few of the player character's more important stats (AC, hp, spot and listen) along with their character name and race (helps in remembering who has darkvision, etc) on a sheet - I use Excel, but it's not necessary. Then add any critters and/or bad guys that they might be encountering for that session with a few extra stats (AC, hp, Init, Melee and Ranged bonuses, Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Spot), and keep several blank lines ready for random encounters, if you plan to use them.

I used to keep about 10 empty columns on the sheet for recording initiative order during combats, but I've switched to a small white board with magnetic tags for doing that. I can send you a couple examples of the excel sheets, if you want them.

You might want to consider starting with something a little smaller in scope than a full-fleged module or an entire adventure path series right off the bat. Something like A Dark and Stormy Knight, which is a free download from WotC. I kicked off my most recent campaign with this, it was short and sweet, and now the heroes have a recurring threat to deal with. Muah-ha-ha! There are several other free adventures available if that one doesn't tickle your fancy.

Probably the best non-mechanical advice I've received is to make sure you know what the players want to get out of the game - hack'n'slash, horror, political intrigue, comedy, etc - and be sure to get a background, no matter how brief, after the first session or two. Also make sure to solicit feedback from the players on a regular basis to find out what they liked, what was crap, and so on. That is the best way to improve your DM skills.

Good luck!

 

[Shadowslayer]

To try to make this experience as smooth and easy for myself and my players I want to know what you think are useful DM aids/tools/tips/tricks to give me a little bit of a helping hand, especially while I start out.

1. Write up a good crib sheet with the significant stats and armor classes for the PCs. Have it handy. Leave space to write in game info, like magic items they possess but haven't identified yet etc. I use an index card per PC and paper clip them along the top of my screen.

2. Make yourself a combat form with large checkboxes. Basically a grid, where the initiative order is written down the side, and along the top is round 1, round 2, round 3 etc. (If you make your own, use a landscape format) Now, I'm not slamming initiative cards...theyre great in most cases...till a lot of spells start getting tossed around. My way, you have those nice big boxes where you can jot info. If on the first round the wizard casts something that lasts 3 rounds, you can go to the wizards round 3 column and write " xyz spell ends". Have multiple sheets handy and put them on a clipboard.

BTW, don't be afraid to recruit a player to be a "timekeeper". It can lessen your burden if someone else makes all the entries on the combat sheet.

3. Get or make a DM screen, even if you don't actually set it up during the game. It's got lots of relevant tables and will make life easier. If you make your own you can customize it to have just the stuff most relevant to your style.

You may already have some of this stuff. I'm not familiar with the "battlebox" so I don't know what it contains. The only other bit of advice really is to start small. (and for the sake of the gods and you, start at 1st level) Its a long step from one side of the screen to the other, and the new DM usually doesn't realize it till the game starts.

(If you only took one of these suggestions, take number 2)

 

[Thunderfoot]

The initiative cards are AWESOME! As for spells, I just use a die in conjuction with a spell card (see below) put down the card put the die on top and use it as a counter to count down, after one, remove the die and the card. No extra work to make charts or purchase of aids we don't already use (Mileage may vary). We use the cards because of their ease of use (see below) and I figure you should have extra dice.

I would invest in a few spell cards from The Other Game Company - it has really helped speed up combat for our spell casters. I keep referring to it as Deal-A-Meal (the old Richard Simmons diet aid) for D&D. Spell casters keep the cards for the spells they know (no more written spell book sheets (though if they want them they can do that too)) and when they cast a spell they can either deal in the card or check mark it in pencil along the bottom (for multiple castings until they run out of memorized castings and then turn-in the card - when they run out of cards, they run out of spells.

Great for spontaneous casters too, they actually have to choose the spell and turn it in so they can't fudge it later and say I really meant to sacrifice...

 

[Henrix]

Attached here are a bunch of reference sheets. Print them out, hand a copy each of the relevant ones (players and magic for the spellcasters) to the players.
Tell them that you are all trying to learn the game together, and that you'd be grateful if they help you out.
On the sheets they, and you, will find how most things are done.

I'd also recommend these spellsheets. They contain most of what you'll need to know about all PHB spells, at a glance. I had great use of their predecessor when I started DMing 3.0.
With these in hand you'll find that deciding what spells the evil spellslingers will use to be much easier.

Have fun

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Thanks everyone for the ideas and opinions. They are all very helpful. Keep em' coming!

Joe, I'll try to keep in mind that nothing else really matters as long as we're all having fun! It's hard to remember that though as I am a perfectionist at heart.

TresGeek, the summary sheet spreadsheet sounds interesting. Would you be able to e-mail me a copy of the excel spreadsheets that you have made so that I can see exactly what you have done. My e-mail address is ac_marafioti(at)hotmail(dot)com

Shadowslayer, in my short DMing experience before I did use index cards and I plan to do so again. Last time I used one card for each PC plus cards important NPC's, unidentified potions and magical items, etc. I found them very useful and time saving, especially if you organise them so that you can quickly find the card you want. I do have a DM screen, and I will use it! As for the combat form with checkboxes, that sounds similar to TresGeek's summary sheet. I'll see how I go and if I like it I may use it.

Thunderfoot, I have seen the spell cards from The Other Game Company before and I did think about getting them at the time. I may have to have another look.

Olaf the Stout

 

[Pants]

Those Reference sheets are awesome!

 

[TheAuldGrump]

The very nice folks at The Other Game Company have a good batch of free downloads Here. In particular, the SRD handouts for the classes can make a huge difference for starting players, print out a copy of the class that each player is running and hand 'em out.

It is also a good idea to start the PCs at first level, this can help both the players and the DM learn the system without too many complications hitting all at once.

The Auld Grump

 

[godawful]

After many years passing from dming ad&d beginning in late 1970's or so, i decided to give 3.5 a try and get some players. first i read the core rule books as much as possible, then what i did was roll an entire party, actually about 8 types, and swapped them in and out as i ran them as a total npc party through several modules.

so, being completely new to 3.5, it gave me a pretty good grasp on how things work from both perspectives, and i got used to looking up tables and charts for EVERYONE. i picked skills and feats like a player would at level ups, picked spells, chose equipment, died, rezzed, etc... it was a ton of work and slow, but i almost know 3.5 inside and out. yes i still open a page in the dm guide every now and then and read something i didn't catch before, but all in all i learned a LOT.

now i have some NPC's that are COMPLETELY fleshed out when needed for my current gaming group. tack a different alignment on them, make them nasty, make them go -after the same prize the pc's are looking for. fun fun... hope this helps.