D&D 5E Help with new DM

[AmandaBarbarian]

I think I will have some fun with "rats in the cellar"

I will have rats eating food in the storage and a reward for killing them... but magic twist, the rats are magical and not eating but stealing the food and supplies.

The Teifling "wizard" Valen who lives in the crooked grey tower on the edge of town is not really a teifling or a wizard. He is an 'earthbound' angle that is the descendent of an angel/demon and a half elf. He is a divine soul sorcerer and a stop in an underground railroad getting people out to a free hold.
The alchemical things he sells are based on ancient magic, it's only cause everyone thinks he is a wizard he gets away with it.
Valen has a family right now hiding in the mystic space he has hidden in his tower. He is waiting for soldiers to not be around to usher them north toward the next step to freedom. The problem is between Tanner (tax collector) being extra mean and the training area having a 2 week break the town is over flowing with his 'enemies'
He needs more food and supplies to wait this out, but he needs an excuse to get them.. And his only bet is to play the magic card.

SO the players if they bite (get it it's a hook to bite but the rats are biting) will have a chance to figure out they are not rats but magical constructs. They can then (hopefully) peace together that the wizard Valen is behind it. If they confront him they may even discover his trickery and the family in hiding.

Big decision points

• DO they take the mission at all
• do they discover they are not normal rats
• do they follow back to Valen
• what do they do when they find a family that is in hiding from the govement/GOD? do they turn them in as criminals or do they let them go? Do THEY THEMSELVES want to leave?

 

[Oofta]

Something I typically do with a new campaign is have a bit of a railroad for the first session or three, but then give the players options at the end of a session. I've probably dropped hints about certain things they can pursue, or perhaps I just let them know they're hearing rumors about something interesting. I then ask them to decide which of the 3-5 options they want to pursue or if there's something else I didn't think of.

This gives me a sandboxy campaign while still letting me plan for the next session. Meanwhile, no matter what they do I may have things going on in the background whether or not they pursue related issues.

 

[AmandaBarbarian]

Something I typically do with a new campaign is have a bit of a railroad for the first session or three,

THat sounds like an idea, but I have been conditioned to twitch at the word railroad.

I get what you mean, but I need SOME choice. I just have to hope they take the hook at first

 

[MichaelSomething]

Did anyone mention the importance of talking to the players to understand what they want out of a game?

The OP wants to have a fantasy novel trilogy with deep impact full lore. What if the players want to just screw around and kill stuff?

 

[AmandaBarbarian]

Did anyone mention the importance of talking to the players to understand what they want out of a game?

The OP wants to have a fantasy novel trilogy with deep impact full lore. What if the players want to just screw around and kill stuff?

Okay fair.

There are 6 or 7 of us depending on the night. We have 1 guy who has been a DM for years, I have yet to see him as a player, but of the other 5 I have seen 2 DM and 3 not, although I heard 1 of them did back in 1e or 2e. Games are always narrative based. Always lore rich.

I have never had a "screw around and kill stuff" game with this group although over the years I have seen such games.

In our current game we are part of a royal envoy that has defected to 'the enemy' kingdom when we didn't like our empress very much. We spend whole sessions in library's or studding lore. I can honestly say from level 3 to level 5 I don't think we had more then a handful of fights and I don't think any that ended in a fatality.

The last campaign he ran before this was almost completely non combat after level 7 when we killed a dragon and took it's hoard, we went back to town and basicly started our own kingdom. I and another player almost came to rolling initiative over both wanting to be queen.

I need a pitch and a world before we can do session 0 but I will do a session 0 that will fall before the end of the current campaign by at least a week or two

 

[pogre]

I need a pitch and a world before we can do session 0 but I will do a session 0 that will fall before the end of the current campaign by at least a week or two

Your group runs a very different game than mine, and that's great. However, I think this advice is universal: Don't be afraid to ask for time. If after your pitch is accepted and session zero you need more time than the next regular scheduled session to begin - ask your fellow players for more time.

Don't get me wrong - hard deadlines are motivating. However, it can be overwhelming. If it is possible for you to dictate the time of the first session you will feel more in control, relaxed, and less likely to burn out.

Something like this:

"O.K. folks, great session zero. Now that I have an idea of what everyone is playing and their backgrounds and motivations I need a little time to bring this all together. I will send an email when I am ready for the first session. I'll update you [next regularly scheduled play time] where I am at and give you an estimate for the campaign start date."

With some experienced DMs in your group I would not expect much push back from this request.

Good luck - you are going to do great!

 

[pemerton]

MY BIGGEST FEAR, I may not be cut out for this.

I've not GMed 5e D&D or PF1. I have GMed a lot of AD&D, D&D 4e, and quite a few other RPGs.

Here's a bit of advice, which obviously you may take or leave as you see fit!

In my experience most RPG players want to do interesting and exciting things with their PCs, and don't want the GM to have written the plot in advance. They also tend to enjoy their PC having some sense of purpose or reason for doing what they're doing.

So I'd probably send the players an email asking each of them to tell you one thing their PC cares about or is loyal to, and one sort of monster or faction or person that their PC is opposed to as a result of that care or loyalty.

Once you get the answers, I'd then think of a few NPCs and a few situations that speak to those things the players have told you. Look for ways to connect the players' answers together (eg if one of the players tells you their PC hate bandits because bandits drove their family off the family farm, and another tells you that their PC is a disciple of St Cuthbert who hates all agents of Iuz, then it makes sense to have the bandits also be Iuz cultists).

Then when you actually start play, use on of the situations you've come up with, play it through and see what happens, and use the outcome - whatever it is - as a springboard to one of your other situations. Introduce and adapt your NPCs to help creates some links, and to give your players a clear sense of how they can act on their PCs' motivations. And don't be afraid to tell your players you're taking a 5-minute break to flip through your Monster Manual and draw up a map if the natural upshot of some episode of play is a situation or encounter different from any of the ones you've prepped.

And finally, always honour the players' achievements. If their PCs defeat someone, that someone is defeated (unless the players go on to declare actions with the intention of putting their victory back into question). If the PCs befriend someone, that someone is their friend, not a potential traitor. If the PCs persuade some enemies to surrender and swear an oath of loyalty, then have the NPCs keep their oath (again, unless the players declare actions that deliberately put the oath under pressure, like trying to order the NPCs to turn on former comrades).

In my experience, the approach I've described will produce fun RPGing in low(ish) level D&D.

 

[aco175]

You may be limiting the players by your home base having only having Hexor as the God-King controlling the region. It is on the front lines with the fight to the non-tame lands not controlled by the gods. Having the gods themselves around is generally a bad idea since the players will want to meet them and may just become overshadowed by them. But the land is empty of fighting age men since they have been pushed to the front or made a serf. They all seem to be fighter-types and nobody would be a caster. Maybe a rogue can pass in this land.

Having the town be on the border with another god will allow for more options in what PC to play. As of now, the PCs walk into town and likely will be conscripted to the front. A town with two varied pulls allows for more diverse characters and groups that will help or act against the PCs.

A cool idea for an adventure is to have the party go on a secret mission for the Hexor group behind the enemy lines. They are sent to recover the lost artifact that fell to the earth along with the gods, but landed miles behind the lines. It could be just in a cave with some monsters who happen to live there, or in the hands or one of the generals of the 'bad guys'. Good for the 3-5 level after the group starts to make friends and enemies.

 

[MichaelSomething]

MY BIGGEST FEAR, I may not be cut out for this.

Fear can be beaten, if you're willing to pay the cost...
(we're cheering you on! You got this boss!)

 

[AmandaBarbarian]

You may be limiting the players by your home base having only having Hexor as the God-King controlling the region.

yes that limit was on purpose so they would learn about other gods in game especially other pantheons

It is on the front lines with the fight to the non-tame lands not controlled by the gods.

no the land I chose was very on purpose not on the front line with the non god controlled "protected freehold" it is next to another god in the same pantheon (kord and hextor) so when they learn of other pantheon is actually makeing things better then hextor (and kord and bacob) then they get to choose what to do.

Having the gods themselves around is generally a bad idea since the players will want to meet them and may just become overshadowed by them.

maybe I miss explained this. The gods themselves don't leave there deity domain in the outer plane, they impower avatars. My equivilant of the Ghoul system lords isn't the god themselves directly, but the avatars of them.

So yeah, my players can meet and interact with the avatar of Hextor, the avatar of bacoob, the avatar of wee jas. I am going to take it a step further, and those avatars are powerful but not deific in and of themselves, they can be beat/killed.

But the land is empty of fighting age men since they have been pushed to the front or made a serf. They all seem to be fighter-types and nobody would be a caster. Maybe a rogue can pass in this land.

yeah except there is a place half a day away training soldiers, so fighters can come from there.

Having the town be on the border with another god will allow for more options in what PC to play. As of now, the PCs walk into town and likely will be conscripted to the front. A town with two varied pulls allows for more diverse characters and groups that will help or act against the PCs.

yes this SHOULD be the fear that at anypoint they could be conscripted (but spoiler I am not going to do that at least not to start)

A cool idea for an adventure is to have the party go on a secret mission for the Hexor group behind the enemy lines.

I don't want to "send them" especially not directly from the avatar. Unless they all make clerics palidens and the like

They are sent to recover the lost artifact that fell to the earth along with the gods, but landed miles behind the lines. It could be just in a cave with some monsters who happen to live there, or in the hands or one of the generals of the 'bad guys'. Good for the 3-5 level after the group starts to make friends and enemies.