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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Oofta" data-source="post: 9046277" data-attributes="member: 6801845">Even with an grand scheme like this, you need to start small.  Yes you have an outline of a lot of big things going on, but they don't really matter at the very first.  I'd focus on low level games for quite a while until you feel more comfortable.  Heck, you don't even need more than a general idea of the local area you're in, a lot of times my intial "map" is just "The town is X size, to the east there's ___".  If you just want to randomly generate a starting town, take a look at <a href="http://medieval-fantasy-city-generator" target="_blank">https://watabou.itch.io/medieval-fantasy-city-generator</a>.Next, you have a big overhead plan, you know who's really running the show.  Great.  They don't need to have much of anything to do with your campaign for quite a while.  Enemies can be associated with different factions, but at the very first?  At the very first if you just want to have the group fighting orcs, goblins or giant spiders go for it.  You can even go as far as take something like Lost Mines of Phandalver as a starting point, just changing names and allegiances as necessary.  So for example, let's say you want to use orcs.  No problem!  They're foot soldiers created by some godling or other, or perhaps they were originally created by one of the godlings that has since fallen and they're now just bumping around causing chaos.  You know they're orcs, but you can describe them any way you wish.  Same with any other monster, I've had hobgoblins that were just human enemies, I've had ogres that were fallout-inspired super mutants.  Use the rules for the monsters but make them your own.Also, whenever I'm starting up a new generator, I just google for random generators.  Try out a few, find out which one works for you.  For example for NPC names I generally go to <a href="http://BehindTheName" target="_blank">https://www.behindthename.com/random/</a> which generates real world names for different countries.  There's also generators for elves, dwarves, taverns, businesses ... the list goes on.  Just search for random fantasy ____.  I keep a small list handy so if they want to go to the tavern, I just grab the next one from the list as I reference my "notes".I try to start with a session 0 just to get ideas and feedback from the players.  This can be done offline as well, set up a discord group to discuss ideas, who's going to play what and so on.  Get ideas from the players about why they know each other and are adventuring together and so on.Last, but not least, take a deep breath.  Start small, start local.  Keep the big picture in mind but don't worry about it too much other than to drop hints here and there.  Just start writing some of your thoughts down. I typically have a big overview draft (that can change up until something is confirmed in-game) and an actual plan for the next session.Don't worry too much about failing. We all fail, all the time.  I've been DMing for a long time and I still feel like I don't know what I'm doing most of the time.  Just remember these people are joining your game to have fun and nobody is perfect.  Good luck!</blockquote>

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