How do you start a campaign?

[Shadowslayer]

Do you just start them on an adventure or quest, one at a time, and make it up as you go campaign-wise, and let the story find itself?

This.

When you're starting with guys new to the game, its entirely fair to come up with a reason the adventurers are already together, and outline the first task for them to undertake. IE "You've all agreed to be a part of / have been conscripted into a brute squad to clear out a tribe of goblins in the old keep in the woods to the west of town. We start as you are on the road to the location." (A little more involved than that, but you get the idea)

Guys who've been playing for a while won't need this kind of beginning, and indeed you can start in the tavern as the PCs all meet one another...but with people new to the game, this approach can leave you just sitting around the table awkwardly looking at one another figuring out exactly what they're supposed to be doing. Eliminate that awkwardness and get to the action ASAP.

Stuff to have ready:

-Small town, with a couple places for the PCs to spend the loot from the first adventure, and NPCs in each one for them to interact with.

-A first adventure, with a hook to a second one.

-Sprinkle the area with encounter areas that don't necessarily link...but that hint at something bigger, which would be your first possible story arc. (ie, No matter where they get to, they find evidence of kobold activity that forshadows the first major story involving an impending invasion...or something like that.) I had an armorer willing to pay for Drake skins, a treasure map to a tomb (found in the first adventure) and a small tribe of goblin raiders that worked the roads outside of town. Each area encounter had some little thing that brought up the idea that there were a lot of Kobolds around, and that having a lot of kobolds around is unusual for the area.

Then sit back and watch them make up their own stories. They'll give you material. And if they don't, come up with another duty they get hired to do.

My only advice, based on my own preferences as both a player and a DM, is to not get too far ahead of the campaign. A) It can lead to wasted work, and B) can also can have the effect of DM burnout. It has to stay fresh for you too. I personally like sitting down with a sort of attitude of "OK, what kinda mischeif can we get up to for the next week or 2.", but that's just me. I don't care for campaign long story arcs either.

Maybe not the one true way, but it works for me.

 

[Rechan]

This.

When you're starting with guys new to the game, its entirely fair to come up with a reason the adventurers are already together, and outline the first task for them to undertake. IE "You've all agreed to be a part of / have been conscripted into a brute squad to clear out a tribe of goblins in the old keep in the woods to the west of town. We start as you are on the road to the location." (A little more involved than that, but you get the idea)

Guys who've been playing for a while won't need this kind of beginning, and indeed you can start in the tavern as the PCs all meet one another...but with people new to the game, this approach can leave you just sitting around the table awkwardly looking at one another figuring out exactly what they're supposed to be doing. Eliminate that awkwardness and get to the action ASAP.

This is a good point. Many of the advice almost has ignored these are total RPG noobs.

You might even have to prompt them, in order to get into character, or think about what to do. When there are decisions to be made, asking someone completely new to RPGs "So, what does your character do?" can lead to "Umm." Saying things like: "Would you guys like to go towards the forest? Or head back to the Inn?" That helps, as it gives a sense of direction.

To let the PCs get a sense of an RPG experience, don't have everything they encounter looking to kill them. Give them some NPC to talk to, to ask questions to, even in a dungeon setting. Or give them something they can just touch and explore, like a grove of edible mushrooms that cause (mechanicless) changes such as changing their skin color or tone of voice.

My only advice, based on my own preferences as both a player and a DM, is to not get too far ahead of the campaign. A) It can lead to wasted work, and B) can also can have the effect of DM burnout. It has to stay fresh for you too. I personally like sitting down with a sort of attitude of "OK, what kinda mischeif can we get up to for the next week or 2.", but that's just me. I don't care for campaign long story arcs either.

On the flip side, there's nothing wrong with writing out a rough outline, and jotting down a few ideas for later that you want to come to.

Preparing for levels 5-15 might be unnecessary at level 1, but I can still think, "I want a serious conflict between a hidden Yaun-ti city. And some sahuagin invading from the ocean. And devil-pirates. And..." Even though the PCs may not encounter the Yaun-ti until level 9-12, I know I eventually want to go in that direction. I could drop hints or foreshadowing, but really, it's not important, and it's something I'll come to down the road.

 

[Hereticus]

If you are a new DM, perhaps the first thing you should consider doing is run some simple encounters.

That way your players can get a feel for how their characters work, and you can get some valuable practice.

 

[Aberzanzorax]

Oooo....


Another idea (based upon the last one).

If you have time, run a VERY easy encounter with just one pc (i.e. each player individually). It is the "backstory encounter" for that individual.

That will give you and your player a chance to see the capabilities and limits of that character, and give you a bit of a warm up and some confidence (as well as getting a bit of the player's confidence and some understanding of what they're looking for/how they play).


EDIT: Even if they die, they don't really, since it's just a way to determine background. If they "die" just have them knocked unconscious and left/rescued by mysterious forces and move on plotwise.

 

[Baron Opal]

One thing I did with my last group is to pick the quietest guy at the table and say "so, tell us about your character." I asked a couple leading questions so that everyone had a reasonable idea about his background. The I asked the next guy at the table "tell us about your character and why the first guy asked you along."

 

[Rechan]

One thing I did with my last group is to pick the quietest guy at the table and say "so, tell us about your character." I asked a couple leading questions so that everyone had a reasonable idea about his background. The I asked the next guy at the table "tell us about your character and why the first guy asked you along."

I feel the need to point out that putting "the quietest guy" on the spot like that can make people uncomfortable. Especially if they are new to RPGs.

Just a caveat.

 

[Baron Opal]

This is true. But, in this case, I was sure that he was quiet and not overly-shy or agoraphobic.

 

[Lanefan]

Shadowslayer wins. 7 posts above this one, I think.

Only thing I'd add is that seeing as all your players are new it's quite safe - heck, even encouraged - to use the stereotypes (the nobler-than-noble knight, the slimy thief, etc.) and go a bit over-the-top with them when running your NPCs, just to set the tone and atmosphere. Then, as you go along, you can come up with more complex NPCs as required.

If you happen to have any sort of idea for a really big overarching story (e.g. downfall of the Empire, big war to the distant west, that sort of thing) that the game may or may not interact with as the campaign goes along, certainly keep it in mind; if things lack direction at some point you can then mine this story idea for possible adventure hooks.

Lan-"new players are the best"-efan

 

[Feeroper]

Thank you very much for the advice so far, Im already picking out alot of really helpful things to do. I know the mind set of my friends pretty well, so Im gonna run off of that and run a couple Dugeon Delves first so I can get used to being DM and they can get used to RPG's in general, and we will go from there.

I really like the idea of starting them out together towards an objective to avoid the new player awkwardness of "getting to know you" role playing. Im going to ask them to make a background for themselves, and see if they want to know one another form the outset or not, and then give them their start based on what they want to do with that.

 

[fba827]

I really like the idea of starting them out together towards an objective to avoid the new player awkwardness of "getting to know you" role playing. Im going to ask them to make a background for themselves, and see if they want to know one another form the outset or not, and then give them their start based on what they want to do with that.

If you ask them what types of PCs they are considering, you may notice a theme.

Perhaps they can all be agents of the same church (note that doesn't mean all divine classes, a church can have fighters, wizards, and so on)...

Or mage school,

or all agents of the same noble house,

or they all come from the same town/tribe/village that was just destroyed/attacked,

or members of the army,

or they all just recently joined the same mercenary guild ...

and so on.

my point is, find out what they're considering playing and see if a theme could be there to link them all, it'll make the 'starting plot hook' a lot easier and, as you put it, brush aside some of the initial get-to-know-you-and-why-do-i-travel-with-you issues.