I want to try my hand at being a DM

[ironblood]

Wish I had your job...

I'm a cashier at a liquor store with a lot of down time lol

 

[ironblood]

I have to honestly say that 2e is probably not a great choice for a novice DM. I'm speaking form experience here, I did my early DMing in the later days of 2e, and I never really had a firm grasp on what was balanced. Learning what was balanced for a party tnds to take a lot of trial and error. You could go by an enemy's HD. Another thing to look at is XP, since 2e calculates XP by the sorts of special abilities a monster has.

I don't want to bash 2e here, I'm interested in possibly returning to the system, but I remember the frustrations I had with it back in the day.

2nd edition is The one edition im more familiar and the group of people in running the campaign with I've been gaming with for years like 5 plus years.

We have spent plenty of time adapting and crafting rules that work for certain things that are unclear or not explained enough.

 

[Nytmare]

I have to honestly say that 2e is probably not a great choice for a novice DM.

Maybe, but I'd argue that a person's first forays should be with the system that they're most familiar with. No point in trying to learn new mechanics on top of learning how to DM.

[EDIT] Oh look, a second page!

 

[ironblood]

Maybe, but I'd argue that a person's first forays should be with the system that they're most familiar with. No point in trying to learn new mechanics on top of learning how to DM.

[EDIT] Oh look, a second page!

This was my logic behind wanting to DM

 

[Luce]

I started DM-ing with 2e and while each group is unique here is my advise/observation:

During the first few levels (1-3 or 4) PC are fragile, so it may be good idea to allow for more story awards and focus more on campaign exposition (setting the base of operation, getting to know NPCs) then on combat. Luckily, level advancement at this point is still fairly fast.
Latter there is more a chance to experiment with encounters difficulty without the constant fear that one unlucky round will kill a fully healthy PC.

There is no shame in using published adventures, whether it is running them whole sale or using them for inspiration. While not tailor made for your group, the authors have put some though of how hard the adventure's encounters are. I personally learned a lot from running "Dungeon" modules.

Since you said both that you are already familiar with the rules and have some free time may I suggest considering playrunning. In other words take and adventure and run it for yourself, while players can and will get creative, having a first person perspective of and adventure you are going to run not only helps by having already dry run it, but also helps with identifying choke points and coming up with some descriptions (locations, colorful NPCs) ahead of time.

Also, while level advancement is fast at first it gradually start to slow down (DMG suggest 4-6 adventures are needed to gain a level). So be sure to include other types of rewards as well- favors from nobility, gaining friendships, land or property, NPC starting to fawn over the PCs etc.
Just my 2 copper.

 

[ironblood]

I'd like to award XP for characters asking the right things... Thinking outside the realm of what I'm saying to progress The game outside the box.

Also what about modding enemy's to better challenge the characters... For instance adding extra hit die like a kobold has a half hit die bump that to 2 hit die and adjust the XP accordingly?

 

[MortalPlague]

I also started with 2nd Edition, and it was a great deal of fun. I was young and didn't know any better when it came to balancing encounters, so I just went with what felt appropriate for the area. Eventually I learned how many orcs a group of PCs could take on (without any huge wipes in the process), and things went pretty smoothly from there.

Have fun with your campaign!

 

[MerricB]

Go for it! AD&D has long had a tradition of using slightly tougher monsters in boss roles. My main caveat is that keeping most of the monsters as standard allows the players to judge their threat more accurately. Coming up against a tribe of 20 HD kobolds (for instance) sort of goes against the point of identifying them as kobolds.

(That said, I don't have a problem advancing monsters in 4E - go figure; I think it's because it uses a slightly different paradigm).

Cheers!

 

[Orius]

2nd edition is The one edition im more familiar and the group of people in running the campaign with I've been gaming with for years like 5 plus years.

We have spent plenty of time adapting and crafting rules that work for certain things that are unclear or not explained enough.

Well, familiarity with 2e will probably help. But the biggest obstacle is the fact that learning how to balance stuff in the older editions of the game often comes down to trial and error.

Also what about modding enemy's to better challenge the characters... For instance adding extra hit die like a kobold has a half hit die bump that to 2 hit die and adjust the XP accordingly?

That's the usual way of doing things. I prefer giving class levels to enemies where it makes sense to increase their challenge, so with your example I'd make the kobold a 2nd-level fighter with stuff like proficiencies and kits to make him a tougher challenge. The Complete Book of Humanoids is a useful resource here. Do this sparingly though, you shouldn't need more than 2 or 3 classed enemies as leaders in a group of mooks.

 

[ironblood]

That's the usual way of doing things. I prefer giving class levels to enemies where it makes sense to increase their challenge, so with your example I'd make the kobold a 2nd-level fighter with stuff like proficiencies and kits to make him a tougher challenge. The Complete Book of Humanoids is a useful resource here. Do this sparingly though, you shouldn't need more than 2 or 3 classed enemies as leaders in a group of mooks.

That's Definetly understandable... Not every enemy encountered should be bumped up otherwise Things are going to be like a boss fight every battle.