Im running my first full game Wednesday! advise?

[Smoke Jaguar]

Yes, it is interesting the things I have forgot but others have mentioned.

I am a fan of folding 3x5 cards in half. I write the PC's names on each one and put them in the initiative order. I do not put up the monsters but I know that some DM's do. This helps the PC's know where they are in the order and plan their moves. This makes things run smoother. I do warn them that there will be several monsters between players at times.

I used clean cardboard and cut up inch diameter circles for monsters. I numbered them 1-10 using red, blue, green, and black marker. That way all the kobold slingers can be one color, the dragonshields another color, and NPC a third. It makes things really easy to keep track of.

I don't give the PC's the monsters stats. That is my secret. If things are going to slow or we are running out of time but it is kind of come to a grind where the PC's will win it is just a matter of time. I will fudge the AC's by a point or two, so that they can kill them off quickly.

Table Talk... I hate it. It can ruin a good game and it can have players come off as rude, overbearing, annoying, and know-it-all's. I would explain to them that it is meta-gaming and is not allowed. If it creeps up in a game, I will cut that person and remind them it is not allowed.

 

[webrunner]

I don't give the PC's the monsters stats. That is my secret. If things are going to slow or we are running out of time but it is kind of come to a grind where the PC's will win it is just a matter of time. I will fudge the AC's by a point or two, so that they can kill them off quickly.

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Oh, I dont give them the stats either. The cards on the DM screen have the stats on the DM side, with just the names on the player side.

 

[Smoke Jaguar]

Okay, gotcha. I know that some do include that.

 

[flamingbunnys]

Had my game tonight! freaking Awsome! it did't start as fast is i had hoped. My printer was beeing a huge pain! i had there character sheets all ready to print all filled out with right stats and even attacks but printer refused to print them correctly. kept printing at a slant cutting off a inch at the bottom and you couldnt used them. so had to go old fashioned with it. printed character sheets and passing around books. but i ran the campaign at the begining of FR. they liked loudwater and i found it very intertaining! its a party of elves one rogue drow, 2 eledrin one was an invoker and the other was a cleric, and one regular elf and he was a paladin. It went very well. I just need to work on having them more in-character and kill the table talk. But at the end of our time together they all said it was "Amazingly fun" (as my gf said ) But the rest was simmilar, so all in all very fun just had alot of questions about saving throws and alot of close burst/ranged 10 1/10 or something like that but im not sure. a couple things that slowed me down was drawing the maps on the playing grid, trying to find out why one person can do like 1d10 plus Wis mod. (+3) but my rogue only does like 1d4 +3 or something simaliar, and trying to keep them in character. ps how does clerics healing work? couldnt the player just use second wind and heal the same amount as the cleric?

 

[Smoke Jaguar]

Glad that it went great. That sucks about the printer. It is awesome that the gf likes it. I am still trying to convince the wife to give it ago. I DM for 3 friends and their wives. I am the 7th wheel, kind of sucky.

I think that cleric healing is an encounter power and second wind is only an encounter/daily (for some reason I am really drawing a blank on it). It basically gives a person an additional healing when needed. It also allows for an attacker to deal damage and not waste a standard action to take a second wind.

 

[Katana_Geldar]

Yeah, what happens if you're down to 2 hp and have already spent your Second Wind? Also, a cleric can give you a heal even if you have spent all your surges (and yes, I have been there)

 

[Kzach]

Glad to hear it worked out and you all had fun.

Please, however, work on creating paragraphs and using commas

...trying to find out why one person can do like 1d10 plus Wis mod. (+3) but my rogue only does like 1d4 +3

The rogue, as a striker, gets a special damage bonus under certain situations. Every striker is different. The rogue's striker damage comes from Sneak Attack, which at 1st-level is an extra 2d6 damage on top of the weapon damage.

The other advantage rogues have is high accuracy. Although they may only be hitting for 1d4+3 (although +3 is a bit low, really should be +4 or +5 from an 18 or 20 Dexterity), the dagger is a highly accurate weapon at +3 to hit, and rogues get an extra +1 to that, and are always trying to attack with combat advantage to get sneak attack (another +2 to hit).

So rogues will hit far more often than other characters.

ps how does clerics healing work? couldnt the player just use second wind and heal the same amount as the cleric?

Second Wind can only be used once per encounter. It is refreshed like an encounter power, so the characters must have uninterrupted rest (doing nothing strenuous) for at least 5 minutes to get it and their other encounter powers, back.

Second Wind is also a standard action which often has the downside of simply delaying a character's death by a turn since the character was unable to do anything else.

Cleric healing is a minor action so it can accompany other actions like an attack or encounter or daily power (which may also have healing properties). In addition, Clerics give a bonus to the amount healed from Healer's Lore and their Healing Word. A pretty generic cleric will not only allow you to spend a healing surge to regain your healing surge value back in hit points, but will do roughly 1d6+3 or 4 extra healing on top of that.

A character cannot spend a healing surge in combat without an ability or power to trigger it. So using Second Wind is great, and all, but it's only 1/4 of the character's total health that is renewed and only once during the combat. After that, the character must use a potion or power to renew anymore hit points.

Yeah, what happens if you're down to 2 hp and have already spent your Second Wind? Also, a cleric can give you a heal even if you have spent all your surges (and yes, I have been there)

There are clerical healing powers that allow you to heal without spending a healing surge, however they're pretty rare and only at higher levels. The cleric's standard heal requires the target to spend a healing surge to get any healing benefit. If they have no surges left, then they're screwed.

 

[Iconik]

Kill table talk before it begins. If you don't put a stop to it soon it'll never be rectified. I gamed with a group for many years. After about 5 years with this group I decided enough was enough. It was too chaotic. Too hectic. Too loud. We had 7 people in the party.

This is what ended up shaping me as a GM. I keep my groups small. 4-5 PCs and me. I told them at session number 1 that table talk won't be tolerated. They understood. It's easily the best group I've ever had the honor of playing with.

So, kill that tabletalk. Let them know that a little it OK but if you're trying to get something situated with 2 players and the others at the table start talking about WoW, it kills the game. It gets distracting.

My advice to you (and some GMs here will disagree) is keep the party together at all times. Splitting up the party creates boredom when you have to split your attention up. Splitting up the party in a town while one goes and gets a piece of armor fixed, another checks in on his mom and the others hit up the local watering hole is OK. But keep them quick and in character. If my party starts to split up I usually give them a reason to hook up again within 5-10 minutes of game time.

 

[Smoke Jaguar]

Yeah, never split the party!!! It drags on and the group that isn't playing gets super bored and distracting.

 

[flamingbunnys]

well it will be a while before we play again, but that should give me time to try and find out more about the problems i posted above. I also have alot of schedules to work around and that makes it difficult but ill manage.