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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Neonchameleon" data-source="post: 6175897" data-attributes="member: 87792">Welcome aboard!  The more the merrier, and I hope you enjoy things.Basic rules of running 4e:1: Don't sweat the small stuff.  And you don't actually need to know what the PCs can do.  They'll surprise you a little, but you don't have to write your plots round their abilities.2: Combat is like a chocolate layer cake covered by cream.  It's delicious, enticing, but is best used as desert than a whole meal.  Run too many "incidental fights" and everyone will just be sick, but as the final course on a meal it's wonderful.3: The PCs will often look as if they are stuffed early on in fair combats.  This is working as planned and they are normally in a better state than they appear to be.4: Skill challenges are a very nice DM tool in the right hands (both [MENTION=42582]pemerton[/MENTION] and I love them).  But if you don't see what they are good for, just don't use them.  This is no more a house rule than not having the bad guys know a certain spell you don't like is.5: Rests are fairly important.  If you ever want to scare the PCs or run 4e "Survival Horror" style, harry them and prevent them taking short rests - attack them every couple of minutes.  And if you're using extended rests as written, unless you run about four fights per day you're really going to notice them overpowering encounters when they get the second daily attack power at 5th level.How much the battle map is needed for 4e is distinctly overrated.  Take a quick look at the PCs character sheets.  If they have no abilities that cause forced movement (push, pull, slide) then the battle map adds no more to 4e than it does to any other edition and can be cut.  If they like forced movement then every time you have a fight make sure that it's somewhere with something for the PCs to push/pull/slide the NPCs into/onto/over/off.  (A fight on a waterfront or a pier is perfect - and for bonus marks taking on overwhelming odds on a narrow mountain pass where the PCs give the NPCs flying lessons (most fail) is great fun).  And remember some NPCs can do this right back.Also we find it handy to have a collection of paperclips to put on the models, although others use cards to track conditions.  This depends a lot on your group.The way I use scaling DCs (and most 4e DMs I know do much the same) is that the DCs scale to the level of the environment not to the level of the PCs.  So for example you set the farm the PCs grew up on as level 1 - and the local goblin camp is level 2.  And then call most things in that environment "trivial" (no roll), "easy", "medium", "hard", and "Don't bother" (no roll).  They are level 9 and dealing with the local city's mayor and cronies (a level 9 environment) but when they go home to see their parents, that farm is still a level 1 area.  Which means that the fighter has a fair chance of picking the fine lock to dad's strongbox the thief taught himself lockpicking on, and the wizard can climb the fighter's favourite tree without much trouble.  The default assumption is that the level of the area the PCs are in will be about equal to their level, and that's why the world seems to scale around them. Early 4e solos did not live up to their promise.  But for two PCs, don't use solos most of the time as they are meant to be a match for a party of five.  Elites are meant to be a match for a couple of PCs together. Why would you?  All you need is for there to be something there that makes some terrain better to be in than others.  A fight along a waterfront would be more than enough (anyone with forced movement is going to gleefully be making others go splash!)4e Cosmology 101.The PCs generally start off in the normal world/Prime Material Plane - which is the way you'd expect it to be.The easiest realm to access from there is the Feywild - otherwise known as Faerie, the land of the Seelie, or the land of the Bright Court.  Larger than life, brighter than life, more dangerous than life.  Going through a fairy ring can be very dangerous.  (The branch of Elves that live in the Feywild are known as Eladrin, and the small tricksters who are heavily outgunned are gnomes).As well as the Faewild being the bright and slightly hard edged reflection, there's the Shadowfell - otherwise known as Unseelie, the land of the Dark Court or the Winter Court.  Most plots that worked in the Underdark in previous editions have decamped to the Shadowfell in 4e, but it's more eldritch and spooky.For both, play up the eldritch aspects and how they are simmilar to the real world but not quite like it.  (One thing to do is if someone fails three death saves on the Shadowfell, have them keep playing - until they try to leave).4e also has an Underdark.  Most people ignore it.  And they definitely ignore the Shadowfell's reflection of the Underdark known as the Shadedark.  Narratively the Shadowfell works better for most of this.There's also the Astral Sea, the Elemental Chaos, Sigil, and various other places when you want to go further afield.The Far Realm can come up or not as the case may be.  It isn't part of the universe so much as outside it - and the home of Cthulu and other Old Ones.  (OK, so Cthulu isn't actually namechecked.)  A number of the older, wierder monsters like Beholders and Aboleths come from the Far Realm; Ilithids came from there so long ago they're basically naturalised.Then there are Demons and Devils.  In 4e there's a concrete difference between the two.  Devils main problem with the world is that they aren't running things.  They are inside the system and seduce and tempt - the archetypal devils are succubi and people who offer you contracts for your soul.  Demons, on the other hand, just want to watch the world burn and had to be kicked out into the abyss (which means that when all else fails devils will hold the line against demons - they are normally no keener on the end of the world than anyone else is).  The archetypal Demon is the Maw Demon - a mouth on legs that chomps everyone indiscriminately.  (And Angels are servitors loyal to their god; evil gods still have Angels).Primordials - I don't know how well you know your Greek Myth, but Primordials are to 4e what the Titans are to the Greek Gods - the previous, cruel pantheon that they needed to throw out.  And because a fully manifested Primordial is stronger than a God the Gods originally banded together like adventuring parties to do this.  (And when they were done, the Primal Spirits locked them out of the Prime Material Plane because they might not have made as much of a mess as the Primordials, but still made quite a mess).Given that level 1 is about the equivalent of level 3 that sounds good.Up to you.  Wish lists, like Skill Challenges, are a DM guideline. That's going to get ... interesting.  A mage (unless he means a battlemind) and an archer are both squishy and really don't like taking orcs to the face.  Instead of a warlord you might want to give them a knight as third PC.Then enjoy them <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />The XP budgets are DM advice rather than mandatory.  What they say is "If you do things like this it will probably work out well.  If you do otherwise, on your own head be it".Always wise <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  Compared to other editions of D&D 4e can be tougher on new players although it's easier on new DMs. They don't need handing out for free - especially not after the Essentials upgrades to them.  (The original versions were handed out for free largely because they were boring).Again, glad to see you joining us, and have fun!</blockquote>

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