New DM help?

[Rechan]

One method you might want to try first, because you're a new DM and you've never played, is just to do a little preliminary stuff. Pick some monsters, have the players make some PCs, and just do some dry runs. Learning the system.

Or, go the opposite route. Instead of involving the rules, just toss the players into a tavern, and roleplay. Explore. Get the hang and feel of that.

Once you've worked the kinks out, stretched a little, then follow the advice here.

 

[Mark]

http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/154448-free-adventure-path.html

 

[Princesskeyblade]

My advice: run something that you have fun with too. If everyone at the table senses that you are not having fun, the energy at the table is gone.

I never run anything I don't think I will enjoy as a GM. During a long combat; the energy that you have keeps the players energized as well!

 

[Beginning of the End]

Your best bet would be to buy a copy of a published adventure called Sunless Citadel, read through it, and pay attention to how it tells the DM what to do every step of the way. Also pay attention to how it organizes the adventure information by separating each area with a description of the room that you can read to your players, a paragraph that describes information only for you (the DM), and then information about traps or monsters.

However, when you're actually prepping your own stuff for your own use, it's important to remember that you don't need to prep it like a professional product.

In a published adventure, seeing:

Room 15 - 5 orcs with the ruby necklace

Would probably be inadequate for most people. But if you're prepping for yourself, you know who the orcs are; why they're there; and what the importance of the ruby necklace is.

And maybe you'd prefer more info than that. Which is also cool. My point is that a lot of people get hung up on trying to prepare 32,000 words of professional copy when they could probably get away with 2 pages of notes that make sense to them.

In general: One of the reasons D&D is so hugely popular is because of how easy it is to run and play in a fun dungeon crawl. I recommend starting with one of those, and Oryan's recommendation of the The Sunless Citadel is a good one.

 

[Neonchameleon]

However, when you're actually prepping your own stuff for your own use, it's important to remember that you don't need to prep it like a professional product.

In a published adventure, seeing:

Room 15 - 5 orcs with the ruby necklace

Would probably be inadequate for most people. But if you're prepping for yourself, you know who the orcs are; why they're there; and what the importance of the ruby necklace is.

And maybe you'd prefer more info than that. Which is also cool. My point is that a lot of people get hung up on trying to prepare 32,000 words of professional copy when they could probably get away with 2 pages of notes that make sense to them.

In general: One of the reasons D&D is so hugely popular is because of how easy it is to run and play in a fun dungeon crawl. I recommend starting with one of those, and Oryan's recommendation of the The Sunless Citadel is a good one.

My advice is twofold:

1: Don't try to learn everything at once. Good DMing is a skill. As is adventure building. As is combat balancing. Get yourself a good adventure path and run that (Paizo does some nice ones, and there's War of the Burning Sky). And just learn the art of managing the table at first.

2: Learn from the experts. Robin's Laws of Good GMing is probably the best source I have here.

3: Keep power creep under control. Start the PCs no higher than level 3 (preferably level 1). High level play is its own art - and you don't want to try that when starting.

 

[Cor_Malek]

The others have already listed great advices as to building your adventure, but I'll try to throw in some minor points as well.

• "you can't" is a naughty word. If a player says that he starts to fly, describe concentrated look on his face, and how he lifts softly... by standing on his toes.

• try starting players at lvl 0. The idea is, that they do not start in chosen class, but rather one of those normally reserved for NPC's, like commoner, warrior, adept, expert, maybe even aristocrat, depending on what class and past did they choose. It gives them some additional hp's, and saving throws, so you'll have lower risk of killing them with few first goblins ;-). But more importantly - their chosen class will be something they have to earn, and that should make it feel better, than just getting instant knowledge. You can see example of that in Goonalan's "The Goodman Gang", specifically this post. You don't include this 0 level when calculating Challenge Rating for encounters, or choosing adventure.

• don't punish them for screwing up the adventure*. Players often think outside of the box, and find paths you, or even professional writer didn't think of when building adventure, think of it like kids pulling Santa's beard and blowing his cover ;-).

• Have a contingency plan. If you want them to face much stronger enemy they should not attack but do anyway, include plan B. For example - town guard stumbles upon the fighting group, or maybe a band of drunken dwarfs, which causes the enemy to fly. Don't overdo it though.

 

[Trevalon Moonleirion]

Step 1. Relax.

Step 2. Enjoy the ride.



DMing is a fantastically rewarding and very challenging job, but it's something you're doing for fun--always, always remember that. Pick up one of the adventures mentioned in the thread (I've never run, but do own the Sunless Citadel, and it's got a nice mix of everything, from what I remember), read through it, and go from there.

If you have a chance, go out and see other people running a D&D game, especially if you say that you're new to the game in general. I have learned some of my best skills by blatantly copying DMs whom I had a blast playing with.