New DM in need of help

[andrewtran1990]

So here is my predicament. I just bought 3 essential books to play 4e D&D then for some reason i accidentally bought the beginner box for Pathfinder. I'm trying to DM but now I am confused because I have better resources for D&D 4e than Pathfinder. I also found a site: d 2 0 p f s r d (just search it up) that I feel in love with though I wished it had a sister site for D&D information. Basically what I'm trying to ask you guys is, for you experienced GMs what online resources have you used/found/developed to assist your gameplay? Also any other information you share is greatly appreciated cause I basically only played 2 D&D encounters and don't want to feel too overwhelmed that I give up on playing or trying to share the game experience with my friends.

Thanks,
Andrew

 

[Quickleaf]

So here is my predicament. I just bought 3 essential books to play 4e D&D then for some reason i accidentally bought the beginner box for Pathfinder. I'm trying to DM but now I am confused because I have better resources for D&D 4e than Pathfinder. I also found a site: d 2 0 p f s r d (just search it up) that I feel in love with though I wished it had a sister site for D&D information. Basically what I'm trying to ask you guys is, for you experienced GMs what online resources have you used/found/developed to assist your gameplay? Also any other information you share is greatly appreciated cause I basically only played 2 D&D encounters and don't want to feel too overwhelmed that I give up on playing or trying to share the game experience with my friends.

Thanks,
Andrew

Hi Andrew, and welcome to ENWorld Lots of great DMs are on here, so you'll probably get lots of good advice (as well as some Pathfinder vs. 4E opinions that I'll leave to others).

My biggest advice is to let yourself make mistakes; there's no way to incorporate the 607 pieces of DM advice your first time DMing. And yes, that's a made-up number.

It sounds like you're looking for both general D&D resources and 4e resources in particular, online? Is that correct? Here are my old stand-bys:
http://slyflourish.com/
http://gnomestew.com
http://thealexandrian.net/
http://www.encounteraday.com/

Also, if you can hone your question to something more specific, it's also likely we can help you better.

 

[koga305]

Well, both 4E Essentials and the Pathfinder Beginner Box are good introductions for a new DM. The PBB is self-contained, but if you have the Essentials books you'll want to make sure you have the following:

• At least one of the Heroes of the Fallen Lands/Forgotten Kingdoms player books
• The Dungeon Master's Kit
• The Monster Vault

If you're missing a DM book or a monster book, you could always download the free Keep on the Shadowfell adventure from the Wizards website - it has monster stats and contains the material you need for a couple levels. It's a decent introductory adventure but not the best written - if you could find a copy of the Red Box or HS1: The Slaying Stone, I believe those adventures are a bit better designed. If you want to stick with KotS as a starting adventure (which you could do even if you had the DM materials), the Alexandrian website that Quickleaf linked has some advice for re-working it. Of course, there is always the option to jump in and write your own adventure, and if you feel confident go for it!
Sadly, there is no free rules reference for D&D 4E like the Pathfinder SRD. Wizards does have a subscription service called DDI that includes a ton of stuff - all the player and DM material from every book they've published, a character and monster building software, and access to the archives of two online magazines with even more!. DDI can be a bit overwhelming for someone new to the game, but it can also provide a lot of value.

If you want to check out Pathfinder more thoroughly, the Beginner Box is an absolutely fantastic place to start. It has some good advice for DMing (no matter what system!) and lots of resources to create great adventures. Paizo's website has free, downloadable add-ons for the player and GM, and this blog has converted a bunch of the classes and other rules from the full Pathfinder game into Beginner Box format.

Welcome to the hobby, and may the dice be ever in your favor!

 

[pemerton]

Chris Perkins used to have a good column of advice for GMing, still archived on the WotC site: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Archive.aspx?page=4&category=all&subcategory=dmexperience

Although he was running a 4e game at the time, I think his advice probably generalises beyond 4e.

The best thread on these boards for 4e GMing was probably this one, started by [MENTION=463]S'mon[/MENTION] (who also has plenty of experience with the PF beginners' box), although the thread does get a little derailed in places. (This is often the case with 4e threads.)

 

[Tuft]

I also found a site: d 2 0 p f s r d

The d20pfsrd is a great resource for Pathfinder games - easy too look up everything, errata and FAQ added, very very complete, and no irritating extraneous bulky graphics framing. This is really the wikipedia of PF gaming. It is a mainstay for our weekly PF game for both DM and players, together with my DMs extensive houserule wiki: http://hastur.net/wiki/Apath.

My only complaint is that the layout breaks down when viewed from the small window of an iPhone web browser.

There are similar SRD sites for 3.5E out there, but unfortunately the change in licensing stops such sites for 4E.

 

[S'mon]

I love both 4e and the PBB. Welcome to the wonderful world of RPGs.
The PBB is much more self-contained than the 4e Essentials stuff, and is great for the
classic D&D experience of adventurers exploring dungeons in search of treasure and XP, often with a short life expectancy. The box leads you through running a game exceptionally well, and I'd recommend you start with that and try running a game (eg the Black Fang's Dungeon intro adventure) for your friends/at a Meetup/etc.

4e D&D plays quite a lot different than traditional D&D. What it does best IME is a kind of
'cinematic drama' play, where the PCs are inherently special, 'Big Damn Heroes', and the
battles and conflicts are big dramatic affairs. I find that episodic superhero comics are a good model for 4e play. It doesn't do the traditional 'dungeon crawl' very well, and this is a problem since many of the published adventures are such. If you are interested in dramatic play with a focus on the personal lives of non-disposable PCs and long, dramatically satisfying battle scenes, then 4e is a good choice.

For one-shot and short term play I like the PBB. If you want to explore a whole dungeon with lots of encounters in one session, PBB is best. I like 4e for longer term play, but it can also do one-shots very well if they have thematic depth. The best 4e one-shot I played we were
children up against the child-stealing Erlking (Elf King) in a Ravenloft type setting; it had a Twilight Zone type feel that worked great with 4e.

 

[sabrinathecat]

Be prepared for a lot of different opinions about which system is better, and what does and does not work. Some people swear by one thing, that others deride as bunk. It's almost as bizarre as the conflicting advice people give to new parents.
Blunder it. Give it a try, and ask for help when you need it.

 

[delericho]

I just bought 3 essential books to play 4e D&D then for some reason i accidentally bought the beginner box for Pathfinder. I'm trying to DM but now I am confused because I have better resources for D&D 4e than Pathfinder.

Okay, first things first: pick one. 4e and Pathfinder are quite different games, so if you try to keep going with both you're likely to run into trouble. My personal preference is for Pathfinder, but you may well find that 4e is the easier to grasp (it's a bit more newbie-friendly).

But, really, it matters less which one you choose than that you do indeed choose one.

I also found a site: d 2 0 p f s r d (just search it up) that I feel in love with though I wished it had a sister site for D&D information.

d20pfsrd is a great site. The D&D equivalent would be the DDI Compendium tool, although this isn't free - it requires a subscription, with WotC offering several options. You'll find the subscription information on the official D&D website. (The DDI also includes a useful Character Builder, a Monster Builder, and some other tools. Basically, for the 4e DM it's a very useful resource... provided you don't mind paying that monthly subscription!)

Basically what I'm trying to ask you guys is, for you experienced GMs what online resources have you used/found/developed to assist your gameplay? Also any other information you share is greatly appreciated cause I basically only played 2 D&D encounters and don't want to feel too overwhelmed that I give up on playing or trying to share the game experience with my friends.

To be honest, the most useful resource is probably right here: if you have any specific questions, just ask. There are so many people on the boards that it's likely someone will have encountered whatever the problem is before, and may well have a solution.

 

[sabrinathecat]

To be honest, the most useful resource is probably right here: if you have any specific questions, just ask. There are so many people on the boards that it's likely someone will have encountered whatever the problem is before, and may well have a solution.

You can ask on the WotC boards too, but they changed their look to something hideously ugly (seriously, it hurts my eyes to try to read more than a couple sentences) and made it very difficult to navigate. On top of that, there are a lot of trolls and generally obnoxious people on the WotC board. En-World is a much better place to ask questions.