New DM

[Pseudopsyche]

I began running my first campaign earlier this year, and I wound up starting with Keep on the Shadowfell. I think it can work well as a first adventure, but it depends on what kind of game experience your group expects. If you run the adventure "as is," the emphasis is clearly on combat, although role-playing opportunities certainly exist. If combat bores your group, you may have your work cut out for you revising what's there.

As for house rules, I suggest giving RAW a try to see what works for you before you change things around. That said, as a new DM, I've found it critical to remember that your primary job is not to adjudicate rules. The rules don't exist to tell you what to do. They are a tool for injecting chance into the outcome of an action/encounter/adventure/campaign. Only apply a rule if the outcome of a player's action is uncertain. Most of the time, what happens is entirely up to you.

Communicate with your players. Trust your judgement. Either you'll be right, or you'll learn something new.

 

[disarray2]

Thanks for the advice. I'm looking forward to this. Now to find all the DM tools I've read about but didn't think I would need.

 

[timbannock]

And i support the idea of running a premade adventure first to get some practice. And lay off the house rules until you (as a group) think you've hit something that feels broken.

Agreed. 4E happens to align with my style, so House Rules are VERY few and far between anyway.

And premade adventures are great. Even the bad ones can be made good if you are willing to make a jack@## out of yourself and really ham up the roleplaying of the NPCs. Make them come alive, and the story could be totally junk and you'll still have a good time. I don't know what it is, but a memorable NPC can really make or break a session/adventure.

Cool set-piece battles are good too, and WOTC does those well.

 

[Jack99]

Thanks for the advice. I'm looking forward to this. Now to find all the DM tools I've read about but didn't think I would need.

Get the DM's screen. It's almost a must for a new DM. And the 4e one is awesome! All other DM tools that you might dig up can be good, but nothing will help you as much as a DM's screen. (IMO)

 

[WayneLigon]

Do you think the best way to start for a new DM would be to use the premade modules?

Yes. Most beginner pre-made modules are also teaching tools. Ideally they should be like the first few quests in an MMO: they should illustrate specific rules and situations you'll encounter from then on. They also allow you to concentrate on learning the rules and learning how to handle a group rather than the plot specifics. Then you can use those as frameworks to base your own adventures on.

Would you start with any house rules or just go with what's in the books to start?

I would go with pure rules-as-written unless there is something that just totally offends you, or your group won't put up with, or makes your life immeasurably easier. It's easier to break and tweak the rules once you know them. After five or six sessions, then you can start thinking back on how certain things went and see if Rule X is right for you or not.

In the beginning, it's all about making things easier on yourself especially if your players are new to D&D as well: they're going to look to you to explain or elaborate on the rules.

Would you limit the players to just the core books or as long as it's published by Wizard, it would be fair game?

I'd just go with the three main core books for the first several adventures at the very least. There is no way your group can be so thoroughly jaded with the existing material that they need to start looking at supplemental material yet, and this way it again gets back to making things easier on you. You're not expected to be some encyclopedia of rules knowledge, able to quote chapter and verse, but using supplemental material makes your job exponentially harder right off the bat.

 

[disarray2]

Get the DM's screen. It's almost a must for a new DM. And the 4e one is awesome! All other DM tools that you might dig up can be good, but nothing will help you as much as a DM's screen. (IMO)

I ordered the DM screen.

I liked the idea of handing out the items they find on cards that they can keep. I really think I'm going to push for the power cards too. The game I'm playing in seems to have less slip ups like using dailies more then once, everyone has their numbers wrote on them so you dont have lag while looking over your sheet to add everything up after a dice roll.