New DM

[Daisychain]

I've been playing 3.5e for almost a year now, and my group has decided they want to play an overpowered campaign. Interested in trying out my storytelling skills, I volunteered to be the DM. We've decided to base the plot around the TV show Leverage; which for those of you who have not seen it, is a cross between Robin Hood and Oceans Eleven. I'm extremely excited, but also terrified because my players are: a rules lawyer, my boyfriend, and the best DM I've ever played under. Also, combined, my players have an average of 5 years experience with the game. So you know, no pressure. I'm afraid I'm not going to be as creative as they want me to be, and I won't know the mechanics well enough to satisfy my rules lawyer. Any thoughts or suggestions about plot and DMing in general would be amazing.

 

[Dandu]

If there's a rules dispute, give each side one minute to make their agument before making your final decision, since the spice game must flow. Tell them that you are willing to go over the decision after the session is over for next time.

 

[Persiflage]

Don't be afraid to ask advice from the table at large. There's no reason to feel you have to make all the decisions in isolation; if your role-playing group is any good they'll help you out with rules questions without bias... or without much bias, at least I've been running 3e since practically the day it came out, and I still pause the game from time to time to ask: "OK people, time out, what do you think of this...?"

Respect for a DM's abilities is rarely based on their comprehensive knowledge of the rules: it usually has more to do with how they handle things when they don't know the rules, or get something wrong... And we ALL do that.

As Dandu said, the important thing is to keep the game flowing and to not let rules discussions or disagreements hinder the progression too much. Make it clear there's a time-limit on decisions.

Also - and this may be more or less important depending on your group - be consistent! If you've got to make a call about how a spell, effect, ability or anything else works, make a note of the conclusion you came to and apply it consistently. Most people will put up with a DM decision for the sake of good gameplay, but most people will also NOT be happy with a DM decision that's applied one way for the PC's and another for the bad guys.

 

[ValhallaGH]

Don't worry too much about creativity. Just start thinking of crazy stuff, and throw it in the game. See something in a movie or book that is really cool? Add it to your campaign. Need a new villain to fight? Watch an action film and steal any good characters for your game.

The players shouldn't see 90% (or more) of the opposition's abilities. Therefore, they don't need to know how you got the numbers you're using. Just make sure those numbers are about right (+/- 4) and you should be able to get away with almost anything.

Oh! And don't try too hard to win. The DM can always "win," anytime she wants to. The fun of DMing is seeing what insane and creative stuff your players come up with to challenge your insane and creative stuff, not in killing their characters with powerful monsters and lots of criticals.


Good luck.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Only happened to catch one episode of that, but I have a basic idea of how it works, I think.

Be careful to enforce a barrier between in character knowledge and out of character knowledge ("metagaming"). If their characters are based on that show, they'll probably expect to know a lot about their foes/target beforehand and be able to stake out, gather info, divine (divination magic), use knowledge checks, or do other things to get that knowledge when they don't have it. That's all fine. Just be strict about not letting them use information there's no way their characters could possibly have.

 

[Dingleberry]

Since a planned complex plot never survives the first session (nothing like seeing an enemy intended to be a long-running adversary get killed almost instantly in the first encounter), what I've learned to do is to throw a whole mess of potential plot points at the characters early and let *them* string them together somehow, with nudging and modification from you along the way. That way, when the players finally "figure it all out," you look like a genius.

 

[IronWolf]

If there's a rules dispute, give each side one minute to make their agument before making your final decision, since the spice game must flow. Tell them that you are willing to go over the decision after the session is over for next time.

Agreed, this is a good way to handle rules questions. Don't let a question or disagreement over the rules drag the game down. Briefly listen to both sides, make a ruling and then move on.

Then, before the next session you delve into the ruling in more depth and decide if it was correct or if it should be changed. Make sure all players know how that situation will be ruled in the future.

A lot of DM'ing is just getting experience and learning to think on your feet. Don't feel too pressured, they likely wouldn't have handed over the DM reigns if they thought it was going to be a poor experience.

The players will often hint at what they want to pursue during the game. Work on picking those vibes up and then rolling with them.

You'll do fine, have fun with it!

 

[the Jester]

IMHO one of the single important rules of DMing is:

No do-overs.

Once something is done, it is done; move on.

 

[HoboGod]

If you've looked over the DMG and have payed attention when others DM'd, you'll be fine. However, if you're truly dedicated, I recommend two things.

1) Read DMG II. It provides far less rules and game mechanics than the DMG, but has WAY more advice in terms of the social dynamics of being the DM. It doesn't matter how much rules lawyering your players tend to engage in or how experienced the player has come to be, every problem at the table is political in nature. The DMG II helps you become something of an expert diplomat who is able to give everyone what they want and bring peace and prosperity to the table.

2) Build a few test characters and run them through a few Original Adventures. Try to play your characters as if they had no idea of what's ahead of them even though you can read it right in front of you. In doing so, you'll notice a few things. You'll see what kind of preparation DMs tend to do. You'll see what aspects of the game are important for you to encourage your players to have. You'll have some experience in using the monsters listed before you. You'll have a few NPC characters that you have experience using. These are a lot of utilities gained for only an hour or so of fooling around, most of which is spent making characters.

 

[Oryan77]

First, tell yourself this, "I'm going to mess up, a lot. But I will get the hang of it and improve."

Then, tell your players the same thing before you start the game. But add this, "Please be patient with me and please help me out so I can get better. If you are hard on me and not supportive, then it will be hard to be confident and eager enough to keep DMing you in the future. Once I get the hang of it, I may turn out to be a great DM which would only mean fun for you!"

Don't worry too much about DMing. And keep in mind that we all made lots of mistakes when we first DMed. And there isn't a single DM that doesn't still make mistakes no matter how much experience he has. You'll get the hang of it if you keep trying. The most important thing is to have players that are encouraging and not discouraging you.

The rules lawyer can be helpful, just ask him not to argue with you and to only give his input if it really matters. I hate when someone bickers with me over a rule that will have no impact on the survivability of the PCs.

The DM can also be helpful. Just ask him to give you advice after the game if he noticed anything you could have done better. Hopefully he'll be so eager to play for a chance that he isn't going to be very critical of you.

And for the boyfriend, well, you haven't figured out how to keep him under control yet? Sheesh!