D&D 5E New Dungeon Master and board user!

[lohkabre]

Hi everyone! I'd just like to introduce myself. I'm new to this board, and I'm also a hope DM trying to get a campaign (or at least a few adventures) started with some friends. We are all semi-new (I've played some 3rd ed. before, but nowhere near enough to be comfortable DMing), and I'm reading through the DM guide right now.

I'm no stranger to RPGs in general, and have had a deep love for gaming, especially card games, for a long time. If anyone has any helpful advice for a first time DM, I'd be very grateful! Thanks, and glad to be here!

 

[Dausuul]

Hi everyone! I'd just like to introduce myself. I'm new to this board, and I'm also a hope DM trying to get a campaign (or at least a few adventures) started with some friends. We are all semi-new (I've played some 3rd ed. before, but nowhere near enough to be comfortable DMing), and I'm reading through the DM guide right now.

I'm no stranger to RPGs in general, and have had a deep love for gaming, especially card games, for a long time. If anyone has any helpful advice for a first time DM, I'd be very grateful! Thanks, and glad to be here!

First, welcome to the board!

Helpful advice... well, I could go on for pages, and I'm sure other people will, but IMO, the most important thing to remember is this: Let the players chart their own course. I've seen a lot of novice DMs (and not a few veterans) try to control everything, which leaves the players feeling like observers instead of participants. If they want you to lay down a railroad so they can just roll down the rails, that's fine; but if they decide to take a sudden left turn, don't force them back on track. Instead, improvise. Play up to them. Repurpose your planned adventure material or make stuff up on the fly. I have consistently found that the best campaigns are the ones where the PCs seize control of their own destiny and drive the action instead of responding to events.

 

[iserith]

Welcome to the hobby and the boards!

Here are some links you might find helpful, some of which might be good to share with your group:

Dungeon Master 101
Players 101
The Goals of Play
Session Zero
11 Ways to Be a Better Roleplayer
Stanislavski vs. Brecht in Tabletop Roleplaying

Good luck and have fun!

 

[Kikuras]

Just play. Make sure that you and the other players are managing your expectations, but otherwise you really just need to play. And have fun. Don't be afraid of cliche.

 

[Riley37]

+1 to what Kikuras said. Run adventures, imperfectly. Learn from mistakes, and try to repeat successes. If you keep doing those things, the rest will follow.

Back in the 1980s, a new DM didn't have access to all the excellent advice which is now available online and in the 5E DMG and so forth. And yet many, many DMs ran game sessions which were fun for themselves and for players. (Some tried and failed, and their games were boring or frustrating, but even those DMs mostly survived. Mostly.)

 

[MasterTrancer]

Be welcome!

Beside what others have brilliantly said before me, get inspiration everywhere, from any media: books (either fiction and non-fiction), movies, comics, not necessarily fantasy-themed. Try revising them as "in play".

Have fun.

 

[SirAntoine]

1) Take the time to write an adventure yourself. It is tempting to try a published adventure, but by writing your own to begin with, you will gain invaluable experience with the system and an understanding of where you might like to take the campaign in the future. Your first adventure should have a simple plot and setting. The players start inside an inn, where they first meet to form a group to go on an adventure together and split the treasure. Give the players what is called "the hook", which is the goal for the adventure. I recommend choosing between a small dungeon in the woods near the inn, and a delivery mission which will take the players overland. In the first case, put some simple traps and monsters in the dungeon, such as goblins, and some treasure. When the players finish exploring it, the adventure ends.

2) Make sure the players understand the rules, and were able to fill out their character sheets fully. Take all the time they need to do this. You can run a couple mock fights to let them learn the works of combat.

3) Be sure to give each player the same amount of attention in the course of play. Everyone should be taking turns, even outside combat in a sense. Be fair to everyone. If you want to change a rule in the books, apply it for everyone including the monsters and NPC's.

 

[PnPgamer]

There is s thread called "i suck st dming, can anyone help?" or something along those lines. You can check it out. Its on general discussion side of these forums.

EDIT:
http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?422049-I-suck-at-DMing-Can-anyone-help

 

[wedgeski]

Welcome to the board! Plenty of good advice here and I will add the following: the only goals for your early games should be: have fun, keep your players smiling, roll dice. Everything else is secondary, and will almost take care of itself.

Now for actual tangible advice that you can actually use, I refer you to the rest of the thread. Good luck!

 

[pemerton]

If anyone has any helpful advice for a first time DM, I'd be very grateful!

My general advice - similar to [MENTION=58197]Dausuul[/MENTION]'s - would be to follow your players' leads.

And prep with that in mind. If you have a few NPCs prepared who are connected to your players' PCs' backgrounds, and a few ideas about stuff those NPCs might do that would bring them into conflict with the PCs, plus a map or two to set the action in, that can be enough.

Also, PCs in 5e seem pretty robust, so don't be afraid to turn on the pressure a bit. At least in my experience, players find high stakes more exciting than low stakes.

Finally, don't make the mistake of saving your best material for later. If you've got a good idea, use it now!