New to D&D and becoming a DM

[Cbomb]

I have the Basic game its just my mom threw it away and i have two issues of Dragon (Maures Castle and the Eberron one) how much is a subscription cause I would have to drive 40 miles to get each issue (well my mom would have to drive )

 

[Narfellus]

new to Dnd

i agree, you don't HAVE to have miniatures, but i've been using them for years now and i can't imagine having been without them for so long. For years and years before that we used scribbled sheets of paper (in the 1st edition days) marbles, pennies, and later on every enemy was represented by Lego's Jar Jar Binks. EVERY enemy was Jar Jar. Despite the fun in killing him in repeated, horrible ways, it got old, and i gradually segued into the miniature market. Be warned, Cbomb! Miniature collecting is addictive and expensive! But it adds an interesting degree of magic to the game that pennies and marbles can't match. It's all about creating an illusion, and the more tools you have at your disposal the better the illusion comes across. You could even say that minis and battleboards are the material components for the DM's spell! Voice and description is the verbal component, and hand gestures, facial expressions, and the physical just BEING there are the somatic component.

 

[Rel]

I have the Basic game its just my mom threw it away and i have two issues of Dragon (Maures Castle and the Eberron one) how much is a subscription cause I would have to drive 40 miles to get each issue (well my mom would have to drive )

Uh, is that a sort of "mom was cleaning out my room and tossed the game by accident" or "mom hates all things D&D and thinks I should burn my books" or somewhere in between? I'm sure you'll find plenty of sympathy here regardless, but if she's into throwing out your gaming stuff on a whim then perhaps you'd better hold off on buying much more of it in the near future.

 

[Cbomb]

she threw it away on accident Do u have to paint most minatures?

 

[cybertalus]

Thanks for the input. There is a local gaming store in a city near hear that sells dungeon would they probly have back issues? The PCs dont have their PHB yet should i wait till they all have them?

EDIT: I dont know anyone that plays this in RL except in Corpus Christi. What if a PC has 3.0 PHB would he be able to use it with our 3.5?

It's entirely possible to run a game with only one copy of the Player's Handbook that everyone has to share, but in the long run you'll almost certainly find that everyone or nearly everyone should have one. I've found in particular that people who are playing a Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer, or Wizard should definitely have their own copy of the Player's Handbook, as they will need to look up the details of their spells rather frequently.

As for back issues, I can't speak for your specific store. If they don't have those specific back issues, Paizo publishing sells them directly here. You can also subscribe to Dungeon directly from their website for just under $40 a year (versus $84 a year plus tax if you buy it at the store).

And if you are looking for other gamers in your area, there's always ENWorld's Gamers Seeking Gamers Forum, RPG Registry and WotC's RPG Gamer Classifieds.

 

[MerricB]

Do u have to paint most minatures?

Depends on which ones you get.

Traditional miniatures are metal and must be assembled and painted.

The new D&D Miniatures are pre-painted and plastic. Unfortunately, they come in random boosters, but I've not found that too much of a problem.

http://www.3rdedition.org/merricb/mini.htm

The new D&D Basic Set (released this month) has 16 of the D&D miniatures in it, including a Black Dragon!

Cheers!

 

[drakhe]

Ome more cents and pennies...

Hi and another welcome coming your way.

Just some thoughts I would like to add to some excelent posts.

[edit: actualy a bit lengthy ;-) ]

- (said before but the most important thing) Thé 3 key letters: F U N !!!
- about computer assistance: basicaly I would avoid using a computer at the
table during a game unless you want to be able to concentrate on
roleplaying and want a quick way to handle stuff like combat. In general
I find them more distracting than helpfull. For prepping, computers are
great. Any wordprocessor and/or spreadsheet is handy. For character
creation and management, check out eTools or if your on a budget,
PCGEN (its free). When you find you need an extra map, check out
Dundjinni or some of the freeware or shareware mappers (check out
the links/download section of Enworld). Check out some of the links
from previous posts or the links section of ENworld for handy little
things like generators and such
- It should be no problem running on just your copy of the books,
actualy that's up to you, how you feel yourself.
You might want to talk to your group and agree to share the costs
in some way, because those books (especialy the PHB) will see
use! (and maybe coffee or some suchs ;-) )
- The Wizards of the Cost site is indeed great with myriad articles and free
modules and rules stuff. But don't stop there, go and check out some of
the on line rpg shops and publishers sites for more free stuff.
The online shops are also an excelent source of cheap PDF source
material. Not as filling as a full meal (=hardcover print book) but they
won't set you back more than a couple of bucks.
- and one more to round off: do take notes during a session of what's
going on (names, events, ...) nothing as dumb as forgetting an NPC's
name or what he said. Also don't be afraid to ask your players' notes.
(you may need to explain that you're not the enemy and that those
notes allow you to make the game better...)

Ah well, take it slow, don't be afraid to make a mistake,correct and lear!
And have FUN! It may be a bit of work but DM'ing can be very gratifieng
and (ok last time) FUN!

Ciao
Drakhe

 

[Jolly Giant]

Welcome to the boards and the game!

Other than that, I just want to echo what a lot of others have said already:

- Don't get any more books yet, concentrate on learning the rules in the 3 you already have!

- Don't fuzz overmuch over the rules during play; do what seems to make sense and look up the exact rule after the game. (Unless a characters life depends on it!)

- Minis... I know a lot of people use them, but my group never have. I guess they could be helpful in learning some of the combat rules, but any item you place on a grid can serve that purpose...

- Use the internet! These boards and the Wizards of the Coast webpages are excellent sources for FREE material, inspiration and answers to tricky questions.

- Most importantly of all: Have fun!

 

[The Grackle]

Man! I wish there had been an EN World when I was a kid.


...or any internet, really.

 

[Wraith Form]

As a new DM, using a premade adventure like the Sunless Citadel is probably a good idea. It will help you learn how to structure an adventure. Remember that you are learning too, and you might make mistakes. That's ok. Do try to mitigate them though. For example, if you realize that you faced the party off against excessively strong monster that is likely to kill them, consider having the creature capture them (if it is intelligent) or merely knock them unconscious. Looks for ways to transform a potential disaster into a cool story twist.

For all my days on this board, I haven't actually DM'ed very much, so I'm in a similar boat as cbomb.

Using the above quote, this raises an entirely different question in my mind, one that came about from personal experience several years ago: what happens when the mistake you make is actually a PLOT mistake, not a "math" mistake (math mistake = CR too high for party, forgetting that party has an average of 3 hit points left and they've just woken a dragon, etc)? What happens when the DM is....basically not very smart/bright/wise compared to his players?

I ran a game where I had a cool idea (I thought) and had a villain steal something. During the game, as I was describing the crime scene, one of my players looked up and said, "That was kind of a dumb way for the thief to steal (__ insert item here __) by climbing up the roof. Why didn't he just walk in the door over here and (blah blah blah)....?"

When I sat there and listened to the player, my jaw dropped & I realized with horror that the player was right, and that I'd created a whole series of clues just because the villain'd "look cool" breaking through a trap door on the roof or whatever. That my carefully constructed plot was demolished in approx. 20 minutes of game time. This wasn't elaborate. This wasn't complex. This was a foolish mistake. Because I was an idiot!

I recovered from this and continued on with the game (barely) by making up an obvious and rather transparent excuse. The players, to their credit, were pretty cool about understanding that the way the crime was committed was less important that who was being stolen from & what was being stolen. In fact, the theft was supposed to lead up to the "real" adventure....

But that's one small example of several adventure ideas that I've come up with where I just simply did not have the foresight or--let's face it--smarts/brains/knowledge/intelligence/common sense to create an effective, logical plot that players didn't find a flaw within.

Any advice? (Yeah, I know--"Don't DM".)