D&D 5E New to D&D and made DM. Help?!?!

[hastur_nz]

Some good advice here, my extra $0.05 is:

1) Don't try and chew off too much at one time, especially with 6+ players (that's a lot!) - a simple, shortish adventure, with no expectations for a huge campaign, is actually a really good thing - you can learn a lot, make mistakes, then throw it away and do better next time. Something with pre-gen PC's is even better, as you can learn how to play and not get bogged down in how to create a character. In all honestly, the Lost Mines in the Starter Set is 100% ideal for this, the pre-gen PC's are well balanced and have pre-built hooks to get the players into the adventures, and by all accounts it's a good adventure especially for players and DM's that are not hugely experienced. The first two adventures from Awning Portal are decent, but IMO the first one with meepo etc isn't as strong as Lost Mines, and the two adventures don't really have a linked plot. The big books are, IMO, too big to start off as your first ever DM job - start smaller, and just do your best with everyone's expectation being that it's a first step, for learning - if everyone loves it, and wants more, you can worry about that when the time comes. Far too many DM's over-plan, and look too far ahead.

2) don't take TOO much out of Critical Role - Matt Mercer is a great DM, but he over-does some stuff IMO, and the players definitely over-do the 'in character' drama. Don't feel you need to run a game like that, remember they are all Actors who have varying degrees of understanding of the D& rules (many, not enough), and they veer towards character drama and playing out every little thing in detail, vs what most real life table top players like which is more action focused. Matt is a fair DM, is very well prepared, and also good at ad-lib (which comes from experience as well as preparation), take that as your inspiration.

 

[tglassy]

Do the Starter Set. It's great for newbies. It's a good, self contained adventure that easily transitions to one of the larger adventures.

Besides that, you could try Horde of the Dragon Queen and Rise of Tiamat. I haven't played or run those, but they were the first campaign books for 5e, and so should be good for newbies. As a note, the transition from Lost Mines of Phandelvar transitions well to Horde of the Dragon Queen.


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[Tony Vargas]

Do the Starter Set. It's great for newbies. It's a good, self contained adventure that easily transitions to one of the larger adventures.

Besides that, you could try Horde of the Dragon Queen and Rise of Tiamat. I haven't played or run those, but they were the first campaign books for 5e, and so should be good for newbies.

So, I have run HotDQ, and it's terrible.
Seriously, worst thing you could possibly run for new players. Thing about first-of-the-edition adventures, they're also often worst-of-the-edition adventures (I'm not sure how LMoP dodged that bullet but by all accounts it did, maybe because it was written specifically as an intro, while HotDQ was for organized play).
In this case, HotDQ hit the presses before they'd quite figured out how to estimate encounter difficulty, so there's lots of fights with just too many enemies. Were it not for that, the structure of the first chapter is cool for illustrating the kind of pacing 5e needs to work well - many encounters packed into a 'day' (or, in this case, night) with time pressures and trade-offs for resting, but presented in a way that gives players some choice as to what they'll do next.
No other adventure - nor any other part of HotDQ - exemplifies it quite that well. But, the encounters are too big, and you just end up with TPKs, so that lesson is spectacularly lost.

 

[stoloc]

I can not recommend highly enough the starter boxed set. The adventure is one of the best introductory adventures I've seen (and I've seen them since the early 80's) and can easily lead into Storm Kings thunder or Princes of the Apocalypse. You can also sprinkle in the Yawning portal adventures if you'd like As well.

It doesn't lead into Curse of Strahd I'm afraid as that's a pretty specific setting.

 

[smokerdragoon]

Another good youtube channel is Matthew Colville's.
https://www.youtube.com/user/mcolville

He has a 'Running the Game' series to help new DMs. Even as an old DM, his ideas helped me out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-YZvLUXcR8&index=1&list=PLlUk42GiU2guNzWBzxn7hs8MaV7ELLCP_

 

[tglassy]

Of course it leads to Curse of Strahd. Everything leads to Curse of Strahd. Immediately after the party liberates the Phandelvar Mine, they hear of werewolf attacks and go investigate. One blanketing mist in the night later and BAM! Welcome to Barovia!


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[ccs]

Welcome to the games. And to the ranks of DMs.

You do NOT need any xp to play D&D. Or to DM for that matter. So jump right in.

I do recommend READING the PHB, DMG, & whatever adventure you settle on first.
For the adventure? Read the entire thing through so that you know the overall picture. Then thoughouly re-read whatever section your going to run 1st/next. Make notes if you need.

During play? Do not hesitate to look up rules as needed.

You'll be fine with Curse of Strahd.

 

[cmad1977]

Welcome to the thunder dome.

Lost mines of phandelver is my suggestion.
Giving it a western Deadwood type feel worked for me.


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[Imaculata]

Everything I've seen of Quickleaf around here over the years - and he's a stand-out in the community - points to him being a very knowledgeable DM. I second the endorsement.

He has my endorsement as well.

Also, you might want to check out the Best of the 5e forum thread, a great compilation of helpful articles/threads for new and experienced DM's/players alike. It's pinned at the top of the forum, but just in case you missed it.

 

[Eltab]

Do begin with the Lost Mines of Phandelver Starter Set. It's what the set was designed for, after all!

Princes of the Apocalypse also has good material for beginners; you can run the chapter about saving the town and set up a 'home base' before deciding to do anything about the Elemental Cults.

The chapter in Hoard of the Dragon Queen involving the merchant caravan can be easily adapted to a beginning group; just ignore anything about the Dragon Cult's treasure and play up some of the 20 or so NPC personalities available.

After running those, your group should have a feel for what they do like / don't like, and you can figure out your next steps from there.