New to EN World, have some general questions about being a DM

[senodam]

Clueless is pretty on with the previous post except for the disarming traps part - you cannot nor should you attempt to 'take 20' in a situation where failure may result in injury or death. As for the conservative style of play, remember that as an adjudicator that your jobs to ensure that the game is run correctly, smoothly and is fun for everyone. While this may be annoying and time consuming, if the other players are bothered by it, let them handle it in game or out of game, it doesn't matter.

It might just be me, but I disagree about this point.
Taking 20 on search checks is fine at my table, because it's the Disable Device check, the balance/jump check to cross the pit, etc, etc that brings the chance of death/injury.

Knowing it's there and getting past the trap are two different things. And allowing the player to take 20 has the advantage of speeding up gameplay, and making the rogue's player feel more satisfaction with his awesome character.

 

[DonTadow]

Traps can really slow down a game if not done right. They aren't that. exciting (well the dmg ones- check out grimoires traps and you'll see what i'm talking about)

What I do in my game, one of the ways i speed up combat, is to put the search skill (in relation to traps) as a secret roll made by myself as per spots and listens.

If a player indicates that he is searching for traps along the way, instead of doing the tedious roll every 5 ft (and break the tension of an otherwise well designed adventure) I roll a secret search roll for that player against every trap up ahead. If your players don't like you rolling for them, then ask them to preroll about 10 to 20 search rolls and submit it to you before each game. My players understand the necessity of secret rolls so its not a problem.

This speeds up game dramtically without taking anything away from the thief.

NOw, if a player says that they want to take 20, you got to make sure that player is taking 20 and understands the time constraint. If a player takes 20 in my game, they are doing just that. I often concentrate solely on the other players for a few minutes, asking what they are doing.

If one of your players is taking 20, you have to make sure they know how "real" time is in your game, else they will use this as a cop out for every roll.

Most people do this with random encounters, but I'm a firm anti-believer in random encounters, however, that is not to say that other dizenens of the dungeon do not hear them and are setting up things in the future. Have the other monsters be prepared for the pcs. After all, all that searching causes some noise. Depending on a listen check by the npcs, they may even get a +2 to initiative or a surprise round if they can hear the tapping on the floor and checking of every wall.

 

[Gwaihir]

IMHO, I think it is important to include traps, however, a few go a very long way. As mentioned above, they are not the most exciting unless your character is a disarmer.
I try to put traps in "logical" places. My group routinely checks chests and secret doors for traps, but not much else.

I echo what has been previously said. Make sure that your group is learning your style and that trust is being built.

 

[abruno1974]

Thanks to everyone who has replied. It's great to get advice from experienced DM's who know what they're doing.

Anyway, like I said, I'm just starting up our little group. We've had 3 gaming sessions. Since one of the guys in the group is a doctor who lives out of state, we don't get a lot of time to get together, so I literally went to a random dungeon generator to make a 1st and 2nd level dugeon so we could get started right away. I wanted to get the hang of battle and get familiar with the rules, so I just picked a starting spot in the dungeon with no back story. I will be adding a back story as well as an overland map and all that stuff, but for now, it was a simple random dungeon populated with random creatures for that dugeon's level. So, I'm not running anything special. I just noticed one of the characters is willing to take an hour and a half (in game time) in every room to search up and down for everything...and it just seemed like there would need to be some kind of drawback to that (or why wouldn't everyone always do it?).

Anyway, you've given me some good ideas, and a way to deal with it in the future. I'm still interested in hearing any other advice you may have.

Thanks again!