Newbie DM & Setting

[DragonLancer]

In my group I have a player who with the advent of 3.5 purchased the 3 core books in a bundle pack from Amazon and has expressed a desire to become a DM himself.

When my current DL campaign ends nearer the end of the year, he's going to take over so I'd like to get him a setting book. Preferably one that the rest of the group don't know that well or we arn't up to speck on.

Currently I'm thinking either Wilderlands, FR or Kalamar. Any ideas of which of these (or other suggestions) would be good for a novice DM?

Thanx.

 

[Piratecat]

I liked Scarred Lands a lot. Midnight is also excellent, if you like that sort of dark campaign.

 

[Ferox4]

I'd suggest starting him off with a module that can be retro-fitted into a setting sometime down the line. Let him get his feet wet and don't overwhelm him with information (FR is especially voluminous).

Sword and Sorcery has a number of good modules. This also looks interesting http://www.openworldpress.com/

....baby steps, baby steps.....

 

[Darklone]

Preferences of that guy would be good.

Kalamar is core rules magic, easily adaptable for higher or lower magic though.
Scarred Lands and Midnight (as PC said) are grim and dark, Scarred Lands pretty high powered.
FR is ... well.... FR. You know.
Wilderlands has style but there are others here who can say more about it, I'm still waiting for my books.

Edit: Since I'm a Kalamar pimp, go check out their homepage for cheap goodies. I'd let him check out the Coins series, a nice starting adventure series with lots of regional infos and epic flair.

 

[Piratecat]

Actually, get him Ed Cha's Hamlet of Thumble. It's great for starting DMs.

 

[Darklone]

Where did we have this starting adventures thread lately?

here it is

 

[DragonLancer]

Scarred Lands he knows a little about as I used that as my world until Dragonlance was re-released.

I don't want to flood the guy with info as you say, but I know he's agonisign over designing a world. Even if he didn't use a setting book it might give him some ideas.

 

[Darklone]

I'd say get some freebie adventures. Crucible of Freya with all the free stuff from necromancers is a nice small campaign setting in itself as are many other small adventure series. He'll get a taste of what he wants that way.

 

[Emiricol]

When the T13K revised setting guide is announced, taking the setting out of playtest and finalizing it, I'd recommend at least taking a look at it.

Kind of pointless until then, but keep it in mind as one option.


I could also recommend Midnight, having played it and really enjoyed it. But for a novice DM, it might not be the way to go.

 

[Buttercup]

Actually, get him Ed Cha's Hamlet of Thumble. It's great for starting DMs.

Yeah, I wish it had existed when I ran my first game. The cool think is, Ed is revealing a bit more of his campaign world with each release. I really like what I've seen so far.