Overwelmed and in need of assistance
- Thread starter KRIM
- Start date
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Adventurer
KRIM said:
Since you're new, I would recommend sticking with Greyhawk. Use only the core books (PHB, DMG and MM) and only allows classes/equipment/spells etc. from those books until you become more familiar with the rules and with running a game in general.
You can also find more adventures that are "vanilla" and can easily be put into the Greyhawk setting where it could take more tweaking to get some adventures to fit into FR or DL.
I would also recommend trying The Wyrm's Hoard. You can search for published adventures by level.
Also, try www.dndadventure.com. Lots of free ones there.
Why not start small with a homebrew where you steal the best from FR, DL, Eberron, Grayhawk, KoK, real-world history, middle-earth, Glorantha, Empire of the Petal Throne, Traveller and Arduin? You need start with a village in a remote area, with a wilderness or other frontier nearby.
That's how my current game started: village, frontier, hostile empire nearby and people restive for freedom. Stir, add a child of destiny, assorted PCs and a necromancer, add salt.
In almost thirty years of GMing everything from Toon to Traveller, I have avoided default published settings with a signle exception that I regretted for almost a decade: the never-to-be-insufficienty-damned World of Insufficient Light. Without having read every splatbook, novel or margainal note WW published about the WoIL, I had to deal with cheese-players chanting "It's OFFICIAL! I CAN run a were-crocodile / Malkavian abomination with True Magic!"
Now, I *refuse* to run a game in a setting where the players know more than I do.
<Gratituous advice=ON>
Sure, creating your own homebrew is more work, but if DMing is really for you, it'll be a labor of love. Take it easy, do not try to create the entire world all at once. The pieces will come together as you start creating. And, once you do, the result will be all yours.
Finally, the nice thing about world building: you can do it alone. When I am unable to get together with my players (geography and the demands of a balanced life can do this) I can still spend enjoyable time building my world. If you build it and share, they will come, and play, and ask for more!
<Gratituous advice=OFF>
That's how my current game started: village, frontier, hostile empire nearby and people restive for freedom. Stir, add a child of destiny, assorted PCs and a necromancer, add salt.
In almost thirty years of GMing everything from Toon to Traveller, I have avoided default published settings with a signle exception that I regretted for almost a decade: the never-to-be-insufficienty-damned World of Insufficient Light. Without having read every splatbook, novel or margainal note WW published about the WoIL, I had to deal with cheese-players chanting "It's OFFICIAL! I CAN run a were-crocodile / Malkavian abomination with True Magic!"
Now, I *refuse* to run a game in a setting where the players know more than I do.
<Gratituous advice=ON>
Sure, creating your own homebrew is more work, but if DMing is really for you, it'll be a labor of love. Take it easy, do not try to create the entire world all at once. The pieces will come together as you start creating. And, once you do, the result will be all yours.
Finally, the nice thing about world building: you can do it alone. When I am unable to get together with my players (geography and the demands of a balanced life can do this) I can still spend enjoyable time building my world. If you build it and share, they will come, and play, and ask for more!
<Gratituous advice=OFF>
fafhrd
First Post
Get yourself a subscription to Dungeon. If you want to test the waters first, head to one of your big chain bookstores and flip through a copy. They have a module for low, mid, and high levels in each issue. Most of them are generic enough that they port well to whatever setting you end up choosing.
Since Ed Cha is bound to be along any moment, I figure I'd also mention his Village of Oester and the Hamlet of Thumble. You could probably use those as a foundation for a homebrew. Small enough to be manageable without the huge commitment of an established world.
As another poster said, Barrakus is a great product. Lots and lots and lots of stuff to do in there. It'll keep your troops busy for a long time. Whatever your choice, good luck!
Since Ed Cha is bound to be along any moment, I figure I'd also mention his Village of Oester and the Hamlet of Thumble. You could probably use those as a foundation for a homebrew. Small enough to be manageable without the huge commitment of an established world.
As another poster said, Barrakus is a great product. Lots and lots and lots of stuff to do in there. It'll keep your troops busy for a long time. Whatever your choice, good luck!
You know, of course, you can always ask for campaign design advice from other experienced gamers who aren't in your group.
Now, where would you find such gamers?
EN world is full of threads about broken PrCl classes, spell or feat combos that should never be, etc. This place is a goldmine- grab a pick!
Now, where would you find such gamers?
EN world is full of threads about broken PrCl classes, spell or feat combos that should never be, etc. This place is a goldmine- grab a pick!
the Jester
Legend
First of all, welcome to the boards- I see you're relatively new! I hope you get as much enjoyment and just plain usable ideas from this place as I have!
Now, as to tips for your own setting- I recommend starting small. Have a town with a few notes, maybe your first dungeon statted up, a few local npcs (the hermit, the wizard with the tower outside of town, the halfling/gypsy band with their wagons, etc). Most of all, NEVER THROW AWAY ANYTHING YOU HAVE WRITTEN DOWN ABOUT YOUR CAMPAIGN. You'll wish you had it later, when you're trying to loop the storyline back into it, and you can't remember that ferryman's name or description, or what the potion the pcs got 20 games ago was.
Don't be tempted to give the pcs too much phat loot too soon; if everyone has 1-2 magic items and they're all still 1st level, you may be overdoing it. (Once you have some experience, you may decide that you really like having high levels of magic, but I recommend staying close to book values at first.)
If one of the players (or you) find a rule, spell or combo that seems broken, abusive or not fun, stop and look at it. There are probably reasonable counters built into the game somewhere, you just need to find 'em. A great way is to post about it here on ENWorld.
Don't let rules debates break the flow of the game. Give rules questions about 1-3 minutes at the most; then make a ruling and move on, explaining to the players that you'll look it up after the game and from then on that's how it will be run. Don't allow take-backs, either- once a die is rolled, be firm that it's too late to change your mind about that action. (You can still, for instance, attack and then decide to move instead of taking a second attack if you're eligible for one, of course.) Don't hesitate to let your players help you out with the rules, though- if one of them is really into bards, and knows lots about bard songs, let them help out when bard stuff comes up. If you don't remember exactly what a bard's inspire courage ability effects but your player does, let him be the 'reminder' for the group.
Most important of all- have fun!
Now, as to tips for your own setting- I recommend starting small. Have a town with a few notes, maybe your first dungeon statted up, a few local npcs (the hermit, the wizard with the tower outside of town, the halfling/gypsy band with their wagons, etc). Most of all, NEVER THROW AWAY ANYTHING YOU HAVE WRITTEN DOWN ABOUT YOUR CAMPAIGN. You'll wish you had it later, when you're trying to loop the storyline back into it, and you can't remember that ferryman's name or description, or what the potion the pcs got 20 games ago was.
Don't be tempted to give the pcs too much phat loot too soon; if everyone has 1-2 magic items and they're all still 1st level, you may be overdoing it. (Once you have some experience, you may decide that you really like having high levels of magic, but I recommend staying close to book values at first.)
If one of the players (or you) find a rule, spell or combo that seems broken, abusive or not fun, stop and look at it. There are probably reasonable counters built into the game somewhere, you just need to find 'em. A great way is to post about it here on ENWorld.
Don't let rules debates break the flow of the game. Give rules questions about 1-3 minutes at the most; then make a ruling and move on, explaining to the players that you'll look it up after the game and from then on that's how it will be run. Don't allow take-backs, either- once a die is rolled, be firm that it's too late to change your mind about that action. (You can still, for instance, attack and then decide to move instead of taking a second attack if you're eligible for one, of course.) Don't hesitate to let your players help you out with the rules, though- if one of them is really into bards, and knows lots about bard songs, let them help out when bard stuff comes up. If you don't remember exactly what a bard's inspire courage ability effects but your player does, let him be the 'reminder' for the group.
Most important of all- have fun!
congrats, welcome to the world of DMing.
As for what setting you should run, personally, if this is your first time DMing, unless you are VERY familiar with a setting, don't run in one. Make one up as you go along, get a third party one, etc.
One of the big things I would suggest is limiting what books the PC's can use. I made the mistake of letting my PC's in an old campaign use whatever they like as long as they got a copy of what they were using to me. "Oh, I forgot the photocopy." was a very very standard line. Draw the line and say, 'this set of books is what yuou can draw up your characters from.' You, as DM can always use more (and should). You also have the option of adding in more as you get more comfortable.
Tell your players right out if they expect excellent plots and continuity and intrigue, they will have to be patient. You need to get used to being a DM.
Try to give your players a sense that they have free will. Try not to put them in situations where they can't win and make them play out the combat. If you have an encounter where they happen upon a group of bad guys with a maguffin that the characters want but you don't want them to have until a later time, plan for them to get the maguffin. What happens if they DO get it. That way, you won't be fighting so hard for them not to get it that you make them feel railroaded. You can always let them mistakenly believe that using the maguffin in one way will save everyone, while actually it will release a long imprisoned big bad evil guy. That way, if they don't get it, the evil guys have a way to summon the BBEG, but maybe they have to figure a different way around it, give the players time to get it back. BUT, if they do happen to get it and use it, wrongly, they release a badder dude than they were facing in the first place.
Make your initial quests simple. Characters start out in a small town. Are all related to the townsfolk, and someone has come up missing. They track the person down to a cave outside of town where the person seems to have been captured by some goblins or something. They save the victem and return her to town.
Then start making things a little more interesting.....the victem was actually the boss of the goblins and you rescuing her has foiled her plan. But she's not about to let you know that.
To start, keep it simple, for your own sake. Unless you are a master writer, stay away from hugely complicated plots.
Good luck.
As for what setting you should run, personally, if this is your first time DMing, unless you are VERY familiar with a setting, don't run in one. Make one up as you go along, get a third party one, etc.
One of the big things I would suggest is limiting what books the PC's can use. I made the mistake of letting my PC's in an old campaign use whatever they like as long as they got a copy of what they were using to me. "Oh, I forgot the photocopy." was a very very standard line. Draw the line and say, 'this set of books is what yuou can draw up your characters from.' You, as DM can always use more (and should). You also have the option of adding in more as you get more comfortable.
Tell your players right out if they expect excellent plots and continuity and intrigue, they will have to be patient. You need to get used to being a DM.
Try to give your players a sense that they have free will. Try not to put them in situations where they can't win and make them play out the combat. If you have an encounter where they happen upon a group of bad guys with a maguffin that the characters want but you don't want them to have until a later time, plan for them to get the maguffin. What happens if they DO get it. That way, you won't be fighting so hard for them not to get it that you make them feel railroaded. You can always let them mistakenly believe that using the maguffin in one way will save everyone, while actually it will release a long imprisoned big bad evil guy. That way, if they don't get it, the evil guys have a way to summon the BBEG, but maybe they have to figure a different way around it, give the players time to get it back. BUT, if they do happen to get it and use it, wrongly, they release a badder dude than they were facing in the first place.
Make your initial quests simple. Characters start out in a small town. Are all related to the townsfolk, and someone has come up missing. They track the person down to a cave outside of town where the person seems to have been captured by some goblins or something. They save the victem and return her to town.
Then start making things a little more interesting.....the victem was actually the boss of the goblins and you rescuing her has foiled her plan. But she's not about to let you know that.
To start, keep it simple, for your own sake. Unless you are a master writer, stay away from hugely complicated plots.
Good luck.
Buttercup
Princess of Florin
fafhrd said:
I don't know what I was thinking, forgetting about Ed Cha's wonderful modules!
For a beginning DM, you will find no better module than Hamlet of Thumble. Not only is the pacing of the module exactly right, but he includes lots of advice. It is followed up by Village of Oester, which is also excellent. Run those two and you'll be well on your way to being an expert.
Regarding building a campaign world, you really could start with either Thumble or Barakus, and let them be your guide. Necromancer has a free pantheon on their website, and as it happens it's the one used in all their products. Or you could just use the default pantheon you find in the PHB.
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