What Are Some Common First-time Dm Questions?

[UngainlyTitan]

There are a lot of questions that newbie DM ask, some of the more common mentioned already in this thread. I am curious, what is the focus of your book or put another way what is it supposed to achive that the DMG or D&D for Dummies does not.

Now I am not too familiar with the for Dummies books, I had a brief look at hte 3e version a couple of years ago and it seemed to touch all the correnct bases, I think that the 4e DMG is pretty good for newbies and coveres the player management, encounter creation, and so forth. However, something that covers world building, campaing creation with examples could be very useful to a newbie.

 

[Mark]

So, what are some common first-time GM questions?

You'll find some here -

http://www.enworld.org/forum/genera...-dming-advice-links-fixed-july-20-2008-a.html

 

[Quickleaf]

Well, there's the common sense stuff like...

What do we do when a player can’t make a session?
How do we handle a player needing to leave the group?
Under what circumstances can a player lose control of their hero?
Can the heroes die? What do we do if a hero dies?
How do we resolve conflicts about the game/rules?
Does the DM have sole creative power? Can players contribute? How?
What subject matter in unacceptable? When do we fade to black?

Let's see, a question a lot of beginning DMs ask...
I want to run this awesome campaign with this amazing history and super cool metaplot, but I'm overwhelmed by how much work it takes to create a setting on top of the adventure! What am I supposed to DoOOooo?

And another:
How can I change my campaign to give noncombat encounters more importance, so my players don't just blow them off?

Yet another question I hear a lot is:
How do I get my players more invested in the story?

The common response is:
Have them decide their PC's backgrounds, how they know each other, and how they're connected to the story.

This is often followed up by something like:
But my players don't really like it when I ask them these background questions about how their PCs know each other, and just want to play the game. How can I make them care?

The real question for me is a complex one:
How do I balance different play style preferences within the group?

 

[The Stray]

However, something that covers world building, campaing creation with examples could be very useful to a newbie.

Frankly, that's the sort of thing that I'm most interested in concentrating on. However, I'm trying to gain some perspective of the sort of questions new DMs will want answered. It's all about providing value. Many people will want to have basic burning questions answered before they delve into the other aspects of the work. I need to at least cover those questions.

Many of the "common sense" questions are judgment calls and values issues that tend to vary dramatically between groups. It's helpful to identify them so I can give at least a little attention to them before working on a campaign creation method.

 

[Silvercat Moonpaw]

Let's see, a question a lot of beginning DMs ask...
I want to run this awesome campaign with this amazing history and super cool metaplot, but I'm overwhelmed by how much work it takes to create a setting on top of the adventure! What am I supposed to DoOOooo?

Seconded, and I am a first-time (or trying to be, anyway) DM/GM.

However I've read a lot of advice on the subject, and it can be summarized pretty easily: Don't do this your first time out. Or as I see it "If you're going to feel overwhelmed don't do what's going to overwhelm you because then you won't have any fun." I've learned this from experience, too.

What I still feel deficient on is understanding how an adventure is put together. This may seem like a simple question, but the real difficulty is the change from being a player and not seeing the adventure write-up to being the DM and seeing the adventure write-up. As a player to experience the story of the adventure as it is in all its finished glory with all the actions and dialogue of the characters. But when you're the DM you have to see in the much more bland outline form, and you might go "Where's the story?" In some case I think a newbie DM doesn't understand exactly what parts they need to create in the writing stage and what parts they need to leave for the playing stage.

 

[ExploderWizard]

One thing that is never stressed enough to new DM's before starting a campaign is to discuss the campaign and game style with the players, get feedback and input from them, and actually listen to what they have to say. As a DM, the type of campaign you envision may not be what your players are looking for. Its much better to discuss differences openly at the start rather than put loads of work into a game that the players will not appreciate.

As an example lets say a new DM wants to run a game filled with political intrigue mixed with high action. At the discussion meeting he finds out that several of his players will not be able to play every session and complicated storylines will be hard to follow and keep up with. Knowing this, the DM can shelve that campaign idea for the moment and run something more episodic or risk his original campaign idea which may not hold the attention of the more transient players.

After such a discussion, the new DM might find out that the players want something so totally different from what he/she wants to run that it might be better if someone else ran the game.

Assuming the players are interested in the proposed campaign, a group character creation/introduction session is a great idea. Players can bounce ideas off each other and the DM and have a better understanding of the other player's characters.

These things can help reduce the number of DM's posting on boards like this saying " Help! My players are doing it wrong."

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Frankly, that's the sort of thing that I'm most interested in concentrating on. However, I'm trying to gain some perspective of the sort of questions new DMs will want answered. It's all about providing value. Many people will want to have basic burning questions answered before they delve into the other aspects of the work. I need to at least cover those questions.

Many of the "common sense" questions are judgment calls and values issues that tend to vary dramatically between groups. It's helpful to identify them so I can give at least a little attention to them before working on a campaign creation method.

That is the problem with the 'common sense' questions, they are judgement calls and social ettiqute issues and really the advice boils down to don't put up with BS and some 'give and take' is needed to keep every one together.

The the stuff no one covers is the campaing construnction issues and why the game is not an novel. Also there is no badwrongfun but certain playstyles/campain have advantages and problems and decend into sillyness at the extreme.

Give plenty examples.

Personally I think newbie DM should go for strongly combat orientated campaing initially so that they master that aspect of the game. Once they are comfortable with the rules they could go for the other stuff.

 

[Silvercat Moonpaw]

One thing that is never stressed enough to new DM's before starting a campaign is to discuss the campaign and game style with the players, get feedback and input from them, and actually listen to what they have to say. As a DM, the type of campaign you envision may not be what your players are looking for. Its much better to discuss differences openly at the start rather than put loads of work into a game that the players will not appreciate.

Something I think should be taken into consideration when giving this advice: Not everyone has the time to shelve what they already designed and come up with something new. I'm not saying the advice shouldn't be given at all, but it should be immediately followed by advice on where to take the situation based upon what the DM is willing/able to give.

Also something that never gets addressed in New DM advice: information on how to apply the information to online play. There are just some things that work out differently in an online environment, such as the fact that you can't necessarily tell if a player is having fun while the game is going on.

 

[ExploderWizard]

What I still feel deficient on is understanding how an adventure is put together. This may seem like a simple question, but the real difficulty is the change from being a player and not seeing the adventure write-up to being the DM and seeing the adventure write-up. As a player to experience the story of the adventure as it is in all its finished glory with all the actions and dialogue of the characters. But when you're the DM you have to see in the much more bland outline form, and you might go "Where's the story?" In some case I think a newbie DM doesn't understand exactly what parts they need to create in the writing stage and what parts they need to leave for the playing stage.

This is a very good question and the correct answer depends on you and your player's and the style of play you enjoy the most.

If the PC's have true freedom to act as they please then the answer to the " where is the story?" question is simple: The story doesn't exist until after the events of play have happened. This style requires flexibility and the ability to improvise. When designing adventures for this style of game, its easy to start with NPC's/monsters and give them motivations, agendas, and reasons for doing what they do. These plans should be designed so that they will affect the PC's in some way. Think about what would happen if the PC's do nothing and possible outcomes if the PC's do take action. New NPC's appear on the scene as old ones are dealt with. The campaign is built upon the decisions of the players as they chose what they do and (just as importantly) what they don't do.

The other style of game is built around a plot of some sort that DM writes up as an outline. In this type of game the DM does more detailed pre-planning and has a general idea of how campaign events will play out. The major difference of this story based type of campaign is that the DM will have a rough idea of how he/she wants the endgame to play out. Some players feel railroaded in this type of game and others enjoy the guiding hand of the DM to provide a more defined structure for thier adventures.

These issues are reasons why I believe its important to discuss campaign ideas/styles with players before doing any work.

 

[ExploderWizard]

Something I think should be taken into consideration when giving this advice: Not everyone has the time to shelve what they already designed and come up with something new. I'm not saying the advice shouldn't be given at all, but it should be immediately followed by advice on where to take the situation based upon what the DM is willing/able to give.

If the players are consulted before any design work beyond an idea is done then theres nothing to waste.

Also something that never gets addressed in New DM advice: information on how to apply the information to online play. There are just some things that work out differently in an online environment, such as the fact that you can't necessarily tell if a player is having fun while the game is going on.

Very true. Its something I know nothing about. All my games are FTF.