First PnP Game

[GDwarf]

'Ello all,

Well, I guess this requires some back story. (Well, it probably doesn't, but meh.) I used to play NWN 1 a lot, I'd spend most of my free time on an RP server there, and I loved it. Noticing that quite a few people on that server also played 'PnP', and how much they loved it, I decided to save up a bit of money and buy the PHB, I live in a fairly large city, so games shouldn't be that hard to find, right?

Well, after buying the book and hunting around, I discovered that every game was on the far side of town, at noon, on Tuesdays.

So, after sitting on my PHB for a year, I decided to start my own game with some friends.

We've met once, and my friends created their characters. However, our next meeting is going to be our first adventure (I plan on using a free one from the WotC website, just to get started). So, I'm wondering: how do I DM well?

I've had zero previous experience with 'true' DnD, so I don't know how other DMs do stuff, what works, what doesn't, all that.

So, what are good habits to get into? What should I do? What shouldn't I do? All that.

(I have the DMG and MMI on order, they should arrive before our next session, so I'll have the core rules, that's not what concerns me.)

[Brage]

PnP is great fun, glad you're about to discover it!
I've been playing PnP for over 20 years, I'm still not tired of it. (Ooops, I guess that makes me old, heh)

There are a lot of things to say about DMing, but I think some of the best advice I can give are:

1. Go with the players
Try to figure out what the players have fun with and "go with it". The more you're able to get the players active in wanting to do things, the less work for you, and the more fun for them. Good DMing is really about knowing what your player group enjoys, and giving them room to do it.

2. Don't be afraid to wing it
If you don't know a rule, or if the players do something you didn't expect (and they will), just make something up. You can check rules and think things through before next game session, don't slow down the game during a session, it's less fun for everyone.

3. Don't force players
Forcing players into something they don't want to do rarely (if ever) works well. It usually is just frustrating for players and the DM alike.

4. Avoid "waiting for something" plotlines
Having a plot where players need to wait for something to happen before the plot moves forward doesn't usually work. What happens is that they will turn each stone, shake every tree, search every building, etc, trying to find the next clue... and when they don't, it's frustrating. Better to just say "A week goes by, while you search the village, then..." or some such. If time needs to move, make it move, don't let the players wait.


I could go on, but I think I'll stop here. I hope any of this is of use to you, it has helped me a lot. Feel free to ask stuff if you like!

[Machiavelli]

Dont be afraid to cheat, and practice your silly voices!

Used to run a whole lot of PnP games of various types, and ran games at conventions for many years. GMing is about giving players the best story and experience... but that doesn't mean always playing by 'the rules' or being 'fair'. Don't be afraid to micturate on them from a great height if it drives the story and the game forward. Perverse as it may sound, they'll learn to love it if it drives the RP, even if it means nasty experiences for their characters. There's a balance between being permissive (most of the time), and being totally in control (when required). Brage suggested a fairly permissive sort of approach above (which is the thing to aim for), but I'd suggest more control while you're learning and moving onto a more permissive style as you get experience of running games (and confidence in doing so) and knowledge of your player's styles.

Also! Practice your silly NPC voices and personas before the game! NPC's with character go a long long way.

And... most importantly... Have Fun!

Good Night and good Luck

Anyways, just a couple of thoughts.

[Myrddin]

PnP is great fun, glad you're about to discover it!
I've been playing PnP for over 20 years, I'm still not tired of it. (Ooops, I guess that makes me old, heh)

There are a lot of things to say about DMing, but I think some of the best advice I can give are:

1. Go with the players
Try to figure out what the players have fun with and "go with it". The more you're able to get the players active in wanting to do things, the less work for you, and the more fun for them. Good DMing is really about knowing what your player group enjoys, and giving them room to do it.

2. Don't be afraid to wing it
If you don't know a rule, or if the players do something you didn't expect (and they will), just make something up. You can check rules and think things through before next game session, don't slow down the game during a session, it's less fun for everyone.

3. Don't force players
Forcing players into something they don't want to do rarely (if ever) works well. It usually is just frustrating for players and the DM alike.

4. Avoid "waiting for something" plotlines
Having a plot where players need to wait for something to happen before the plot moves forward doesn't usually work. What happens is that they will turn each stone, shake every tree, search every building, etc, trying to find the next clue... and when they don't, it's frustrating. Better to just say "A week goes by, while you search the village, then..." or some such. If time needs to move, make it move, don't let the players wait.


I could go on, but I think I'll stop here. I hope any of this is of use to you, it has helped me a lot. Feel free to ask stuff if you like!

What he said, but one more thing. All ways leave your players an out.

[Zoberraz]

Expect criticism. Especially from other DMs turned players.

When I decided to become a DM, it was to give something back to the people whom had DMed me before... but my early game sessions were ego bruising as in anything I made that was even slightly controversial or that players did not understand was very harshly critiqued.

I wondered if I should stop many times because if I was critiqued so harshly... it probably meant they weren't having any fun. I was tempted to toss my entire line of module to the side and stop... but I didn't and kept going. At some point, I did some spring cleaning and a player whom just didn't fit was tossed out of my game. I listened to the feedback players gave me but adjusted things my own way.

Now, I have over eighty game sessions and I'm much more seasoned than I was when I started out. I'm probably the best DM around in my circle of friends not because I'm the most talented, a D&D virtuoso or good at making gruff dwarven voices... but because I listened to the feedback, kept on persevering and tried to remember why I go and sit on the table with four other guys for an entire afternoon: to entertain them and make sure they have fun.

[GDwarf]

Thanks for the advice all.

Thinking more about it, I think my biggest problem at this point is going to be making a plot after I get things going.

The few biggest problems: The plot can't be too long, I expect we'll only have about seven sessions to get through it (Then school ends.) even if I can keep it going through the summer (which is not impossible) everyone will scatter to the far ends of the country in late August.

So, at most I have 17 sessions in which to get a fairly good plot resolved. This is these people's first exposure to DnD, so I want it to, I don't know, have a lot of oomph to it, and since our last session will likely be the last time we see each other face-to-face for a while, it would be great to make it end with a bang.

So, I guess my next question is: How do I plan a story given these rather tight limits?

[PhantomSheep]

Cut out the really boring parts to maximize fun, I would say. Also, get very prepared for like the whole thing, so you don't have to look up as much stuff, so the game keeps on keepin' on.

Also, remember that you are pretty much God to your players. If you or most of your players don't like a rule, take it out. You are the rules!

Biggest thing: keep it fun. Definately put some wacky things in there for fun, just to keep the players on their toes.

My DM also gives out experience to people that do awesome stuff. Like if you did something really awesome in the game, 50XP! Said something really funny? 25XP! Got me a brownie? 10000XP! I think it's a cool little addition to the game, so we always try to do cool stuff, which makes the game even more fun.

[Zoberraz]

When I think about campaign, I like to think about cause and effect and go into a gradually increasing circle as to what the players can explore.

Let's say your focus is a village in which the adventurers start. You don't want them to know too much about the outside world, so, just focus on the village proper. Try to put in the sort of detail west Harbor had in.

Now, you need a catalyst... a trigger for bad events to start out. I'll use my favorite example: a red dragon hatchling gets the boot out of his parent's lair and moves out to find his own lair. He finds this nice, rocky area with plenty of prey... but also stumbles on several tribes of monsters; kobolds, lizardmen and ogres.

Now, imagine what the dragon would do from there? approach the kobolds and take leadership of that tribe, much like the white dragon in Shadows of Undrentide. then, he'd go after the lizardmen and try to depict itself as a figure of worship along with the new support he'd have gained from the kobolds... until fianlly with his new power base he'd convince the ogres to cooperate with him too.

But since managing all those tribes gets tricky, the red dragon would have to delegate... but kobolds and ogres aren't all that bright. Lizardmen aren't as malevolent as he is and are more tricky to appeal too... so, the dragon goes and makes himself a half-dragon offspring to rule over them in his name.

Then again, that small alliance has to be held together through some fashion. The young red dragon wants power, but his lackey want territory, food and plunder too. One very likely target to keep them working under a common cause is to start acively trying to raid the surroundings of the village the adventurers come from.

Meanwhile, the half-dragon offspring realizes that he stands as the proxy of his father/mother/whatever and that he could easily rule over at least the kobolds without anyone have to tell him what to do, so he start engineering a plan to make it so that his parent would be slain. Magical trinkets, consumables and such.

Enter the group of adventurers.

You can start with a lot of adventure hooks with this. One can be confronting a raid from the kobolds and the lizardmen. Another could be a tromp in the marshy area to get a nature oriented character or someone whom speaks draconic to try to get the lizardmen to tell them about the going ons. Another could be about getting access to the tower of an hermit mage whom has been bothered by the half-dragon and try to get his assistance in dealing with them (information and stuff) and another hook would be to stop the kobolds from going around to plunder the spell components needed to make a magical item (bringing back a unicorn horn to help making a powerful item of healing, etc...)

Ultimately, you can decide which antagonist you'll use to end your campaign, depend on how your game sessions will go. for example, you can keep the red dragon maipulating things from the shadows and the players not really ever knowing about him and settling for killing the half-dragon chieftain - making it so that the raids would stop and everyone would be happy - until the red would rebuild. Or, if your group is longer lasting, you can go on further and perhaps see if the half-dragon can manipulate them into killing his parent or them just finding out about the red dragon, harvesting the resources the half-dragon accumulated and then go tangle with him.

what's for sure, if the adventurers manage to pacify the region... the baron of the region will likely notice their accomplishments and send people out to meet them... maybe some other part of his barony (beyond the valley) would have needs for competent individuals such as them... ~_^

[Brage]

Good advice, from all of the above!

There's a balance between being permissive (most of the time), and being totally in control (when required). Brage suggested a fairly permissive sort of approach above (which is the thing to aim for), but I'd suggest more control while you're learning and moving onto a more permissive style as you get experience of running games (and confidence in doing so) and knowledge of your player's styles.

I certainly agree with this, the permissive style works best when you feel confident enough that you can handle anything the players do, so a little bit of experience helps. To aim for giving the players a lot of freedom is very rewarding in the long run!

Another tip I would give is Listen to your players:
When they try to figure out your plots, and when they plan on what to do, there's an excellent source for ideas for you. I often use rather straight-forward (simple) plots, and count on my players to complicate matters (and they do every time). Then I take their best ideas, add them to the plot with a twist (so everything isn't exactly as they thought) - and voil?: the players get to be (almost) right - and they love that, and I get a ton of ideas without having to work at all. Everyone wins! (Of course, I never tell them I operate in that way, lol)
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About planning a storyline:

One helpful thing to do, I find, is to think of your story as if it was a movie, a TV series or a fantasy novell, and try to structure it a bit like that. It can be done in any number of ways, naturally, but to try and clarify what I mean, it could go something like this:

1. Introductions
How do the player characters meet? (=how does the story start). Do they know each other already? Give them room to roleplay a bit to get a feel for their characters and their environment. You could give them short flashbacks from their lives, or RP how they first met, or whatever, just to warm them up a bit to their characters.

Perhaps introduce the first clue(s) of your plot, to give them something to RP about. Or perhaps you want to throw them right into the plot, which can be very effective and fun, starting out with some action.

Does the group have a common theme? Something to bind them together? Why are they a group of adventurers that would want to travel together? They could be villagers who have known each other all their lives, captives in the same dungeon and need to escape, passengers on the same ship, soldiers in the same army, henchmen to the same nobleman, etc.

2. The plot thickens, build up
The plot and the action gets moving. At first the characters typically investigate and try to learn more. Hinting at dangers, but not really putting them in danger (at first) can be very effective to get the right mood starting. A build up is often used in movies, before the action starts. And it works in RP too. Mystery, paranoia, danger, are great moods for this stage.

3. The mid-story climax
Having a chase, or a show-down with some minions of the bad guy, or some sort of danger presenting itself is fun and helps to keep the story interesting.

4. The problems of being a hero
Often in movies and literature there's a period in the story when things look grim indeed, and we are to wonder - will the heroes make it? The dangers are all around and the heroes seem hopelessly outnumbered. This can work well, but a DM needs to be careful so the fun doesn't suffer for the players. If they feel it's hopeless, they might not enjoy it. Difficult, but not impossible, is the way to go. When the players do rise to the occation and win against all odds, then it's very rewarding.

If you can get the mid-story climax to move the story into the period of trouble, it might potentially be a great story in the making.

5. The grand finale
This is where you put all your best ideas, and try to impress the most. Hopefully some clues and story elements will come together in the finale, and all is revealed. A very typical finale (and over-used in the movies) is where the Evil Overlord explains his plans to the imprisoned heroes, then leaves them to die in some sort of very creative way, while he's off to watch his plans unfold. Of course the heroes escape and conquer, heh

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The game session - drama, themes, mood

It can also be helpful to think about what moods and themes you want for your game sessions. The introduction could be bit humorous, for instance, while later in the story you might want danger and mystery to be the most dominant moods, etc.

Also, prepping the game area with inspirational music, candle-lights, some props that helps get the right mood, unplugging the phone, etc, can help in creating the magic moments in RP that will be remembered.

Using cliff-hangers for game sessions is very effective too... much like in the TV-series where you end each episode with a dangerous situation. If done well, the players will both hate and love you for it, since they will have to wait until the next session before knowing how things turn out. *evil grin*

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Sorry for the long post, I got carried away down memory lane :P

[Myrddin]

One more thing, but a TIGHTWADE with magic items. If you're not, it will come back to bite in you in the backside. And, when you do have an item in the loot, make sure it is taylored to the party's needs and to a single character. See that it is something that they need in the future.

Don't be afraid to have items that have a single use life.

[GDwarf]

Zoberraz, thanks for the rough plot, I love how flexible it is, and how easy any adventure can segue into it.

To everyone else, thank you very much for your advice, I've actually made a few notes about things to do (and things not to do) from this thread. (A few others came from the WotC forums, and pages I found while googling "DMing guide")

All of your advice will help tremendously, and I'm actually feeling pretty confident about this campaign now.