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wet sector posted:A few friends and I decided to start playing D&D, and I've opted to be the DM. We're playing with the basic rule guide and the 'Keep on the Shadowfell' campaign that you can download on Wizard's website. However, I've never DM'd or even played D&D, and no one in our group has any experience with the game either. Does anyone have advice for a budding DM? I've read the rules and the first few parts of the campaign, but I'm worried about being able to take the countless rules and storylines and turn them into a comprehensible game for everyone. I've got a bunch of questions too: To answer the DMPC question, you seem to understand the basics. Never take the spotlight. At best, offer a helping hand when the PCs are completely stuck. You can characterize him as much as you like, just don't take the focus away from the PCs or take the choices and action away from them. If the player wants to do something completely beyond the rules, just bullshit out your rear end. You're the DM. The players won't question you if you sound like you're sure about something. Pick a DC and roll with it. You're God, after all. Backstabbing and internecine conflict can complicate things quite a bit, and I unfortunately have no advice for you on that matter. But PC death isn't that big of a deal, and no player should get so attached to his character as to be unable to let go of him in the case of SUDDEN DEATH. It's just a game, after all. even worse username posted:tl;dr: Give your players multiple ways of solving problems. What seems obvious to you may not be obvious to them, no matter what clues you think are there. Go one step further: when they come up with some clever (but perhaps completely nonsensical) solution, pretend you planned it that way all along. Just bullshit the solution to whatever problem you've presented them, if necessary, but never let the PCs feel so lost and incompetent that they throw their hands up and say "gently caress it, we give up." If they really can't spot your awesome solution, just go along with whatever it is they came up with. It's better than spending ten or more minutes sitting around while they ponder amongst themselves. Remember that the DM's job is, first and foremost, moving the game along at a brisk pace and making sure that everyone has fun and feels like they're accomplishing something. Kerison fucked around with this message at 09:00 on Jul 11, 2009 |
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Jul 11, 2009 08:52
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ripped0ff posted:You actually teach at a different school. Your school district gets all the money because its filled with suburban white kids and the superintendent is racist. I'm the downtrodden hispanic teacher who must come in and lift the spirits of the inter-city youth who believe that they are doomed to lives of crime and violence. But Denzel Washington isn't Hispanic. You're not making any sense at all.
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Jul 27, 2009 02:19
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Mikan posted:I usually give them neat Wondrous Items or something else that doesn't make them any more powerful than the other players, but is still a neat toy to play with. Whaleporn got free items in my maptool game for insulting the other characters while dominated, for example. Yeah, this is a good idea, especially assuming 4e where you really need every character the same level and handing out individual XP awards is shooting yourself in the foot. I suppose you could also just give them something nice like a taco or a beer or a Twix bar, if this is a live game. Nerds like all of those things. Perhaps a colorful sticker on their character sheet. Elementary school teachers didn't drill "happy sticker = approval" into us for nothing, right? (This probably reads sarcastic but I'm not being sarcastic.)
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Jul 27, 2009 02:35
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Don't worry boy, games die all the time, just like that. Why, you could wake up to find your game dead tomorrow!
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Oct 29, 2009 23:37
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Angry Midwesterner posted:I think this is part of a more general problem of lack of creativity, which d20 possibly encourages, and the finite range of options players are given in computer games definitely does. I had this happen in a Star Wars game I was running, and I handled it by presenting lists of available options whenever they hit a decision/crisis point, like a conversation wheel in Mass Effect, based on their skill sets or whatever. It made the non-gamer in the group much happier and she was excited to contribute from that point on, at least, and the game didn't grind to a halt whenever the PCs had to make decisions. Just remind the players that they're just options/suggestions and that they can do whatever the gently caress they want (unlike in a video game).
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Apr 29, 2010 13:54
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Ray and Shirley posted:The next few sessions I'm planning all involve my players being set loose in a city that has been cordoned off and turned into a giant prison. They'll have a quest or two, and a few goals, and know roughly how to get to them. But how they get there is largely up to them. Use Google Maps, put down landmarks where you want them, done. Oh wait a minute, you didn't specify what type of setting your game is in and it may not a modern/post apoc game!
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May 3, 2010 18:15
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Do the first option. I don't think it robs them too much--they can be anything they want, adventurer or otherwise, they just start without stuff. Don't actually play out anything with them not having equipment, though, it's painfully unfun in my experience. The second option is worse in a railroady way. I mean, granted, starting the game with "hey you're working for me bros" is always railroady, but to say to yourself from the start that... 1. They will get in a fight and 2. They will inadvertently murder the poo poo out of some guards ...is pretty railroady. You don't know if the players would be that careless with lethal damage or even interested in a bar brawl, and you'd be robbing them of in-game choices if you did that. With your first option, you're just taking away background poo poo, and if they can't tack on "imprisoned for x by the crown" then gently caress 'em. The first option is also more "believable," if you follow me--yeah, sure, this Warden would be able to put together a willing team from his roster of skilled ex-adventurer convicts, no prob. The second option, on the other hand, feels forced.
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May 4, 2010 05:28
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I just assumed the villain was tricking them.
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May 4, 2010 06:28
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