Discussion:New dm

Feyland 20:34, 18 October 2011 (MDT)

--> ok so i am a new dm and i was wondering if i could get any tips?

Can you be any more specific? JazzMan 15:43, 19 October 2011 (MDT)

feyland

like what are the good things i should do and thinks i should avoid.

I only have about 2½ year of experience and I normally do every thing from the hip, and suffer the consequences of that. My play style is sandbox based where every thing is up to the players. Let them mess things up and see where that takes them. I know this might not fit your play stile but this has taught me a few thumb rules to remember. Have your antagonists and "main quest" line up before play. Even if your doing a sandbox based game style it helps knowing who the bad guy should be and what you want your players to achieve in the long run. You can always change the antagonist and quest as the players blunder through your world.

Secondly you should keep things as simple as possible. Unless your players are begging for a game full of intrigues, cloak and dagger, politics and so on. And even that can be done somewhat simplified if you put your mind to it.
Thirdly for god sake keep a notepad and pen ready and make notes! Every time a player pisses of an NPC or dose something noteworthy it is a possibility for a plot. And if your players are really slow to get going you could have people around them talk about some problem or have a barmaid suggest they look at the posters at the local guardhouse.
I would also suggest you limit the material you players can use for your first campaign. Unless your over 87% into all the rules it is only going to become hard and troublesome for you to GM and that could lead to ruined sessions and what not.
Lastly I would suggest you talk to your players both before you begin and after to get feed back. Have them rate if not every session then every major event. Just so you know what they expect and what makes the game fun for them (I'm not saying you shouldn't have fun too). It will help you improve the games you GM and also give the players a felling that they have some power too. I hope some of these tips are helpful
--ElvenKingSlave 03:34, 23 November 2011 (MST)

jintoya

hey im a long time lurker on this site and ive been a dm since i was about 12. early on i found out that if you arent sure of your station as dm it is going to be hard for you, a player who is better versed in the rules than you can be irritating if he/she is out for his own ends, and keeping a lid on metagaming can be an issue but if you would like a suggestion for keeping things running smoothly, try the dmg2 for dnd 3.5 but overall just remember that you are in charge of your game and its both inportant to deal with overpowered players tactfully and not let the position as dm go to your head, nothing pisses a player off more than you saying "the reason it didnt work is because im the dm and i say so" while it may be the truth, you should expend at least a little explination as to why it happned the way it did and why you ruled it that way. other than that i cant say theres too many tips to give, and many of theese are already in the dmg or dmg 2, the rest is mostly just handling your players and preparing your world, if you can do that then youl do fine

ps. the notepad idea is great and it will save you the grief of "ugh what the hell was that dragons, sons, best friends, girlfriends, cats name" and then the time youl spend renaming it...just keep a pad and pencil handy

Jintoya (talk) 15:00, 17 February 2013 (MST)

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