DM in p&p

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This is a question for all the fountains of knowlegde here:

I am going to start as a DM in a p&p game. It is my first time. So I was wondering if you have some tips or suggestions for me.

Thanks.

 

Stop the game if any players pull out real longswords + 4.

 

The best thing to do when just starting out - is to use an existing campaign world...Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, etc..It makes it much easier, because a lot of NPC's and geography is already in place. You can build off that and tailor it to your style.

As you get more comfortable DM'ing, start adding your own things to the world...Eventually, your parties actions will also help to form the "world" around them.

I still have tons o' stuff from my Greyhawk campaign that I ran when I was younger. We started with the modules, but as the game and players grew, I had to start getting them involved in bigger things, like fortresses, wars, intrigue, etc...It really begins to take on a life of its own.

But the most important thing: Have fun! And use your imagination - you can do anything you want.

 

Start off small and start off simple.

Don't toss your players a 9th level + campaign or story line to follow because it'll only make things worse for you if this is your first time, as you say it is. A higher level party means more work on your part and hair pulling when high level spells are cast and you're not ready for the outcome.

I suggest starting the party at level 1 and start them off in a small town perhaps with only a few major buildings and notable NPCs. A small village like this can be a life saver for yourself because you can have say, a blacksmith, inn/tavern and a few scattered houses. Give every NPC in this small village a name and little history but have them all intertwine.

For instance, the Marry, one of the owners of the Inn used to be in love with the Blacksmith John. John always used to speak of his days as an adventurer.

First hook to the party and if they confront John about it, perhaps he gets all quiet, not wanting to remember those days because his wife at the time was also searching for adventure and was killed. He feels responsible for that and visits her grave once a month in the place she had been killed -- an old keep just a few days away.

Second hook. A place to explore for the party.

Perhaps Timmy, the stable boy to the Inn that is owned by Marry found a hidden stash of items that John had burried out in Old Jeds field. It had a few rough drawn maps, a sword and maybe even a potion or two. Timmy dared not take that for himself because John was known to hate kids.

You don't have to go into explicit detail with the NPCs, but at least give each one something to work with FOR YOURSELF! You can make up NPC hair colour, looks and quirks as you go and see fit, just write them down so it's constant everytime.

IE - You know Timmy is the stable boy and you know what information he has. That's all you really need to know. The rest comes eventually as you tell the tale to the party.

Try this on for size

"As you approach the stable, you see the small boy you've known as Timmy, who has worked for his mother Marry, the owner of the Inn, for about a year now. Wearing his everyday tattered clothes, he's slowly moving piles of hay around, filling buckets of water and chopping up apples. Strangely though, the stables usually have no horses but today there is a beautiful gray, very muscular and healthy horse here."

So with that description of Timmy, I just added what I wanted as I wanted to add flavour to the world. All I know is that Timmy is a stable boy, nothing more. What I did add was the stables has a horse that usually never has horses anyhow.

Now the party is here to speak with Timmy, perhaps just to talk to all the locals and meet them and if they ask the right questions or say the right things, maybe Timmy would speak of this hidden stash he found. What I've also done is not make him useless to the party if they fail to get the information that we planted for them and that's by providing a question of "Who's horse is that?"

Now we never planned for any horses, but who said you had to? That's the beauty of your position at the table because they're hooked. They want information on who's nice horse that is and your next answer is yours to play around with. Just remember, any new NPC quirk or information you create at the top of your head, jot it down. There is nothing worse than saying an NPC name off the top of your head then forgetting it or asking the players "Uh. What did I call him again?"

So back to the grey horse. It's muscular, well ridden and behaved. Perhaps a traveller from outside the village has come for the night. Perhaps the mount was found just outside of the village on the path to that old Keep Johns wife had died in or maybe Marry is giving it away to some rude old merchant who's coming up from the south and she owes it to him for some reason or other.

I can go on and on because I love to DM.

Also, listen to your players. What they say is your best weapon. If a player makes a comment about that horse

"Maybe it's a beautiful lady" play it up.

Perhaps Timmy is a little hard of hearing and doesn't hear the character correctly.

"Wha?" Timmy says "She's splendid!"

You can totally play that for about a minute and have Timmy talking about all things beautiful then throw in

"Oh. Ya meant a lady lady. I was thinking of something else I saw..."

Hook. What did he see? Players will ask.

"Wha? Ah. A statue of a beautiful lady not far from here"

So now you have Timmy the stable boy who's a little hard of hearing. Never knew that when we made up the NPC, no need to. Go with the flow, just write it down so you don't forget it.

A DM is there to provide a story and excitement and fuel the already burning fire of interest the players have about P&P. Experiment and have fun with it.

Syl...

 

Well after Syl's info adding anything else is hard. That was a fine little bit of explaining. Without repeating stuff he already said all I can add it to remember that DMing is telling a story (whict is not written yet). Don't plan on detailed scenes because your PC are going to do something you didn't play on.
What I do to creat an adventure is work out a background (What happened to the NPCs BEFORE the players were on the scene.) I give the NPCs goals and objectives and let then go. If the PC interact then scene will develop. This maybe hard to do at first so try to keep things some what liner. Like IWD the PC need to do X and then they can do Y. This give you as a new DM a little more control over the game.

Another important rule is to keep it fun for the players. DON'T give out to much powerful stuff to fast. Keep the PC working for what they get. Make sure that the party can handle the monsters you put them up against. Don't be afraid to hurt your party but try not to kill them. If to many PCs die to much they will lose enjoyment in the game.
The best things Syl said which I will repeat are keep it simple and write it down. If you do these things all will go well.
I hope that helps a little. Have fun. I've been running game for over 15 years and I love it. I hope to do too.

 

One thing I also like to do as DM is when a player says something out of context or about my DMing in general.

"I bet if we had a different DM he would have given us 5 potions of healing" as an example.

I look at the PC that said it and without breaking a smile or saying anything, turn to my book and write some BS down.

It's like the power a doctor has when he writes down in your personal profile. You have no idea what he's writing

Shuts my players up pretty quickly or even mumble under your breath "You just lost some good xp". Mind you, you never take it away from them.

Eventually players will catch on to this trick but it's good to use against a new table of players.

Syl...

 

Along with what Syl told you, bear in mind that no matter what you do, something will go wrong. Come up with several possibilities for every encounter and conversation. If battles or puzzles are too easy, revise them for the next round. Don't be afraid to beat on the players.

I was playing a round with my elder brother as the DM. When he was making up the round, he was very nebulous about choices that could be taken. Be specific. If one player has some sixth sense ability (for example), and danger approaches, you can not only let them describe their actions, but also allow the sixth sense to take over as an alternative.

 

Post-it Notes are great to have too because you can write information for just one particular player and give it to them without sharing it to the entire table.

Adds to the experience of a character knowing something in particular over the rest and having the power and choice of sharing it or not.

Syl...

 

We are playing a new campain made by a friend of mine. The caracters are low-level and I prefere it like this. The problem is that our DM doesn't feel like it anymore. So I proposed with him to take over a part of his world. The PC's we developed, I want to take over to a different part of his (yet to be discovered...) world.


Slowly you are opening your eyes. It takes a time to get used to the darkness that seems to be inherent to this cave. Your head hurts, and when you move it you see you are not alone in this cave...You try to move, but as you are chained to the wall, it is impossible for you. Next to you hangs a dead man against the wall, who you recognize as the owner of the inn where you went to sleep yesterday.
Wondering how you came there, a light shines into the fast darkness as a door you did not see opens with an eerly sound that shreds through you...

Actually I have now idea what happens next. Both from the PCs as for me as DM.

[This message has been edited by Yolar (edited December 18, 2000).]

 

I also find rolling dice for no reason is another great trick. If the PCs are doing something - breaking into a store after hours - and you just roll a few dice they get real nervous that something is going to happen to them. Sometime I am real checking to see if something is going to happen (they set of a trap or the city watch saw them) sometime I'm just messing with their minds. It works great.

[This message has been edited by Voltric (edited December 18, 2000).]

 

Other tactics I enjoy are fireballs and lightning bolts or general damage from something, a trap or creature they're not familiar with.

Walking around the table and counting 15 1d6 dice is also amusing to see the looks on their faces when I pick them all into my hand and start shaking.

Syl...

 

If directions are important, make sure you or the PCs have paper and pencils for map-making.

Big impressive dice are not important. If you just have the old six siders, just make it more likely that a certain outcome would happen or that a 5 or 6 just means that you have to re-roll.